Informal Talk on Information Access Draft Law Held

View of the talk

    Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dang Dung said: “Ministry of Justice is in charge of draw up the draft laws of information access, slated to get NA’s approval on May, 2010. The most important aim of the law is to ensure every individual to get to know about the law, play part in national affairs, make all State’s operations apparent as well as responsibility of administrative organs for information supply and key issues on possession and management of government authorities.”

    “The government is responsible for information supply, which enables people to protect their rights,” he stressed.

    Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, deputy head of Department of Administration and Criminal Law added: “In principle, the government has to offer information as people require because late information certainly loses its significance. However, in the fear that background of cadres and people’s capacity of information access, the law limits time during which information is supplied to 30 days.”

    At the talk, a number of practical opinions were posed. A representative from Department of Construction said: “Information about projects is never considered confidential. If people are not given chance to get access to that, they will be embarrassed as the land they own may be a street in future.”

    “Due to particular characteristic of our job, much of internal information must be kept secret,” said a preventative of the provincial public security, “for instance, the information a case progress, and crime pursuance and capture.”

    On behalf of enterprises, Sonadezi Company’s representative posed difficulties that foreigners (including company’s leaders, staff and customers) faced in getting access to their needed information because legal documents in foreign languages were limited.

    Survey notes were released to detect and collect opinions serving a base for research and construction of the Law on Information Access.

    Concluding the talk, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, deputy head of Department of Administration and Criminal Law thanked participants for their constructive opinions. She said: “The information collected from the talk plays a significantly practical role in research and construction of the Law.”

L.H (Reported by T.Que)