Joint Circular No. 02/2018/TTLT-BCA-VKSNDTC-TANDTC-BQP dated February 01, 2018 of the Ministry of Public Security; the Supreme People's Procuracy; the Supereme People's Court; the Ministry of National Defense on prescribing the order, procedures, time limit and place for the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents related to their accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to their defense

JOINT CIRCULAR

Prescribing the order, procedures, time limit and place for the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents related to their accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to their defense^[1]

Pursuant to the November 27, 2015 Criminal Procedure Code;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 110/2015/QH13 of November 27, 2015, on implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 41/2017/QH14 of June 20, 2017, on implementation of Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13, which has been amended and supplemented under Law No. 12/2017/QH14, and on the effect of Criminal Procedure Code No. 101/2015/QH13, Law No. 99/2015/QH13 on Organization of Criminal Investigation Bodies, and Law No. 94/2015/QH13 on Custody and Temporary Detention;

The Minister of Public Security, Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and Minister of National Defense promulgate the Joint Circular prescribing the order, procedures, time limit and place for the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents related to their accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to their defense.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Joint Circular prescribes the order, procedures, time limit and place for the accused or at-law representatives of commercial legal entities to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents related to their accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to their defense when such persons so request in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code.

2. This Joint Circular applies to bodies and persons competent to conduct proceedings, temporary detention or custody facilities, the accused, at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities and other related agencies, organizations and individuals.

Article 2.Principles of application

1. Compliance with the Criminal Procedure Code and other relevant regulations.

2. Copies of documents or digitized documents constitute part of criminal case files and must have the same contents and be of the same quantity as original case files. It is prohibited to modify or otherwise change contents of originals and copies of documents or digitized documents.

3. The accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities may read and take notes of documents after the investigation is completed, during the prosecution until the court decides to bring their cases to trial.

4. Compliance with the regulations on the order, procedures, time limit and place for, and the right of, the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents related to their accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to their defense when they so request.

5. Permission for the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents must ensure the confidentiality requirements in accordance with law, cause no impedance to, and ensure the time limits for, investigation, prosecution and trial.

Article 3.Cases where the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities are entitled to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents

1. Competent proceeding-conducting bodies or persons that have accepted and are settling criminal cases shall decide on copying or digitalizing documents related to the accusation or exculpation and other documents related to the defense (below collectively referred to as documents) so that the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities can read and take notes of when they so request, unless they fall into one of the cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. Competent proceeding-conducting bodies or persons that have accepted and are settling criminal cases may refuse to permit the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of documents or refuse to permit them to continue reading and taking notes of documents in the following cases:

a/ Such documents are related to state secrets; occupational secrets, business secrets or private life or family secrets of individuals participating in the proceedings that have requested competent proceeding-conducting bodies or persons to keep such secrets in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code and other relevant regulations.

Information and documents which proceeding participants that have denounced or reported crimes request competent proceeding-conducting bodies or persons to keep secret;

b/ Procedural decisions, orders and documents which have been delivered by competent proceeding-conducting bodies or persons to the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code;

c/ There is a ground to believe that the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities have committed one of the following acts:

- Buying off, forcing or enticing others to make false statements and provide untruthful documents; destroying or forging evidence, documents, e-data and objects of cases; intimidating, controlling or taking revenge on witnesses, victims and crime denouncers and their relatives.

- Deceiving, intimidating, buying off or using force against witnesses to prevent them from giving testimonies or forcing other persons to give false testimonies; preventing victims from participating in the proceedings or forcing them to make untruthful statements; preventing expert witnesses and asset valuators from performing their tasks or forcing them to make conclusions untrue to the objective truth; preventing interpreters or translators from performing their tasks or forcing them to make false interpretations or translations; or preventing representatives of other agencies, organizations and individuals from participating in the procedings.

- Offending the honor, dignity or reputation of competent proceeding-conducting persons; intimidating or using force against or taking other acts to obstruct procedural activities of competent proceeding-conducting persons.

- Being absent from procedural activities neither for force majeure reasons nor objective obstacles although having been summoned, thus obstructing these activities; or preventing the delivery, handover, receipt or notification of procedural documents of competent proceeding-conducting bodies;

d/ There is a ground to believe that the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities will disclose information about criminal cases or investigation secrets which they know after competent proceeding-conducting persons have asked to keep them secret; or that they will use documents which they have read or taken notes of for the purpose of infringing upon the interests of the State, public interests, or lawful rights and interests of agencies, organizations and individuals;

dd/ When the investigation of criminal cases has not yet been finished or is resumed or additional investigation is conducted or the court has issued decisions to bring cases to trial;

e/ Competent proceeding-conducting bodies or persons have issued decisions to terminate or suspend the investigation; terminate or suspend the investigation for the accused; terminate or suspend criminal cases; or terminate or suspend criminal cases for the accused.

Chapter II

ORDER, PROCEDURES, TIME LIMIT AND PLACE FOR THE ACCUSED OR AT-LAW REPRESENTATIVES OF CRIME-COMMITTING COMMERCIAL LEGAL ENTITIES TO READ AND TAKE NOTES OF DOCUMENTS OR DIGITIZED DOCUMENTS

Article 4.Notification of the right of the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of documents

1. When delivering written investigation conclusions to request prosecution or indictments to the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities, competent proceeding-conducting persons assigned to accept and settle criminal cases shall notify them of and explain about their right to read and take notes of copies of documents or digitized documents related to their accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to their defense after the investigation is finished and when they so request.

2. The notification of the right of the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of documents shall be recorded by competent proceeding-conducting bodies in the minutes of delivery and receipt of written investigation conclusions requesting prosecution or indictments which shall be enclosed with criminal case files.

Article 5.Receipt of requests of the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities for reading and taking notes of documents

1. When the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities wish to read and take notes of documents, they shall send written requests to competent proceeding-conducting bodies that have accepted and are settling their criminal cases. Such a written request must clearly state information of the accused or at-law representative of the crime-committing commercial legal entity, contact address and telephone number and documents he/she needs to read and take notes of so that the competent proceeding-conducting body or person can consider and settle the request.

2. In case a temporarily detained accused makes a written request for reading and taking notes of documents, the detention facility shall forward such request to the competent proceeding-conducting body that has accepted and is settling the criminal case within 1 day after receiving such request.

Article 6.Settlement of requests of the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities for reading and taking notes of documents

Within 3 days after receiving a written request of an accused or the at-law representative of a crime-committing commercial legal entity for reading and taking notes of documents, a competent proceeding-conducting body or person that has accepted and is settling the criminal case shall consider and settle such request as follows:

1. In a case specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Joint Circular, it/he/she shall issue a notice of refusal to permit the accused or at-law representative of the crime-committing commercial legal entity to read and take notes of documents, clearly stating the reason.

2. In a case other than those mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article, it/he/she shall immediately prepare copies of documents or digitized documents and notify such in writing, clearly stating the place and time for the accused or at-law representative of the crime-committing commercial legal entity to read and take notes of them.

3. The accused who are not temporarily detained and at-law representatives of crime-committing legal entities may read and take notes of documents at working offices of competent proceeding-conducting bodies that have accepted and are settling their criminal cases.

A temporarily detained accused may be permitted by a competent proceeding-conducting body or person to read and take notes of documents in the interrogation room of his/her detention facility.

Article 7.Permission for the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of documents

1. Competent proceeding-conducting persons assigned to accept and settle criminal cases shall personally deliver copies of documents or digitized documents to the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities for reading and taking notes of.

Competent proceeding-conducting persons shall provide the accused who are temporarily detained with pens and paper sheets to take notes. Upon the expiration of the time limit for reading and taking notes, competent proceeding-conducting persons shall take back the pens while the accused may themselves keep note papers and bring them to their detention cells.

2. The reading and taking notes of documents by the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities shall be supervised by competent proceeding-conducting persons assigned to accept and settle the cases.

For the temporarily detained accused, competent proceeding-conducting persons assigned to accept and settle their cases shall request in writing the detention facilities to assign persons to supervise and ensure safety when the accused read and take  notes of documents.

3. In case an accused or the at-law representative of a crime-committing commercial legal entity cannot speak Vietnamese or in case a mute, deaf or blind accused wishes to read and take notes of documents, the competent proceeding-conducting body that has accepted and is settling the criminal case shall invite an interpreter or a translator or a person who knows gestures or behaviors of the mute or the deaf or the tactile writing system for the blind to help this accused or at-law representative of the crime-committing commercial legal entity read and take notes of documents. For an under-18 accused, there must be his/her representative to help him/her read and take notes of documents.

4. An accused or the at-law representative of a crime-committing commercial legal entity may read and take notes of documents no more than twice a day for no more than 3 hours each time.

5. The reading and taking notes of documents by the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities shall be recorded in writing. For the cases specified in Clause 3 of this Article, certifications by persons who have helped the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities involved read and take notes of documents and signatures or fingerprints of the accused are also required.

Article 8.Use, preservation and archive of copies of documents or digitized documents

1. Competent proceeding-conducting persons assigned to accept and settle criminal cases shall preserve copies of documents or digitized documents related to the accusation or exculpation or copies of other documents related to the defense of the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities.

2. Copies of documents or digitized documents and documents on the order and procedures for permitting the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities to read and take notes of such documents shall be forwarded together with criminal case files to competent proceeding-conducting bodies for settlement according to their competence.

3. Copies of documents or digitized documents of criminal cases shall be preserved and archived in accordance with law.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 9.Effect

This Joint Circular takes effect on March 18, 2018.

Article 10.Organization of implementation

1. The Ministry of Public Security, Supreme People’s Procuracy, Supreme People’s Court, and Ministry of National Defense shall, within the ambit of their functions, tasks and powers, implement this Joint Circular.

2. Funds for implementation:

a/ Funds for implementation of the provisions on copying and digitization of documents in criminal case files shall be allocated under the State’s regulations;

b/ The payment of fees and expenses for reading and taking notes of documents as requested by the accused or at-law representatives of crime-committing commercial legal entities under this Joint Circular shall be made in accordance with law.

3. Any problems arising in the course of implementation of this Joint Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Public Security, Supreme People’s Procuracy, Supreme People’s Court, and Ministry of National Defense for timely guidance.-