Circular No. 1611/TT guiding the division of provinces for local judicial agencies

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for the division of provinces

concerning local judicial agencies

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To implement Resolution No. 10 of the Ninth National Assembly Session on adjusting administrative boundaries of some provinces and centrally-run cities dated November 5, 1996, and Directive No. 857/TTg dated November 15, 1996 of the Prime Minister on directing the organization to carry out the division and adjustment of administrative boundaries of some provinces, the Ministry of Justice guides local judicial agencies to implement the following points:

I. REGARDING THE EXECUTION OF JUDGMENTS DEPARTMENT

1. Regarding organization and staff:

- It is necessary to study and implement the guidance of the Prime Minister in Directive No. 857/TTg dated November 15, 1996 to organize a streamlined and effective structure, reasonably arrange and allocate staff to ensure the requirements of enforcement work during the division of provinces.

- The allocation and arrangement of staff must be based on the work requirements on the basis of the current staff, ensuring a reasonable number and quality of staff for both provinces, striving to arrange so that new units have sufficient enforcement officer positions, particularly focusing on having enough leadership staff, so that after the division these units can start operations immediately. At the same time, the allocation and arrangement of staff should take into account the wishes and circumstances of each individual to minimize difficulties for staff after the division. The allocation and arrangement of staff must ensure internal unity on the spirit of sharing hardships together and overcoming difficulties at the beginning.

- Cases involving staff who have violated regulations and need disciplinary action must be resolved conclusively before the division of provinces.

- The Director of the Department of Justice needs to immediately propose a framework for the leadership staff of the two new units to have someone responsible for handling all related procedures and implementing matters related to the division as well as ensuring the normal operation of the units from the very first days. Simultaneously, the Director of the Department of Justice needs to establish and promptly send a list of proposed allocation and arrangement of staff (according to the model of the Ministry) of the two Execution Departments after the division to the Ministry of Justice.

- Recruitment will be temporarily suspended during the division period.

- In the allocation and arrangement of staff during the division of provinces, if there are any issues, the Director of the Department of Justice needs to report immediately for the Ministry of Justice to coordinate with the local Party Committee and government to make unified decisions and resolve them promptly.

- Alongside the above tasks, the Director of the Department of Justice needs to urgently develop a proposal to submit to the Ministry's leadership regarding the establishment of new units; register working locations, handle procedures for stamping seals for the Execution Departments, and prepare all necessary minimum conditions for the units to operate smoothly after the division.

2. Regarding enforcement activities:

The Director of the Department of Justice is responsible for directly guiding the division and handover of books, files, assets, equipment, and physical facilities of the Execution Department:

a) Regarding books and files of enforcement:

- All types of enforcement books currently in use must be closed and settled when the old unit officially ceases operations, the unit remaining in place has the responsibility to store (including those books previously transferred to storage by the old unit). The settlement must be recorded in a protocol specifying the total number of cases accepted, the number of completed enforcement cases, ongoing enforcement, uniform enforcement, suspension, temporary suspension, cessation, rejection of requests, entrusted enforcement, and unenforced amounts, etc., and confirmed by the Director of the Department of Justice and the Head of the Execution Department. New units must establish new books and accept cases according to the new province.

- All enforcement files that have been fully enforced and stored will be divided between the two provinces upon division based on the authority to issue enforcement decisions as stipulated in the Enforcement of Civil Judgments Ordinance, to facilitate the resolution of complaints by parties.

- Files not yet enforced, partially enforced, uniformly enforced, suspended, temporarily suspended, rejected requests, etc., under the jurisdiction of the province responsible for monitoring and urging enforcement will be allocated to that province. The enforcement agency in the new province does not need to issue a new enforcement decision but retains the original case number when entering into the new book because this is merely the continuation of the work of the enforcement agency in the old province.

- For judgments and decisions of the Court that have taken legal effect but have not been accepted and filed as enforcement files (due to recent receipt or lack of request for enforcement) or judgments and decisions of the Court transferred by the Court but not yet enforceable, they shall be allocated according to the enforcement agency with the authority to issue enforcement decisions.

b) Regarding evidence and temporarily detained assets:

- A thorough review and inventory of all evidence and temporarily detained assets currently in the enforcement warehouse must be conducted promptly to determine appropriate solutions. The inventory must be meticulously and accurately recorded in a protocol, confirmed by the Director of the Department of Justice.

- For evidence and temporarily detained assets that can be resolved immediately according to the law, they must be resolved conclusively before the division of provinces. Evidence and temporarily detained assets related to enforcement files being monitored and urged for enforcement must be specifically identified and transferred to the enforcement agency that has received the enforcement file. In cases of loss, shortage, damage, etc., a protocol must be established to clearly identify the cause and personal responsibility to take appropriate measures. If there is improper use, it must be recovered and dealt with promptly before the division of provinces.

- For evidence and temporarily detained assets such as gold, silver, precious metals, gems, foreign currency held at the State Treasury or the State Bank, a detailed inventory must be conducted. Evidence and temporarily detained assets will be transferred according to the case files. After the division of provinces, the new units need to cooperate to handle the transfer of these types of assets to the accounts of the new enforcement agencies.

c) Regarding income and expenditure of enforcement funds:

- Amounts collected that according to the law can be paid to the parties or deposited into the state budget shall be promptly settled to avoid transferring pending matters to new units. Amounts collected but cannot yet be paid to the parties or deposited into the state budget due to the judgment not being effective for enforcement, the person entitled to enforcement has not accepted, etc., shall be immediately sent to the State Treasury of the old province. After the division of the province, the new units must cooperate with each other to transfer such amounts to the account of the new enforcement agency according to the enforcement case file managed by that agency.

- All books of accounts regarding the collection and expenditure of enforcement funds, along with all receipts, payment vouchers, etc., currently in use shall be checked, closed, and documented clearly and fully for storage at the enforcement agency remaining in place. The new enforcement agency must establish new books of accounts and use new receipt books, payment vouchers, etc., as prescribed.

The balancing of cash funds, deposits on temporary holding accounts, etc., must be strictly carried out in accordance with all legal provisions to avoid unnecessary omissions.

All these tasks shall be implemented under the strict and continuous direction of the Director of the Department of Justice. The Head of the Enforcement Division is responsible for assisting the Director of the Department of Justice during the implementation of the division of the province concerning matters related to the enforcement agency. To ensure the legality of the division and handover between enforcement agencies, each task must be documented specifically and clearly to avoid superficiality or favoritism. The activities of the new enforcement agency will commence from the date of operation under the new provincial unit.

3. Regarding the handover of material assets, working equipment, and operational funding.

a) Conduct an inventory of assets and develop a plan to divide assets as follows:

- Office premises including buildings, ancillary structures, shared meeting furniture, and equipment shall be left for the unit remaining in place. The unit moving to the new province will be invested in improving and upgrading its new office premises and equipping it anew.

- For means of transportation (cars, motorcycles), if there are two cars, each unit gets one; if there is only one car, it will be left for the old unit to use, and the new unit will be provided later. As for motorcycles (if any), priority should be given to the unit that needs to move its office to the new province.

- Desks, chairs, and filing cabinets of staff currently in use shall be left for the enforcement agency remaining in place. The new unit must immediately prepare a budget for purchasing desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and other working equipment and send it to the Ministry of Justice for approval.

- Working equipment of the office such as photocopiers, typewriters, telephones, safes, etc., shall be left for the unit remaining in place, while the new unit will be provided with new equipment.

- The old enforcement division is responsible for settling the operational funding allocated by the budget for the year 1996, paying off debts, especially debts with staff transferred to the new unit, organizing the handover between the old accountant and cashier with the new accountant and cashier when dividing according to current regulations.

The handover of assets between the old and new units shall be documented in a record signed by the Director of the Department of Justice, the Head of the Enforcement Division, the Accountant, and the Cashier.

b) Prepare material conditions to quickly stabilize the new workplace.

- Units moving to the new province shall be assigned temporary working locations by the province, and they need to prepare a budget for repairing, improving, and upgrading the temporary office premises and purchasing essential initial working equipment to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision (according to the notification of the Ministry of Finance), while reporting to the Ministry of Justice.

Specifically, the fourth quarter funding for the newly divided Enforcement Division in 1996 will be allocated by the Ministry into the account of the old unit.

- New units need to urgently complete procedures to open an account at the new provincial treasury to be able to receive funding allocated by the Ministry in the first quarter of 1997.

- The Director of the Department of Justice of the newly separated province needs to report to the local party committee and government to request land allocation for building a new office for the enforcement agency. The Ministry of Justice will guide the new units to prepare for investment in building a new office when the Provincial People's Committee allocates land.

II. REGARDING THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, NOTARIES AND REGISTERS, AND BAR ASSOCIATIONS:

The Director of the Department of Justice is directly responsible for directing and guiding the Notary, Registry, and Bar Association units in the division of organizational personnel and business records of these units as follows:

1. Regarding the State Notary Office:

- For places currently having two State Notary Offices (No. 1 and No. 2), when the province is divided, each Notary Office will be established on the territory of each new province. The Director of the Department of Justice shall propose to the People's Committees of the newly separated provinces to decide on establishing a State Notary Office under the Department of Justice with legal personality, separate bank accounts, and separate seals according to the regulations of the State, consistent with the name of the new province and defining the jurisdiction for the Notary Office to carry out notarization work related to immovable property as prescribed by law. During the division, these Notary Offices will continue to perform their notarization work normally to ensure uninterrupted service to citizens and organizations. Upon formal division, the notarization records and files of each Notary Office shall remain with that Notary Office. The Head of the Notary Office must compile a general list of existing types of files and records at this time, sign and stamp it, and send one copy each to the Directors of the old and new provinces.

- For localities currently having only one Notary Public Office (Number 1), now divided into two provinces, the Director of the Department of Justice shall establish a plan to report to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision on the division of staff and equipment of the Notary Public Office, ensuring that each newly established province has sufficient staff and quota to set up a Notary Public Office. At the same time, they should request the newly established provincial people's committee to issue a decision promptly establishing the Notary Public Office under the Department of Justice to timely serve notarization requirements of citizens and organizations. During the division process, the old provincial Notary Public Office continues to handle notarization requests until a new Notary Public Office is established after the division. All notarization files and records will be retained by the Notary Public Office remaining in the old province for easy reference when requested or disputed. The new provincial Notary Public Office will only begin to accept and resolve notarization requests once it has received a decision from the new provincial people's committee and has a sufficient number of Notaries. The Department of Justice needs to copy and provide to the new provincial Notary Public Office all legal documents regarding organization and operation of notarization as well as other legal regulations related to notarization activities.

2. Regarding civil status registration activities.

- When preparing personnel for the division of provinces, the Director of the Department of Justice needs to report to the Provincial People's Committee to pay attention and prioritize experienced staff in managing and registering civil status for the newly established province.

- The Department of Justice needs to fully allocate national legal documents on civil status to the new province, including files, forms, and records on civil status to ensure uniform implementation nationwide. Files on civil status accepted until the day of the division (including those concerning marriage and adoption with foreign elements) will continue to be resolved in the old province and will not be transferred to the new province. Newly separated provincial Departments of Justice will only accept files from the date the new province begins operations.

- During the resolution of civil status matters, if complex issues arise, opinions should be sought from the Ministry of Justice, and implementation can only proceed after receiving guidance from the Ministry of Justice.

- File storage will still be handled by the Department of Justice remaining in the old province for easy reference when requested or disputed.

- The reporting system for civil status statistics for the year 1996 will be carried out by the old provincial Department of Justice.

3. Regarding the Bar Association:

- When implementing the division of provinces, the Bar Association of the old province will continue its operations until the Bar Association of the new province is established.

- Where the Bar Association, upon division, has at least two lawyers in each new province, the Bar Association should discuss with the Director of the Department of Justice of the new province for the Director to request the new provincial people's committee to issue a decision allowing the establishment of the Bar Association of the new province and designate a temporary Board Chair (or Chair) from among the recognized lawyers of the old provincial Bar Association who voluntarily transfer to the new province.

- In cases where, upon division, one of the two new provinces does not have at least two lawyers, the lawyer intending to transfer to this new province will continue to participate in the Bar Association of the other province until their own Bar Association is established.

The division of the Department of Justice is directed by the Provincial People's Committee. The Director of the old provincial Department of Justice needs to report to the Ministry of Justice the list of leadership staff in the new provinces according to the planned division and allocation by the provincial people's committee to promptly coordinate and direct work.

III. SOME ORGANIZATIONAL MEASURES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1. The Director of the Department of Justice needs to establish a working group to manage tasks during the implementation of the provincial division, ensuring a quick, accurate, and successful handover before March 1, 1997.

2. During the preparation for provincial division as outlined in this Circular, close coordination with local departments must be maintained, regular reports and opinions from local leaders should be sought, and timely reports made to the Ministry of Justice.

3. Handover minutes need to be prepared in multiple copies, with each Execution Office, Notary Public Office, Civil Status Registration Office, and Bar Association retaining one copy, the old and new Departments of Justice each keeping one copy, and one copy sent to the Ministry of Justice.

During implementation, localities need to thoroughly implement the directives of the Prime Minister in Directive No. 857/TTg dated November 15, 1996, and the contents guided in this Circular. If there are any difficulties, the Director of the Department of Justice should promptly report to the Ministry of Justice to coordinate with the local party committee and government for unified resolution.