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Vsg] The draft Law on Household Registration and draft Law on Citizen Identity Card
Dear all,
A colleague who works on household and internal immigration issues in China
has asked where he an find English or Chinese language translations of *the
draft Law on Household Registration and draft Law on Citizen Identity Cards
*referenced in this article:
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/society/105565/na-hopes-to-simplify-control-of-all-id-data.html
Please let me know your thoughts or sources.
Thank you,
Joe Hannah
Hi Joe. A wide array of draft laws and often reports on the draft laws from drafting groups, ministries, NA committees, NA Standing Committee and others are now available online in Vietnamese, often along with very extensive comments and commentaries. Some of the key "aggregation" sites for draft laws, reports on them and comments are http://duthaoonline.quochoi.vn andhttp://www.vibonline.com.vn/Duthao/default.aspx.
But that doesn't fully cover the field, and sometimes other draft laws (and certainly a great many ministry-to-government level regulations of various kinds) show up on ministry websites or other sites.
On these two, I haven't looked specifically for them but I would start with search engines for the relevant Vietnamese terms (ie du thao luat ve ho khau; luat ve cu tru; luat ve ho tich; luat ve chung minh nhan dan, etc. with a key term being du thao luat) and go from there. In fields like this broader draft laws (ie cu tru; ho tich) often contain the specific issues.
One issue, of course, is that relatively few draft laws have been translated into other languages before passage, and those that have translated some (ie law firms) are usually doing that with the more economically-oriented draft laws and are usually not posting their translations.
Best wishes.... Mark
Mark Sidel
Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin-Madison
sidel at wisc.edu | (319) 321-7913
Dear Joe and Mark,
Thanks a lot for the posting.
I think that the media reporting is creating the impression that the
household registration system will be abolished with this new form of
documentation (the headline often goes: *bỠhộ khẩu)*. However, it
apparently just implies that the document (*sổ hộ khẩu*) might be done away
with, to be replaced by an entry in the citizen identity card. I am asking
myself whether the incorporation of the *hộ khẩu* into the citizen identity
card means a deeper level of institutionalization for the system and/or
further formalization of people's differential citizen status.
I would appreciate any thoughts/clarifications on this.
Best regards,
Minh
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Germany
I have not worked on these issues in recent years so hopefully others could comment....
Mark Sidel
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Minh, Thank you for flagging the debate over reform of the family book and
individual ID procedures. Where persons are registered determines, among
other things perhaps, how the central authorities distribute funds to the
provinces. It is thus in the interest of poorer jurisdictions -- if I read
Professor Tom Jandl rightly -- to keep as many folks as possible on their
rolls, even though they may have migrated to more dynamic locations.
Meanwhile, HCM City and environs, Hanoi, etc. are swollen with technically
illegal residents who like undocumented immigrants in my home state of
California, are regularly exposed to harassment and extortion. Can you
tell VSG members if and how the new laws are likely to impact these
situations?
David Brown
Independent researcher/journalist
Fresno, California USA
Thanks David. I am not sure I am able to comment on the impacts of the new
law on the situations you describe - it would be great to hear some
informed views on this. What struck me was just that some years ago there
was quite a lot of discussion about scrapping the *ho khau*, but apparently
it is here to stay even more permanently under the new law.
Best regards,
Minh
Dear Joe,
I think the English translation in the news article that your friend looked at is wrong. I checked the National Assembly website to see what draft laws are pending, and there is none for "household registration." If there were is would be just "Law on Residence" which is what the current law is and which was amended in 2013, as noted by Minh, so it is unlikely it would be amended this year, and if it were, the title would be "draft law to amend the law".
What seems to be up for discussion is the draft law on civil registration (du thao luat ho tich). Any changes would still have to adhere to the Civil Code. I don't see anything for Law on citizen identity, though that idea is in the draft law on civil registration. This draft will make into law already legally binding decrees and regulations as well as introduce changes. The site that Mark noted is an excellent source for getting for any law and decrees that are up for discussion: 1) the draft, and once the draft is passed, the law 2) the documents that accompany a presentation of the law to the National Assembly, which will explain what the changes are, what the options/choices and which one the ministry that chaired the drafting recommends and when a decree will be law or a law is to be reviewed and changed they will do a sum up report of how the decree or law has been implemented (this draft has one that is useful to look at), 3) opinions of the public posted online 4) opinions of experts posted on line (usually there are not comments, or only a few; 5) the opinions of the NA delegates; 5) reference materials and supporting documents, such as research studies, issue papers, etc. In this case, the draft civil registration law includes the a report on the civil registration of Japan.
http://duthaoonline.quochoi.vn
For the draft law on Civil registration and all the materials I mentioned above see:
I am attaching the draft in Vietnamese. Much of the content will look similar to Decree 158/2005/ND-CP .
If your friend would like the English version of the decree on civil registration as well as other laws, he can check out the Ministry of Justice Law Database. Searching is best done by putting in the law or decree number. They do not have everything and is not always current, but the major laws and regulations are translated.
http://www.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/en/pages/vbpq.aspx
He can get the law on residence, Decree No. 158 on civil status registration and management which this draft law will codify or change (type 158/2005/ND-CP in search box) and the circular 01/2008/TT-BTP
The MOJ Law Database will give a mapping of the law to let viewers know what documents the law or decree is based on, if it has been amended, and the implementing regulations and circulars. However, this function works best on the Vietnamese website rather than the English website of the MOJ Law Database. For the law on civil registration see:
http://www.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/Pages/Luoc_Do.aspx?ItemID=16876
Best,
VAn
******************************************
Ms. Van Bich Thi Tran
Associate Director, Vietnam Program
Social Science Research Council
One Pierrepont Plaza 15th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
With regard to David Brown's observation about the fiscal transfer system, it is accurate that one major factor for revenue distribution (or retention) is the number of residents. The household registration laws were reformed not too long ago, reflecting that economically more vibrant provinces routinely house tens of thousands, in some cases hundreds of thousands or migrants for whom they have to provide social services although they are registered elsewhere.
Of course, since a lot of money is attached to registration, the migrant-sending provinces object to any change in the system that officially removes these migrants from their rolls. The compromise is KT1 through KT4, reflecting the status, reflecting different status of residency.
Sending provinces keep the migrants on their KT1 rolls, but receiving provinces now also have some recognition that migrants live and work there. This system will not be reformed rapidly, given the money riding on it.
_________________________________
Thomas Jandl, Ph.D.
School of International Service
American University
202-363-6810
Hi Joe,
To add what I wrote earlier, I do see a draft law on citizen ID on the Quochoi website. Dá»± thảo Luáºt căn cÆ°á»›c công dân
Much of what I wrote earlier about civil registration apply for what information and existing English documents are available. The Ministry of Public Security chaired the drafting.
Best,
Van
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