Circular No. 20/2010/TT-BTP detailing the implementation of certain provisions of Government Decree No. 40/2010/NĐ-CP dated April 12, 2010 on inspection and handling of regulatory legal documents.

REGULATION LEGAL

REGULATION provides detailed implementation of certain Articles of Decree No. 40/2010/NĐ-CP

dated April 12, 2010 of the Government on inspection and handling of regulatory legal documents

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Pursuant to Decree No. 93/2008/NĐ-CP dated August 22, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Justice;

Pursuant to Decree No. 40/2010/ND-CP dated April 12, 2010 of the Government on inspection and handling of normative legal documents;

The Minister of Justice provides detailed implementation of certain Articles of Decree No. 40/2010/NĐ-CP dated April 12, 2010 of the Government on inspection and handling of regulatory legal documents as follows:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation of this Circular

This Circular provides detailed implementation of certain Articles of Decree No. 40/2010/NĐ-CP dated April 12, 2010 of the Government on inspection and handling of regulatory legal documents (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 40).

Article 2. Documents Subject to Inspection and Handling

Documents subject to inspection and handling under Decree No. 40 include:

1. Regulatory legal documents as specified in Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree No. 40.

2. Documents containing legal regulations but not issued in the form of regulatory legal documents; documents containing legal regulations or having the format and content similar to regulatory legal documents issued by agencies or individuals without authority at ministries, sectors, and localities when receiving requests, suggestions from agencies, organizations, individuals, and mass media shall also be inspected and handled according to Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 40, including:

a) Documents containing legal regulations issued by Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister, People's Councils at all levels, People's Committees at all levels, or jointly issued but not issued in the form of circulars of Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister, joint circulars between Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister, between Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy, resolutions of People's Councils, decisions, directives of People's Committees;

b) Documents with the format and content similar to regulatory legal documents (for example: circulars, resolutions, decisions, directives), documents with a format that is not a regulatory legal document but contain legal regulations (for example: letters, announcements, notifications, regulations, rules, charters, programs, plans, and other administrative documents) issued by agencies or individuals without authority to issue regulatory legal documents: Heads of government agencies, Heads of units under ministries, agencies equivalent to the ministry, government agencies, issued or issued by the Chairman of the People's Council, Standing Committee of the People's Council, and agencies of the People's Council at all levels, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels, Heads of specialized agencies under provincial and district People's Committees, Heads of agencies and units under ministries, agencies equivalent to the ministry, government agencies organized at the provincial and district levels (including documents with the format and content mentioned above signed in lieu of orders).

3. For documents stipulated in points a and b of Clause 2 of this Article, they will also be inspected and handled if discovered by inspection agency officials during the inspection process.

Article 3. Content of Document Inspection

The content of document inspection as provided in Article 3 of Decree No. 40 involves examining, evaluating, and concluding on the constitutionality and legality of the inspected document based on the following contents:

1. Basis for issuing the document and legal basis for issuing regulatory legal documents are higher-level regulatory legal documents currently in effect or have been signed and issued but not yet effective at the time of issuance but become effective before or at the same time as the issued document, including:

a) Regulatory legal documents of higher-level state agencies stipulating the functions and responsibilities of the issuing agency;

b) Regulatory legal documents of higher-level state agencies stipulating issues within the scope and subject matter of the document.

2. Regulatory legal documents are issued within the appropriate authority, which includes formal authority and substantive authority:

a) Formal authority: Agencies or persons authorized to issue documents can only issue documents in accordance with the prescribed form (name) of regulatory legal documents for that agency or person;

b) Substantive authority: Agencies or persons authorized can only issue documents with content consistent with their permitted or assigned authority as defined in higher-level state agency documents concerning the division of functions, tasks, and specific management authorities for each agency, level, and sector in each field.

3. The content of the document must comply with current laws, specifically:

a) Circulars and joint circulars of Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister issued or jointly issued must be consistent with the Constitution, laws, resolutions of the National Assembly, ordinances, resolutions, joint resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, decrees, decisions of the President, decrees, joint resolutions of the Government, decisions of the Prime Minister, and circulars of other Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister regarding the fields managed by those Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to the Minister;

b) Resolutions of Provincial People's Councils must be consistent with central government documents and resolutions of Provincial People's Councils and People's Committees.

Resolutions of District People's Councils must be consistent with central government documents, resolutions of Provincial People's Councils and People's Committees, and District People's Councils.

Resolutions of Commune People's Councils must be consistent with central government documents, resolutions of Provincial People's Councils and People's Committees, and District People's Councils and People's Committees.

c) Decisions and directives of provincial People's Committees must be consistent with central state agency documents and resolutions of provincial People's Councils.

Decisions and directives of district People's Committees must be consistent with central state agency documents, People's Council and People's Committee documents at the provincial level, and resolutions of district People's Councils.

Decisions and directives of commune People's Committees must be consistent with central state agency documents, People's Council and People's Committee documents at the provincial and district levels, and resolutions of commune People's Councils.

4. Documents issued must be presented in accordance with the format and technical requirements stipulated by current laws.

5. Documents issued must comply fully with the provisions on procedures and formalities for drafting, issuing documents as stipulated by law. In cases where inspections reveal that documents contain content contrary to the law, the competent inspection authority must examine the procedures and formalities for drafting and issuing the document to serve as the basis for handling the document and examining and dealing with the responsibility of the agencies and individuals who issued the document contrary to the law, as well as those responsible for advising, reviewing, examining, and approving the document containing content contrary to the law, and recommending appropriate measures within their jurisdiction.

Article 4. Legal basis for determining the content contrary to the law of the document being inspected

The document serving as the legal basis for determining the content contrary to the law of the document being inspected under Article 6 of Decree No. 40 must be documents ensuring the following conditions:

1. The document must have higher legal validity than the document being inspected, issued by the competent authority.

In cases where the legal basis documents for determining the content contrary to the law of the document being inspected have different provisions on the same issue, the document with higher legal validity shall be applied.

In cases where the legal basis documents for inspection are all issued by the same agency on the same issue but have different provisions, the provision of the document issued later shall be applied; for documents issued by ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies having different provisions on the same issue, the provision of the minister or head of the ministerial-level agency managing the relevant sector shall be applied.

2. The document must be currently effective or signed and approved but not yet effective at the time of inspection.

The inspection time of the document is the time when the competent authority signs and approves or passes the document being inspected and generates the inspection authority's competence and responsibility.

a) The document is currently effective at the time of inspection:

The effective date of the legal normative document is determined according to Article 78 of the Law on Enacting Legal Normative Documents and Article 51 of the Law on Enacting Legal Normative Documents of People's Councils and People's Committees.

At the same time, the legal basis documents for determining the content contrary to the law of the document being inspected must not have exceeded the validity period specified in the documents; not been replaced by a new document from the same state agency that issued the original document; and not been annulled or repealed by the competent state authority.

A document suspended from implementation or ceased to be effective according to Article 80 of the Law on Enacting Legal Normative Documents and Article 52 of the Law on Enacting Legal Normative Documents of People's Councils and People's Committees shall not be used as a legal basis for inspecting the document from the time it ceases to be effective until the time it resumes its effectiveness according to the decision of the competent state authority.

b) The document has been signed and approved but not yet effective at the time of inspection but must take effect before or at the same time as the document being inspected, including:

- The document serving as the legal basis for issuing the document being inspected;

- The document related to determining the content contrary to the law of the document being inspected.

Article 5. Announcing the results of handling documents contrary to the law

1. Competent authorities, after handling documents containing content contrary to the law according to the regulations (including cases where the document is handled by correction), must publicly announce the decision on handling documents containing content contrary to the law, report through mass media, publish in the Official Gazette, post on the website of the issuing agency, or affix public notices according to Article 8 of Decree No. 40 and the Government's regulations on the Official Gazette.

2. Publicly announcing the results of handling documents contrary to the law as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article also applies to the results of handling documents contrary to the law of agencies and individuals with the authority to issue documents that self-inspect their own documents. For documents specified in Clause 3 of Article 1 of Decree No. 40 and detailed in Clause 2 of Article 2 of this Circular, the results of handling must be sent to the agencies, organizations, and individuals to whom the document was previously sent; if the document has been published in the Official Gazette, reported through mass media, posted on the website of the issuing agency, or affixed public notices, the results of handling must also be publicly announced and reported through these media.

Chapter II

SELF INSPECTION AND HANDLING OF DOCUMENTS

Article 6. Responsibility for Self-Inspection of Legal Documents

1. For legal normative documents, the responsibility for organizing self-inspection shall be carried out in accordance with Clause 1 of Article 11 of Decree No. 40.

2. For documents containing legal norms but not issued in the form of legal normative documents; documents containing legal norms or having the format and content similar to legal normative documents issued by agencies or individuals without authority at ministries, sectors, and localities as stipulated in Clause 3 of Article 1 of Decree No. 40 and detailed guidance provided in Clause 2 of Article 2 of this Circular, the responsibility for organizing self-inspection shall be assigned to the Minister, Head of a ministry-level agency, Head of an agency under the Government, Chairperson of the People's Council, and Chairperson of the People's Committee where the document is inspected.

3. Depending on the nature, scope, management requirements, and quantity of documents issued by each ministry, sector, and locality, self-inspection of documents may be directly implemented by the legal affairs organization of the ministry, sector, or local judicial agency, or delegated to units under the ministry, sector, or local departments (hereinafter referred to as units) to implement according to the fields they are responsible for, but it must ensure close coordination and the role of the legal affairs organization of the ministry, sector, or local judicial agency as the focal point in planning, urging, monitoring, summarizing, and reporting the results of self-inspection to competent state agencies.

Assigner The head of the legal affairs organization of the ministry, sector, and Director of the Department of Justice has the responsibility to advise the Minister, Head of a ministry-level agency, Head of an agency under the Government, People's Council, and provincial People's Committee to specifically define the tasks of the legal affairs organization of the ministry, sector, and local judicial agency in: Assigning units to assist the Minister, Head of a ministry-level agency, Head of an agency under the Government, People's Council, and provincial People's Committee in self-inspecting documents as prescribed; issuing procedures for self-inspection and handling documents issued by their own ministry, sector, or jointly issued, and ensuring conditions for self-inspection work.

Article 7. Submission of Documents and Coordination for Self-Inspection and Handling of Documents

1. For legal normative documents that have been signed and issued by authorized agencies or individuals, when issuing the document, the issuing unit has the responsibility to simultaneously submit the document to the unit assigned to inspect the document to carry out self-inspection. When discovering content contrary to the law or no longer appropriate, the assigned inspection unit has the responsibility to immediately notify the unit primarily drafting and submitting the document, and coordinate exchanges to unify content contrary to the law or no longer appropriate, agree on measures to handle, prepare draft documents for handling, and report to the agency or individual who issued the document to promptly handle according to authority.

2. For joint documents, the unit assigned to inspect the document of the ministry or sector has the responsibility to self-inspect contents within the scope of its national administrative management, and coordinate with relevant units under the ministry, sector, or agency that signed the joint document to inspect the entire content of the document. In case of discovering content contrary to the law or no longer appropriate, discussions and recommendations for handling must also involve coordination among agencies that signed the joint document.

Chapter III

INSPECTION AND HANDLING OF DOCUMENTS ACCORDING TO AUTHORITY

Article 8. Sending Documents to Authorities with Inspection Authority

1. For normative legal documents, after the document is signed for issuance or passed, the authority issuing the document and the main drafting agency must send the document to the authority with inspection authority through the Legal Document Inspection Department under the Ministry of Justice, the legal system organization of the ministry, or the department equivalent to a ministry, or the Department of Justice, or the Justice Office (hereinafter referred to collectively as the document inspection authority) in accordance with Article 19 of Decree No. 40.

The authority issuing the document must clearly state in the "Recipient" section of the document the name of the document inspection authority to which it is responsible for sending the document for inspection.

2. For documents specified in Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 40 and detailed in Clause 2, Article 2 of this Circular, when receiving requests or suggestions from agencies, organizations, individuals, and mass media, they shall forward them to the authority with inspection authority for inspection and handling in accordance with Articles 25 and 26 of Decree No. 40.

Article 9. Procedure for Implementing Document Inspection According to Authority

1. The document inspection authority must maintain a "Document Receipt Register" to monitor the sending and receipt of documents sent for inspection.

2. The leadership of the document inspection authority assigns specialized staff and cooperating personnel to conduct document inspections.

3. The person assigned to inspect has the responsibility to compare the content of the inspected document with the legal basis document to determine illegal content as stipulated in Article 6 of Decree No. 40 and Article 4 of this Circular to review, evaluate, and conclude on the legality of the inspected document.

4. The person assigned to inspect the document must sign and clearly record the date of inspection at the top corner of the inspected document (to confirm the inspection and the inspection date) and prepare a report along with a list of documents assigned for inspection.

5. When discovering signs of illegality in the content of the inspected document, the document inspector must report the inspection results and propose handling measures through the "Document Inspection Form" according to the model issued together with this Circular (Form No. 01).

Depending on the degree and content of illegality in the inspected document, and the consequences caused by the illegal content to society, and based on the nature and degree of fault of the agency or individual who issued the document, the document inspector may propose:

a) Handling the document containing illegal content with forms such as suspending implementation, revoking, or abolishing part or all of the content of the document. In cases where the inspected document only contains errors in the cited legal basis, format, and presentation technique but the content of the document is consistent with the provisions of the law, corrections should be made to those errors.

b) Considering and handling the responsibility of the agency or individual who issued the illegal document according to the provisions of the law on disciplinary responsibility and criminal liability as stipulated by the law. The document inspector also proposes considering and handling the responsibility mentioned above for officials and civil servants involved in advising on drafting, reviewing, examining, and passing the document containing illegal content if they are at fault.

6. After preparing the inspection form, the document inspector must establish a "File on Documents Containing Illegal Content" and submit it to the leadership of the document inspection authority.

The file includes: The inspected document, the legal basis document to determine the illegal content of the inspected document, the document inspection form, and other related documents (if any).

7. The leadership of the document inspection authority must notify according to their authority or report to the agency or individual with authority to notify about the signs of illegality in the inspected document so that the agency or individual issuing the document can self-inspect, handle, and report the results of self-inspection and handling to the document inspection authority in accordance with the law.

Culture, The notification must include the following basic contents: The name of the inspected document; the name and content of the legal basis document to determine the illegal content of the inspected document; opinions on the illegal content of the inspected document; requirements for the agency or individual issuing the document to self-inspect, handle, and report the results of self-inspection and handling in accordance with the law.

Field When inspecting and discovering content in the inspected document that conflicts, overlaps, or is no longer appropriate with the document issued by a higher-level state agency or is inconsistent with economic and social conditions, the notification document should also suggest the agency or individual issuing the document to study, review, and handle the content that is no longer appropriate in accordance with the law.

8. If the document inspection authority disagrees with the handling result or the agency with the illegal document does not report the handling result as prescribed, the document inspection authority must report to the agency or individual with authority to continue handling according to the provisions of Decree No. 40.

The reporting file includes: The report of the document inspection authority; the inspected document; the legal basis for inspection; the document inspection form; opinions of relevant agencies (if any); notification letters of the document inspection authority; explanations, notifications of self-inspection and handling results of the agency issuing the inspected document, and other related documents.

9. The document inspection authority must maintain a "Register for Monitoring and Urging Handling of Documents Showing Signs of Illegality" to monitor and urge the handling of documents by agencies according to the model issued together with this Circular (Model No. 02).

Article 10. Specialized, territorial, or sectoral inspection of legal documents

1. Responsibilities of the legal document inspection agency:

a) To develop plans, contents, and programs for specialized, territorial, or sectoral inspections of legal documents, submit them to competent authorities for approval; notify the agencies whose legal documents will be inspected and organize the implementation of these plans and programs.

b) In cases where a multi-sector inspection team is established to conduct specialized, territorial, or sectoral inspections of legal documents, the legal document inspection agency shall propose the composition of the team, submit it to competent authorities for consideration and decision, and coordinate with the agencies whose legal documents will be inspected to prepare specific work programs, relevant materials, transportation, accommodation, and other necessary conditions for the inspection team according to the law.

2. Responsibilities of the multi-sector inspection team:

a) The multi-sector inspection team conducting specialized, territorial, or sectoral inspections of legal documents shall be responsible for implementing and coordinating with the leading inspection agency and the agencies or localities where the legal documents to be inspected are located, in accordance with the approved legal document inspection plan.

b) Report the results of the legal document inspection to the leading inspection agency and the agencies whose legal documents were inspected.

3. Responsibilities of the agencies whose legal documents are being inspected:

a) The agencies whose legal documents are being inspected shall be responsible for preparing the contents and requirements according to the specialized, territorial, or sectoral legal document inspection plan of the legal document inspection agency.

b) In cases where a multi-sector inspection team conducts specialized, territorial, or sectoral inspections of legal documents, the agencies whose legal documents are being inspected shall coordinate with the leading inspection agency to prepare necessary conditions for the inspection team and implement the inspection plan.

Article 11. Inspection of legal documents in certain other cases

1. The inspection of joint legal documents shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of this Circular and must ensure coordination among the agencies that jointly issued the legal documents.

2. The inspection of legal documents containing state secrets shall be conducted in accordance with Decision No. 42/2009/QĐ-TTg dated March 16, 2009, of the Government on the inspection and handling of legal documents containing state secrets and the laws on protecting state secrets.

3. The inspection of legal documents that have the form and content of legal regulations, or documents that are not legal regulations but contain legal norms issued by the Chairman, Standing Committee, and agencies of the People's Council shall be conducted as if they were legal documents of the same level People's Councils as stipulated in Articles 25 and 26 of Decree No. 40.

Article 12. Coordination relations among agencies in detecting, inspecting, and handling illegal legal documents

1. The Legal Document Regulation Inspection Department under the Ministry of Justice, legal institutions of ministries and sectors, and local judicial agencies assigned to assist in the inspection and handling of legal documents shall cooperate with central and local mass media organizations to promptly receive information reflecting illegal legal documents; report on the results of handling illegal legal documents.

2. During the process of inspecting legal documents or after sending notifications about potentially illegal legal documents, the legal document inspection agency shall coordinate with the agencies that issued the inspected legal documents and related agencies to discuss the illegal contents of the legal documents and the approach to handling those illegal contents.

3. The agencies whose legal documents are being inspected shall be responsible for cooperating and providing information and materials related to the inspected legal documents to the inspection agency when requested.

Chapter IV

ACTION ORGANIZATION AND STAFF ENGAGED IN LEGAL DOCUMENT INSPECTION WORK AND

OTHER GUARANTEES; REPORTING REGIME; COMPETITION, REWARD, DISCIPLINE AND MANAGEMENT, GUIDANCE

WORK

Article 13. Strengthening organizational structure and enhancing the force of cadres engaged in inspection of legal documents

In accordance with their functions, tasks, nature, characteristics, and specific workload, the Legal Departments of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-affiliated agencies, Departments of Justice, and Justice Offices shall coordinate with relevant units to advise and submit to the Minister, head of a ministerial-level agency, head of a government-affiliated agency, Chairman of the People's Committee at the same level for establishing departments, units, groups, or assigning specialized civil servants appropriately and arranging personnel quotas to ensure effective performance of the assigned legal document inspection tasks.

Article 14. Organization and management of legal document inspection volunteers

1. The heads (heads) of legal document inspection agencies of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-affiliated agencies, provincial-level People's Committees, and district-level People's Committees shall advise on the establishment and submission to the Minister, head of a ministerial-level agency, head of a government-affiliated agency, Chairman of the provincial-level People's Committee, or Chairman of the district-level People's Committee for issuance of regulations to organize and manage the team of legal document inspection volunteers in accordance with the situation and conditions of their respective ministries, sectors, and localities.

2. The heads (heads) of legal document inspection agencies of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-affiliated agencies, provincial-level People's Committees, and district-level People's Committees shall enter into cooperation contracts with legal document inspection volunteers in accordance with the provisions of the law on contracts.

3. The treatment for legal document inspection volunteers shall be implemented in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice.

Article 15. Responsibilities for building databases to serve inspection and handling of legal documents

1. The Director of the Department of Legal Document Inspection under the Ministry of Justice, the heads of legal departments of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-affiliated agencies, Directors of Justice Departments, and Heads of Justice Offices shall assist the Minister, head of a ministerial-level agency, head of a government-affiliated agency, Chairman of the provincial-level People's Committee, or Chairman of the district-level People's Committee in regularly and promptly reviewing and identifying legal documents with higher legal validity that are currently in effect or have been signed and issued or approved at the time of legal document inspection to build and manage the database system serving the inspection and handling of legal documents within the scope of the authority granted; regularly classifying and processing information and materials related to the inspection and handling of legal documents and incorporating them into the legal document inspection database.

2. The database system includes the following basic contents:

a) Legal documents that have been reviewed to establish the legal basis for determining the content contrary to the law of the inspected document according to the guidance provided in Article 4 of this Circular, serving the inspection of legal documents within the jurisdiction of the Ministry, sector, and People's Committee as stipulated in Decree No. 40.

b) Results of inspection and handling of legal documents (including legal documents and documents specified in Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 40 and detailed in Clause 2, Article 2 of this Circular);

c) Information about inspection business.

d) Other information, materials, and data serving document audit work.

The database system includes textual documents, classified and arranged scientifically, and gradually computerized based on the capacity and financial conditions permitted for convenient management, retrieval, and use.

3. Based on the authority and scope of legal documents assigned for inspection, the responsibility for collecting, reviewing, and handling legal documents as specified in Point a, Clause 2 of this Article shall be divided as follows:

a) The Director of the Department of Legal Document Inspection under the Ministry of Justice shall be responsible for leading and coordinating with agencies to review legal documents of the National Assembly, Standing Committee of the National Assembly, President, Government, Prime Minister, and legal documents issued or jointly issued by the Minister of Justice to establish the legal basis for self-inspection, inspection according to authority, and assisting the Prime Minister in inspecting legal documents of ministries, sectors, and localities as prescribed.

The Department of Legal Document Inspection under the Ministry of Justice shall be responsible for leading and coordinating with legal departments of ministries and sectors to compile the results of reviews as specified in Point b, Clause 3 of this Article to build a common database system serving inspection and handling of legal documents.

b) The heads of legal departments of ministries and sectors shall be responsible for leading and coordinating with agencies to review legal documents of the National Assembly, Standing Committee of the National Assembly, President, Government, and Prime Minister concerning issues within the scope of administrative management of their respective ministries and sectors and legal documents issued or jointly issued by the Minister or head of a ministerial-level agency to establish the legal basis for self-inspection and inspection according to authority.

c) The Director of the Justice Department shall be responsible for leading and coordinating with specialized agencies under the provincial-level People's Committee to review legal documents issued by the Provincial People's Council, provincial-level People's Committee, and incorporate them into the common database system provided by the Department of Legal Document Inspection to serve inspection and handling of legal documents according to authority.

d) The Head of the Justice Office shall be responsible for leading and coordinating with specialized agencies under the district-level People's Committee to review legal documents issued by the District People's Council, district-level People's Committee, and incorporate them into the common database system provided by the Justice Department to serve inspection and handling of legal documents according to authority and provide them to civil servants in charge of Justice and Household Registration at the commune level to serve self-inspection of legal documents of the District People's Council (if assigned) and the district-level People's Committee.

During the review process, if conflicting, overlapping, or no longer suitable documents or provisions are discovered but there is not enough legal basis to determine the validity of those documents or provisions, the reviewing agency or organization must report to the competent authority along with specific recommendations for consideration and decision.

Article 16. Six-monthly and annual reporting system

1. The six-monthly and annual reporting regime on inspection and handling of documents by ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial and district People's Committees shall be implemented in accordance with point e, clause 1, point g, clause 2, Article 35, and point d, clause 1, Article 36 of Decree No. 40. Government agencies shall report on their coordination with legal affairs departments of ministries and ministerial-level agencies in self-inspection and inspection of documents within their jurisdiction. Specifically as follows:

a) The Legal Document Inspection Department under the Ministry of Justice, legal departments of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, Departments of Justice, and Judicial Divisions shall be responsible for preparing six-monthly and annual reports on inspection and handling of documents to submit to the Minister, head of a ministerial-level agency, head of a government agency, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, and Chairman of the district People's Committee.

b) Six-monthly and annual reports on inspection and handling of documents by ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies, provincial People's Committees shall be submitted to the Ministry of Justice. Six-monthly and annual reports on inspection and handling of documents by district People's Committees shall be submitted to the provincial People's Committee and consolidated into the report of the provincial People's Committee.

c) The deadline for submitting reports and the time points for collecting data for six-monthly and annual reports on inspection and handling of documents shall be carried out in accordance with current regulations on statistical work and reporting in the field of justice.

2. Annually, based on the reports on the situation of inspection and handling of documents by ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and provincial People's Committees as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, the Legal Document Inspection Department under the Ministry of Justice shall be responsible for compiling the reports and submitting them to the Minister of Justice for consideration and reporting to the Prime Minister.

3. Six-monthly and annual reports on inspection and handling of documents must include the following contents:

a) The situation of performing inspection tasks of documents within the authority during the reporting period, including aggregated data and analysis and evaluation of documents: issued by the ministry, sector, or locality itself that have been self-inspected and handled; inspected according to authority that have been sent for inspection and actually inspected; found to contain content contrary to the law and required the issuing agency or person to self-inspect and handle; handled according to the requirements of the document inspection agency; handled according to authority;

b) General assessment of the quality of document construction and issuance activities in the assigned inspection area through document inspection activities and recommendations;

c) The situation of reviewing documents serving as a legal basis for document inspection work in the assigned area; results of building a database to serve document inspection;

d) The situation of institutionalization serving as a basis for document inspection work; organization and personnel; budget for document inspection work;

đ) Coordination activities in implementing document inspections and professional exchanges; training, guidance, and professional development activities for document inspection and other conditions ensuring document inspection work;

e) Difficulties, obstacles, and recommendations;

g) Other related issues.

Article 17. Competition, rewards, and disciplinary actions

1. Results and achievements in fulfilling assigned tasks related to document inspection and handling are among the criteria for competition to assess, classify, and evaluate competition and rewards in the overall performance of agencies, units, and individuals.

2. Agencies, organizations, and individuals who successfully complete assigned tasks and achieve results in document inspection and handling work shall be rewarded in accordance with the law on rewards; if there are violations of the law in document inspection and handling work, they shall be dealt with in accordance with the law.

Article 18. Urging, directing, and inspecting the implementation of inspection and handling of legal documents

1. Urging, directing, and inspecting the implementation of inspection and handling of legal documents must be carried out regularly and periodically to ensure that the inspection of legal documents is conducted in accordance with the provisions of the law, promptly identify and promote good initiatives and experiences in the inspection and handling of legal documents, commend agencies, organizations, and individuals with outstanding achievements, correct deviations, and identify difficulties and obstacles to provide timely guidance and answers.

2. The Legal Documents Inspection Department under the Ministry of Justice shall assist the Minister of Justice in urging, directing, and inspecting the implementation of inspection and handling of legal documents by ministries, sectors, and localities.

3. Legal affairs units of ministries, agencies at the ministerial level, agencies under the Government, Departments of Justice, Justice Offices shall assist the Minister, Heads of agencies at the ministerial level, Heads of agencies under the Government, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels in urging and directing the inspection and handling of legal documents at ministries, sectors, and localities.

Chapter V

ORGANIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Article 19. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from January 15, 2011, and replaces Circular No. 01/2004/TT-BTP dated June 16, 2004, issued by the Ministry of Justice guiding the implementation of certain articles of Decree No. 135/2003/NĐ-CP dated November 14, 2003, of the Government on the inspection and handling of legal documents.

Article 20. Responsibility for Implementation

1. The Legal Documents Inspection Department under the Ministry of Justice, legal affairs units of ministries, agencies at the ministerial level, agencies under the Government, Departments of Justice, Justice Offices, Civil Servants of Justice - Registry have the responsibility to assist the Minister, Heads of agencies at the ministerial level, Heads of agencies under the Government, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels in organizing the implementation of this Circular.

2. In the process of implementing, if there are any difficulties, they are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Justice for research and resolution./.