Decree No. 62/2002/ND-CP Amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 67/1999/ND-CP dated August 7, 1999 detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Petitions and Complaints.

DECREE

Amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 67/1999/NĐ-CP dated August 7, 1999, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Petitions and Complaints.

_________________________

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Law on Complaints and Reports dated December 2, 1998;

At the proposal of the State Audit Office.

DECREE:

Article 1. The following articles of Decree No. 67/1999/NĐ-CP dated August 7, 1999, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Petitions and Complaints, shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

1. Article 5 is amended as follows:

"Article 5. When a state agency receives a petition, it shall handle it as follows:

1. For petitions within its jurisdiction to resolve and which meet all conditions stipulated in Article 1 of this Decree, the receiving agency must accept and resolve them; if the petition has signatures from multiple people, it has the responsibility to guide the petitioner to write separate petitions to carry out the petitioning process;

2. For petitions within its jurisdiction but which do not meet the conditions for acceptance and resolution as stipulated in Article 1 of this Decree, it has the responsibility to respond in writing to the petitioner, clearly stating the reasons;

3. For petitions that contain both petition and complaint contents, the receiving agency shall handle the petition content according to the provisions of points 1, 2, and 5 of this Article, while handling the complaint content according to the provisions of Article 43 of this Decree;

4. For petitions within the jurisdiction of a lower-level agency but which have exceeded the prescribed time limit without being resolved, the higher-level agency directly handles them as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 17 of this Decree;

5. For petitions outside its jurisdiction, or petitions regarding matters already decided upon finally, the receiving agency does not have the responsibility to accept them but shall notify and guide the petitioner in writing. Such notification shall only be carried out once for each petition matter; in cases where the petitioner submits original documents related to the petition matter, the receiving agency shall return those documents to the petitioner."

3. Article 16 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 12.

1. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the province shall be responsible for resolving petitions within his jurisdiction according to the procedures and formalities stipulated in the Law on Petitions and Complaints.

a) For petitions against administrative decisions or actions made by himself, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province shall entrust the head of a specialized department under the provincial People's Committee or the Director of the Provincial Inspectorate to examine, conclude, and recommend a resolution;

b) For petitions that the Chairman of the People's Committee of the district has resolved but still have objections, or petitions that the Department Director has resolved but still have objections, and the content falls within his management scope, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province shall entrust the Director of the Provincial Inspectorate to conduct verification, conclude, and recommend a resolution;

c) Based on the report of verification, conclusion, and recommendation for resolution of the petition, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province shall issue a decision to resolve the petition or authorize the Director of the Provincial Inspectorate to issue a decision to resolve the petition according to Clause 2, Article 20 of this Decree and within the time limit stipulated in the Law on Petitions and Complaints. The decision to resolve the petition mentioned in point a, Clause 1 of this Article is the first-level decision to resolve the petition; the decision to resolve the petition mentioned in point b, Clause 1 of this Article is the final decision to resolve the petition.

For complex cases, before signing the final decision to resolve the petition, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province must seek the opinions of the Ministry, ministry-level agency, or government agency regarding the contents related to their administrative management functions.

When seeking opinions, the specific content of the case and the issues requiring consultation must be clearly stated. The Ministry, ministry-level agency, or government agency receiving the request for consultation must provide a response within 15 days from the date of receipt.

2. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or the Director of the Provincial Inspectorate authorized to issue the decision to resolve the petition shall send the decision to resolve the petition to the petitioner, the person against whom the petition was filed, and the persons with rights and interests related to the petition; if it is a final decision to resolve the petition, it shall also be sent to the National Inspector General; if it is a first-level decision to resolve the petition, it shall be sent to the Minister, head of a ministry-level agency, or head of a government agency with jurisdiction to resolve the petition next; for complex cases, they shall invite the petitioner, the person against whom the petition was filed, the persons with rights and interests related to the petition, and representatives of relevant agencies to publicly announce the decision to resolve the petition.

3. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the province shall be responsible for implementing and organizing the implementation of effective legal decisions to resolve petitions within his responsibility; he shall inspect and urge subordinate agencies and units to implement effective legal decisions to resolve petitions.

4. Before signing the final decision to resolve the petition for complex cases involving many petitioners regarding the same content, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province must personally dialogue with the petitioner, the person against whom the petition was filed, the previous petition resolver, and the persons with rights and interests related to the petition.

During the dialogue, the petition resolver must publicize the report on the results of the examination and verification of the case, the evidence and legal basis related to the resolution of the case, and the proposed handling of the case. Participants in the dialogue have the right to express their opinions, present evidence related to the case, and make requests. The dialogue must be recorded in a protocol."

1. Criteria for evaluating managers who have excellently completed tasks Managers who are evaluated as having excellently completed tasks must meet all of the following criteria:

"Article 13.

1. The Minister, head of a ministry-level agency, or head of a government agency shall be responsible for resolving petitions within their jurisdiction according to the procedures and formalities stipulated in the Law on Petitions and Complaints.

a) For administrative decisions and actions of their own, or of cadres and civil servants under their direct management, the Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency, or Head of a Government-affiliated agency shall assign the Head of the Bureau, Department, functional unit, or Inspector General at the same level to examine, conclude, and recommend the resolution thereof;

b) For complaints that have been resolved by the Head of a provincial-level People's Committee, Department Director, or Head of a ministry-affiliated or Government-affiliated agency but still involve further complaints within their jurisdiction, they shall instruct the Inspector General at the same level to conduct verification, conclude, and recommend the resolution thereof;

Based on the report of verification, conclusion, and recommendation for complaint resolution, the Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency, or Head of a Government-affiliated agency shall issue a decision to resolve the complaint within the time limit prescribed by the Law on Complaints and Petitions. The decision to resolve the complaint referred to in point a of Clause 1 of this Article is the initial complaint resolution decision; the decision to resolve the complaint referred to in point b of Clause 1 of this Article issued by the Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency is the final complaint resolution decision.

In cases involving complex matters, before signing the final complaint resolution decision, the Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency must seek opinions from the relevant ministries and sectors regarding contents related to the fields of state administration managed by those ministries and sectors, and from the provincial-level People's Committee where the complaint occurred.

When seeking opinions, the content of the matter and the contents requiring consultation must be clearly stated. The agency receiving the request for consultation must respond within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the request.

2. The Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency, or Head of a Government-affiliated agency shall be responsible for sending the complaint resolution decision to the complainant, the person complained against, persons with rights and interests related to the matter, and the State Inspector General; in cases involving complex matters, they shall invite the complainant, the person complained against, persons with rights and interests related to the matter, and representatives of related agencies to publicly announce the complaint resolution decision.

3. The Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency, or Head of a Government-affiliated agency shall be responsible for implementing and organizing the implementation of the complaint resolution decision having legal effect within their scope of responsibility; inspecting and urging subordinate agencies and units under their management to implement the complaint resolution decision that has become legally effective.

4. Before signing the final complaint resolution decision for complex matters involving multiple complainants regarding the same content, the Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency must directly dialogue with the complainant, the person complained against, the previous complaint resolver, and persons with rights and interests related to the matter.

During the dialogue, the petition resolver must publicize the report on the results of the examination and verification of the case, the evidence and legal basis related to the resolution of the case, and the proposed handling of the case. Participants in the dialogue have the right to express their opinions, present evidence related to the case, and make requests. The dialogue must be recorded in a protocol."

"Article 15. Contents of field trials of genetically modified organisms

"Article 15.

1. The final complaint resolution decision must be strictly implemented by the agencies, organizations, and individuals responsible for its enforcement.

The final complaint resolution decision may only be reconsidered upon discovery of new circumstances or indications of violations of the law causing damage to the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies, and organizations.

The person who issued the final complaint resolution decision, upon discovering new circumstances or finding that such decision violates the law causing damage to the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies, and organizations, or upon receiving requests from the persons specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article, must review it themselves and issue a new decision to replace the one that violated the law.

2. The Minister, Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency, or Head of a Government-affiliated agency, upon discovering new circumstances or indications of violations of the law causing damage to the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies, and organizations in the final complaint resolution decision of the Chairman of a provincial-level People's Committee which relates to the functions of state administration of their ministry or sector, shall require the person who issued that decision to review it; if the request is not fulfilled within thirty days, they shall conduct verification, conclude, and recommend the Prime Minister to consider and decide.

3. The State Inspector General, upon discovering new circumstances or indications of violations of the law causing damage to the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies, and organizations in the final complaint resolution decision of the Minister or Head of a Ministry-equivalent agency, shall require the person who issued that decision to review it; if the request is not fulfilled within thirty days, they shall conduct verification, conclude, and recommend the Prime Minister to consider and decide.

4. The statute of limitations for requesting reconsideration of the final complaint resolution decision as stipulated in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article is twelve months, counted from the date the decision becomes effective.

5. Article 17 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

Article 17.

1. The Heads of State agencies shall be responsible for directing, inspecting, and urging subordinate agencies to promptly resolve complaints within their jurisdiction.

2. When receiving complaints within the jurisdiction of their immediate subordinates but not resolved within the prescribed time limit, the Heads of State agencies shall require the subordinates to resolve them, while also being responsible for directing, inspecting, and urging the resolution process of the subordinates, and applying measures within their authority to deal with those who are negligent or intentionally delaying the resolution of the complaints. If measures exceeding their authority are required, they shall recommend the competent State agency to handle the situation.

6. Article 43 is amended and supplemented as follows:

Article 43.

1. Upon receiving a petition, the State agency shall classify and handle it as follows:

a) If the petition falls within their jurisdiction to resolve, they must accept it for processing and resolve it according to the procedures and formalities prescribed by the Law on Complaints and Petitions and this Decree.

b) If the complaint does not fall within the jurisdiction for resolution, it must be transferred to the competent authority for resolution, at the latest within ten days from the date of receipt, together with the complaint letter or recorded statement and related evidence (if any).

c) Do not consider or resolve anonymous complaints, false-name complaints, complaints without clear addresses, or those without direct signatures but instead with copied signatures, or complaints that have already been examined and concluded by competent authorities but are resubmitted without new evidence or materials.

d) If the complaint involves criminal acts, it shall be referred to the investigation agency and the Office of the Prosecutor for handling in accordance with Article 71 of the Law on Petitions and Complaints.

2. In cases where the complained act causes or threatens to cause serious damage to the interests of the State, collective bodies, or the lives and property of citizens, the receiving agency must immediately report to the competent authority to take preventive measures.

3. In cases where the head of state agencies at all levels and sectors receives information about the complainant being threatened, persecuted, or retaliated against, they must take responsibility to direct or coordinate with relevant functional agencies to clarify the situation, protect the complainant, prevent retaliation, and propose that the competent authority handle the person responsible for threatening, persecuting, or retaliating against the complainant in accordance with the law.

Article 2. The State Auditor General, Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government-affiliated agencies, Chairpersons of provincial people's committees under the central government are responsible for implementing this Decree.

Article 3. This Decree takes effect fifteen days after the date of signature. Previous regulations contrary to this Decree are abolished.