Minor violations, simple penalty procedures

This afternoon, June 11, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations with many opinions concerned about the scope of the amendment and supplement of the law, as well as the amendment of the maximum fine. On the sidelines of the National Assembly, Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh had an exchange with the press to clarify related contents.

* REPORTER: In the explanation to clarify some contents raised by the delegates in the afternoon of the same day, the Minister said that the drafting of this law is oriented towards only amending and supplementing urgent regulations to remove difficulties and shortcomings from practice?

* Minister NGUYEN HAI NINH: That's right. This draft law only reviews and supplements a number of new areas that are not yet regulated in the current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, but have been adjusted in specialized laws, thereby ensuring consistency and meeting the requirements of state management in the new situation. For example, the draft supplements areas such as: personal data protection, digital technology industry, integrated management of marine resources and environment, to create a legal basis for transparent and consistent sanctions in these areas.

As for the contents that still have many different opinions, which may have a major impact on the rights and obligations of individuals and organizations or change the principles of handling administrative violations, there will be no adjustments in this revision. The Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies will continue to research, summarize practices and report to competent authorities to propose comprehensive amendments to the law in the coming time.

Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh. Photo: QUANG PHUC

* Public opinion is particularly interested in adjusting the maximum fine in this draft law because it is considered not suitable for people's income and living standards?

* The draft law being submitted to the National Assembly does not propose to increase the maximum fine for any state management field as prescribed in Article 24 of the current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations.

This draft law only reviews and supplements a number of new areas that have not been regulated in the current law to meet the requirements of state management in the new situation. The content of increasing the maximum fine level is identified as a major issue, having a direct impact on people and businesses, so it will continue to be researched, summarized in practice, and fully and comprehensively assessed for impact to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration when implementing comprehensive amendments to the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations in the coming time.

* Many opinions are concerned about the regulation "punishing administrative violations without making a record", if not strict, it can easily lead to negativity?

* The draft law is expected to change the limit of fines applied to the procedure of sanctioning without making a record from "fines up to 250,000 VND for individuals, 500,000 VND for organizations" to "fines up to 1 million VND for individuals, 2 million VND for organizations".

This regulation is amended to contribute to simplifying the administrative penalty procedure for individuals and organizations that violate the law. Accordingly, with the procedure of not making a record, the delivery of the penalty decision is carried out more quickly and conveniently, because the violator can receive the decision on the spot, saving time, without having to wait or travel to receive the penalty decision.

This adjustment ensures that the above increase remains true to the nature of “minor violations, simple penalty procedures”, ensuring compatibility with the current socio-economic context and in line with the situation of income and price fluctuations compared to 2012 – the time of issuance of this regulation.

Along with that, in our opinion, the imposition of a fine without a record still fully complies with the procedures prescribed by law. For example, the competent person must have sufficient grounds to prove the violation and must issue a decision to impose a fine on the spot; the decision must clearly state the basis, the violation, the fine level and the applicable legal basis; the amount of the fine must still be sent to the state treasury account for control and comparison. On the other hand, individuals and organizations that are administratively sanctioned still have the right to complain and file a lawsuit against the decision to handle administrative violations issued under the procedure without a record as prescribed by law. Therefore, the legitimate rights and interests of individuals and organizations that are sanctioned are still guaranteed.

* Sir, what solutions does the draft law have for handling seized exhibits and means of administrative violations?

* In order to overcome difficulties and obstacles in handling temporarily seized exhibits and means of administrative violations, to avoid loss and waste of State, organization and individual assets, the draft law has added regulations on handling certain types of exhibits and means of administrative violations that are temporarily seized in cases where the detention period has expired without identifying the violator, owner, manager or legal user of the exhibits and means. The regulations are in the direction that if the exhibits and means of administrative violations are likely to be damaged or degraded in quality during the management and preservation process, they will be handled according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 4, Article 125 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations (in the case of exhibits being perishable goods, the person temporarily holding them must immediately report to the direct superior for handling; if they are damaged or lost, they must compensate according to the provisions of law).

If the exhibits and means of administrative violations pose a risk of causing fire or explosion, environmental pollution or affecting public health during the management and preservation process, they must be destroyed.

In order to ensure the ownership and use of assets of organizations and individuals, the draft law clearly stipulates the time for implementing the above handling options. Specifically, the competent person must fully perform the responsibility of notifying the violator twice (the first time within 3 working days; the second time within 7 working days) and can only implement the handling options after the second notification period. At the same time, the handling of exhibits and means must also ensure compliance with the principles of "publicity, objectivity, proper authority, ensuring fairness, and compliance with the provisions of law".

In addition, the draft law also assigns the Government to regulate the handling of exhibits and means of administrative violations where the violator, owner, manager or legal user of the exhibits and means cannot be identified.

DO TRUNG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/hanh-vi-vi-pham-nho-thu-tuc-xu-phat-don-gian-post799052.html