Resolution 04/2016/NQ-HDTP on application of the Civil Procedure Code, the Law on Administrative Procedures on sending and receiving the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and issuing, serving and notifying procedural documents by electronic means

RESOLUTION

ON GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION OF A NUMBER OF PROVISIONS OF THE CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE NO. 92/2015/QH13, THE LAW ON ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES NO. 93/2015/QH13 ON SENDING AND RECEIVING THE LAWSUIT PETITIONS, DOCUMENTS, EVIDENCE AND ISSUING, SERVING AND NOTIFYING PROCEDURAL DOCUMENTS BY ELECTRONIC MEANS

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THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE’S COURT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of People’s Courts dated November 24, 2014;

In order to apply properly and consistently a number of provisions of the Civil Procedure Code No. 92/2015/QH13, the Law on Administrative Procedures No. 93/2015/QH13 on sending, receiving the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and issuing, serving or notifying procedural documents by electronic means;

After consulting the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Minister of Justice.

RESOLVES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

1. This Resolution provides guidances on sending, receiving the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and issuing, serving or notifying procedural documents by electronic means between the person who initiates a lawsuit, the involved parties, other proceeding participants (below referred collectively to as suers, proceeding participants) and the Courts during the procedure of solving civil or administrative cases.

2. The instructions in this Resolution are applied to the sending and receipt of the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and issuance, service and notification of procedural documents by electronic means between the requesters, people with related interests or obligations, other proceeding participants and the Courts during the procedure of solving civil matters.

3. The instructions in this Resolution are not applied to carry out procedures for sending and receipt of the dossiers, documents, evidence and procedural documents by electronic means between the Courts; between the Courts and the Procuracies and the Civil Judgment enforcement agencies.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. The suers and the proceeding participants as specified in the Civil Procedure Code No. 92/2015/QH13 (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Procedure Code), the Law on Administrative Procedures No. 93/2015/QH13 (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Administrative Procedures).

2. The People’s Supreme Court, the Superior People’s Courts, the People’s Courts of provinces or centrally-run cities; the People’s Courts of rural districts, urban districts, towns, provincial cities and cities under centrally-run cities.

3. Agencies, organizations, and individuals involved in carrying out electronic transactions in civil and administrative procedures.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

1. Electronic transactions in civil and administrative procedures (hereinafter referred to as electronic transactions) mean the suers, the proceeding participants carry out the procedure of sending, receiving the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and the Courts carry out the procedure of issuing, serving or notifying procedural documents by electronic means in accordance with the Civil Procedure Code and the Law on Administrative Procedures.

2. Electronic data messages in civil procedures and administrative procedures (hereinafter referred to as electronic data messages) mean electronic data which is created, sent, received and stored by electronic means from lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and procedural documents issued in accordance with law provisions.

3. Electronic transaction accounts in civil procedures and administrative procedures (hereinafter referred to as electronic transactions accounts) mean the name and password granted by the Courts to the suers, the proceeding participants to log in to the e-portals of the Courts when conducting the electronic transactions.

4. Electronic signatures in civil procedures and administrative procedures (hereinafter referred to as electronic signature) mean the electronic signatures created in accordance with the Law on Electronic Transactions to sign the electronic data messages and are capable of identifying the signers of the electronic data messages, confirming that signers’ consent to the signed electronic data messages.

5. E-portals of the Courts mean the access points for centralizing, storing and integrating of information for suers and proceeding participants in electronic transactions with the Court on the Web platform.

Article 4. Principles of electronic transaction

1. The sending, receipt of the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and issuance, service or notification of procedural documents by electronic means during the procedure of solving civil or administrative cases shall comply with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, the Law on Administrative Procedures, this Resolution and law provisions on electronic transactions.

2. The suers, the proceeding participants are allowed to choose the form of carrying electronic transactions with the Courts as follows:

a) Send and receive electronic data messages with the Courts;

b) Only receive electronic data messages which are issued, served or notified by the Courts.

3. The suers, the proceeding participants shall carry the electronic transactions with the Courts from the date they receive the acceptance notification of the Courts. In this case, the Courts shall have the responsibility to issue, serve, notify by electronic means for them. The suers, the proceeding participants remain the right to send, receive the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence by other means in accordance with provisions of procedural laws.

4. The suers, the proceeding participants shall cease to carry the electronic transactions with the Courts from the date they receive the acceptance notification of the Courts. In this case, the sending, receipt of the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence of the suers, the proceeding participants and issuance, service or notification of procedural documents of the Courts shall be implemented by other means in accordance with provisions of procedural laws.

5. The suers, the proceeding participants, the Courts that have successfully conducted the electronic transactions shall be determined to have completed the corresponding procedural procedures in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code and the Law on Administrative Procedures.

Article 5. Conditions to conduct electronic transactions

1. The suers, the proceeding participants choosing to submit and receive electronic data messages with the Courts shall have to satisfy the following conditions:

a) Having an email address to send and receive the electric data messages from and to the e-portals of the Courts;

b) Having an electronic signature that is certified by a valid e-certificate granted and recognized by competent authorities, organizations.

c) The transaction has been successfully registered as prescribed in Article 12 of this Resolution;

d) Satisfying other conditions as prescribed by the law on electronic transactions and instructions in this Resolution.

2. The suers, the proceeding participants choosing to only receive electronic data messages issued, served, notified by the Courts must satisfy the conditions prescribed at Point a Clause 1 this Article and have successfully registered the transactions as prescribed in Article 5 of this Resolution.

Article 6. Electronic data messages

1. Electronic data messages used in electronic transactions must be formatted in accordance with law provisions on electronic transactions and instructions of the People’s Supreme Court.

2. Electronic data messages signed by certified electronic signature in accordance with law provisions on electronic transactions shall be as valuable as paper documents, original documents; be used as source of evidence if satisfing the requirements as specified in Articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Law on Electronic Transaction and procedural laws.

Article 7. Using electronic signatures

1. The suers, the proceeding participants who send electronic data messages to the Courts must use the electronic signatures certified by e-certificate granted and recognized by competent authorities, organizations to sign the electronic data messages.

2. When carrying the electronic transactions with the suers, the proceeding participants, the Courts must use the electronic signatures certified by e-certificate granted and recognized by competent authorities, organizations to sign the electronic data messages.

3. The suers, the proceeding participants and the Courts are responsible for managing and using electronic signatures in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Electronic Transactions, this Resolution and relevant laws.

Article 8. Time and address of conducting electronic transactions

1. The suers, the proceeding participants may conduct electronic transactions 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, including weekends, holidays and New Year.

After receiving the electronic data messages, the e-portals of the Courts shall automatically send a notification confirming the successful electronic transactions to the e-mail address of the suers, the proceeding participants.

2. The date of sending electronic data messages of the suers, the proceeding participants is the date on which the e-portals of the Courts confirm the receipt of the electronic data messages sent by the suers, the proceeding participants.

3. The date of issuing, serving or notifying electronic data messages of the Courts is the date on which the e-portals of the Courts confirm the successful delivery of electronic data messages to the email addresses of the suers, the proceeding participants, except for cases specified in Clause 4 Article 9 of this Resolution.

4. After delivering and receiving the electronic data messages as specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article, the Courts shall print out information confirming the successful electronic transactions for file archival.

5. The suers, the proceeding participants and the Courts that have successfully conducted the electronic transactions as specified in Clauses 2 and 3 this Article shall be considered as having sent the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence and issued, served, notified procedural documents to the right address in accordance with procedural law.

Article 9. Troubleshooting during electronic transactions

1. In case of incidents occur due to an error in the technical infrastructure system of the suers, the proceeding participants, they must fix the problem by themselves and immediately notify the Courts in writing.

2. In case of incidents occur due to the e-portals of the Courts, the Courts shall be responsible for immediately notifying in writing of the breakdown of the technical infrastructure systems, the time the systems continue to operate, to the address registered by the suers, the proceeding participants so that they shall submit lawsuit petitions, documents and evidence by other methods to the Courts.

3. In the course of conducting electronic transactions, if there is a problem that cannot be resolved after 03 days, the suers, the proceeding participants shall send the lawsuit petitions, documents and evidence; the Courts shall issue, serve and notify procedural documents by other methods as prescribed by procedural laws. The time of failure to fix the problems (03 days) is considered as an objective obstacle and is not included in the procedural time limit.

4. In the process of electronic transactions, if the technical infrastructure systems of the e-portals of the Courts have problems, the date of sending or receiving the electronic data messages is determined to be the actual date that such electronic data messages are sent to the receivers systems.

Article 10. Storage in electronic transactions

1. The lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence, procedural documents in the form of electronic data messages  sent to or received from the e-portals of the Courts must be archived on the e-portals of the Courts and be printed on paper by the Courts and kept in the case files.

2. The originals or lawful copies of documents and evidence that the suers, the proceeding participants hand over under the guidance in Article 19 of this Resolution must be kept in the case files.

3. The time limit for archiving electronic data messages is the same as for the time limit for storing written cases’ files as prescribed by law provisions and the guidance of the Supreme People’s Court. In case an electronic data message expires as prescribed, but it is related to the information integrity of the system and electronic data messages currently in circulation, it shall continue to be stored until the removal of electronic data messages does not affect other electronic transactions.

Article 11. Ensuring security, safety and confidentiality of information

1. Sending, receiving, exchanging and storing in electronic transactions must be conducted in accordance with provisions of the Law on E-transactions, Law on Cyber information Security and other law provisions.

2. The Courts, the suers, the proceeding participants are responsible for ensuring security, safety and confidentiality of information in electronic transactions; using, managing and protecting electronic data messages in accordance with law provisions; taking necessary measures to ensure safety, confidentiality, accuracy and integrity of electronic data messages by themselves or coordinating with relevant agencies, organizations and individuals. In case the suers, the proceeding participants discover that the accounts have been infringed, they shall immediately notify the Courts to block that transaction accounts.

Chapter II

PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION, AMENDMENT, AND SUPPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION, SUSPENTION OF ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS WITH THE COURTS

Article 12. Procedures for registration of sending and receiving electronic data messages with the Courts

1. The People’s Supreme Court shall announce on the e-portals of the People’s Supreme Court the list of Courts conducting electronic transactions on civil procedures and administrative procedures.

2. The suers, the proceeding participants shall carry out the procedures for registration of sending and receiving electronic data messages with the Courts by accessing to the e-portals of the Courts, fulfilling the registration forms, signing them electronically and submitting through the e-portals of the Courts.

3. Within the time limit of 03 working days from the date of receiving the registration applications, the Courts shall send the notification on acceptance of such applications or not from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses.

a) In case the applications are not accepted by the Courts, the suers, the proceeding participants shall base on the Court’s notice to complete the application information or contact the Courts for guidance and support.

b) In case the applications are accepted by the Courts, the suers, the proceeding participants shall base on the notice of the Courts about the transaction accounts to change the password which were granted for the first time to ensure safety and security.

4. The electronic transaction accounts granted by the Courts to the suers, the proceeding participants shall expire after 06 months from the date of issuance of the judgments or decisions on the trials and settlements of the civil cases or administrative cases.

Article 13. Procedures for amendment and supplementation of information on electronic transactions

1. The suers, the proceeding participants shall access to Web portal of the Courts to amend and supplement registered information and sign it electronically and submit by the e-portals of the Courts.

2. After received the amended, supplemented information of the applicants, the Courts shall send the notification on acceptance of amendment and supplementation of information or not from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses. In case the applicants fail to correctly or completely fill in the amended or supplemented information, the Courts shall notify the disapproval via the e-portals of the Courts; based on the Court’s notice of disapproval, the applicants shall fill the amended and supplemented information completely and correctly, sign it electronically and send it to the Courts via the e-portals of the Courts.

Article 14. Procedures for suspension of sending and receiving electronic data messages

1. The suers, the proceeding participants shall access to e-portals of the Courts to register the suspension of sending and receiving electronic data messages and sign them electronically and submit to the Courts.

Within the time limit of 03 working days from the date of receiving the request, the Courts shall send the notification on acceptance from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses. In case the applicants fail to correctly or completely fill the information, the Courts shall notify the disapproval via the e-portals of the Courts; based on the Court’s notice, the applicants shall fill the information completely and correctly, sign it electronically and send it to the Courts via the e-portals of the Courts.

2. From the moment the Courts accept the suspension of sending and receiving electronic data messages, the suers, the proceeding participants shall not be allowed to carry out the procedures of sending and receiving electronic data messages as prescribed in this Resolution. In case they have the request to send and receive electronic data messages again, they shall conduct the registration as the first registration prescribed in Article 12 of this Resolution.

Article 15. Procedures for registration; amendment and supplementation of information; suspension of receiving electronic data messages issued, served and noticed by the Courts

1. The suers, the proceeding participants registering to receive electronic data messages must submit the application directly at the Courts according to the forms posted on the e-portals of the Courts.

Within the time limit of 03 working days from the date of receiving the applications, the Courts shall send the notification on acceptance or disapproval to the applicants. In case of being disapproved by the Court, the applicant shall base on the Court’s notification to amend and supplement the applications. In case the application is accepted by the Court, the applicant shall based on the notification of the Court about the transaction accounts to change the passwords which were granted for the first time to ensure safety and security.

2. The suers, the proceeding participants registering to amend or supplement electronic transactions information must submit the application directly at the Courts according to the form posted on the e-portals of the Courts.

Within the time limit of 03 working days from the date of receiving the applications, the Courts shall send the notification on acceptance of such amendment or supplementation of registered information from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses. In case the applicants fail to correctly or completely fill in the amended or supplemented information, the Courts shall notify the disapproval via the e-portals of the Courts; based on the Courts’ notification of disapproval, the applicants shall fill the amended and supplemented information completely and correctly and submit it directly to the Courts.

3. The suers, the proceeding participants registering for suspension of receiving electronic data messages must submit the applications directly at the Courts according to the form posted on the e-portals of the Courts.

Within the time limit of 03 working day from the date of receiving the applications, the Courts shall check, determine information and send a written notification of acceptance of the application to the applicants, this notification is also sent to the applicants through the e-portals of the Courts. In case the applicants fail to correctly or completely fill the information, the Courts shall notify the disapproval via the e-portals of the Courts; based on the Courts’ notification, the applicants shall fill the information completely and correctly, send it directly to the Courts.

In case the suers, the proceeding participants have the request to receipt electronic data messages again, they shall conduct the registration as the first registration prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article.

4. The electronic transaction accounts granted by the Courts to the suers, the proceeding participants shall expire after 06 months from the date of issuance of the judgments or decisions on the trials and settlements of the civil cases or administrative cases.

Chapter III

ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS IN SENDING AND RECEIVING LAWSUIT PETITIONS, DOCUMENTS AND EVIDENCES

Article 16. Preparing and sending lawsuit petitions, documents and evidence by electronic means

1. The suers shall access to the e-portals of the Courts and fulfill the lawsuit petitions, sign them electronically and send them to the Courts.

2. Documents and evidence accompanying the lawsuit petitions must be submitted to the Courts via the e-portals of the Courts.

Article 17. Receiving and handling lawsuit petitions, accompanying documents and evidence

1. After receiving the lawsuit petitions, accompanying documents and evidence, the Courts shall print them out and record them in the petition receipt register in accordance with procedural laws.

The court shall send a notice of receiving the lawsuit petitions, documents and evidence to the suers from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses of the suers. Contents of the notice shall comply with provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, the Law on Administrative Procedure and instructions of the People’s Supreme Court.

2. Result of handling the lawsuit petitions shall be sent from the e-portals of the Courts to the email addresses registered by the suers.

Article 18. Submitting of documents, evidence by electronic means

1. The suers, the proceeding participants shall send documents and evidence by electronic means to the Courts via the e-portals of the Courts, except for the cases specified in Clause 2 Article 19 of this Resolution.

2. After receiving documents, evidence of the suers, the proceeding participants as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 17 and Clause 1 this Article, the Courts shall check the documents, evidence received and send the notice of receipt from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses of the suers, the proceeding participants within the time limit of 03 working days from the receipt date of documents, evidence.

Article 19. Handover of documents and evidence at the Courts

1. The suers, the proceeding participants who sent documents and evidence by the e-portals of the Courts shall have to hand over the original or the lawful copies of such documents and evidence at the latest at the meeting to examine the handover of, access to, and disclosure of, evidence, and to conduct a conciliation; the meeting to examine the handover of, access to, and disclosure of, evidence, and to conduct a conversation. For the documents and evidence that the proceeding participants send to the Courts by electronic means after the meeting to examine the handover of, access to, and disclosure of, evidence, and to conduct a conciliation; the meeting to examine the handover of, access to, and disclosure of, evidence, and to conduct a conversation, the time limit for handling over the originals and lawful copies of such documents and evidence shall comply with the procedural law.

2. For the documents and evidence specified in Clause 2 Article 109 of the Civil Procedure Code, Clause 2 Article 96 of the Law on Administrative Procedures; evidence which is material evidence; audio or visual materials or other documents or evidence that cannot be formatted as electronic data messages as provided in Clause 1 Article 6 of this Resolution, the Courts, the suers, the proceeding participants are not allowed to send them by electronic means but have to hand over them by other means in accordance with provisions of procedural law.

Chapter IV

ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS IN ISSUANCE, SERVICE OR NOTIFICATION OF THE COURTS’ PROCEDURAL DOCUMENTS, SENDING OF DOCUMENTS, EVIDENCE

Article 20. The Courts’ issuance, service or notification the procedural documents by electronic means

In case the suers, the proceeding participants have registered to send and receive or registered to receive electronic data messages with the Courts and are approved by the Courts as prescribed in Article 12, Article 15 of this Resolution, the procedural documents issued by the Courts in accordance with procedural law must be sent from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses of the suers, the proceeding participants within the time limit prescribed by law.

Article 21. Sending of documents, evidence by electronic means by the Courts

1. In the administrative procedures, documents, evidence collected by the Courts, provided by the suers, the proceeding participants must be sent from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses of the suers, the proceeding participants prescribed by laws on administrative procedures.

2. In the civil procedures, documents, evidence collected by the Courts must be sent from the e-portals of the Courts to the registered email addresses of the suers, the proceeding participants prescribed by laws on civil procedures. In case of good reason that the suers, the invovled parties are not able to send the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence to other invovled parties as prescribed in Clause 9 Article 70 of the Civil Code, the Courts shall send the lawsuit petitions, documents, evidence provided by the suers, the invovled parties to other invovled parties.

Article 22. Receiving and handling electronic data messages issued, served or notified by the Courts

1. After receiving electronic data messages which are issued, served or notified by the Courts, the suers, the proceeding participants are responsible for sending a notice to the Courts via the e-portals of the Courts on having received the electronic data message.

2. The suers, the proceeding participants are allowed to use the electronic data messages which are sent from the e-portals of the Courts to exercise their rights and perform their obligations in accordance with the procedural law and the laws on electronic transactions.

3. The suers, the proceeding participants are responsible for receiving and implementing the contents and requests stated in the Court’s procedural documents within the prescribed time limit; regularly checking the email registered with the Courts, logging in to their electronic transactions accounts to look up, view, print and use electronic data messages sent and received while their accounts are still valid as prescribed in Clause 4 Article 12 and Clause 4 Article 15 of this Resolution. The suers, the proceeding participants are solely responsible in case they fail to log in, receive and perform the contents and requests stated in the Court’s procedural documents.

Chapter V

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 23. Organizing the implementation of electronic transactions at the Courts

1. The People’s Supreme Court shall organize to conduct electronic transactions in accordance with provisions of the Law on E-transaction, the Civil Procedure Code and the Law on Administrative Procedures, this Resolution and other related legal documents.

2. The application of electronic transactions at the People’s Supreme Court, the Superior People’s Court, the People’s Courts of provinces or centrally-run cities; the People’s Courts of rural districts, urban districts, towns, provincial cities and cities under centrally-run cities shall be performed when conditions are met.

Article 24. Effect

1. This Resolution is passed by the the Judicial Council of the Supreme People’s Court on November 09, 2016 and takes effect on February 15, 2017.

2. Any difficulties arising in the course of implementation of this Resolution, the Courts shall report them to the People’s Supreme Court for timely guidance, amendment and supplementation.

On behalf of the Judicial Council

The Chief Justice

Nguyen Hoa Binh