Vietnam parliament to vote on landmark laws on land, credit institutions next week

The National Assembly, Vietnam’s highest legislative body, is set to conduct an extraordinary meeting next week, featuring votes on the draft amended laws on land and credit institutions.

The 15th tenure of the National Assembly will conduct its fifth extraordinary meeting on January 15-18, the National Assembly Standing Committee announced Monday.

The parliament will also vote on a resolution on special mechanisms to speed up key national target programs, and discuss changes to medium-term public investment in 2021-2025 and public investment in state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN).

Previewing the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said the draft amended Law on Land was initially subject to an approval vote at the National Assembly’s sixth meeting in November last year. However, the voting was delayed to address controversial issues.

The draft law, which has collected around 12 million comments, now needs to clarify three key issues: land acquisition for commercial housing projects, land evaluation methods, and the land development fund.

Regarding the draft amended Law on Credit Institutions, Hue asked the National Assembly Standing Committee to analyze and update terms related to early intervention and special control, cross ownership, and handlings of bad debts and collateral.

Vietnam’s current Land Law took effect in July 2014. Since 2019, the law has undergone many draft changes, but the NA has delayed voting on it several times. At the last biannual meeting in November, the parliament was originally set to approve nine draft laws, including the draft amended Land Law.

However, the NA then updated the agenda and the vote was left out, as many contents still needed more discussions. Major approved bills at the last meeting included a resolution on the global minimum tax (GMT), the amended Law on Real Estate Business, and the amended Law on Housing.