Lawmakers discuss formation of consumer rights association
HA NOI — Members of the National Assembly Standing Committee discussed the formation of a consumer rights organisation under the draft Law on Consumer Protection, during the first day of the committee's August meeting yesterday. Dang Vu Minh, chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Science, Technology and the Environment backed the law's creation of an association to protect consumer rights.
"The key objective of such an association is to protect the rights of its members and the rights of consumers in general," said Minh.
Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang agreed that such an association could be a private civil organisation established by its members but said it could not be recognised as an official legal entity.
Law Committee Chairman Nguyen Van Thuan agreed that Viet Nam's legal system did not recognise the concept of a "non-administrative organisation" such as the proposed consumer rights association. However, he suggested that the association could be given legal status by linking it to the State's official responsiblities to protect consumer rights.
National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Kien also said that creation of the association was an imperative, and he urged the drafting committee to review provisions governing the association's rights and obligations to make sure they are in conformance with Vietnamese law.
Regarding propsed procedures to settle disputes between the consumers and product manufacturers or dealers, Thuan, National Assembly Ombudsman Tran The Vuong and Budget and Finance Committee Chairman Phung Quoc Hien disagreed that such disputes should be settled administratively.
They expressed concerns about the degree to which government should interfere in civil relations between consumers, producers and dealers.
"Civil relations are covered in the civil code," said Vuong. "We can't use administrative measures to settle the disputes."
Justice Committee Chairwoman Le Thi Thu Ba supported Vuong's idea, arguing that if administrative measures were introduced, administrative agencies were likely to become the locus for people to send their complaints and petitions.
In the point of view of the law's drafting committee, however, the district-level Department of Industry and Trade would be authorised to settle consumer complaints.
"That's not the described job of the department. We must not turn an administrative agency into a judicial entity to settle civil disputes while we're trying to build a State governed by law," Thuan said.
The consumer rights bill is expected to be further debated and passed by the full National Assembly later this year.
Lawmakers yesterday also voted to ratify the President's signing of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation With Respect to Intercountry Adoption, after the National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs reported on this issue.
They agreed that Viet Nam met all legal and procedural requirements consistent with the convention after checking the country's current legal framework for intercountry adoption. They concluded that the legal framework met the basic requirements of the convention and that many provisions in the convention were fully legalised in the Government decree on adoption, creating favourable conditions for implementation of the convention. — VNS