Decree 47/2023/ND-CP amend Decree 62/2017/ND-CP detailing the Law on Property Auction

DECREE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of
the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement,
the Law on Property Auction

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015; Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration dated November 22, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Property Auction dated November 17, 2016;

At the request of the Minister of Justice;

The Government promulgates the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement, the Law on Property Auction.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement, the Law on Property Auction

1. To amend and supplement Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9. Organizing auctions in the form of online auction

1. In cases where an auction is conducted in the form of online auction, property auction organizations, property auction councils, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions shall perform the procedures and order of property auction specified in Chapter III and Chapter IV of the Law on Property Auction; Chapter III of the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement, the Law on Property Auction; and this Decree.

2. The property auction organizations, property auction councils, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions shall organize auctions in the form of online auction by leasing and using online auction websites. The online auction websites shall be established and operated in accordance with law regulations on information and communication, law regulations on e-commerce, include the national online auction website, online auction website of the wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions and online auction websites of property auction organizations.

3. The wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions may only use its online auction website to organize auctions in the form of online auction for properties being non-performing loans and collateral of non-performing loans in accordance with law regulations.

4. The cost for participation in the national online auction website, cost for leasing property auction organizations having an online auction website for organization of auctions in the form of online auction shall be included in the auction expenses specified in Clause 2 Article 66 of the Law on Property Auction.

5. The Ministry of Justice shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance, relevant ministries and branches in, prescribing the costs for using the national online auction website of the the national property auction portal.”

2. To amend and supplement Article 10 as follows:

“Article 10. Order of organization of auctions in the form of online auction

1. A property auction organization, property auction council, the wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions shall post the Rules of the auction, notice on the auction, and the list of properties, pictures and documents related to the properties (if any) on its online auction website.

2. Bidders shall check the auctioned properties online or directly according to the Rules of the auction and register their participation in the auction on the online auction website. Bidders buying auction dossiers shall be granted an access account via their email addresses registered.

Bidders shall use their access accounts for receiving the guidance on methods of submitting online auction dossiers, making of an advance payment via online payment forms, methods of participation in the auction, offer of bids and other necessary contents when participating in the online auction website.

3. Bidders that have submitted their auction dossiers and made an advance payment validly may use their access accounts to participate in the auction according to the Rules of the auction.

Persons who are eligible to participate in the auction but do not access their granted accounts for participating in offer of bids according to the time specified in the Rules of the auction shall be considered not to participate in the auction as specified at Point a Clause 6 Article 39 of Law on Property Auction, except for force majeure events.

The auction’s time of offering bids shall be agreed upon by the property auction organization with the auctioned property seller but must be at least fifteen minutes.

4. The property auction organization shall assign an auctioneer, the property auction council or wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions shall assign a member, to conduct the auction on its online auction website. At the end of the auction, the winning bidder shall be determined as follows:

a) In case of ascending-price auction, the winning bidder shall be the bidder offering the highest bid recorded by the auction network system;

b) In case of descending-price auction, the winning bidder shall be the first bidder accepting the reserve price or the decreased price recorded by the auction network system.

The winning bidder specified at Point a, Point b Clause 4 of this Article shall be announced in the online auction network system right after the end of the auction.

5. The results of the online auction shall be published on the online auction website and sent to the bidders’ email addresses registered with the property auction organization, property auction council or wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions right after the winning bidder is announced on the online auction website.”

3. To amend and supplement Article 13 as follows:

“Article 13. Requirements for an online auction website

1. Publicity, transparency, provision of unrestricted access to information.

2. The time on the online auction website are real-time and are the standard time in online auction.

3. Operate continuously and stably at level 3 under the law on securing information system according to security levels.

4. Meet the requirements of connecting, integrating and sharing data through the national data integration and sharing platform; requirements on technical infrastructure, information technology standards.

5. Have at least the following professional functions:

a) Allow individuals and organizations to register accounts of participation in the auction. Each individual or organization may register only one account of participation in auction and bid.

b) Ensure the safety and confidentiality of information on bidders, access accounts, participation in offering of bids, bids offered by using identifier codes.

c) Publicly and honestly display the bidders' offered bids; record information and extract the history of transactions and offered bids in the auction, withdrawal of offered bids and other necessary information during the organization of auction on the online auction website.

d) Display continuously in the course of the auction the highest paid price for the ascending-price auction and the price equal to the reserve price or the lowest decreased price for the descending-price auction for the bidders to follow; persons eligible to participate the auction that do not participate in the auction;

dd) Make sure that bidders cannot submit their auction dossiers after the end of submission of dossiers; or offer the bid after the end of the auction.”

4. To amend and supplement Article 14 as follows:

“Article 14. Appraisal of conditions for online auction websites of property auction organizations

1. The property auction organizations, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions shall send their schemes on establishment of online auction website to the Ministry of Justice. A scheme must contain the contents specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree.

2. The Minister of Justice shall decide to establish a Council appraising online auction websites and promulgate the operation regulations of the Council; members of the Council include the Ministry of Justice’s representative acting as Chairperson of the Council, representatives of relevant agencies and organizations, qualified and experienced experts in the fields of auction and information technology.

3. The Council appraising online auction websites shall consider and appraise the following contents:

a) Technical infrastructure, facilities and staff to operate online auction websites of property auction organizations;

b) The requirements prescribed in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree.”

5. To amend and supplement Article 15 as follows:

“Article 15. Approval of online auction websites, stopping of online auction

1. Within 90 days from the date of receipt of a scheme on establishment of online auction website from a property auction organization or the wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions, the Minister of Justice shall consider and approve the online auction website of such property auction organization or wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions.

2. List of property auction organizations having an online auction website shall be posted on the specialized property auction website.

3. On an annual basis or in unexpected cases, the Ministry of Justice and Departments of Justice of provinces and centrally-run cities shall inspect the management and operation of approved online auction websites of property auction organizations, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions. In case an online auction website doesn’t satisfy the conditions specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree, the property auction organization possessing such website, the wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions shall be responsible for upgrading the online auction system within 90 days from the day of request.

4. After the time limit specified in Clause 3 of this Article, if the online auction website of the property auction organization, the wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions does not meet the conditions specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree, the Minister of Justice shall consider to stop the online auction of the online auction website in case such website is approved by the Minister of Justice, or the Director of Department of Justice of the province or centrally-run city shall consider to stop the online auction of the online auction website in case such website is approved by the Director of the Department of Justice.”

6. To amend and supplement Article 16 as follows:

“Article 16. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice, property auction organizations, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions in establishment, management and operation of online auction websites

1. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice:

a) Assume the prime responsibility for formulating and promulgating the scheme on establishment of the national property auction portal with the function of posting notices on selection of property auction organizations, posting notices of auctions and online auctions;

b) Manage, operate and guide the use of the national online auction website of the national property auction portal; maintain and upgrade the online auction system to ensure that it meets the conditions specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree;

c) Provide the services of guiding auctioned property sellers, property auction organizations, bidders to implement online auctions, and registration and posting of information on the national online auction website;

d) Keep confidentiality of information during the operation of the national online auction website upon implementation of online auctions according to regulations;

dd) Store information for lookup, monitoring, supervision, examination, inspection and audit;

e) Publicly announce the conditions on information technology infrastructure of users upon participation in the national online auction website;

g) Perform other tasks on property auction assigned by the Government or the Prime Minister.

2. Responsibilities of property auction organizations, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions:

a) Establish, manage and operate their online auction websites; take responsibility for the results of online auctions conducted by themselves;

b) Keep confidentiality of information about bidders, access accounts unless otherwise provided by law;

c) Compensate for damage caused by errors caused by the organizations during the operation of their online auction websites in accordance with the law;

d) Issue, guide and publish on their online auction websites method of registration for accounts, use of accounts, method of offering of bids, auction method, time to start the auction and time to end the auction, bid increment and announce the auction results on the online auction systems;

dd) Maintain and upgrade the online auction system to ensure that it meets the conditions specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree.”

7. To add Article 16a and Article 16b after Article 16 as follows:

a) To add Article 16a as follows:

“Article 16a. Responsibilities of property auction organizations, property auction councils, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions upon use of online auction websites

1. Equip information technology infrastructure to meet requirements for organization of online auction.

2. Manage and keep confidentiality of information about bidders, granted access accounts and passwords, unless otherwise provided by law. If detecting that their accounts are lost or are being used illegally, they must immediately notify the agencies or organizations operating the online auction websites.

3. Take responsibility before law for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information that they have registered and posted on the online auction websites when logging in to their access accounts; online auction results of online auctions conducted by themselves.

4. Stop the organization of auctions in the form of online auction, stop online auctions and immediately notify the auctioned property sellers to decide the time to reconduct the auctions in case technical errors arising in the online auction system cause the auctions to fail to start; notify the auctioned property sellers to cancel online auction results in the event that due to a technical error of the online auction system, bidders cannot offer bids, valid offered bids are not recorded by the system or the time of offering of bids is misrecorded.

5. Comply with the Law on Property Auction and other relevant law regulations.”

b) To add Article 16b as follows:

“Article 16b. Responsibilities of bidders upon participation in online auction websites

1. Ensure their equipment when participating in the auctions; take responsibility in case their network system has problems resulting in their failure to participate in auctions and offering of bids on the online auction websites.

2. Manage and keep confidentiality of the granted access accounts and passwords. If detecting that their accounts are lost or are being used illegally, they must immediately notify property auction organizations, property auction councils, wholly state-owned organization established by the Government to settle non-performing loans of credit institutions.

3. Take responsibility before law for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information that they have registered and posted on the online auction websites when logging in to their access accounts.

4. Comply with the Law on Property Auction, other relevant law regulations and Rules of the auction.”

Article 2. Transitional provisions

1. For property auction organizations that have submitted their  valid schemes on implementation of online auction under the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement, the Law on Property Auction before the effective date of this Decree, Departments of Justice of provinces and centrally-run cities shall continue to implement the appraisal of the conditions and approval of their eligibility for online auction in accordance with the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement, the Law on Property Auction.

2. Within 2 years from the effective date of this Decree, property auction organizations possessing online auction websites approved under the Government’s Decree No. 62/2017/ND-CP dated May 16, 2017, on detailing a number of articles of, and providing measures to implement, the Law on Property Auction must carry out the maintenance and upgrading of their online auction systems to meet the conditions specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decree and report on the results to the Ministry of Justice or Departments of Justice of provinces and centrally-run cities that have been approved such websites.

Article 3. Implementation provisions

1. This Decree takes effect on September 01, 2023.

2. The Minister of Justice shall direct, guide and inspect the implementation of this Decree.

3. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of People’s Committees at all levels, and other related organizations and individuals shall implement this Decree.