The Government continued its special meeting on law building work on August 13, discussing amendments and supplements to several laws and draft laws.

Accordingly, the draft Law on Environmental Protection (amended) includes 19 chapters and 165 articles, four chapters and 29 articles more than the existing law.

Cabinet members agreed that rapid socio-economic development and arising environmental issues, including climate change and environmental security, require an updated and supplemented law with concerted measures.

Attention should be paid to surmounting shortcomings in the 2005 Law on Environmental Protection and adding some contents related to green growth, climate change, environmental security, and environmental pollution and degradation protection, they said.

Regarding amendment orientations to the 2005 Civil Code, the government members said that the supplements and amendments are necessary to make the code a common law regulating social relations on the principles of freedom, voluntariness, equality and self-responsibility between participating parties, contributing to protecting the rights of organisations and individuals in civil exchanges and building the socialist-orientated market economy.

Debating the direction of the draft law on investment and management of State investment in businesses, they said that the draft law needs to create a full and specific legal framework on capital investment and management, define the power, functions and tasks of State capital owners and ensure the equality of all economic compositions.

Meanwhile, the Law on Amendments and Supplements to a number of articles to the Law on Health Insurance has seen revises and additions to 17 of its 52 articles, which helps institutionalise the Party’s policies on developing health insurance for all people, limit irrationalities in the existing law, perfect a legal framework to raise the efficiency of State management on health insurance and ensure the rights and interests of health insurance participants during treatment.

The revised Marriage and Family Law changed 50 articles and added another 57 to the existing law, which is expected to meet the reality of marriage and family life in Vietnam .

The cabinet members also exchanged views on controversial issues like the legal age of marriage, same-sex marriage, legal separation and surrogate pregnancy.-VNA