JOINT CIRCULAR NO. 236/TT-LN GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WORK RELATED TO THE DIVISION AND SEPARATION OF PROVINCES FOR LOCAL PEOPLE'S COURTS

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing the Division and Splitting of Provinces

 for Local People's Courts

______________

Implementing the Resolution of the National Assembly, Session 10, Ninth Term on Adjusting Administrative Boundaries, Directive No. 03/CT-TW dated November 12, 1996 of the Politburo, and Directive No. 857/TTg dated November 15, 1996 of the Prime Minister on Leading and Directing the Implementation of the Division and Adjustment of Administrative Boundaries of Some Provinces, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court provide guidelines for implementing the division and splitting of provinces for local people's courts as follows:

A. OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS:

To strictly implement the Resolution of the National Assembly, the Directive of the Politburo, and the Directive of the Prime Minister regarding directing the implementation of the division and splitting of provinces, ensuring consistency in content, measures, and steps to achieve good results.

Local people's courts must do well ideological work within the Party and among cadres and staff, maintain internal unity, support each other, avoid waste, and combat all forms of deviation and parochialism.

Local people's courts during the process of division and splitting must strictly adhere to the leadership of the local Party committee, the guidance of the Ministry of Justice, and the Supreme People's Court.

The work of dividing and splitting provinces is an urgent and central task that needs to be focused on and implemented promptly, carefully, and cautiously to ensure normal operations.

Regarding the time for implementing the division and splitting of provinces:

According to the Resolution of the National Assembly, the handover and division of provinces must be completed before March 1, 1997. However, if conditions permit, local people's courts may proceed earlier and complete by January 1, 1997. The latest completion date for the division and handover is March 1, 1997.

B. CONTENT OF WORK IMPLEMENTING THE DIVISION AND SPLITTING OF PROVINCES FOR LOCAL PEOPLE'S COURTS

I. REGARDING ORGANIZATIONAL STAFF WORK:

It is necessary to thoroughly understand within the Party and among cadres and staff about the reorganization of organizational staffing. During the process of division and splitting of provinces, it is essential to ensure that the Party uniformly leads the organizational staffing work and manages the cadre team according to the principle of centralized democracy, in accordance with the working regulations of the Party committee and the regulations on分级管理干部。此处应翻译为："in accordance with the working regulations of the Party committee and the regulations on graded management of cadres."

- Regarding the organizational structure of the new provincial people's court, it must comply with the Law on the Organization of the People's Courts. However, due to the current shortage of cadres, it is necessary to immediately form civil, criminal courts, and other necessary departments to ensure normal operations. Other courts and departments can temporarily take on multiple roles, then gradually improve.

- Regarding recruitment of staff: Based on the quota allocated by the Ministry of Justice in 1996, priority should be given to recruiting for the newly divided province. Until the examination board for civil servants and officials is established, temporary contracts can be signed with university graduates in law and other positions, after which the Chief Judge of the new provincial people's court will sign the contracts upon approval by the Ministry of Justice.

- Regarding cadres: The Chief Judge of the provincial or city people's court should consult the opinions and wishes of cadres and staff in the agency, proactively prepare a list of proposed divisions, taking into account the work requirements and wishes of cadres and staff to make reasonable adjustments (it is not necessarily required to assign cadres to their place of origin). After reaching consensus in the Party Cadre Committee, report to the Provincial Party Standing Committee for comments. Based on the comments of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, the Chief Judge of the provincial people's court shall directly report to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court on the personnel of the old and new provincial courts. Special attention should be paid to key cadres such as Chief Judges, Deputy Chief Judges, Judges, and specialized technical staff, ensuring balanced distribution to avoid excessive concentration in some places and insufficient in others.

For cases where cadres and staff have deficiencies that have not been disciplined or complaints that have not been verified, the old provincial people's court must conduct reviews and disciplinary actions before transferring them to the new province.

It is necessary to review the cadre and staff files, ensuring they are complete and supplemented with confirmation from the head of the agency before transfer, facilitating future management and implementation of policies.

The current Party Cadre Committee should propose the personnel for the Party Cadre Committees of the old and new provincial courts and submit them to the Provincial Party Standing Committee for decision.

II. REGARDING HANDOVERS OF TRIAL WORK, ENFORCEMENT OF PRISON SENTENCES, AND OTHER TASKS:

1. Regarding trial work:

Criminal, civil, family, economic, labor dispute, and administrative cases at both first instance and appeal levels that were accepted before the division and have concluded investigations and have decisions for trial shall be fully tried by the old provincial or city people's court, without mechanically transferring cases based on which province they belong to, as this would lead to backlog due to the new province not having trial rooms immediately, requiring time to stabilize work and living conditions for cadres and staff.

Civil, criminal, family, economic, labor, and administrative cases that were accepted but are still under investigation (not yet concluded) shall be transferred to the new provincial people's court for continued handling, in accordance with the jurisdictional provisions of the procedural laws.

2. Regarding enforcement of prison sentences:

All cases and lawsuits that have taken effect up to the day of division and have not yet been enforced, or are being processed, must be inventoried and handed over according to the new province's jurisdiction. Defendants who have not yet served their sentences must be registered and handed over to the new province for monitoring and continued enforcement, including handing over case files for easier monitoring.

Tangible assets, especially money, gold, silver, precious stones, foreign currency, and other valuable items, must be inventoried accurately regarding type, quantity, quality, characteristics, and the case they belong to, avoiding omissions, errors, damage, and loss.

Note: Tangible assets such as money, gold, silver, precious stones, foreign currencies, etc., currently stored at the State Treasury or Bank, if they belong to cases that must be handed over to the Provincial Court for further execution, shall be recorded in a record for the State Treasury or Bank of the old province to transfer to the State Treasury or Bank of the new province. Under no circumstances should these assets be removed from the State Treasury or Bank without a Decision on their disposal.

3. Regarding reporting and statistical work:

The People's Court of the old province is responsible for summarizing the annual competition work report for 1996 and providing statistical reports up to the date of separation.

The People's Courts of the new provinces will conduct statistics and reporting from the date of separation.

All reports and statistics must be sent to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court for monitoring.

4. Regarding archival work:

For criminal, civil, family, economic, labor, and administrative cases that have been reviewed through second instance and cassation proceedings before the date of provincial separation, the archives shall be kept by the People's Court of the old province. The People's Court of the new province will only keep the case files from the date of separation.

Other documents that need to be archived, such as construction project files, financial accounting records, exchange letters, etc., shall be kept by the People's Court of the old province. The People's Court of the newly separated province will only keep these documents from the date of separation.

The People's Courts of the newly separated provinces need to prepare a list of necessary documents, materials, forms, reports, and statistics required for judicial activities and enforcement to plan for allocation.

5. Regarding the cadre of lay judges of the People's Court:

The Chief Judge of the People's Court of the old and new provinces needs to cooperate in compiling a list of lay judges of the People's Court to report to the Party Committee for comments on the proposed division. If there is not enough number of lay judges, the local Party Committee should report to the People's Council to elect additional lay judges as needed.

III. REGARDING THE HANDOVER OF MATERIAL AND TECHNICAL BASES, WORKING MEANS, AND OPERATING FUNDS

The Chief Judge of the People's Court of the old province must inventory assets and finances, then develop a distribution plan with the principle of ensuring unity and mutual assistance, prioritizing the newly separated unit as follows:

1. Regarding office premises: including houses, equipment, common furniture for meetings, trials, etc., shall be left for the unit in place. The new unit will be invested in renovation, upgrading, and new equipment.

2. Regarding means of transportation (cars, motorcycles): Where there are two cars, each unit gets one; if there is only one car, it remains with the old unit. As for motorcycles (if there is only one), priority is given to the new unit.

3. Regarding working means:

- To ensure immediate availability of working means, each staff member of the newly separated province may take along their desk, file cabinets, and other items they are currently using.

Other assets such as photocopiers, typewriters, telephones, safes, etc., shall remain with the old unit, while the new unit will be provided with new equipment. However, depending on specific conditions, priority can be given to the new unit to ensure immediate availability of working means.

The old court is responsible for settling the budget funds allocated in 1996, clearing debts, especially those with transferred staff members, organizing the handover between accountants and cashiers of the old unit with those of the new unit according to current regulations.

4. Regarding the preparation of material conditions to quickly stabilize the new workplace:

- The newly separated provincial courts need to prepare budgets for repairs, renovations, and upgrades of office premises; purchase essential initial working means. The Provincial People's Committee will consider and resolve these matters (as announced by the Ministry of Finance) while sending reports to the Ministry of Justice for monitoring. While waiting for the new unit to open an account at the State Treasury, the Ministry of Justice will allocate the fourth quarter 1996 budget to the new provincial court in the old unit's account. - The new units need to urgently complete procedures to open accounts at the provincial State Treasury to receive the Ministry of Justice's first quarter 1997 budget.

- The leadership of the newly separated provincial courts need to report to the Party Committee and local authorities on the planned land use for economic feasibility studies on building new offices and report to the Ministry of Justice for planning purposes. In the short term, efforts must be concentrated on preparing workplaces and ensuring trial rooms are available immediately to ensure normal operations.

C. SOME ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES:

The leadership of the provincial People's Court needs to establish a working group for the handover process to ensure its swift, accurate, and united completion.

During the preparation for the handover as stipulated in this Circular, it is necessary to frequently seek opinions from the Provincial Party Committee, City Party Committee, and promptly report to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court.

Handover records need to be prepared in multiple copies, with each provincial court keeping one copy, one copy sent to the Ministry of Justice, one copy sent to the Supreme People's Court, and one copy sent to the Provincial Party Committee of both the old and new provinces.

During the implementation of the provincial separation handover process, any issues encountered should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme People's Court for joint resolution./.