Joint Circular 01/2026/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG amend Joint Circular 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG coordination in civil proceedings, administrative proceedings abroad

JOINT CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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

Pursuant to the Civil Procedure Code No. 92/2015/QH13, amended and supplemented under Law No. 45/2019/QH14, Law No. 59/2020/QH14, Law No. 13/2022/QH15, Law No. 19/2023/QH15, Law No. 34/2024/QH15, Law No. 46/2024/QH15 and Law No. 85/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Law No. 93/2015/QH13, amended and supplemented under Law No. 55/2019/QH14, Law No. 34/2024/QH15 and Law No. 85/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of People’s Courts No. 34/2024/QH15, amended and supplemented under Law No. 81/2025/QH15, Law No. 142/2025/QH15 and Law No. 150/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam No. 33/2009/QH12, amended and supplemented under Law No. 19/2017/QH14;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Litigation Costs No. 05/2024/UBTVQH15 dated December 11, 2024, of the National Assembly Standing Committee, amended and supplemented under Ordinance No. 08/2025/UBTVQH15;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 28/2025/ND-CP dated February 24, 2025, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affair;

The Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgate the Joint Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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. To amend and supplement Article 3 as follows:

“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. “Cost of service or notification of proceeding documents” means one or more of the following amounts: Costs for duplicating procedural documents, domestic postal service charges, overseas postal service charges, translation costs; certification costs, and other costs.

4. “Domestic postal service charge” 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 postal service charge” 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. “Translation costs and certification costs” mean 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.

7. “Other costs” mean expenses directly related to and necessary for service and notification of proceeding documents abroad, corresponding to the nature and content of the case, determined based on actual costs arising under contracts (if any), invoices, and supporting documents as prescribed by law.

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.”.

2. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 7 as follows:

“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 notified involved party has made advanced payment for the cost of service or notification of proceeding documents, a court shall send such file to the representative mission by the method specified in Clause 1, Article 4 of this Joint Circular.”.

3. To amend and supplement Article 17 as follows:

“Article 17. Payment of overseas postal service charges

1. Within 3 working days after receiving the notice of results of the service or notification of proceeding documents, the court shall carry out procedures for payment of overseas postal service charges 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 paid by the notified involved party, and shall tick the box “Remitter pays transfer charges” on the bank remittance form (if any).

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

a) A written request for the bank to transfer overseas postal service charges 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 notice of results of the service or notification of proceeding documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. After completing the transfer of overseas postal service charges, a court shall send one copy of the bank transfer invoice or document to a representative mission through the designated email address of each agency.

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

4. In case the representative mission has not received the full amount or has not received any of the amount specified in the notice referred to in Clause 1 of this Article, the court shall pay the outstanding amount or the unpaid amount on the basis of a notice from the representative mission transmitted through the designated email address of each agency and following reconciliation between the two parties. Such a notice must include the following information:

a) The name of the court requesting the service;

b) The name of the case or matter and the full name of the overseas involved party to whom the court has requested the service or notification of proceeding documents;

c) The amount of postage that remains unpaid or has not been received.

A copy of the overseas postage invoice shall be attached to the notice (if any).”.

4. To add Clause 3a after Clause 3, Article 20 as follows:

“3a. To make advance payments from the allocated recurrent expenditure budget estimates for payment of overseas postal service charges.”.

Article 2. To repeal of, and replace of phrases relating to, a number of articles of Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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. To repeal Point d, Clause 1, Article 5 and Point c, Clause 1, Article 6 of Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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.

2. To replace certain phrases in a number of articles as follows:

a) To replace the phrase “overseas postage” in Clause 1, Article 13; Article 14; Article 16; Forms No. 05, 06 and 07 with the phrase “overseas postal service charges”;

b) To replace the phrase “domestic postage” in Article 15 with the phrase “domestic postal service charges”.

Article 3. To amend and supplement a number of forms promulgated together with Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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. To amend and supplement Form No. 03 - Written request for advance payment of cost of service or notification of proceeding documents by involved parties in Vietnam, to this Joint Circular.

2. To amend and supplement Form No. 07 - Written request for the bank to transfer overseas postage to the representative mission.

Article 4. Effect

1. This Joint Circular takes effect from June 01, 2026.

2. Joint Circular No. 01/2019/TTLT-TANDTC-BNG dated December 05, 2019, of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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, shall continue to apply to files requesting the service or notification of proceeding documents that were sent to representative missions before the effective date of this Joint Circular.