Joint Circular No. 07/2015/TTLT-TTCP-NHNN guiding the freezing of accounts of inspected entities

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines on freezing accounts of inspected entitiesa

______________________

Pursuant to the Inspection Law issued on November 15, 2010;organize credit institutions, foreign bank branches are responsible for organizing the implementation of this Circular.86/2011/ND-CP dated September 22, 2011 of the Government detailing certain articles of the Inspection Law;

Pursuant to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to DecreeNo. 07/2012/ND-CP dated February 9, 2012 of the Government stipulating agencies entrusted with specialized inspection functions and activities;i tipoliciesand guidingFUNCTIONS, DUTIES, POWERS, ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, OPERATIONAL REGULATIONS, AND RELATIONSHIPS OF MANAGEMENT BOARDS; DUTIES, POWERS OF THE CHAIRPERSON, VICE CHAIRPERSON (IF ANY), SECRETARY, AND MEMBERS OF MANAGEMENT BOARDS195/2013/NĐ-CP dated November 21, 2013 of the Government detailing certain provisions and measures to enforce the Law on Publishingi 83/2012/ND-CP dated November 9, 2012 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Government Inspectorate;

156/2013/ND-CP dated November 11, 2013 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Government Inspectorate;

The Government Inspector General and the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam issue this Joint Circular guiding the freezing of inspected entities' accounts.onThis Circular provides guidance on the authority to request account freezing; grounds, procedures for freezing and canceling the freezing of inspected entities' accounts; responsibilities of credit institutions, foreign bank branches in Vietnam where inspected entities have accounts.

1. Heads of state administrative inspection agencies, heads of agencies entrusted with specialized inspection functions, and heads of competent state management agencies issuing decisions on administrative inspections and specialized inspections as prescribed by laws on inspection.onThis Circular provides detailed guidance on the issuance of treasury bills in accordance with Clause 1, Article 11 of Decree No. 01/2011/NĐ-CP dated January 5, 2011 of the Government on the issuance of government bonds, bonds guaranteed by the Government, and local government bonds (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 01/2011/NĐ-CP), including:

2. Heads of administrative inspection teams, heads of specialized inspection teams.No.3. Credit institutions, foreign bank branches in Vietnam (hereinafter referred to collectively as credit institutions).FUNCTIONS, DUTIES, POWERS, ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, OPERATIONAL REGULATIONS, AND RELATIONSHIPS OF MANAGEMENT BOARDS; DUTIES, POWERS OF THE CHAIRPERSON, VICE CHAIRPERSON (IF ANY), SECRETARY, AND MEMBERS OF MANAGEMENT BOARDS4. Inspected entities, relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals.No.Article 3. Principles for Implementing Account Freezing of Inspected Entities

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

1. Account freezing of inspected entities must be in accordance with the objects, authorities, and procedures specified in this Circular.

Article 2. Applicability

2. Respect and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of inspected entities.

3. Account freezing of inspected entities may only be implemented when there are signs that inspected entities are disposing of assets or failing to comply with decisions to recover money and assets.

4. Frozen accounts are payment accounts opened by inspected entities at credit institutions in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions.

5. Documents requesting account freezing by authorized persons shall be in the form of a Decision to Freeze Accounts.

Article 4. Responsibilities of Information Providers for Account Freezing

AUTHORITY, GROUNDS, PROCEDURES FOR FREEZING ACCOUNTS AND CANCELLING DECISIONS TO FREEZE ACCOUNTS

Article 5. Authority to Request Account Freezing

1. Heads of administrative inspection teams, heads of specialized inspection teams.

2. Persons issuing decisions on administrative inspections, persons issuing decisions on specialized inspections.

Article 6. Grounds for Requesting Account Freezing

b) There are signs of transferring ownership, use, giving as gifts, mortgaging, pledging, destroying, or altering the condition of assets;

1. Agencies, organizations, and individuals have the responsibility to provide account information of the inspected entity at credit institutions in accordance with the law on inspections.

2. Credit institutions have the responsibility to provide information related to customer deposits and entrusted assets in accordance with the law.

Chapter II

c) There are actions to falsify accounting records.

2. Inspected entities fail to comply with the deadlines for submitting money and assets as stipulated in decisions to recover money and assets issued by state administrative inspection agencies or competent state management agencies.

1. Head of administrative inspection team, Head of specialized inspection team.

2. Decision-maker for administrative inspection, decision-maker for specialized inspection.

Article 6. Grounds for requesting account freeze

1. The inspected entity exhibits signs of disposing of assets, including:

a) Implementing or preparing to implement transactions transferring funds to other accounts with unclear information about the purpose, content, and recipient;

b) There are signs of transferring ownership, use, gift, mortgage, pledge, destruction, alteration of the status of assets;

c) Engaging in conduct that distorts accounting records and ledgers.

2. The inspected object fails to comply with the deadline for submitting money and assets as stipulated in the decision to recover money and assets issued by the state inspection agency or the competent state management agency.

Article 7. Procedures for Requesting Financial Institutions to Freeze Accounts

1. The authorized person requesting the account freeze shall send the Account Freezing Decision to the financial institution where the inspected entity has an account and to the inspected entity.

2. The Account Freezing Decision must be signed by the authorized person specified in Article 5 of this Circular and stamped with the seal of the inspecting agency issuing the decision. The Account Freezing Decision must clearly state the frozen account number, purpose of freezing, name of the frozen account, scope of freezing, amount frozen, start date of freezing, duration of freezing, responsibilities of the financial institution, and other relevant information (if any).

The Account Freezing Decision shall be implemented according to Model No. 01 issued together with this Circular.

Article 8. Responsibilities of Financial Institutions Where Inspected Entities Have Accounts

1. Upon receipt of the Account Freezing Decision from the authorized person, the financial institution where the inspected entity has an account shall be responsible for implementing the account freeze in accordance with the Account Freezing Decision.

2. The financial institution shall notify the account holder whose account has been frozen about the account freezing.

Article 9. Revocation of the Account Freezing Decision

1. Within three working days from the time when the inspected entity fully implements the decision to recover money or assets, or when the grounds for issuing the Account Freezing Decision no longer exist, the authorized person issuing the Account Freezing Decision shall be responsible for revoking the Account Freezing Decision. The Account Unfreezing Decision must be sent to the financial institution where the inspected entity's frozen account is held and to the inspected entity.

2. The financial institution where the inspected entity has an account must immediately implement the account unfreezing upon receiving the Account Unfreezing Decision from the authorized person, and simultaneously notify the account holder of the revocation of the Account Freezing Decision.

The Account Unfreezing Decision shall be implemented according to Model No. 02 issued together with this Circular.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 10. Handling of violations

Any agency, organization, or individual failing to implement the Account Freezing Decision or the Account Unfreezing Decision shall be subject to administrative penalties, disciplinary actions, or criminal liability追究责任，具体处理方式视情况而定。

Article 11. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from January 10, 2016.

Article 12. Implementation Organization

During the implementation of this Joint Circular, if any difficulties arise, please report them to the Government Inspectorate and the State Bank of Vietnam for research and resolution within their authority./.