Hanoi (VNA) – The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on October 9 discussed the draft law revising and supplementing several articles of the Law on Prices as part of its ongoing 50th session, with a focus on protecting consumer rights and enhancing state management and price regulation.
NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai, who chaired the discussion, asked members to concentrate on the necessity and legal basis for the amendments, compliance with the Party’s guidelines on law-making reform, and measures to prevent corruption and wastefulness in the legislative process.
The committee also considered whether the draft law meets the requirements of price management in the current context and if it is ready for submission to the 15th NA’s 10th session for approval.
According to a verification report presented by the NA Committee for Economic and Financial Affairs, most opinions agreed that revising the Law on Prices is necessary to align with the current administrative apparatus, promote decentralisation, and ensure consistency across the legal system.
The committee supported the Government’s proposal to include the draft in the 2025 legislative programme for review and approval under a fast-track procedure.
The draft law removes the provisions on specialised price inspection to ensure consistency with the Law on Inspection 2025, which transfers the function of price-related inspections from the Ministry of Finance to the Government Inspectorate.
However, Chairman of the NA Committee for Legal and Judicial Affairs Hoang Thanh Tung noted that eliminating all provisions on specialised price inspection could create legal gaps, suggesting instead that the law replace the term “specialised price inspection” with “inspection in the field of pricing” to maintain a clear legal basis for enforcement.
NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasised that the amendments are intended to align with the new two-tier administration model and to address issues arising after a year of implementation since its adoption in June 2024.
He emphasised that revisions should focus on enhancing the socialist-oriented market mechanism, strengthening State management of prices and valuations, protecting consumer rights, and ensuring price stability.
The draft should also specify responsibilities for price stabilisation at the commune level, clarify conditions for price appraisal firms, and update the list of goods subject to state pricing.
Chairman Man also called for ensuring consistency with existing laws, reducing administrative procedures to facilitate business operations, promoting technological applications in local-level management, and strengthening supervision and sanctions for violations in price control.
At the same meeting, the NA Standing Committee also discussed the draft law amending the Law on Statistics and considered the handling of land lease arrears owed by public service units./.
