The National Assembly Standing Committee discussed amendments toexisting laws related to the operation of cooperatives, Oct. 4 inHanoi .
All the participants agreed that the existing law failed to reflect thecharacter of cooperative businesses, and had not defined the keydifferences between cooperatives and other forms of businesses, and thebenefits enjoyed by cooperative members.
Minister ofPlanning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc suggested that changes to the lawshould enable co-operatives to operate and develop in a more effective,independent and sustainable manner.
"The law mustprotect the rights and obligations, as well as the benefits ofcooperative members in their capacity as owners of their cooperative,"said Phuc.
Phung Quoc Hien, chairman of theCommittee for Finance and Budget, conceded that it was very difficult todevelop a law, as there were a diverse range of cooperatives currentlyoperating in the country.
He said the new law shouldaddress three key factors, such as capital ownership and the form ofcapital contribution, production organisation and production management.
"These three factors are the foundation for cooperatives to develop," said Hien.
In his opinion, capital contributions could be in the form of cash orproductive means or land. Yet there should be certain limits to thecontributions in order to stop the transformation of cooperatives intojoint stock companies.
During their discussion, theparticipants had different opinions on whether cooperatives should beable to establish companies.
Tran Dinh Dan, National Assembly Office director, expressed his concerns about the ownership structures of cooperatives.
"In a cooperative, members simultaneously hold two roles at the same time: owners and clients," said Dan.
Le Thi Thu Ba, chairwoman of the Committee on Judiciary, said if thelaw regulated that cooperatives were an economic entity with a distinctlegal status, it retained the right to buy shares and contribute capitaljust like other economic entities in order to generate profits for itsmembers.
However, National Assembly vice chairmanUong Chu Luu said if the law allowed cooperatives to establish anaffiliated company, contribute capital and to buy shares in otherbusinesses, it meant that the nature of the cooperative would havechanged from the original objective of cooperative, i.e. for allcooperative members to have the same equal access to the cooperative'sassets.
Ha Van Hien, chairman of the EconomicsCommittee, said if the cooperative was considered as an autonomouseconomic organisation possessing the same legal rights as other economicentities, why should cooperatives be denied of the right to establishaffiliated companies or to buy shares from other enterprises.
"In reality, quite a few enterprises are already affiliates of co-operatives," said Hien.
At present there are 14,500 cooperatives in Vietnam , of which 600were established before 1997. Most of which are based in the Red RiverDelta.
The existing cooperative law was approved by the National Assembly in 2003.
It is expected that the revised law would be approved by the National Assembly in 2011.
In the afternoon, the NA Standing committee discussed the Government'sproposals about the law on archiving national materials.
This law was put into effect in 2001 but many regulations under itwere still unclear and hard to put into practice, said Minister of HomeAffairs Tran Van Tuan. Those include the regulations on theadministrative system of organisations that are in charge of archivinghistorical material, registration to archive and protect material, andthe length of allowed time for people to use or borrow particularpieces.
There are two archiving systems at present;the Archive Department under the office of the Party Central Committeewhich archives materials of the Party, and a State Archive Departmentwhich archives materials of the State.
"These twodepartments work independently and efficiently. The Government proposesthat we keep them as they are," Tuan said.
LegalCommittee Chairman Nguyen Van Thuan said however, that nationalmaterials are precious and have a critical meaning to the task of thecountry's construction and protection so they all need to be archived inone place which is the State Archive Department.
"National materials are being archived unsystematically. Besides the twoabove departments, there are still many other archive offices underdifferent sectors including police, military, and foreign affairs," hesaid.
NA vice-chairman Nguyen Duc Kien suggestedthat they keep the system as it is but have just one office in charge ofthe archiving activities. "This organisation can be supervised by bothdepartments," he added.
Huynh Ngoc Son, another NAvice-chairman said if the two current archive departments are merged,then there should be one office in charge of archiving materials as Kiensuggested. "If the two departments still work independently thenestablishing another office under them is a waste of money," Kien said.
At the meeting, committee members also recommend specific regulations on examination criteria./.
All the participants agreed that the existing law failed to reflect thecharacter of cooperative businesses, and had not defined the keydifferences between cooperatives and other forms of businesses, and thebenefits enjoyed by cooperative members.
Minister ofPlanning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc suggested that changes to the lawshould enable co-operatives to operate and develop in a more effective,independent and sustainable manner.
"The law mustprotect the rights and obligations, as well as the benefits ofcooperative members in their capacity as owners of their cooperative,"said Phuc.
Phung Quoc Hien, chairman of theCommittee for Finance and Budget, conceded that it was very difficult todevelop a law, as there were a diverse range of cooperatives currentlyoperating in the country.
He said the new law shouldaddress three key factors, such as capital ownership and the form ofcapital contribution, production organisation and production management.
"These three factors are the foundation for cooperatives to develop," said Hien.
In his opinion, capital contributions could be in the form of cash orproductive means or land. Yet there should be certain limits to thecontributions in order to stop the transformation of cooperatives intojoint stock companies.
During their discussion, theparticipants had different opinions on whether cooperatives should beable to establish companies.
Tran Dinh Dan, National Assembly Office director, expressed his concerns about the ownership structures of cooperatives.
"In a cooperative, members simultaneously hold two roles at the same time: owners and clients," said Dan.
Le Thi Thu Ba, chairwoman of the Committee on Judiciary, said if thelaw regulated that cooperatives were an economic entity with a distinctlegal status, it retained the right to buy shares and contribute capitaljust like other economic entities in order to generate profits for itsmembers.
However, National Assembly vice chairmanUong Chu Luu said if the law allowed cooperatives to establish anaffiliated company, contribute capital and to buy shares in otherbusinesses, it meant that the nature of the cooperative would havechanged from the original objective of cooperative, i.e. for allcooperative members to have the same equal access to the cooperative'sassets.
Ha Van Hien, chairman of the EconomicsCommittee, said if the cooperative was considered as an autonomouseconomic organisation possessing the same legal rights as other economicentities, why should cooperatives be denied of the right to establishaffiliated companies or to buy shares from other enterprises.
"In reality, quite a few enterprises are already affiliates of co-operatives," said Hien.
At present there are 14,500 cooperatives in Vietnam , of which 600were established before 1997. Most of which are based in the Red RiverDelta.
The existing cooperative law was approved by the National Assembly in 2003.
It is expected that the revised law would be approved by the National Assembly in 2011.
In the afternoon, the NA Standing committee discussed the Government'sproposals about the law on archiving national materials.
This law was put into effect in 2001 but many regulations under itwere still unclear and hard to put into practice, said Minister of HomeAffairs Tran Van Tuan. Those include the regulations on theadministrative system of organisations that are in charge of archivinghistorical material, registration to archive and protect material, andthe length of allowed time for people to use or borrow particularpieces.
There are two archiving systems at present;the Archive Department under the office of the Party Central Committeewhich archives materials of the Party, and a State Archive Departmentwhich archives materials of the State.
"These twodepartments work independently and efficiently. The Government proposesthat we keep them as they are," Tuan said.
LegalCommittee Chairman Nguyen Van Thuan said however, that nationalmaterials are precious and have a critical meaning to the task of thecountry's construction and protection so they all need to be archived inone place which is the State Archive Department.
"National materials are being archived unsystematically. Besides the twoabove departments, there are still many other archive offices underdifferent sectors including police, military, and foreign affairs," hesaid.
NA vice-chairman Nguyen Duc Kien suggestedthat they keep the system as it is but have just one office in charge ofthe archiving activities. "This organisation can be supervised by bothdepartments," he added.
Huynh Ngoc Son, another NAvice-chairman said if the two current archive departments are merged,then there should be one office in charge of archiving materials as Kiensuggested. "If the two departments still work independently thenestablishing another office under them is a waste of money," Kien said.
At the meeting, committee members also recommend specific regulations on examination criteria./.
