The remarks were made by the top legislator while chairing the second session of the National Assembly Standing Committee in Hanoi on May 11.

The session reviewed and adopted amendments to the Ordinance on Consolidation of Legal Normative Documents, examined the National Assembly’s public petition reports for March and April 2026, and discussed preparations for the second sitting of the 16th National Assembly.

The National Assembly Chairman stressed that agencies responsible for drafting and submitting laws and resolutions must seriously review shortcomings and clarify responsibilities related to delays and procedural issues.

He also requested the standing committee of the Ethnic Council, National Assembly committees and the National Assembly Office to strengthen coordination and closely monitor progress in the legislative process.

According to the National Assembly Chairman, several legal documents guiding the implementation of laws and resolutions passed during previous sessions remain behind schedule, including some documents under the authority of the Standing Committee itself.

“The consistent principle is that there must be no backlog of implementation guidelines and no legal vacuum. Once laws and resolutions take effect, they must be enforceable immediately in practice,” he said.

He called on the Government to accelerate the drafting and issuance of detailed implementation documents while improving coordination among ministries and agencies.

Discussing public petitions and local governance reform, lawmakers also raised concerns over the growing workload facing commune-level officials after the restructuring of the two-tier local government system.

Hoang Duy Trinh, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s Ethnic Council, said many commune-level civil servants had not yet received sufficient retraining to meet new administrative requirements following the mergers.

He urged authorities to quickly stabilise working conditions and infrastructure for local officials, particularly in remote and mountainous areas where travel remains difficult.

Meanwhile, National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Doan Anh noted that commune-level agencies are now required to coordinate with multiple provincial departments, significantly increasing workloads while local personnel capacity is uneven.

Reviewing the outcomes of the first session of the 16th National Assembly, Standing Committee members acknowledged the session’s overall success, particularly in personnel appointments and the passage of major laws and resolutions.

However, several shortcomings were also highlighted, including delays in sending documents to lawmakers and excessive reliance on shortened legislative procedures.

Concluding the discussion, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasised the need to avoid rushed preparations and “last-minute” lawmaking practices.

He called for ministers and deputy ministers to become more directly involved in reviewing draft laws instead of leaving the process entirely to lower-level drafting agencies.

“The quality of laws depends on every stage of the process, from drafting to final review. Documents and materials must no longer be submitted late to the Standing Committee, the Ethnic Council or the National Assembly,” he said.

The top legislator also requested closer coordination between the Party Committee of the National Assembly and the Party Committee of the Government in preparing future legislative agendas.

According to the current plan, the second regular session of the 16th National Assembly is expected to open on October 20, 2026, with lawmakers set to review nearly 40 draft laws and resolutions.

Chairman Tran Thanh Man added that the National Assembly and Government are currently conducting a comprehensive review of around 147,000 legal normative documents to identify bottlenecks and determine which ministries or localities are responsible for unresolved legal obstacles.

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