Circular No. 25/2019/TT-BGDĐT amending and supplementing certain articles of Circular No. 40/2013/TT-BGDĐT dated December 18, 2013, issued by the Minister of Education and Training on receiving citizens, handling complaints, and addressing accusations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 40/2013/TT-BGDĐT

dated December 18, 2013, issued by the Minister of Education and Training

concerning receiving citizens' visits, handling complaints, and addressing accusations

of the Ministry of Education and Training

Pursuant to the Law on Complaints No. 02/2011/QH13 dated November 11, 2011;

Pursuant to the Law on Receiving Citizens' Visits No. 42/2013/QH13 dated November 25, 2013;

Pursuant to the Law on Accusations No. 25/2018/QH14 dated June 12, 2018;

Pursuant to Decree No. 75/2012/NĐ-CP dated October 3, 2012, of the Government detailing certain provisions of the Law on Complaints;

Pursuant to Decree No. 42/2013/NĐ-CP dated May 9, 2013, of the Government on organization and activities of educational inspection;

BASED ON DECREE NO. 64/2014/ND-CP DATED JUNE 26, 2014 OF THE GOVERNMENT PROVIDING GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE CITIZEN GREETING LAW;

Pursuant to Decree No. 31/2019/NĐ-CP dated April 10, 2019, of the Government detailing certain provisions and measures for organizing the implementation of the Law on Accusations;

On the basis of Decree No. 69/2017/NĐ-CP dated May 25, 2017, of the Government stipulating functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

At the proposal of the Inspector General;

The Minister of Education and Training issues this Circular amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 40/2013/TT-BGDĐT dated December 18, 2013, issued by the Minister of Education and Training concerning receiving citizens' visits, handling complaints, and addressing accusations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 40/2013/TT-BGDĐT dated December 18, 2013, issued by the Minister of Education and Training concerning receiving citizens' visits, handling complaints, and addressing accusations of the Ministry of Education and Training

1. Clause 2 of Article 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"2. This Circular applies to units assisting the Minister in performing state management functions in education, including Departments, Bureaus, Inspectors, and the Office (referred to collectively as functional units under the Ministry); affiliated organizations and enterprises under the Ministry (collectively referred to as affiliated units under the Ministry); and related organizations and individuals."

2. Clause 2 and Clause 3 of Article 2 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"2. Procedures and formalities for handling accusations of violations of laws in the performance of duties and public service tasks shall be carried out according to the provisions from Article 28 to Article 40 of the Law on Accusations. Procedures and formalities for handling accusations of violations of laws on state management in various fields shall be carried out according to the provisions of Article 42 and Article 43 of the Law on Accusations and related regulatory legal documents."

3. Receiving citizens' visits shall be carried out in accordance with the Law on Receiving Citizens' Visits, Decree No. 64/2014/NĐ-CP dated June 26, 2014, of the Government detailing certain provisions of the Law on Receiving Citizens' Visits and related regulatory legal documents."

3. Amending and supplementing Clause 4 and adding Clause 7 to Article 3 as follows:

a) Amending and supplementing Clause 4 of Article 3 as follows:

"4. Arranging personnel and ensuring necessary conditions for receiving citizens' visits, processing petitions, handling complaints, and addressing accusations within the authority and responsibility of their own unit; Providing professional opinions within the advisory responsibilities of their own unit on cases of complaints, accusations, reflections, and suggestions within the authority of the Minister; Managing and storing files in accordance with regulations."

b) Adding Clause 7 to Article 3 as follows:

"7. Ensuring benefits for those performing duties in receiving citizens' visits, processing complaints, accusations, suggestions, and reflections as stipulated in Circular No. 320/2016/TT-BTC dated December 14, 2016, of the Ministry of Finance regarding benefits for those performing duties in receiving citizens' visits, processing complaints, accusations, suggestions, and reflections."

4. Clause 6 of Article 4 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"6. Assisting the Minister in verifying and concluding the second-level resolution of complaints that have been initially resolved by heads of functional units under the Ministry but still have complaints or initial complaints that have exceeded the time limit."

5. Article 5 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"1. The location for receiving citizens' visits of the Ministry of Education and Training is at the Ministry's headquarters (No. 35 Dai Co Viet Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi City); the information reception department of the Ministry of Education and Training in Ho Chi Minh City (No. 3, International Square, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City).

2. The receiving of citizens' visits by Ministry leaders shall be carried out as follows:

a) The Ministry Inspectorate serves as the main point of contact for helping Ministry leaders carry out citizens' visits;

b) The Minister and Deputy Ministers shall regularly receive citizens' visits monthly according to schedules assigned by the Minister and handle sudden citizens' visits as prescribed;

c) In cases where citizens come to the Ministry's citizens' visit reception room to meet Ministry leaders according to the monthly schedule, the permanent staff member responsible for citizens' visits shall notify the Director of the Office or the Secretary of the Ministry leaders to report to the Ministry leaders to carry out the citizens' visits;

d) In cases where citizens have registered to receive sudden visits from Ministry leaders, the permanent staff member responsible for citizens' visits shall report to the Inspector General to advise the Ministry leaders to carry out the citizens' visits;

đ) When Ministry leaders receive citizens' visits, the Inspector General, and the heads of units responsible for areas related to the content of complaints, accusations, reflections, and suggestions shall attend if requested. The unit responsible for the main content of the citizens' visits together with the Ministry leaders shall issue a notification about the results of the citizens' visits by the Ministry leaders and report to the Minister.

3. The Ministry Office shall be responsible for arranging the citizens' visit reception room and ensuring necessary conditions for citizens to present complaints, accusations, suggestions, and reflections; coordinating with the Ministry Inspectorate to guide citizens to file complaints, accusations, suggestions, and reflections in accordance with the law; coordinating with the local police authority to take measures against violators of the citizens' visit rules and those causing public disorder at the citizens' visit site."

6. Amending and supplementing Clause 2 and adding Clauses 6 and 7 to Article 7 as follows:

a) Amending and supplementing Clause 2 of Article 7 as follows:

"2. If the accusation involves criminal offenses, the case file and materials shall be transferred to the Investigation Agency or the People's Procuratorate with jurisdiction to handle according to Article 27 of the Law on Accusations."

b) Adding Clauses 6 and 7 to Article 7 as follows:

"6. The acceptance of complaints, initial handling of complaint information; the acceptance and processing of information containing complaints; the acceptance and handling of complaints transferred to the Department by news agencies, competent organizations, and individuals shall be carried out in accordance with Articles 23, 24, 25, and 26 of the Law on Complaints and related regulatory legal documents.

7. Functional units under the Ministry and subordinate units of the Ministry shall be responsible for notifying the results of handling petitions to the Inspectorate of the Ministry for monitoring and overall consolidation.

7. Clause 2 of Article 8 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"2. The authority of the Chief Inspector of the Ministry:
a) To handle initial complaints against administrative decisions made by himself and by inspectors of the Ministry's Inspectorate in accordance with the Law on Handling Administrative Violations and the Inspection Law;

b) To handle complaints against administrative decisions and administrative acts of the Head of the Inspection Team and members of the inspection team established by him in accordance with the law."

8. Point a of Clause 3 of Article 10 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"a) The Rectors of universities and teacher training colleges and heads of affiliated units; Heads of other affiliated public service units shall be responsible for accepting and resolving complaints and implementing reporting systems as stipulated in this Circular and relevant laws."

9. Amend and supplement point b of Clause 1 of Article 11 as follows:

"b) To resolve complaints about violations of the law in the performance of duties and official tasks by the heads, deputy heads of functional units under the Ministry, affiliated public service units of the Ministry, and positions in affiliated enterprises of the Ministry including: Chairman of the Board of Members, members of the Board of Members, Chairman of the company, Supervisory Board member, and civil servants and employees appointed and directly managed by him;

To resolve complaints about violations of the law by the Chair and members of the University Council, Public University Council directly managed by him in the performance of duties and official tasks of the University Council, Public University Council in accordance with the law."

10. Add Clause 2a after Clause 2 and amend and supplement Clause 3 of Article 13 as follows:

a) Add Clause 2a after Clause 2 of Article 13 as follows:

"2a. The head of an enterprise under the Ministry has the authority to resolve complaints about violations of the law in the performance of duties by the head, deputy head of an affiliated unit of the enterprise or another person appointed by him."

b) Amend and supplement Clause 3 of Article 13 as follows:

"3. Inspection organizations and persons assigned to perform inspection work at universities, affiliated units, or other public service units shall assist the University Director, the head of the unit in accepting and resolving complaints; they shall act as the focal point for consolidating and reporting in accordance with regulations."

11. Add point c to Clause 1 and amend and supplement point a of Clause 2 of Article 14 as follows:

a) Add point c to Clause 1 of Article 14 as follows:

"c) Affiliated units of the Ministry of Education and Training shall implement reporting systems on citizen reception, petition handling, and complaint resolution quarterly and report promptly as required by the Ministry’s leadership or other competent state authorities."

b) Amend and supplement point a of Clause 2 of Article 14 as follows:

"a) Units responsible for handling complaints shall establish files and organize storage in accordance with Article 34 of the Law on Petitions and Article 39 of the Law on Complaints."

12. Clause 1 of Article 15 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"1. The Ministry’s Inspectorate shall take the lead in coordinating with the Information Technology Department to deploy and build a database on complaint resolution of the Ministry. Functional units under the Ministry and affiliated public service units shall be responsible for notifying the results of petition handling to the Ministry’s Inspectorate for monitoring and overall consolidation; they shall update information on petition handling in the system of the Ministry’s petition handling database."

Article 2. This Circular shall take effect from February 15, 2020.

Article 3. The Chief of the Ministry’s Office, the Chief Inspector of the Ministry, heads of functional units under the Ministry; heads of affiliated units of the Ministry; relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular./.