Decision No. 01/2014/QĐ-TTg on the system of allowances for judicial appraisals

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the system for compensating forensic expertise

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Law on Forensic Examination dated June 20, 2012;

Pursuant to Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government on the Salary System for Civil Servants, Public Officials, and Military Personnel;

Pursuant to the Government Decree No. 85/2013/NĐ-CP dated July 29, 2013 detailing and guiding the implementation of the Forensic Appraisal Law;

At the proposal of the Minister of Justice,

The Prime Minister promulgates this Decision on the system for compensating forensic expertise.

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

1. Judicial appraisers, judicial appraisers performing appraisal tasks on a case-by-case basis who are paid from the state budget shall carry out judicial appraisals.

2. Staff assisting judicial appraisers who are paid from the state budget, including: Assistants; technical personnel; medical attendants; criminal technical officers when participating in autopsy, post-mortem examination, exhumation of corpses; other individuals supporting judicial appraisers and directly involved in the appraisal process assigned by the head of the organization requested to conduct the appraisal or designated by the judicial appraiser responsible for coordinating the appraisal.

3. Investigators, prosecutors, judges entrusted by competent state agencies with the responsibility to perform tasks during the appraisal process for cases involving autopsy, post-mortem examination, exhumation of corpses.

Article 2. System for compensating forensic expertise based on working days

1. The system of allowances for judicial appraisals based on working days shall be applied to judicial appraisals in the following fields: Forensic toxicology, organizational biology, file-based appraisal; forensic psychiatry; criminal technical science; finance; banking; culture; construction; natural resources and environment; information and communication; agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and other fields.

2. The allowance rate for judicial appraisals per working day for one person conducting an appraisal as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article is specified as follows:

a) The rate of VND 150,000 applies to appraisals not falling under the cases prescribed in Points b and c of this Clause;

b) The rate of VND 300,000 applies to appraisals that require contact with objects of appraisal carrying dangerous infectious diseases or must be conducted in areas currently experiencing dangerous infectious disease outbreaks classified as Group B under Point b of Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases; or must be carried out in contaminated environments but not falling under the cases prescribed in Point c of this Clause;

c) The rate of VND 500,000 applies to appraisals that require contact with objects of appraisal infected with HIV/AIDS, carrying particularly dangerous infectious diseases, or must be conducted in areas currently experiencing particularly dangerous infectious disease outbreaks classified as Group A under Point a of Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases; or must come into contact with radioactive substances according to regulations of the Ministry of Science and Technology, hazardous chemicals listed in the chemical list issued together with Decree No. 108/2008/ND-CP dated October 7, 2008 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Chemicals, Decree No. 26/2011/ND-CP dated April 8, 2011 of the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decree No. 108/2008/ND-CP dated October 7, 2008 (hereinafter referred to collectively as Decree No. 108/2008/ND-CP and Decree No. 26/2011/ND-CP), and other harmful and dangerous substances according to relevant laws.

3. A working day for conducting judicial appraisals is calculated as 8 hours of appraisal work. The amount of allowance for one appraisal is calculated as follows:

The time and workload necessary for conducting the appraisal according to the standard appraisal procedure of each field managed by the Ministry or agency equivalent to a ministry in charge of judicial appraisals.

4. In cases where the time spent on conducting appraisals exceeds 8 hours/day, the total additional appraisal time shall not exceed 300 hours/year.

5. In cases where judicial appraisals must be conducted on rest days, the allowance rate shall be twice the allowance rate for judicial appraisals corresponding to the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article.

In cases where judicial appraisals must be conducted on public holidays or rest days with pay as prescribed, the allowance rate shall be three times the allowance rate for judicial appraisals corresponding to the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 3. Judicial Appraisal Subsidy System by Case

1. The system of allowances for judicial appraisals based on cases shall apply to living person appraisals and corpse appraisals in the forensic field.

2. The allowance rate for one person conducting a living person appraisal is specified as follows:

a) The rate of VND 160,000 per item of appraisal request for deep specialty examinations;

b) The rate of VND 200,000 per item of appraisal request for general examinations;

c) The rate of VND 300,000 per item of appraisal request for deep specialty consultations conducted by judicial appraisers who are specialists in their respective specialties.

3. The allowance rate for one person conducting a corpse appraisal without post-mortem examination and where the corpse is not preserved according to standards or is in a naturally decomposed state is specified as follows:

a) The rate of VND 600,000 per corpse for deaths within 48 hours;

b) The rate of VND 800,000 per corpse for deaths beyond 48 hours up to 7 days;

c) The rate of VND 1,000,000 per corpse for deaths over 7 days.

4. The allowance rate for one person conducting a post-mortem examination of a corpse that is not preserved according to standards or is in a naturally decomposed state is specified as follows:

a) The rate of VND 1,500,000 per corpse for deaths within 48 hours;

b) The rate of VND 2,500,000 per corpse for deaths beyond 48 hours up to 7 days;

c) The rate of VND 3,000,000 per corpse for deaths over 7 days;

d) The rate of VND 4,500,000 per corpse for deaths over 7 days and requiring exhumation.

5. In cases where the corpse is preserved according to standards issued by the Ministry of Health, the judicial appraiser shall receive 75% of the corresponding allowance rate for appraisals stipulated in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article.

6. When conducting forensic appraisals of corpses as stipulated in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article, if the object of appraisal is infected with HIV/AIDS, carries particularly dangerous infectious diseases, or must be conducted in areas currently experiencing particularly dangerous infectious disease outbreaks classified as Groups A and B under Points a and b of Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases; or must come into contact with radioactive substances according to regulations of the Ministry of Science and Technology, hazardous chemicals listed in the chemical list issued together with Decree No. 108/2008/ND-CP and Decree No. 26/2011/ND-CP, and other harmful and dangerous substances according to relevant laws, then the corresponding allowance rate stipulated in Point c of Clause 3 or Point d of Clause 4 of this Article shall be applied.

7. The level of compensation for one person conducting forensic identification of human remains shall be prescribed as follows:

a) A level of VND 3,000,000 per human remains;

b) A level of VND 4,000,000 per human remains in cases where it is necessary to conduct forensic identification in areas affected by particularly dangerous or dangerous infectious diseases belonging to Group A and Group B as stipulated in Point a and Point b Clause 1 Article 3 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases; or must come into contact with radioactive substances as prescribed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, hazardous chemicals listed in Decree No. 108/2008/NĐ-CP and Decree No. 26/2011/NĐ-CP, other harmful and dangerous substances as prescribed by relevant laws.

Article 4. Level of compensation for assistants to judicial experts; persons assigned tasks by competent state agencies when conducting forensic identification in cases of autopsy, post-mortem examination, exhumation of corpses.

1. Assistants to judicial experts prescribed in Clause 2 Article 1 of this Decision shall receive compensation equal to 70% of the compensation received by judicial experts.

2. Investigators, prosecutors, judges prescribed in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decision shall receive compensation equal to 30% of the compensation received by judicial experts.

Article 5. Sources of funds and principles for payment of forensic identification compensation

1. The funds for compensating forensic identification expenses for criminal cases or forensic identification matters requested by authorized investigative agencies shall be guaranteed by the state budget and allocated in the annual budget of the trial agency in accordance with the State Budget Law.

Annually, the trial agency must prepare a budget proposal and request the competent authority to approve and allocate funds to ensure payment of forensic identification compensation. The use of funds for compensating forensic identification expenses must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law.

2. The funds for compensating forensic identification expenses for civil cases and administrative litigation cases requested by the trial agency at the request of the parties shall be paid by the parties in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Law, the Law on Appraisal Fees in Litigation.

3. The requesting agency has the responsibility to temporarily advance the forensic identification compensation when requesting forensic identification and must pay the forensic identification compensation to the organization or individual conducting the forensic identification upon receipt of the forensic identification conclusion.

Article 6. Responsibilities of agencies

1. The Ministry of Justice shall be responsible for monitoring and urging the implementation of the forensic identification compensation system in ministries, sectors, and localities; taking the lead and coordinating with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security, and related ministries and sectors to inspect the implementation of the forensic identification compensation system; summarizing, concluding, and reporting to the Prime Minister.

2. Ministries and ministerial-level agencies managing forensic identification fields shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and related ministries and sectors to guide and specify the application for each type of forensic identification and determine the time and number of people conducting forensic identification for each type of forensic identification in their managed fields; organizing the implementation, inspecting the implementation situation of the forensic identification compensation system in their managed fields, and annually submitting reports to the Ministry of Justice for consolidation and reporting to the Prime Minister.

3. The Ministry of Public Security shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and related ministries and sectors to specify the composition and quantity of personnel assigned by competent state agencies to perform tasks during the period of conducting forensic identification in cases of autopsy, post-mortem examination, exhumation of corpses as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 1 of this Decision.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, and related ministries and sectors to provide guidance on the basis, procedures for preparing budgets, allocating, managing, and using funds for compensating forensic identification expenses of trial agencies; providing guidance on the procedures, formalities, and documents for settling the forensic identification compensation system as prescribed in this Decision; taking the lead and coordinating with the Ministry of Justice and related ministries and sectors to inspect the preparation, allocation, management, and use of funds for compensating forensic identification expenses in ministries, sectors, and localities.

5. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense, and related agencies shall be responsible for preparing budgets, requesting approval from competent state agencies, allocating, and ensuring funds for compensating forensic identification expenses requested by trial agencies under their jurisdiction.

6. People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities shall be responsible for organizing the implementation, inspecting the implementation situation of the forensic identification compensation system in their localities, and annually reporting to the Ministry of Justice for consolidation and reporting to the Prime Minister.

Article 7. Effective Date

1. This Decision shall take effect from March 15, 2014.

2. Decision No. 74/2009/QĐ-TTg dated May 7, 2009 of the Prime Minister on the compensation system for judicial experts shall cease to be effective from the date this Decision takes effect.

Article 8. Responsibility for Implementation

The Minister, the Head of a ministry equivalent to a ministry, the Head of a government agency, the Chairman of the People's Committee of a province or centrally governed city, and the Heads of related agencies are responsible for implementing this Decision./.