Law Amending Law on Judicial Assessment, Law No. 56/2020/QH14

ORDER

On the promulgation of law

__________

THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Pursuant to Articles 88 and 91 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to Article 80 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents,

PROMULGATES:

The Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Judicial Assessment,

which was passed on June 10, 2020, by the XIV^thNational Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 9^thsession.

President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
NGUYEN PHU TRONG

LAW

Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Judicial Assessment^[1]

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

The National Assembly promulgates the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of Law No. 13/2012/QH13 on Judicial Assessment,which was amended and supplemented under Law No. 35/2018/QH14.

Article 1.To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Judicial Assessment

1. To amend and supplement Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 2 as follows:

“1.Judicial assessmentmeans that judicial expert assessors use scientific, technical and professional knowledge, means and methods to make professional conclusions on matters related to initiation, investigation, prosecution and adjudication of criminal cases and execution of criminal judgments or settlement of civil cases and matters and administrative cases when solicited by bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedingsor when requested by expert assessment requesters defined in this Law.

2.Expert assessment solicitorsinclude bodies and persons competent to conduct legal proceedings.

3.Expert assessment requestersare persons who have the right to request expert assessment by themselves after their requests for expert assessment solicitation by bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings are rejected. They include parties involved in civil cases or matters or administrative cases, civil plaintiffs, civil respondents, persons with related rights and obligations in criminal cases or their lawful representatives, unless the request for expert assessment is related to the determination of penal liability of the accused or defendants.”.

2. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 3 as follows:

“1. Compliance with law, professional regulations and expert assessment process.”.

3. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 6 as follows:

“3. Intentionally prolonging the period of judicial assessment or taking advantage of judicial assessment solicitation or request to cause difficulties or obstruct procedural activities.”.

4. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 8 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 1 as follows:

“1. A written request for appointment of a judicial expert assessor of a competent agency or organization specified in Clause 2, Article 9 of this Law or a written request for appointment of a judicial expert assessor of an individual who used to be a judicial expert assessor but is relieved from duty for retirement or resignation to establish a judicial assessment office.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 3 as follows:

“3. The resume and criminal record certificate of the candidate. For a person proposed to be appointed as a judicial expert assessor is a civil servant, public employee, army officer, people’s public security officer, professional soldier or defense worker, his/her criminal record certificate is not required.”.

5. To amend and supplement the title and a number of clauses of Article 9 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement the title of Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9. Competence, order and procedures for appointment of judicial expert assessors and issuance of judicial expert assessor cards”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. The Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Public Security shall select persons fully satisfying the criteria specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Law and propose the Minister of Health to appoint them as their own forensic expert assessors.

The Ministry of National Defense and Supreme People’s Procuracy shall select persons satisfying the criteria specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Law and propose the Minister of Public Security to appoint them as their own criminological technique expert assessors.

Heads of units of ministries or ministerial-level agencies assigned to manage judicial assessment activities shall select persons fully satisfying the criteria specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Law and propose ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies to appoint such persons as judicial expert assessors in the fields of expert assessment under their respective management.

Heads of specialized agencies of provincial-level People’s Committees in charge of judicial assessment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with directors of provincial-level Departments of Justice in, selecting persons fully satisfying the criteria specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Law, receiving dossiers of persons proposed to be appointed as judicial expert assessors as specified in Article 8 of this Law, and proposing chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees to appoint local judicial expert assessors.

Within 20 days after receiving a valid dossier, a minister, the head of a ministerial-level agency or the chairperson of a provincial-level People’s Committee shall decide to appoint a judicial expert assessor. In case of refusal, he/she shall notify such in writing to the applicant, clearly stating the reason.”;

c/ To add Clause 4 below Clause 3 as follows:

“4. Persons appointed as judicial expert assessors shall be granted judicial expert assessor cards.

Persons competent to appoint judicial expert assessors specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall grant or re-grant judicial expert assessor cards.

The form, order and procedures for grant and re-grant of judicial expert assessor cards must comply with the Minister of Justice’s regulations.”.

6. To amend and supplement Article 10 as follows:

“Article 10. Competence, order and procedures for relief from duty of judicial expert assessors and revocation of judicial expert assessor cards

1. Cases in which a judicial expert assessor shall be relieved from duty:

a/ He/she no longer satisfies the criteria specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Law;

b/ He/she falls into a case specified in Clause 2, Article 7 of this Law;

c/ He/she has been disciplined with caution or a higher penalty or administratively sanctioned for an intentional violation of the law on judicial assessment;

d/ He/she commits an act specified in Article 6 of this Law;

dd/ He/she has a retirement or resignation decision, unless he/she has a document expressing his/her aspiration to continue carrying out judicial assessment activities and his/her managing agency or organization wishes to continue employing him/her in accordance with law;

e/ He/she changes his/her working position or is transferred to another agency or organization that no longer has appropriate conditions for judicial assessment;

g/ He/she so requests. In case he/she is a civil servant, public employee, army officer, people’s public security officer, professional soldier or defense worker, his/her managing agency’s approval is required.

h/ He/she is appointed to establish a judicial assessment office but fails to establish such an office after 1 year from the date of being appointed or fails to register its operation after 1 year from the date of obtaining a decision permitting the establishment of a judicial assessment office.

2. A dossier of request for relief from duty of a judicial expert assessor must comprise:

a/ A written request for relief from duty of a judicial expert assessor, made by his/her managing agency or organization, or his/her application for relief from duty;

b/ Documents or papers evidencing that he/she falls into a case specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. The Minister of Public Security and Minister of National Defense shall consider and request the Minister of Health to relieve from duty forensic expert assessors under the latter’s management.

The Minister of National Defense and Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall consider and request the Minister of Public Security to relieve from duty criminological technique expert assessors under the latter’s management.

Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies may relieve from duty judicial expert assessors working in central agencies in the fields of expert assessment under their respective management at the request of heads of units of their ministries or ministerial-level agencies in charge of judicial assessment activities.

Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees may relieve from duty local judicial expert assessors at the request of heads of specialized agencies of their People’s Committees after reaching agreement with directors of provincial-level Departments of Justice.

4. Within 10 days after receiving a valid dossier, a minister, the head of a ministerial-level agency or chairperson of a provincial-level People’s Committee shall consider and decide to relieve from duty a judicial expert assessor, revoke his/her judicial expert assessor card and modify the list of judicial expert assessors on its portal, and concurrently send such list to the Ministry of Justice for modification of the general list of judicial expert assessors.”.

7. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 11 as follows:

“2. To refuse to carry out expert assessment in case contents of which expert assessment is solicited or requested fall beyond his/her professional scope or he/she has insufficient capacity or fails to satisfy conditions necessary for expert assessment; objects to be assessed and relevant documents are insufficiently provided or invalid for making expert assessment conclusions after the requested expert assessment solicitors or requesters fails to additionally provide or clarify documents; the remaining time is not enough for completing expert assessment or independence or objectivity of expert assessment is not guaranteed. In case of refusal to carry out expert assessment, to notify such refusal in writing, clearly stating the reason, to the expert assessment solicitor or requester within 5 working days after receiving a decision to solicit or request expert assessment.”.

8. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 12 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clauses 4 and 5 as follows:

“4. Public judicial assessment institutions in criminological techniques include:

a/ The Institute of Forensic Sciences of the Ministry of Public Security;

b/ Criminological technique divisions of provincial-level Departments of Public Security;

c/ The Criminological Technique Expert Assessment Division of the Ministry of National Defense;

d/ The Criminological Technique Expert Assessment Division of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

5. The Criminological Technique Expert Assessment Division of the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall carry out audio and visual expert assessment based on electronic data. Based on local practical needs and conditions, criminological technique divisions of provincial-level Departments of Public Security having forensic expert assessors shall carry out forensic examination of corpses.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 7 as follows:

“7. The Government shall detail the functions, tasks, organizational structure and working regime of public judicial assessment institutions specified in Clauses 2 and 3, and at Points a, b and c, Clause 4, of this Article.

The Procurator General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall define the functions, tasks and organizational structure of the Criminological Technique Expert Assessment Division of the Supreme People’s Procuracy before submitting them to the National Assembly Standing Committee for approval.”.

9. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 1, Article 15 as follows:

“a/ Having worked as a judicial expert assessor for at least 3 full years and having carried out expert assessment activities in the field in which he/she wishes to establish a judicial assessment office;”.

10. To amend and supplement Article 20 as follows:

“Article 20. Recognition and publicization of lists of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions

1. The Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, State Bank of Vietnam, other ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and provincial-level People’s Committees shall select individuals and organizations that fully satisfy the criteria and conditions specified in Articles 18 and 19 of this Law before issuing decisions on recognition of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions in the fields under their respective management in order to meet expert assessment requirements of procedural activities.

Lists enclosed with information on expert assessment specialties, experience and professional capacity of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions shall be posted, reviewed and updated on portals of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and provincial-level People’s Committees, and concurrently sent to the Ministry of Justice for drawing up a general list.

2. Lists of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions specified in Clause 1 of this Article serve as a basis for bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings to select and decide on expert assessment solicitation.

In special cases, expert assessment solicitors may solicit individuals or institutions that fully satisfy the criteria and conditions specified in Clauses 18 and 19 of this Law not on the publicized lists to carry out expert assessment, clearly stating reasons in solicitation decisions.

At the request of bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, the State Audit Office of Vietnam and specialized agencies of provincial-level People’s Committees and central agencies located in provincial-level localities shall recommend individuals or institutions that fully satisfy the criteria and conditions specified in Clauses 18 and 19 of this Law not on the publicized lists to carry out expert assessment.”.

11. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 21 as follows:

“2. Expert assessment solicitors have the following obligations:

a/ To clearly determine contents, fields or specialties in which expert assessment is required in cases or matters that are being settled; to select capable and qualified expert assessment individuals or institutions to carry out expert assessment suitable to expert assessment characteristics and contents before issuing decisions on expert assessment solicitation;

b/ To issue written decisions on expert assessment solicitation;

c/ To promptly and sufficiently provide and take responsibility before law for information, documents and specimens relevant to objects and contents to be assessed at the request of judicial assessment individuals or institutions;

d/ To advance and pay on time and in full judicial assessment expenses;

dd/ To apply or request competent agencies to apply law-prescribed measures to protect judicial expert assessors or their relatives when there is a ground to determine that the life, health, honor, dignity or property of judicial expert assessors or their relatives is threatened due to judicial assessment or participation in cases or matters in the capacity as judicial assessors.”.

12. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 22 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 1 as follows:

“1. Expert assessment requesters may request in writing bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings to solicit expert assessment.In case these bodies or persons reject such requests, they shall notify such in writing to expert assessment requesters within 7 days after receiving requests for expert assessment solicitation. Past that time limit or upon receiving a notice of refusal to solicit expert assessment, expert assessment requesters may request expert assessment by themselves.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Point d, Clause 2 as follows:

“d/ To request bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings to solicit expert re-assessment; to request additional expert assessment in accordance with Clause 1, Article 29 of this Law.”.

13. To add Points d, dd and e below Point c, Clause 1, Article 23 as follows:

“d/ To request expert assessment solicitors or competent agencies to apply law-prescribed protection measures when there are signs showing that the life, health, honor, dignity or property of their own or their relatives is threatened due to judicial assessment or participation in cases or matters in the capacity as judicial assessors;

dd/ To refuse to carry out judicial expert assessment in the case specified in Clause 2, Article 11 of this Law;

e/ To be arranged an appropriate position when participating in legal proceedings at a court hearing.”.

14. To amend and supplement Article 24 as follows:

“Article 24. Rights and obligations of institutions solicited or requested to carry out judicial assessment

1. Institutions solicited or requested to carry out judicial assessment have the following rights:

a/ To request expert assessment solicitors or requesters to promptly and sufficiently provide information, documents and specimens necessary for expert assessment;

b/ To refuse to receive judicial assessment solicitations or requests in case contents subject to solicited or requested expert assessment are irrelevant to their professional scope or they have insufficient capacity or fail to satisfy conditions necessary for expert assessment; objects to be assessed and relevant documents are insufficiently provided or invalid for making expert assessment conclusions after the requested expert assessment solicitors or requesters fail to additionally provide or clarify documents; the remaining time is not enough for completing expert assessment or independence or objectivity of expert assessment is not guaranteed;

c/ To receive advanced judicial assessment expenses upon receiving judicial assessment solicitations or requests; to have judicial assessment expenses promptly and fully paid when notifying expert assessment results.

2. Institutions solicited or requested to carry out judicial assessment have the following obligations:

a/ Within 5 working days after receiving judicial assessment solicitations or requests, to assign their persons whose professional qualifications and capacity are relevant to contents subject to solicited or requested expert assessment, take responsibility for these persons’ professional capacity and notify thereof to expert assessment solicitors or requesters, unless a shorter time is prescribed by law.

Heads of institutions solicited or requested to carry out judicial assessment shall direct and urge expert assessment activities. In case two or more persons are required for the expert assessment, to assign persons to coordinate in the expert assessment;

b/ To ensure time, equipment, means and other necessary conditions for expert assessment.

If any new contents or other matters arise in the course of expert assessment, expert assessment individuals or institutions shall promptly notify such in writing to expert assessment solicitors or requesters for the latter to agree on plans to address them;

c/ To pay compensations for damage in case their assigned expert assessment individuals intentionally make incorrect expert assessment conclusions, thus causing damage;

d/ In case of refusal to receive judicial expert assessment solicitations or requests, to notify such in writing to expert assessment solicitors or requesters within 5 working days after receiving expert assessment solicitation or request decisions, clearly stating the reason, unless a shorter time is prescribed by law;

dd/ To take responsibility for their expert assessment conclusions.”.

15. To amend and supplement Article 25 as follows:

“Article 25. Solicitation of judicial assessment

1. Expert assessment solicitors shall issue and send written decisions on judicial assessment solicitation enclosed with to-be-assessed objects and related information, documents and objects (if any) to expert assessment individuals or institutions. In case to-be-assessed objects and relevant information, documents and objects cannot be sent together with written decisions on expert assessment solicitation, expert assessment solicitors shall carry out procedures for handover thereof to expert assessment individuals or institutions.

2. A decision on expert assessment solicitation must contain the following details:

a/ Name of the expert assessment-soliciting body; full name of the person competent to solicit expert assessment;

b/ Name of the institution or full name of the person solicited to carry out expert assessment;

c/ Summarized contents of the matter;

d/ Name and characteristics of object(s) to be assessed;

dd/ Titles of enclosed relevant documents or objects or specimens for comparison (if any);

e/ Expertise contents of matters requested to be assessed;

g/ Date of solicitation and time limit for notification of expert assessment conclusions.

3. In case of additional expert assessment or expert re-assessment solicitation, a decision on expert assessment solicitation must clearly state whether it is additional expert assessment or expert re-assessment and reasons therefor.

4. In case of necessity, before issuing decisions on expert assessment solicitation, bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings shall discuss with individuals or institutions that are expected to be solicited to carry out expert assessment and related agencies on contents subject to solicited expert assessment, time limit for expert assessment, information, documents and specimens necessary for expert assessment and other related matters (if any).

5. For to-be-assessed contents that are relevant to various fields and falling under responsibility of different organizations, expert assessment solicitors shall separate contents before soliciting appropriate professional institutions to carry out expert assessment thereof.

For to-be-assessed contents that are relevant to closely connected specialties falling under responsibility of different organizations and their separation may cause difficulties to expert assessment, affect accuracy of expert assessment results or prolong the period of expert assessment, expert assessment solicitors shall identify main contents to be assessed before identifying institutions in charge of and institutions coordinating in the expert assessment.

Institutions in charge of expert assessment shall act as focal points to organize joint expert assessment and carry out expert assessment of contents relevant to their professional fields.

Within 5 working days after receiving expert assessment solicitation decisions, institutions solicited to carry out judicial assessment shall send documents on appointment of expert assessors to expert assessment solicitors; institutions coordinating in expert assessment shall send documents on appointment of expert assessors to institutions in charge of expert assessment. Institutions in charge of expert assessment shall immediately organize expert assessment after receiving documents of coordinating institutions. Expert assessment in these cases shall be carried out in a collective manner in different professional fields under Clause 3, Article 28 of this Law.

In case problems arise in the course of expert assessment solicitation and coordination, bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with institutions solicited to carry out expert assessment in, addressing them.”.

16. To add Article 26a below Article 16 as follows:

“Article 26a. Time limit for judicial assessment in case of expert assessment solicitation

1. The time limit for judicial assessment shall be counted from the date an individual or institution solicited to carry out expert assessment receives a decision on expert assessment solicitation enclosed with a complete dossier and objects to be assessed, relevant information, documents, objects and specimens necessary for expert assessment.

In the course of expert assessment, if additional documents are required for expert assessment, an individual or institution solicited to carry out expert assessment shall send a written request for supplementation of the dossier and addition of documents to the expert assessment solicitor. The period during which a solicited individual or institution sends a written request for supplementation or addition and receives the supplemented dossier and added documents shall not be included in the expert assessment time limit.

2. Judicial assessment time limit for cases in which judicial assessment solicitation is compulsory must comply with the criminal procedure law.

3. Judicial assessment time limit for cases not specified in Clause 2 of this Article is 3 months. Judicial assessment time limit is 4 months for complicated matters or matters to be settled with large workload.

Ministries and ministerial-level agencies in charge of specialized management of judicial assessment shall base themselves on the expert assessment time limit and professional characteristics of expert assessment fields to prescribe different judicial assessment time limits for specific matters. Judicial assessment time limit may be prolonged under decisions of expert assessment-soliciting bodies for up to half of the expert assessment time limit prescribed for that type of task.

4. Expert assessment solicitors may agree on expert assessment time limit with individuals or institutions solicited to carry out expert assessment before soliciting judicial assessment, which must not exceed that specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

5. In case new issues arise or there are grounds to believe that expert assessment cannot be completed within the time limit, institutions or individuals carrying out expert assessment shall promptly notify such in writing to expert assessment solicitors, clearly stating reasons, and projected time for expert assessment completion and conclusions.”.

17. To amend and supplement Article 31 as follows:

“Article 31. Written records of judicial assessment process

1. Judicial expert assessors shall promptly, fully and truthfully record in writing the whole expert assessment process.

2. A written record of judicial assessment process must clearly state conditions of to-be-assessed objects and relevant information and documents used as grounds for expert assessment, and expert assessment time, place, tasks, progress, methods and results, and bear signatures of judicial assessors.

Written records of judicial assessment process shall be filed in expert assessment dossiers.”

18. To amend and supplement Article 32 as follows:

“Article 32. Judicial assessment conclusions

1. Judicial assessment conclusions shall be made in writing, containing the following details:

a/ Full name of the judicial assessor; or judicial assessment institution;

b/ Name of the body competent to conduct legal proceedings or full name of the person competent to conduct legal proceedings that solicits expert assessment; serial number of the expert assessment-soliciting document or full name of the expert assessment requester;

c/ Information identifying to-be-assessed objects;

d/ Time of receipt of the written judicial assessment solicitation or request;

dd/ Contents subject to expert assessment;

e/ Expert assessment method;

g/ Clear and specific conclusions on expertise contents of objects subject to expert assessment according to judicial assessment solicitation or request;

h/ Time and place of expert assessment performance and completion.

2. For judicial assessment carried out by an individual, written judicial assessment conclusions must bear the signature and clearly state full name of the judicial expert assessor. For judicial assessment carried out by an appointed judicial assessor, written judicial assessment conclusions must bear the signature certified by the institution appointing the judicial assessor and clearly state his/her full name.

For judicial assessment carried out by an institution, apart from the signature and full name of the judicial assessor, the head of the institution shall  sign and append a stamp on written judicial assessment conclusions and the institution solicited or requested to carry out judicial assessment shall bear responsibility for judicial assessment conclusions.

For judicial assessment carried out by an expert assessment council mentioned in Clause 1, Article 30 of this Law, the person competent to decide on the setting up of the council shall sign and append a stamp on written judicial assessment conclusions and bear responsibility for the legal status of the expert assessment council.

3. In case expert assessment is carried out before the institution of a criminal case is decided according to order and procedures provided by this Law, bodies competent to conduct legal proceedings may use conclusions of such expert assessment as judicial assessment conclusions.”.

19. To amend and supplement Clauses 2, 3 and 4, Article 33 as follows:

“2. Judicial assessment dossiers shall be made according to a uniform form.

Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies shall provide in detail the form and composition of a judicial assessment dossier for each type of expert assessment job and preservation of judicial assessment dossiers in the fields under their management.

3. Institutions solicited to carry out judicial assessment shall preserve and keep judicial assessment dossiers for cases of assessment carried out by their expert assessors in accordance with the law on archives and regulations of ministries, sectors and institutions.

Expert assessors shall hand over judicial assessment dossiers to their managing agencies or organizations in accordance with the law on archives and regulations of their ministries, sectors and institutions.

4. Judicial assessment dossiers shall be produced at the request of bodies or persons competent to conduct legal proceedings when settling criminal or administrative cases, civil cases or matters.”.

20. To amend and supplement Article 36 as follows:

“Article 36. Judicial assessment expenses

1. Expert assessment solicitors or requesters shall pay judicial assessment expenses to individuals or institutions carrying out expert assessment in accordance with the regulations on judicial assessment expenses.

2. Funds for payment of judicial assessment expenses by bodies competent to conduct legal proceedings come from the state budget based on annual budget estimates of such bodies for judicial assessment tasks.”.

21. To add Clause 1a below Clause 1, Article 37 as follows:

“1a. Judicial assessment carried out by a civil servant, public employee, army officer, people’s public security officer, professional soldier or defense worker is an official duty activity. Directly managing agencies or organizations shall ensure enough time and other necessary conditions for judicial assessment. Expert assessors may enjoy regimes and policies in accordance with law.

Judicial expert assessors are not salaried by the state budget; ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions that do not receive funds from the State to cover their operation expenses shall receive cases and carry out judicial assessment based on agreement with expert assessment solicitors or requesters.”.

22. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 38 as follows:

“2. Judicial expert assessors, judicial assessment institutions, and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions that make active contributions to judicial assessment may be honored and commended.”.

23. To amend and supplement Article 41 as follows:

“Article 41. Tasks and powers of ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies

1. Ministries and ministerial-level agencies in charge of specialized management of judicial assessment have the following tasks and powers:

a/ To promulgate or submit to competent state agencies for promulgation legal documents on judicial assessment in expert assessment fields under their respective management, and guide the implementation of these documents;

b/ To promulgate the process of judicial assessment; to promulgate or guide the application of professional regulations to judicial assessment activities; to prescribe in detail the time limit for each type of expert assessment job based on requirements and particular characteristics of professional fields under their respective management;

c/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice in, deciding on establishment, consolidation and strengthening of public judicial assessment institutions under their respective management in accordance with this Law; to assign their attached units to act as focal points for general management of judicial assessment;

d/ To appoint or dismiss judicial expert assessors, grant or revoke judicial expert assessor cards according to their competence; to recognize lists of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions; to post and update lists of individuals and institutions carrying out judicial assessment on their portals, and concurrently send such lists to the Ministry of Justice;

dd/ To take responsibility before the Government and Prime Minister for ensuring the quantity of judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions and their operation quality; to ensure expert assessment funds, equipment, means and other necessary physical conditions for judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions under their respective management;

e/ To annually evaluate operation quality of judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions under their respective management; to promptly honor and commend judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions that have recorded outstanding achievements in judicial assessment;

g/ To prescribe conditions on physical foundations and equipment and means of judicial assessment offices and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions in the fields under their respective management;

h/ To provide judicial assessment professional training and legal knowledge for judicial expert assessors in the fields under their respective management;

i/ To examine, inspect, and settle complaints and denunciations about judicial assessment organization and activities in the fields under their respective management; to coordinate with the Ministry of Justice in examining and inspecting judicial assessment organization and activities in accordance with Clause 6, Article 40 of this Law;

k/ To enter into international cooperation on judicial assessment in the fields under their respective management;

l/ Before December 31 every year, to review judicial assessment organization and activities in the fields under their respective management and send reports thereon to the Ministry of Justice for summarization and reporting to the Government.

2. Government-attached agencies have the following tasks and powers:

a/ To establish the judicial assessment process and propose ministries and ministerial-level agencies in charge of professional management of judicial assessment to promulgate it according to their competence;

b/ To recognize lists of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions; to post and update lists of judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions on their portals, and concurrently send such lists to the Ministry of Justice; to annually review and send to the Ministry of Justice reports on their judicial assessment activities;

c/ Tasks and powers specified at Point dd, e and h, Clause 1 of this Article.”.

24. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 42 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Point dd, Clause 2 as follows:

“dd/ To promulgate statistical norms and make annual statistics on judicial assessment solicitation and request, evaluation of judicial assessment results, use of judicial assessment conclusions, and needs for judicial assessment in the system of investigation agencies under their respective management;”;

b/ To amend and supplement Point h and add Point i below Point h, Clause 2 as follows:

“h. To annually review and send to the Ministry of Justice and concurrently to related ministries and sectors reports on judicial assessment solicitation, evaluation of judicial assessment results, use of judicial assessment conclusions, and needs for judicial assessment in the system of investigation agencies under their respective management; to direct provincial-level Departments of Public Security in sending to provincial-level Departments of Justice and concurrently to related departments and sectors reports on judicial assessment solicitation, evaluation of judicial assessment results, use of judicial assessment conclusions, and needs for judicial assessment in their localities;

i/ To make cost estimates and propose competent agencies to allocate funds for paying judicial assessment expenses; to make cost estimates for additional allocation in case previously allocated funds are not enough to promptly and completely pay judicial assessment expenses in accordance with the law on the state budget.”;

c/ To amend and supplement Clause 3 as follows:

“3. The Ministry of National Defense has the tasks and powers specified at Points dd, e, g and i, Clause 2 of this Article; shall annually review and send to the Ministry of Justice and concurrently to related ministries and sectors reports on judicial assessment solicitation, evaluation of judicial assessment results, use of judicial assessment conclusions, and needs for judicial assessment in the system of investigation agencies under their respective management.”.

25. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 43 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Points a, b, c, d and dd, Clause 1 as follows:

“a/ To establish public judicial assessment institutions; to decide to license the establishment of judicial assessment offices;

b/ To appoint or relieve from duty judicial expert assessors, grant or revoke judicial expert assessor cards according to their competence; to recognize lists of ad-hoc judicial expert assessors and ad-hoc judicial assessment institutions in their localities; to post and update lists of judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions on their portals and concurrently send such lists to the Ministry of Justice;

c/ To ensure funds, equipment and means and other necessary material conditions for judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions under their respective management;

d/ To provide further training in legal knowledge for judicial expert assessors in their localities;

dd/ To annually evaluate operation quality of judicial expert assessors  and judicial assessment institutions in their localities under the Government’s regulations, and promptly honor and commend judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions that have recorded outstanding achievements in judicial assessment activities and send reports to the Ministry of Justice;”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. Provincial-level Departments of Justice shall assist provincial-level People’s Committees in performing the state management of judicial assessment in their localities; assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with other specialized agencies in, assisting provincial-level People’s Committees in managing operations of judicial assessment offices.

Specialized agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees that manage judicial assessment shall take responsibility before provincial-level People’s Committees for organization and operation of judicial assessment in the fields under their respective management; coordinate with provincial-level Departments of Justice in assisting provincial-level People’s Committees in performing the state management of judicial assessment in their localities; and assign focal-point units to assist them in the management of judicial assessment in the fields under their respective management.”.

26. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 44 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. To promulgate statistical norms and make statistics on judicial assessment solicitation, evaluation of judicial assessment results, use of judicial assessment conclusions, and needs for judicial assessment in the people’s court and people’s procuracy systems, and annually send reports to the National Assembly and concurrently to the Ministry of Justice and related ministries and sectors; to direct provincial-level people’s courts and people’s procuracies in sending to provincial-level Departments of Justice and concurrently to related departments and sectors reports on judicial assessment solicitation, evaluation of judicial assessment results, use of judicial assessment conclusions, and needs for judicial assessment in their localities.”;

b/ To amend and supplement Clause 4, and add Clauses 5 and 6 below Clause 4 as follows:

“4. To make cost estimates and propose competent agencies to allocate funds for paying judicial assessment expenses, expenses for participation in court hearings by judicial expert assessors in the people’s court and people’s procuracy systems; to make cost estimates for additional allocation in case previously allocated funds are not enough to promptly and sufficiently pay judicial assessment expenses and expenses for participation in court hearings by judicial expert assessors in accordance with the law on the state budget.

5. The Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court shall prescribe the arrangement of positions to judicial expert assessors when participating in legal proceedings at court hearings.

6. The Supreme People’s Procuracy shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice in, establishing, consolidating and strengthening the organization of the Criminological Technique Expert Assessment Division of the Supreme People’s Procuracy; post and update the list of judicial expert assessors on its portal, and concurrently send such list to the Ministry of Justice; examine, inspect, and settle complaints and denunciations on judicial assessment organization and operation of the criminological technique expert assessment divisions under its management; annually evaluate quality of judicial assessment activities under its management; promptly honor and commend judicial expert assessors and judicial assessment institutions under its management that have recorded outstanding achievements in judicial assessment; before December 31 every year, review the organization and operation of judicial assessment under its management, and send reports thereon to the Ministry of Justice for summarization and reporting to the Government.”.

27.To annul Clause 3, Article 45.

28.To replace the phrase “specialized agencies of provincial-level People’s Committees” in Clause 3, Article 16; Clause 3, Article 17; and Clause 3, Article 19 with the phrase “specialized agencies under provincial-level People’s Committees”.

Article 2.Effect

This Law takes effect on January 1, 2021.

This Law was passed on June 10, 2020 by the XIV^thNational Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 9^thsession.-

Chairwoman of the National Assembly
NGUYEN THI KIM NGAN