Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019 of the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on prescribing the order and procedures for coordination between people’s courts and overseas representative missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in performing a number of civil proceedings and administrative proceedings abroad

JOINT CIRCULAR

Prescribing the order and procedures for coordination between people’s courts and overseas representative missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in performing a number of civil proceedings and administrative proceedings abroad^[1]

Pursuant to the November 25, 2015 Civil Procedure Code;

Pursuant to the November 25, 2015 Administrative Procedure Law;

Pursuant to the June 18, 2009 Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to the November 21, 2017 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 26/2017/ND-CP of March 14, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

The Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgate the Joint Circular prescribing the order and procedures for coordination between people’s courts and overseas representative missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in performing a number of civil proceedings and administrative proceedings abroad.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation

1. This Joint Circular prescribes the order and procedures for coordination between people’s courts and overseas representative missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (below collectively referred to as courts and representative missions) in performing the following civil proceedings and administrative proceedings abroad:

a/ Service of proceeding documents to involved parties that are overseas Vietnamese citizens under Point d, Clause 1, Article 474; Point a, Clause 6, Article 477; Clause 2, Article 479; and Article 480, of the Civil Procedure Code; and Point d, Clause 1, Article 303; Clause 2, Article 307; and Article 308, of the Administrative Procedure Law;

b/ Notification of proceeding documents to overseas involved parties that are Vietnamese citizens, foreigners or foreign agencies or organizations under Clause 3, Article 474; Point c, Clause 6, Article 477; Clauses 2 and 3, Article 479; and Article 480, of the Civil Procedure Code; and Clause 3, Article 303; Clauses 2 and 3, Article 307; and Article 308, of the Administrative Procedure Law.

2. This Joint Circular does not apply to activities of serving proceeding documents and collecting evidences specified at Points a, b and c, Clause 1, Article 474, and Article 475, of the Civil Procedure Code; and Points a, b and c, Clause 1, Article 303 of the Administrative Procedure Law.

Article 2.Subjects of application

This Joint Circular applies to first-instance courts, appellate courts, representative missions, involved parties, and other individuals, agencies and organizations involved in civil proceedings and administrative proceedings which representative missions perform abroad as requested by courts.

Article 3.Interpretation of terms

In this Joint Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. “Service of proceeding documents” means sending by representative missions of court proceeding documents to involved parties being overseas Vietnamese citizens via registered mail service.

2. “Notification of proceeding documents” means public posting or uploading by representative missions at their offices or on their portals of court proceeding documents for notification to overseas involved parties being Vietnamese citizens, foreigners or foreign agencies or organizations.

3. “Costs of service or notification of proceeding documents” include the following amounts: domestic postage, overseas postage, bank transfer charge, and cost of translation of proceeding documents and certification of translator signatures.

4. “Domestic postage” means a money amount payable to a court for sending of a file requesting service or notification of proceeding documents to a representative mission via registered mail service.

5. “Overseas postage” means a money amount payable to a representative mission for service of proceeding documents and sending of results of service or notification of proceeding documents to a court via registered mail service.

6. “Bank transfer charge” means a money amount payable to a bank when a court transfers overseas postage to a representative mission.

7. “Cost of translation of proceeding documents and certification of translator signatures” means a money amount payable for translation of proceeding documents and certification of translator signatures in case such documents are notified to an involved party being a foreigner or a foreign agency or organization.

8. “Registered mail service” means a service of accepting, transporting and delivering postal items, which bear identification numbers for monitoring and positioning during the delivery process, to recipients’ addresses.

Article 4.Methods of compiling and sending files requesting service or notification of proceeding documents between courts and representative missions

1. A court and a representative mission shall compile and send to each other the following files via registered mail service:

a/ Files requesting service of proceeding documents;

b/ Files requesting notification of proceeding documents;

c/ Files notifying results of service or notification of proceeding documents.

2. In case document management and administration systems of a court and a representative mission are interconnected, the court and representative mission shall compile and send to each other the files specified at Points b and c, Clause 1 of this Article in the form of e-documents bearing digital signatures.

Chapter II

PROCEDURES FOR COMPILATION AND SENDING OF FILES REQUESTING SERVICE OR NOTIFICATION OF PROCEEDING DOCUMENTS TO REPRESENTATIVE MISSIONS

Article 5.Compilation of files requesting service of proceeding documents to involved parties being overseas Vietnamese citizens

1. A file requesting service of proceeding documents must comprise:

a/ A written request for a representative mission to serve proceeding documents;

b/ Proceeding documents that need to be served to involved parties;

c/ Papers and documents (if any) of domestic involved parties which the court is requested to send to involved parties;

d/ Copies of invoices and documents evidencing transfer of overseas postage.

2. A court shall compile a file requesting service of proceeding documents by the following method:

a/ A written request for a representative mission to serve proceeding documents shall be made according to Form No. 01 provided together with this Joint Circular;

b/ In case of necessity to serve proceeding documents to different involved parties at different addresses or to different involved parties at the same address, a file shall be made for every address or every involved party;

c/ A file requesting service of proceeding documents shall be made in two sets, one to be sent to a representative mission and the other to be included in the case file.

Article 6.Compilation of files requesting notification of proceeding documents to overseas involved parties

1. A file requesting notification of proceeding documents must comprise:

a/ A written request for a representative mission to notify proceeding documents;

b/ Proceeding documents that need to be served to involved parties;

c/ Copies of invoices and documents evidencing transfer of overseas postage;

d/ Papers and documents (if any) of domestic involved parties which the court is requested to send to involved parties.

2. In case an involved party to be notified of proceeding documents is a foreigner or foreign agency or organization, a file requesting notification of proceeding documents must also comprise foreign-language translations of such documents bearing certified translator signature(s).

3. A court shall compile a file requesting notification of proceeding documents by the following method:

a/ A written request for a representative mission to notify proceeding documents shall be made according to Form No. 02 provided together with this Joint Circular;

b/ Proceeding documents shall be translated into the official language of the country of which the notified involved party is a citizen or where the notified involved party’s address is registered or into another language accepted by such country;

c/ The court shall assign the plaintiff, lawsuit initiator, requester or appellant to carry out the translation or payment of cost of translation and certification of translator signature(s). The notified involved party shall return receipts to the court for inclusion in the case file;

d/ A file requesting notification of proceeding documents shall be made in two sets, one to be sent to a representative mission and the other to be included in the case file.

Article 7.Time limit for courts to send files requesting service or notification of proceeding documents to representative missions

1. Within 3 working days after completing the compilation of a file requesting service or notification of proceeding documents and the transfer of overseas postage to a representative mission, a court shall send such file to the representative mission by the method specified in Clause 1, Article 4 of this Joint Circular.

2. Within 3 working days after completing the compilation of a file requesting notification of proceeding documents in the form of e-documents bearing digital signatures, a court shall send such file to a representative mission by the method specified in Clause 2, Article 4 of this Joint Circular.

Chapter III

PROCEDURES FOR RECEIPT AND PROCESSING OF REQUESTS FOR SERVICE OR NOTIFICATION OF PROCEEDING DOCUMENTS AND NOTIFICATION OF PROCESSING RESULTS AT REPRESENTATIVE MISSIONS

Article 8.Procedures for receipt and processing of requests for service or notification of court proceeding documents

1. Within 5 working days after receiving a file requesting service or notification of court proceeding documents, a representative mission shall:

a/ Check such documents and record them in a register book of files for service or notification of proceeding documents;

b/ Serve or notify proceeding documents under Articles 9 and 10 of this Joint Circular, except the case specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. If detecting that the address of an involved party being an overseas Vietnamese citizen has insufficient information or is incompliant with regulations of the country where the involved party resides or works, a representative mission shall stop the service or notification and notify such via email to the court for compilation of a new file. After receiving the new file from the court, the representative mission shall process the request for service of proceeding documents under Clause 1 of this Article.

3. An address of an involved party being an overseas Vietnamese citizen that has insufficient information or is compliant with regulations of the country where the involved party resides or works as mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article is the one that lacks at least one of information details about name of the country, state, territory, city or street, number of the house where the involved party resides or works or post office box of the involved party in case he/she receives papers and documents only in this form or his/her address is not real, no longer exists or is transcribed into Vietnamese.

Article 9.Service of proceeding documents to involved parties being overseas Vietnamese citizens and notification of service results to courts

1. Representative missions shall serve proceeding documents to involved parties via registered mail service.

2. Within 5 working days after obtaining results of delivery of postal items, a representative mission shall notify such results according to Form No. 01 (the back page) provided together with this Joint Circular and send them together with postage invoices and results of delivery of postal items to the court by the method specified in Article 4 of this Joint Circular.

3. Past one month from the date of sending postal items, if receiving no results of delivery of postal items, a representative mission shall request the post office to give a reason. Within 5 working days after receiving a reply from the post office, the representative mission shall notify delivery results according to Form No. 01 (the back page) provided together with this Joint Circular and send them together with postage invoices and results of delivery of postal items to the court by the method specified in Article 4 of this Joint Circular.

Article 10.Notification of proceeding documents to overseas involved parties and sending of notification results to courts

1. Representative missions shall carry out posting up at their offices and/or uploading on their portals of proceeding documents for durations stated by courts in written requests for notification of proceeding documents.

2. In case practical conditions in the host country do not permit the uploading of court proceeding documents on a portal under Clause 1 of this Article, a representative mission shall:

a/ Post up proceeding documents at its office for one month;

b/ Clearly state reason(s) for failure to post up proceeding documents on its portal in the notice of notification results.

3. In the duration specified in Clause 1 or 2 of this Article, if an involved party comes to a representative mission’s office to receive proceeding documents, the representative mission shall deliver such documents to the involved party. The delivery and receipt of proceeding documents shall be recorded in writing with signatures of the deliverer and recipient.

4. Within 10 days after the expiration of the duration specified in Clause 1 or 2 of this Article, a representative mission shall make notification results according to Form No. 02 (the back page) provided together with this Joint Circular and send them together with postage invoices and written record of delivery and receipt of proceeding documents (in case the involved party comes to receive them) to the court by the method specified in Article 4 of this Joint Circular.

Chapter IV

COST OF SERVICE OR NOTIFICATION OF PROCEEDING DOCUMENTS

Article 11.Obligation of involved parties to pay in advance cost of service or notification of proceeding documents

Involved parties defined in Article 152 of the Civil Procedure Code or Article 353 of the Administrative Procedure Law shall pay in advance cost of service or notification of proceeding documents under Clause 3, Article 3, and Article 13, of this Joint Circular.

Article 12.Opening of bank accounts for management, payment or refund of redundant amounts of advanced cost of service or notification of proceeding documents to involved parties

1. A first-instance court shall open a foreign-currency payment account at a commercial bank in the locality where it is based for management, payment or refund of redundant amounts of advanced cost of service or notification of proceeding documents to involved parties.

2. The chief justice of a first-instance court may authorize in writing on a regular basis judges of the court to sign on the account holder’s behalf documents on bank transactions related to advance cost of service or notification of proceeding documents.

3. The chief justice of a first-instance court shall notify in writing a bank where the court opens its account of termination of authorization for judges to carry out the job specified in Clause 2 of this Article when such judges are transferred, rotated, seconded, relieved from duty or dismissed in accordance with law and in other cases where he/she finds it necessary.

4. An appellate court shall open a bank account, and authorize or stop authorizing its judges to sign documents on bank transactions under Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.

Article 13.Requests for advance payment by involved parties of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents to courts

1. A court may request involved parties to pay in advance cost of service or notification of proceeding documents in US dollar. It shall determine an amount of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents to be paid in advance by involved parties as follows:

a/ It requests a representative mission to provide information about overseas postage under Article 16 of this Joint Circular. Based on the information provided by the representative mission and number of times of service or notification of proceeding documents, the court shall estimate an amount to be paid in advance for the first time by involved parties. Such amount must be enough to cover the cost of service or notification of proceeding documents, including notification of acceptance of the case, court judgment or ruling, and appeal to overseas involved parties;

b/ If the amount paid in advance for the first time has been used up or is not enough to cover the cost of service or notification of proceeding documents, including court judgment or ruling, and notice of appeal in subsequent requests for service or notification of proceeding documents, the court shall base itself on cost of previous service or notification of proceeding documents to estimate an amount to be paid in advance for the second time by involved parties;

c/ If an involved party other than that specified at Point a of this Clause files an appeal, the court shall base itself on the cost of the previous serving or notification of proceeding documents to estimate an amount to be paid in advance by involved parties;

d/ In other cases where the court requests the representative mission to serve or notify proceeding documents in accordance with the Civil Procedure Code or Administrative Procedure Law, the court shall base itself on information about overseas postage provided by the representative mission and the number of times of service or notification of proceeding documents to estimate an amount to be paid in advance by involved parties.

For example: In case the court requests the representative mission to notify proceeding documents under Clause 3, Article 474 and Point c, Clause 6, Article 477 of the Civil Procedure Code, and Clause 3, Article 303 of the Administrative Procedure Law, the court shall request the representative mission to provide information about overseas postage for one time of notification of proceeding documents. Based on such information, the court shall estimate an amount to be paid in advance by involved parties. Such amount must be enough for the representative mission to pay overseas postage when sending a file stating results of notification of proceeding documents, including court judgment or ruling and notice of appeal to overseas involved parties.

2. A court shall request in writing involved parties specified in Clause 1 of this Article to pay in advance cost of service or notification of proceeding documents as follows:

a/ If such involved parties are in the country, it shall make a written request according to Form No. 03 provided together with this Joint Circular;

b/ If such involved parties are overseas, it shall make a written request according to Form No. 04 provided together with this Joint Circular.

3. If identifying that involved parties fail to pay fully in advance cost of service or notification of proceeding documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article, a court shall request in writing involved parties to pay the deficit.

Article 14.Time limit for courts to make written requests for advance payment by involved parties of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents

1. A first-instance court shall make a written request for advance payment by involved parties of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents within:

a/ Three working days after receiving a notice of overseas postage from a representative mission or an appeal of involved parties, for the cases specified at Points a, c and d, Clause 1, Article 13 of this Joint Circular; or,

b/ Three working days after the court finds that the first-time advance amount has been used up or is not enough to cover cost of service or notification of proceeding documents in subsequent times of request for service or notification of proceeding documents, for the case specified at Point b, Clause 1, Article 13 of this Joint Circular.

2. An appellate court shall make a written request for advance payment by involved parties of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents within:

a/ Three working days after receiving a notice of overseas postage from a representative mission, in case the court requests involved parties to pay the first-time advance amount; or,

b/ Three working days after the court finds that the first-time advance amount has been used up or is not enough to cover cost of service or notification of proceeding documents, including court judgments or rulings in subsequent times of request for service or notification of proceeding documents.

Article 15.Payment of domestic postage for sending of files requesting service or notification of proceeding documents to representative missions

1. In case the involved parties specified in Article 11 of this Joint Circular are in Vietnam, a first-instance court or an appellate court shall request them to pay directly postage when it sends a file requesting service or notification of proceeding documents to a representative mission. Involved parties shall hand over postage invoices to the court for inclusion in the case file.

2. In case the involved parties specified in Article 11 of this Joint Circular are overseas, a first-instance court or an appellate court shall, when sending a file requesting service or notification of proceeding documents to a representative mission, carry out procedures for selling to the bank a foreign-currency advance amount which has been paid by involved parties to pay postage. The court shall include the document on sale of the foreign-currency amount and other invoices and transaction documents in the case file.

Article 16.Requests for provision of information for transfer of overseas postage to representative missions

1. A court shall make a written request according to Form No. 05 provided together with this Joint Circular for a representative mission to provide information about overseas postage and bank account for the former to transfer such amount to the representative mission.

2. Within 3 working days after receiving the request from the court, the representative mission shall make a notice providing information to the court according to Form No. 06 provided together with this Joint Circular.

3. The court and representative mission shall send to each other the documents specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article to their focal emails.

Article 17.Transfer of overseas postage, postage invoices and related documents between courts and representative missions

1. Within 3 working days after receiving an advanced amount of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents from involved parties, a court shall carry out procedures for transfer of overseas postage to a representative mission via the bank where it opens its account. The court shall pay bank transfer charge from the advanced amount of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents.

2. A court’s file requesting a bank to transfer overseas postage to a representative mission must comprise:

a/ A written request for the bank to transfer overseas postage to the representative mission, made according to Form No. 07 provided together with this Joint Circular;

b/ A copy of the document specified at Point a, Clause 1, Article 5 or Point a, Clause 1, Article 6 of this Joint Circular;

c/ A copy of the document specified in Clause 2, Article 16 of this Joint Circular.

3. After completing the transfer of overseas postage, a court shall send one copy of the bank transfer invoice or document together with a file requesting service or notification of proceeding documents to a representative mission.

The court shall include documents related to the transfer of overseas postage to the representative mission in the case file.

4. A representative mission shall send to a court postage invoices and a notice of results of the service or notification of proceeding documents and related documents specified in Articles 9 and 10 of this Joint Circular.

5. Representative missions, courts and involved parties shall pay and settle overseas postage in accordance with relevant current regulations.

Chapter V

RESPONSIBILITIES OF RELATED AGENCIES

Article 18.Responsibilities of the Supreme People’s Court

1. To direct and guide courts of subordinate levels in coordinating with representative missions in serving or notifying proceeding documents under this Joint Circular.

2. Annually, to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in:

a/ Reviewing results of the coordination between courts and representative missions in the service or notification of proceeding documents;

b/ Inspecting at courts their coordination with representative missions in the service or notification of proceeding documents;

c/ Organizing training courses for staffs and judges of courts in the operation of service or notification of proceeding documents under this Joint Circular;

d/ Holding meetings to exchange information, discuss and decide on measures to address difficulties and problems arising from the coordination between courts and representative missions in the service or notification of proceeding documents.

3. To request the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct representative missions in sending notices of results of the service or notification of proceeding documents in case courts receive no such notice from representative missions though the time limit prescribed in this Joint Circular has expired.

4. To provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a list of focal emails of courts at all levels for sending to representative missions.

Article 19.Responsibilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1. To direct and urge representative missions in coordinating with courts in serving or notifying proceeding documents under this Joint Circular.

2. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Supreme People’s Court in, organizing training courses for staffs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the operation of service or notification of proceeding documents.

3. To coordinate with the Supreme People’s Court in carrying out the tasks specified in Clause 2, Article 18 of this Joint Circular.

4. To provide the Supreme People’s Court with a list of focal emails of representative missions for sending to courts at all levels.

Article 20.Responsibilities of representative missions

1. To coordinate with courts in serving or notifying proceeding documents under this Joint Circular.

2. To promptly notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of difficulties, limitations and problems arising from the service or notification of proceeding documents.

3. To make and provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with lists of their focal emails for receipt and exchange of information with courts in the course of service or notification of proceeding documents.

4. To annually notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of results of the service or notification of proceeding documents under this Joint Circular.

Article 21.Responsibilities of courts at all levels

1. To coordinate with representative missions in serving or notifying proceeding documents under this Joint Circular.

2. To provide adequate and accurate information about addresses of involved parties being overseas Vietnamese citizens and take responsibility for such information.

3. To upload results of the service or notification of proceeding documents on their portals.

4. To promptly notify the Supreme People’s Court (via the International Cooperation Department) of difficulties, limitations and problems arising from the service or notification of proceeding documents, and cases where no notices of results of the service or notification of proceeding documents are received after requesting notification thereof by representative missions under this Joint Circular.

5. To notify, on a biannual basis or upon request, the Supreme People’s Court (via the International Cooperation Department) of results of their coordination with representative missions in the service or notification of proceeding documents.

6. To make and provide the Supreme People’s Court with lists of their focal emails for receipt and exchange of information with representative missions in the course of service or notification of proceeding documents.

Chapter VI

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 22.Effect

This Joint Circular takes effect on February 3, 2020.

Article 23.Organization of implementation

Courts at all levels, representative missions and related agencies, organizations and individuals should report any problems arising in the course of implementation of this Joint Circular to the Supreme People’s Court (via the International Cooperation Department) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (via the Consular Department) for timely explanation and guidance.-