Directive No. 03/1999/CT-BTP on the implementation of key tasks of the Justice Sector in 1999

DIRECTIVE

Regarding the implementation of key tasks

of the Justice Sector in 1999

_____________

THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE

In recent years, the Justice Sector has gradually fulfilled its functions and responsibilities effectively, making increasingly positive contributions to the renewal process; building a socialist rule-of-law state of Vietnam. The national justice conference at the beginning of this year focused on evaluating the positive changes reflecting the whole sector's efforts in the field of judicial work in 1998 and proposed directions for work in 1999.

To implement the directions for work in 1999 with focus and achieve good results, elevate the level of judicial work to a new height, and implement the Prime Minister's guidance at the national justice conference in 1998, to achieve even better results, the Minister of Justice issues this Directive to Heads of units under the Ministry, Presidents of People's Courts of provinces and centrally-administered cities, and Directors of Justice Departments to concentrate on directing the implementation of the following tasks:

I. ON THE MAIN DIRECTIONS:

1. Continue to build forces, consolidate, and improve organizational structures, focusing on reforming the organization and activities of grassroots judicial agencies according to the principle of focusing on the grassroots.

2. Strengthen ideological education, moral cultivation, and political steadfastness for judicial officials. Build a cadre of judicial officials with good morals, valuing professional honor, setting examples in living and working according to the Constitution and laws, in the spirit of President Ho Chi Minh's teachings: "Serve the public interest, uphold the law, be impartial and incorruptible."

3. Enhance the role of judicial agencies by completing specialized professional tasks; proactively advising Party committees and local authorities in organizing the implementation of laws, actively contributing to political stability in their respective areas.

4. Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, and strengthen inspection and supervision within the Justice Sector.

II. IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES.

1. Vigorously promote training and professional development.

a) Implement the program for secondary legal education for cadres in the sector, emphasizing the training of grassroots civil status officials in communes, wards, and towns to meet job requirements and standardize grassroots judicial cadres.

b) Continue organizing refresher courses for judges lacking professional standards; open a second batch of judge training courses.

c) Provide professional training for judicial positions such as lawyers, notaries, forensic experts, enforcement officers, court secretaries.

d) Organize sessions to train knowledge of intellectual property law, international trade law, and economic integration.

đ) Conduct training in civil status, nationality, and internal inspection in the Justice Sector.

e) Organize training in legal knowledge for local People's Court assessors.

g) Train and provide professional development for legal aid staff and volunteers.

h) Improve the organizational structure and faculty of the Hanoi Law University and the Training Institute for Judicial Positions; support teaching law at local political-administrative schools, continue developing standardized textbooks for university law programs and intermediate-level legal programs.

2. Develop Codes of Conduct for Judges and Lawyers, and study the development of professional codes for Justice Sector cadres. Strengthen the responsibility of heads of agencies and units in the sector to monitor compliance with these codes.

3. Organize well the drafting, ensure progress and quality of draft regulatory legal documents. Improve the quality and time for reviewing draft regulatory legal documents. Complete phase two of the plan for comprehensive review and systematization of regulatory legal documents.

a) Finalize and promulgate regulations on procedures and processes for drafting and reviewing draft regulatory legal documents of the Ministry.

b) Consolidate and improve the construction of legal units under the Ministry and organize the drafting of regulatory legal documents by provincial Justice Departments.

c) Guide and conduct training on drafting and reviewing draft regulatory legal documents and on reviewing and systematizing regulatory legal documents for legal document drafting cadres of provincial Justice Departments, district legal offices, and legal officers of ministries and sectors.

d) Advise and assist local People's Committees in managing the issuance of regulatory legal documents; pay attention to drafting documents or reviewing draft documents assigned by the People's Committee.

4. Further promote legal education and dissemination among cadres and the people; fulfill the task of the permanent office of the Coordination Council and take the lead in organizing coordinated activities for legal education and dissemination.

a) Well direct the work orientation for coordination councils for legal education and dissemination at lower levels; promptly guide and direct coordination councils at the local level regarding coordinated legal education and dissemination work. Districts, counties, towns, and provincial cities may establish coordination councils for legal education and dissemination if conditions and needs permit.

b) Construct, manage, and effectively utilize legal libraries at communes, wards, and towns according to plans and directives from the Minister of Justice.

c) Regularly provide professional training and materials on legal education and dissemination for legal educators and propagandists. Compile general legal books, administrative-judicial practice guides; publish special issues of magazines and newspapers serving state administration and judicial work at the grassroots level.

d) Implement the Prime Minister's Decision on establishing a Corporate Legal Club.

đ) Complete the proposal for establishing a Justice Publishing House to submit to the Government for consideration and decision.

5. Strengthen state management over judicial auxiliary organizations; improve the quality of operations and deepen judicial auxiliary work to serve effectively judicial proceedings, enforcement, administrative-judicial management, and socio-economic development.

a) Strive to establish Legal Aid Centers in most provinces and cities throughout the country. Continue to implement extensive legal aid activities in remote areas and regions with many communes in poverty reduction programs.

b) Seriously implement Government Decree No. 83/1998/NĐ-CP on civil status registration, issue Circulars guiding the implementation and enforcement of Government Decree No. 83/1998/NĐ-CP, and Joint Circulars of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of regulations on civil status involving foreign elements, including fees for civil status matters, etc.

Complete the mid-term review of the implementation of Government Decision No. 184/CP on marriage procedures, recognition of children born out of wedlock, adoption, and guardianship between Vietnamese citizens and foreigners.

c) Organize well the enforcement of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality 1998. Continue to complete pending files for renunciation of Vietnamese nationality from 1998 and submit them to the President for resolution according to the procedures stipulated in the Law on Vietnamese Nationality 1998.

d) Organize well the implementation of the Joint Circular of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Security on issuing criminal record certificates, gradually bringing this work into a regular routine.

đ) Complete the draft Decree to replace Government Decree No. 117/HĐBT on forensic examination and the draft Decree amending and supplementing Government Decree No. 31/CP on the organization and operation of state notarization. Simultaneously develop the project for drafting the Ordinance on State Notarization and the Project for drafting the Ordinance on Forensic Examination.

e) Strengthen state management over the organization and activities of law firms, legal advisory offices, and foreign lawyers' branches operating in Vietnam; promptly correct deviations that are of public concern.

6. Implement effectively the conclusions of the Prime Minister regarding measures to resolve pending cases; strengthen inspection and correction of civil enforcement activities, striving for a higher percentage of fully executed cases compared to 1998.

7. Implement the policy of transparency in the issuance, use, and management of financial resources and assets. Thoroughly practice thrift, combat waste and corruption in the management, issuance, use, and management of financial resources and assets, especially for funds allocated for building local People's Courts and enforcement agencies' headquarters. Issue and organize the effective implementation of Regulations on the issuance, use, procurement, and management of assets in judicial agencies and units.

8. Accelerate the construction of the National Legal Database; pilot the construction of legal databases in some Departments of Justice.

9. Develop guidelines for implementing the Ordinance on the organization and operation of grassroots mediation; consolidate, improve, and establish new mediation teams; organize elections for team leaders and members of mediation teams according to the provisions of the Ordinance and its implementing guidelines; guide the organization of competitions for outstanding mediators at local levels to prepare for a national competition.

10. Make fundamental progress in administrative reform in the judicial sector (especially administrative procedures in relation to citizens), initially in the fields of notarization, civil status, and enforcement.

11. Issue Rules on the working relationship between units under the Ministry and local People's Courts, local judicial agencies. Pay attention to urging and inspecting the implementation of Rules issued by the Ministry. Develop and organize the implementation of working rules for leadership of local People's Courts, local judicial agencies, enforcement agencies, law firms, and state notary offices.

12. Vigorously and consistently promote patriotic emulation movements in the judicial sector according to Directive No. 02/1998/CT-BTP dated October 8, 1998, of the Minister of Justice, and the plan for organizing and launching emulation movements proposed at the 1998 National Judicial Conference.

III- IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION.

1. Based on the direction of work for 1999 of the sector, the guidance of the Prime Minister at the 1998 National Judicial Conference, and the contents mentioned in this Directive, the Chairmen of Provincial People's Courts, Directors of Departments of Justice, and Heads of units under the Ministry shall be responsible for implementing the tasks assigned in the Work Assignment attached to this Directive, specifically detailing these into their own unit plans and organizing their implementation.

2. Leaders of the Ministry shall strengthen inspection, urging, and timely guidance in handling work in the sectors they are responsible for, creating conditions for units under the Ministry, local People's Courts, and local judicial agencies to complete their 1999 program and direction of work.

3. The Ministry Office shall monitor and urge the implementation of this Directive, regularly compiling reports to the Minister on the progress and results of implementation./.