LookAtVietnam – Lower-cost services for the elderly and whether expatriates would be included within the scope of the law were among the issues in the draft Law on the Elderly discussed yesterday for the first time by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The key objectives of the draft law were to address the urgent needs of the elderly in healthcare, as well as Party and Government policies towards them. (Photo: SKDS)

He said that the passage of the law would help Viet Nam address newly arising problems relating to an ageing population.

“The law constitutes a basic legal foundation in the course of socialising the care given to the elderly and in enhancing their role in the society,” said Trinh.

“It is hoped that the law will contribute to the harmonisation and implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of Older People, to which Viet Nam is a signatory,” he added.

“Standing committee members generally agreed with the provision in the draft law’s second article, defining senior citizens as persons aged 60 and older. A few members wondered whether the law should include older foreign nationals living and working in Viet Nam.

Tran Quoc Vuong, chairman of the National Assembly’s Ombudsman, said the issue needed further consideration and would require a survey of the number of foreigners over 60 living and working here.

National Assembly vice chairman Uong Chu Luu noted that the existing Ordinance on the Elderly placed elder expatriates within the jurisdiction of the law and supported the idea of including them within the scope of the new Law on the Elderly.

On the issue of reducing costs of services for the elderly, a number of lawmakers expressed anxiety over the feasibility of the provision.

Judiciary Committee chairman Nguyen Van Thuan pointed to the fact that, at present, only people with high incomes were able to access high-quality services.

“We cannot treat everyone the same, and such a proposal may lead to inequality in society,” said Thuan.

Dao Trong Thi, chairman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children, and Ksor Phuoc, chairman of the Committee of Nationalities, supported the idea of giving priority to the elderly, but support and assistance measures needed to be closely associated to economic conditions.

“Material support must be given to the right people, particularly the poor,” they agreed.

Longer copyrights?

The NA Standing Committee yesterday also debated the revised draft Law on Intellectual Property.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh told lawmakers that the revised law focused on copyright, rights related to crop varieties, procedures to define intellectual property rights, and protection of intellectual property.

Minister Anh said some of the articles needed to be revised to comply with international law, including the Berne Convention (1886), Paris Convention (1967) and Viet Nam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement.

In discussion of the draft law, NA Standing Committee members agreed the draft law was complex and difficult.

Deputies Nguyen Van Thuan, Le Quang Binh and Truong Thi Mai said the draft law’s compiling board should not extend the aspects to be revised but should try to limit them to how to comply with international commitments and overcome shortcomings and problems.

Participants proposed copyright be protected for 75 years instead of 50 years, as under the current Law on Intellectual Property.

Dao Trong Thi said the extension of copyright terms was necessary to bring it in line with international practice.

But the director of the Committee on Social Affairs, Truong Thi Mai, asked for prudence in considering an extension that might have a negative impact on the public interest white protecting the rights of individual authors.

The intellectual property law was originally promulgated in 2005, laying a solid basis for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the State, intellectual property owners, consumers and the public, said lawmakers.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News