Circular No. 01/2003/TT-BTP dated March 14, 2003 of the Ministry of Justice guiding the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 13/2003/QD-TTg dated January 17, 2003 approving the 2003-2007 Law on dissemination and education program

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRIME MINISTER’S DECISION NO. 13/2003/QD-TTG OF JANUARY 17, 2003 APPROVING THE 2003-2007 LAW DISSEMINATION AND EDUCATION PROGRAM

In furtherance of Article 2 of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 13/2003/QD-TTg of January 17, 2003 approving the 2003-2007 Law Dissemination and Education Program, the Ministry of Justice hereby guides in detail a number of issues as follows:

I. GENERAL ISSUES

1. The 2003-2007 Law Dissemination and Education Program (hereinafter referred to as the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program) has inherited and developed the Plan on Implementation of the Law Dissemination and Education Work from 1998 to 2002 (promulgated together with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 03/1998/QD-TTg of January 7, 1998). The Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program has not only laid down the direction for, clarified the subjects and contents, but also suggested a number of law dissemination and education forms and measures which should be implemented with concentrated efforts. The Program, however, does not prescribe concrete implementation tempo and schedule. Therefore, the ministries, branches, localities and agencies should take initiative in selecting the subjects, contents, forms, measures and tempos suitable to their respective conditions, characteristics, demands and tasks.

2. In order to enhance the role of the ministries and branches in formulating and implementing laws, the Government’s Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP of November 5, 2002 specified the tasks and powers of the ministries and ministers in "directing and organizing the performance of the work of propagating, educating in, and disseminating legal documents falling under their State management scope" (Clause 4, Article 4). The ministries and branches shall work out plans for directing the entire branches to perform this task.

The Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program has assigned at Point 2, Section C concrete responsibilities to a number of ministries having the overall management function in the law dissemination and education work, which include the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Finance. These agencies shall have to direct the performance of the specific tasks assigned in the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program.

3. In Section C (Organization of implementation) of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, the Government has assigned the responsibility to implement the Program not only to the ministries and ministerial-level agencies but also to the agencies attached to the Government. Therefore, the agencies attached to the Government shall also have to implement the Program.

4. The Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program has assigned various tasks to the Committee for Nationalities, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Government’s Committee for Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Justice to coordinate with concerned agencies and organizations in formulating, promulgating and implementing detailed schemes on a national scale with a view to creating vigorous, effective and practical changes in the law dissemination and education work. The ministries and branches assigned this task shall take initiative in working with the coordinating agencies, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance in order to soon promulgate and implement the schemes already assigned by the Prime Minister.

5. The ministries, branches and the provincial-level People’s Committees shall notify the law dissemination and education work in a regular and timely manner and report its results to the Ministry of Justice, creating conditions for the latter to well fulfill its responsibilities in directing, guiding, urging, monitoring, summing up and reporting to the Prime Minister the tempo and results of the implementation of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program.

II. ON THE LAW DISSEMINATION AND EDUCATION PLANS OF THE MINISTRIES, BRANCHES AND LOCALITIES

1. Under the provisions at Points 1 and 3, Section C of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, annually the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People’s Committees at all levels shall work out law dissemination and education plans for implementation in their respective ministries, branches and localities. Due to the characteristics of the law dissemination and education work, which needs to be performed constantly, the promulgation and implementation of new plans under the Law Dissemination and Education Program must not interrupt the work currently performed under the previous plans of the ministries, branches or localities.

The ministries’ and branches’ law dissemination and education plans shall be worked out on the basis of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, suitable to the demands, tasks and practical situation of the ministries or branches, attaching importance to disseminating, and guiding the implementation of, legal documents in their respective management domains to agencies, units, enterprises as well as citizens.

The law dissemination and education plans of the provincial-level People’s Committees should closely follow the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, guidelines of the Government’s Council for Coordination in Law Dissemination and Education Work, guidelines of the ministries and branches on the law dissemination and education work in their respective management domains, and suit the demands, tasks and practical situation of the localities.

The law dissemination and education plans of the district- and commune-level People’s Committees shall be made on the basis of the provincial-level People’s Committees’ plans, direction and guidance.

The ministries’, branches’ and localities’ law dissemination and education plans should concretize the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, set forth synchronous, concrete and practical measures to raise the law knowledge and the law observance sense of officials and people, paying special attention to the forms and measures of propagating, disseminating and educating in law observance sense at the grassroots to people who directly organize the law enforcement and people who enforce laws.

In 2003, the ministries’, branches’ and localities’ law dissemination and education plans should be promulgated in the first quarter. According to the orientation of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program and inheriting the previous years’ plans, the law dissemination and education plans for 2004 on should be promulgated right at the beginning of each year for timely implementation.

2. On the plans’ contents:

a/ Subjects of law dissemination and education: The Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program still keep five subject groups as in the plans for performance of the law dissemination and education work from 1998 to 2002, concretely, people of all strata, State officials and employees, adolescents, laborers, managers and trade union cadres in enterprises; the armed forces. For each subject group, attention should be paid to a number of specific subjects.

The law dissemination and education plan of each ministry, branch or People’s Committee should focus on the subjects already identified by the Government’s Program. Depending on the law dissemination and education characteristics and demands of each ministry, branch or locality, for each of such general subject groups, the law dissemination and education plans should determine the contents, forms and measures for disseminating and educating the sense of law observance to narrower and more specific subjects.

b/ The law dissemination and education contents shall be selected to suit the subjects and localities on the basis of the directional contents of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program; with importance attached to concrete law provisions; guiding the implementation of the legal orders and procedures; combining law dissemination with the propagation of the Party’s and State’s undertakings and policies, with mass campaigns and movements launched by the Fatherland Front and mass organizations. It should be borne in mind that the legal contents to be disseminated should not only include documents newly promulgated in each period but also those which have become effective, depending on the requirements of political tasks, prevention and restriction of law violations as well as law implementation guidance of the ministries, branches and localities.

c/ On the law dissemination and education forms and measures: The Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program has set forth five forms and measures for performing the law dissemination and education work. They are:

- Consolidating and expanding the forces participating in law dissemination and education;

- Developing diversified and convenient forms of law dissemination and information, meeting the demands of various subjects;

- Raising the quality of law teaching and learning at schools of all educational levels;

- Expanding, and raising the quality of, various forms of legal counseling and assistance;

- Adopting appropriate forms of organizing and launching peak drives, concentrating on propagating, disseminating and mobilizing the law observance according to each specific topic and content.

Of concrete forms and measures, some should be commonly applied by the ministries, branches and localities to all subjects while others should be applied properly to each specific subject and condition. The ministries, branches and localities should pay attention to the following forms and measures in their plans:

- Strengthening the contingent of full-time officials engaged in the law dissemination and education work from the central to local levels; assigning officials with legal qualifications to monitor and perform the law dissemination and education work in agencies, units and localities.

- Attaching importance to consolidating and expanding the forces participating in law dissemination and education, including the contingents of law communicators and propagators, conciliators, legal counselors and assistants. Actively mobilizing and using the force of youth volunteers and shock youths in disseminating law to people; trade union cadres in popularizing law to laborers.

- Continuing to use the law dissemination and education forms which have proved effective, such as the mass media, law book cases, compilation of law documents (paying attention to the translation and publication of law documents in ethnic minority languages), organization of law knowledge contests and quizzes, incorporation of legal contents in activities of mass organizations, clubs and professional associations. Actively making effective use of various law dissemination and education forms through legal counseling and assistance activities.

- Organizing peak drives and months for intensified propagation, dissemination and mobilization of the law observance with specific topics and contents.

Apart from the above-said forms and measures, the ministries, branches and localities may propose and apply other forms and measures suitable to the conditions, characteristics and requirements of their law dissemination and education work.

d/ Together with the law dissemination and education plans, the localities should formulate and implement documents concretizing the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, concretely as follows:

- Formulating and implementing the pilot direction schemes for law dissemination and education according to subjects, forms, measures, geographical areas and units in order to achieve practical results in raising the law awareness, preventing and restricting law violations. Such pilot direction schemes should not be wide in scope but focus on a number of selected geographical areas, units and subjects, for drawing experiences, building typical models for large-scale implementation.

- Working out inter-branch plans for coordination among State agencies, between State agencies as well as socio-political organizations and socio-professional organizations; between socio-political organizations and socio-professional organizations in law dissemination and education with specific contents, forms and measures to various subjects.

e/ Funding for the law dissemination and education work:

Under the provisions at Points 1 and 3, Section C of the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People’s Committees at all levels must ensure funding for the law dissemination and education work from the annual State budget. The ministries, branches and People’s Committees should direct the legal organizations or local judicial agencies to coordinate with the finance agencies in making budget expenditure estimates for the approved annual law dissemination and education plans.

All State budget expenditures for the law dissemination and education work shall comply with Sub-Sections 11 and 12 of Section 111 of the State Budget Classification.

Under the Government’s Law Dissemination and Education Program, the Ministry of Justice has been assigned to formulate a scheme on the setting up of the law dissemination and education fund from the sources contributed by organizations and individuals inside and outside the country. This fund shall operate nationwide. The Ministry of Justice shall provide concrete guidance for the ministries, branches and localities to implement the scheme after it is approved by the Government at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice and concerned ministries and branches.

3. Advisory agencies engaged in formulating, and organizing the implementation of, law dissemination and education plans are legal organizations of the ministries, branches and local judicial agencies.

4. Basing themselves on the promulgated plans, the ministries, branches and People’s Committees shall direct their legal organizations or local justice agencies to coordinate with the concerned units in regularly urging, inspecting, guiding and assessing the implementation thereof; and, stemming from this basis, making recommendations and proposals on more effective law dissemination and education forms and measures; supplement and revise in time the plans in order to make them close to the practical situation, requirements and tasks of the ministries, branches and localities; meeting the demand to raise the law awareness of all subjects.

The ministries, branches and People’s Committees should encourage and commend in time those collectives and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the law dissemination and education work, propose the Ministry of Justice to submit to the agencies with the commending and rewarding competence to confer high rewards on agencies, units, organizations and individuals that have made exceptionally outstanding achievements in the law dissemination and education work.

III. ON THE COUNCILS FOR COORDINATION IN LAW DISSEMINATION AND EDUCATION

The provincial-level Councils for Coordination in Law Dissemination and Education shall be set up under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 03/1998/QD-TTg of January 7, 1998. The ministries’ and branches’ Councils for Coordination in Law Dissemination and Education shall be further strengthened to raise their working quality.

The People’s Committees shall direct the maintenance of the provincial-, district- and commune-level level Councils for Coordination in Law Dissemination and Education, promote their role and create conditions for their operation.

The Government’s Council for Coordination in Law Dissemination and Education shall issue specific guidelines on the organization and operation of the Councils, which are suitable to the requirements of the law dissemination and education work in the present period.

This Circular takes implementation effect 15 days after its publication on the Official Gazette.

In the course of implementation, if facing any problems, the ministries, branches and People’s Committees at all levels should promptly report them to the Ministry of Justice for study and guidance.