Directive No. 01/2002/CT-BTP On Implementing Key Tasks of Judicial Work in 2002

DIRECTIVE

On the implementation of key tasks

of judicial work in 2002

____________

In 2001, the first year of the new century, judicial work achieved significant improvements. Many key tasks identified in the Ministry's Directive at the beginning of the year were effectively organized and implemented. This was the result of the joint efforts throughout the year with a proactive, active, urgent, and continuous spirit of all cadres and civil servants in the sector. It was also the result of strict guidance, great concern, and the creation of many favorable conditions by the Party and State leadership at both central and local levels, as well as by the leadership of other Ministries and sectors for judicial and legal work.

However, in light of the increasingly high demands for building a genuine socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people, and for the people, continuing to promote reforms in breadth and depth, enhancing internal strength, and actively integrating into the global economy, alongside positive results and changes, there are still areas of work that have not been sufficiently focused on to complete according to schedule: The organization, functions, duties, and operational mechanisms of judicial agencies, especially local judicial agencies, and legal departments of Ministries and sectors have not been fully improved and modernized to meet the expanding requirements and tasks; The progress in drafting, reviewing some projects and draft normative legal documents is slow and of low quality; Civil and administrative enforcement, and judicial support work still face numerous difficulties and unresolved issues, lacking timely guidance. Overall, the judicial sector's work has yet to reach the required level.

In 2002, it is the year for the entire Party and people to continue implementing the Resolution of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam; the first year to implement the newly amended and supplemented provisions of the 1992 Constitution and laws on the organizational structure of the state apparatus; Proactively integrate into the international economy according to the Resolution of the Politburo and implement the Vietnam - United States Trade Agreement.

For judicial work, in 2002, there will be more significant changes, meeting the country's demands while creating fundamental shifts in the performance of the sector's functions and responsibilities: Improving the organizational structure, building a clean and strong judicial cadre team; enhancing capacity in law-making, reviewing, examining, and checking normative legal documents; ensuring the effectiveness of civil enforcement work and management of local courts; strengthening activities to disseminate, educate about the law, and provide free legal aid down to the grassroots level; continuing to reform operations and streamline administrative procedures in judicial support and administrative judicial activities, supporting the people in legal matters.

To ensure that judicial work proactively meets the above requirements and orientations, in 2002, it is necessary to intensify the comprehensive implementation of all tasks within the sector's functions and responsibilities, focusing on organizing the implementation of key tasks of judicial work as follows:

1. Continue to improve judicial agencies, build a clean and strong judicial cadre team.

Urgently complete the draft for the Government to amend and supplement Decree No. 38/CP and coordinate with relevant state agencies to amend and supplement Joint Circular No. 12/TTLT according to the project on improving the organizational structure of judicial agencies submitted to the Government to perfect the organizational model system, improve, and consolidate judicial agencies from central to grassroots levels.

Draft for the Government to amend and supplement Decree No. 94/NĐ-CP on the organization of legal departments of Ministries and sectors to improve the organization of legal departments of Ministries and sectors at the central level, establish legal departments at provincial, municipal, and enterprise levels. Strengthen activities to ensure practical effects of the Business Legal Club.

Designate 2002 as the "Year of Improving the Organization and Enhancing the Capacity of Local Judicial Agencies at Provincial, District, and Commune Levels." Focus on consolidating and increasing staffing for district-level judicial agencies to strengthen judicial work in districts, towns, cities under provinces; and the "Year of Leveraging the Role of Legal Departments in Proactively Advising and Serving Economic-Social Development, National Defense Security, and Compliance with the Constitution and Laws."

Emphasize education and training of the judicial cadre team in terms of character, politics, ethics, and professional responsibility. Continue organizing the study and implementation of the documents of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party; develop action programs for each agency and unit to implement the Resolution of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of work and conduct confidence votes for managerial staff and judicial positions. Establish mechanisms to create conditions for the people to supervise the activities of judicial agencies.

Implement the rotation system for cadres and send young civil servants to grassroots levels for practical experience.

Proactively prepare in all aspects to be ready to implement the task of increasing the jurisdiction of local People's Courts. Ensure sufficient judges for local courts so that by the end of 2002, there will be no shortage of judges. Timely and strictly implement procedures for appointing, dismissing, and transferring judicial staff.

Implement the working regulations in local People's Courts. Develop regulations clarifying the individual responsibility of judges when cases are overturned or revised.

2. Enhance the capacity for law-making, reviewing, examining, and checking normative legal documents to ensure that normative legal documents have correct, consistent, and enforceable content.

Complete the ten-year (2001-2010) strategy for law-making based on the proposal assessing the development needs of the Vietnamese legal system.

Develop plans to innovate the process of law-making, reviewing, examining, and checking normative legal documents from central to local government levels.

Concentrate on directing to complete the task of comprehensively reviewing normative legal documents.

Judicial agencies at all levels should proactively perform their function of reviewing and checking normative legal documents under the management of the Government and local authorities, ensuring that normative legal documents have correct, consistent, constitutional, legal, transparent, and enforceable content.

Implement periodic evaluations of quality and progress checks on the review of projects and draft regulatory legal documents. Focus on completing projects and draft regulatory legal documents within the legal system construction program for the year 2002 according to schedule.

3. Strengthen activities serving the main task of actively integrating into the international economy, enhancing the effectiveness of international cooperation in judicial and legal matters.

Organize the implementation and dissemination of the Resolution of the Politburo on Economic Integration. Proactively organize the dissemination and study of the Vietnam - United States Trade Agreement for the judiciary staff, primarily judges, legal officers from ministries, sectors, enterprises, lawyers, researchers, teachers, and law drafters.

Continue researching and reviewing urgent legal issues during the process of economic integration to perform advisory functions effectively, proposing solutions to improve the legal system, promptly addressing legal issues related to international integration, particularly regional economic integration and the Vietnam - United States Trade Agreement.

Strictly manage international cooperation activities in judicial and legal matters according to Decree No. 103/ND-CP dated December 26, 1998 of the Government. Enhance the effectiveness of legal cooperation projects with foreign countries and international organizations. Timely implement judicial commissions.

4. Implement comprehensive measures to ensure strict enforcement of Directive No. 20/2001/CT-TTg dated September 11, 2001 of the Prime Minister on strengthening and improving the efficiency of civil execution work.

Promote the activities of the Civil Execution Steering Committee at all levels. Implement comprehensive measures to enhance the capacity, responsibility, and working conditions of civil execution agencies. Promptly amend legal documents on civil execution. Increase guidance, inspection, and timely resolution of difficulties in civil execution work. Ensure sufficient staffing for civil execution agencies.

Complaints and reports about civil execution must be resolved promptly and conclusively at their place of occurrence. Strengthen inspections and reviews of complaint and report handling in the field of civil execution; clarify the causes of pending cases, complaints, and the responsibilities of heads of civil execution agencies and enforcement officers.

5. Focus efforts on popularizing and educating the law at the grassroots level.

Summarize five years of implementing Directive 02 and Decision 03 of the Prime Minister, based on which propose and implement measures to promote the popularization and education of the law.

Concentrate on developing and consolidating the cadre force for popularizing and educating the law, especially the cadre of propagandists at the grassroots level.

Improve mechanisms for coordination, enhance the role and effectiveness of Popularization and Legal Education Coordination Councils at all levels.

Continuously innovate forms and methods of organizing the popularization and education of the law, select practical and appropriate content for each target group, create conditions for the people to access the law.

Timely organize the dissemination of the content of amendments and supplements to certain articles of the Constitution and Laws on State organization (revised).

On the basis of doing well in propaganda, popularization, and legal education, build a movement to mobilize the people to comply with the law through mediation activities, implementation of village regulations, dispute resolution, and building a cultural life in residential areas.

Organize effective propaganda and dissemination of laws in enterprises according to Directive No. 28/2001/CT-TTg dated November 28, 2001 of the Prime Minister. Organize research and selection of content of the Vietnam - United States Trade Agreement and legal documents on integration to disseminate to specific groups. Organize a competition to understand the Vietnam - United States Trade Agreement. Improve and innovate the operation mode of the Enterprise Legal Club to serve the information and legal consultation needs of enterprises, gradually building the Club into a reliable address, a bridge between enterprises and law under conditions of promoting internal strength and economic integration in the region and globally.

Enhance the effectiveness of the use of legal bookcases in communes, wards, and towns. Continue to establish legal bookcases in agencies, organizations, schools, and enterprises.

Improve the quality and effectiveness of the operations of state-funded free legal aid centers, strengthen the cadre force and collaborator teams, expand free legal aid services down to the grassroots level.

6. Vigorously reform administrative procedures in supplementary judicial activities, administrative judicial activities, and enhance legal support systems for the people.

Review, supplement, and amend current legal documents in the field of supplementary judicial activities, administrative judicial activities; resolve basic obstacles, improve, and enhance the effectiveness of notarization, management, and registration of household registration, nationality, marriage, adoption involving foreign elements. Promptly complete the development and implementation of legal documents on forensic examination, auctioning of assets, secured transactions, criminal records, arbitration. Continue implementing the "Year of Birth Registration for Children." Complete the registration of marriages according to Resolution No. 35/2000/QH10 of the National Assembly. Organize a national contest for outstanding Household Registration Officers.

Focus on implementing the Lawyer Law 2001 and guiding documents; the new decree replacing Decree 184/CP on family relations involving foreign elements; the Vietnam - France Adoption Agreement.

Implement activities to meet the demand for secured transaction registration in localities nationwide, first implemented in Hanoi Center and branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

7. Reform legal research and judicial training work.

Continue to improve the cadre of managers and lecturers, enhance the quality of training and upgrading at the Hanoi University of Law and the Training Institute for Judicial Positions. Strive to build the Hanoi University of Law into a national key law school.

Complete the training programs for judicial officers with years of experience who have undergone rotational training. Reform the curriculum, expand the scale of vocational skill training, enhance political quality and ethics of the cadre of judges, lawyers, forensic experts, notaries, enforcement officers, arbitrators, legal aid specialists, to meet the requirements of development and integration of the country.

Promote the wisdom of the entire sector and scientific research activities, ensuring the connection between scientific research activities and the work of the sector; study to clarify scientific arguments serving the construction of the Strategy for the Development of the Judicial Sector, while proactively advising the leadership of the Ministry in directing and managing the activities of the sector.

Timely summarize practical experiences, propose solutions to serve policy-making and legislative tasks on judicial reform, administrative reform, and integration under the conditions of building a socialist rule-of-law state. Focus on researching legal issues of the international integration process, implementing the Vietnam-U.S. Trade Agreement. Pay attention to researching contributions to building mechanisms to ensure the effectiveness of laws.

Widespread dissemination and application of results of legal scientific research, outcomes of seminars, symposiums, conferences into judicial work.

Develop a project on applying information technology to the operations of judicial agencies.

Establish systems and appropriate solutions for judicial agencies to implement regular self-study and training programs to improve professional competence for staff.

8. Continue to promote patriotic emulation movements, linking these movements with the promotion of completing key tasks in 2002.

Identify some of the most urgent areas of work to launch emulation movements, enhancing the effectiveness of work.

Reform the form and improve the quality of emulation zones. Summarize each aspect of judicial work in the locality, commend and widely publicize outstanding models.

Emphasize the recognition of good people and deeds, timely and appropriately rewarding collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in combating crime, protecting justice, promoting innovations, and improving professional activities.

9. Organize the implementation of the Directive.

Based on the key tasks identified above, Directors of Provincial Justice Departments, Presidents of People's Courts at provincial level, Heads of units under the Ministry of Justice, legal organizations of Ministries and sectors report to Party committees and local authorities, ministries, and sectors in a timely manner to direct and develop plans to implement this Directive.

The leadership of the Ministry of Justice will strengthen working relations with leaders of localities, ministries, and sectors. Heads of units under the Ministry of Justice are responsible for closely following the practical implementation of laws, promptly forecasting and identifying emerging and urgent issues, proactively guiding and resolving difficulties for localities and enterprises.

Proposals, suggestions, requests for opinions from localities and units must be reviewed and responded to by Heads of units under the Ministry within no more than 15 days; henceforth, delays in responding, silence without response, or vague responses lacking authenticity must cease.

Strengthen inspection and supervision of official duties, professional activities, the implementation of work regulations, management regulations of the sector, and the Directive of the Ministry, primarily the responsibility of unit Heads in organizing, implementing, urging, and inspecting the implementation.

Promote the role of the Ministry's Inspectorate, Provincial Inspectorates, and the supervision and inspection activities of the people in each agency and unit; link inspection work with evaluation and selection for commendation and awards.

Agencies and units in the sector implement the principle "Focus on the grassroots," closely follow their areas of responsibility, organize reviews and mid-term summaries of Directive implementation to report to the Minister of Justice and local authorities, ministries, and sectors.

The Ministry of Justice will organize coordination meetings and inspections of Directive implementation in localities according to the emulation zones of the sector.

The Office of the Ministry of Justice is responsible for monitoring and urging the implementation of this Directive, regularly reporting on the results of implementation and proposing recommendations to the Minister for guidance in line with the situation./.