Joint Circular No. 981/TT-LB guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Civil Enforcement Ordinance.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing Certain Provisions of the Civil Enforcement Ordinance

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To uniformly implement certain provisions of the Civil Enforcement Ordinance adopted by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on April 21, 1993, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuracy provide guidance on the following points:

I - ISSUANCE AND TRANSFER OF COPIES OF JUDGMENTS AND DECISIONS

1. For judgments and decisions that have not yet taken effect but are subject to enforcement pursuant to paragraph 2, clause 1, Article 4 of the Ordinance, the court shall be responsible for transferring copies of such judgments and decisions to the enforcement agency at the same level within ten days from the date of issuance of the judgment or decision, regardless of whether such judgments or decisions have been appealed or protested.

When the person entitled to enforcement or those with rights or interests related to the enforcement request it, the court shall issue them copies of the judgment or decision.

2. All judgments and decisions of the court include sections on litigation fees. Therefore, the court must transfer complete copies of the judgments and decisions subject to enforcement along with copies of the inventory lists and temporary seizure orders, if any, to the enforcement agency. In cases where the court has not transferred all the required documents and items, the enforcement agency may request the court to transfer them fully. Within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the request, the court must comply with the request.

3. In cases where the first-instance judgment or decision of the court is appealed or protested through appellate proceedings, within fifteen days from the date of issuance of the appellate judgment or decision, the court shall transfer two copies each of the appellate judgment or decision, the inventory list, and the temporary seizure order, along with any attached items, to the court that heard the first instance. Within ten days from the date of receipt of these copies, the court that heard the first instance shall be responsible for transferring one copy each of the appellate judgment or decision, the first-instance judgment or decision, the inventory list, and the temporary seizure order, along with any attached items, to the enforcement agency.

4. In cases where the judgment or decision of the court has become legally binding and is protested through cassation or reconsideration proceedings, within fifteen days from the date of issuance of the cassation or reconsideration decision, the court that issued the cassation or reconsideration decision shall transfer two copies each of the cassation or reconsideration judgment or decision to the court that heard the first instance. Within ten days from the date of receipt of these copies, the court that heard the first instance shall be responsible for transferring one copy of the cassation or reconsideration judgment or decision to the enforcement agency.

5. For first-instance judgments and decisions that are also final judgments, within thirty days from the date of issuance of the judgment or decision, the Criminal Division or Civil Division of the Supreme People's Court that heard the case shall transfer copies of the judgment or decision, along with copies of the inventory list and temporary seizure order, if any, to the Provincial or Central City Enforcement Office where the first-instance and final trial was held.

For first-instance criminal judgments that are also final judgments issued by the Central Military Court, which include sections on property, the Central Military Court shall transfer copies of the judgment, along with copies of the inventory list and temporary seizure order, if any, to the Military Zone Enforcement Office and equivalent offices where the first-instance and final trial was held.

6. After receiving copies of the judgment or decision transferred by the court, the enforcement agency shall record the receipt of the judgment or decision in its register and process it as follows:

a) For parts of the judgment or decision that the enforcement agency initiates enforcement actions on its own, the head of the enforcement agency shall issue an enforcement decision or delegate another enforcement agency to issue an enforcement decision;

b) For parts of the judgment or decision that are enforced upon application, the enforcement agency shall record it in its follow-up register; when there is an application for enforcement, it shall issue an enforcement decision or delegate another enforcement agency to issue an enforcement decision.

7. When issuing copies of judgments or decisions to the parties, the court shall not charge a fee for the first copy; from the second copy onwards, the court may charge a fee according to the regulations set by the Government.

II - ENFORCEMENT REGARDING LITIGATION FEES

1. For litigation fees that the parties have prepaid, the enforcement agency shall enforce the judgment or decision based on the amount specified in the judgment or decision of the court that is subject to enforcement.

2. For litigation fees that the parties have not prepaid, the enforcement agency shall take measures to collect the fees.

3. For litigation fees that cannot be collected, the enforcement agency shall maintain a separate register, recording the reasons for each case; when conditions permit, the fees must be collected immediately.

III - ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS AND ASSETS SUBMITTED PRIOR TO THE COURT'S HANDLING AND TRIAL OF THE CASE

The acceptance of funds and assets submitted by the parties, defendants, or others prior to the court's handling and trial of the case shall be carried out as follows:

1. Where the law requires the parties to prepay litigation fees, the court shall estimate the amount to be paid, record it, and guide the parties to pay it to the enforcement agency at the same level. The enforcement agency shall accept the payment and issue two receipts, one for the party to keep and one to submit to the court for inclusion in the file.

2. Where the parties, defendants, or others submit compensation payments or illicit gains before the trial, the court shall guide them to pay it to the enforcement agency at the same level. The enforcement agency shall accept the payment and issue two receipts, one for the party to keep and one to submit to the court for inclusion in the file.

In cases where non-monetary assets are accepted, the enforcement agency shall prepare a record detailing the condition and quality of the asset and issue two copies of the record, one for the party to keep and one to submit to the court for inclusion in the file.

3. The enforcement agency must establish a separate ledger to monitor the receipt of money and property submitted by the parties, defendants, or others before the court accepts and adjudicates the case. The sending and management of such money and property must be carried out in accordance with state regulations.

4. When the judgment or decision of the court is enforced, the adjudication of the amount of money and property submitted before the court accepts and adjudicates the case shall be implemented according to the relevant part of the judgment or decision concerning that money and property.

IV- EXPLANATION OF POINTS RELATED TO ENFORCEMENT AND PETITION FOR CORRECTION OF ERRORS IN JUDGMENTS AND DECISIONS

1. When providing a copy of the judgment or decision to the parties, the court must inform the person entitled to enforcement of their right to file a request for enforcement, the statute of limitations for enforcement, and other issues related to enforcement.

2. When issuing an enforcement decision or during the enforcement process, if the enforcement agency finds unclear points or errors in the judgment or decision due to incorrect calculations, the enforcement agency shall send a document requesting the court that issued the judgment or decision to explain the unclear points and correct the errors.

The court that issued the judgment or decision has the responsibility to explain the unclear points and correct the errors and respond in writing to the enforcement agency within fifteen days from the date of receiving the request document.

When explaining unclear points and correcting errors in figures, the court may not amend or supplement the judgment or decision.

3. When issuing an enforcement decision or during the enforcement process, if the enforcement agency discovers errors in the judgment or decision being enforced, it has the right to petition the competent authority as prescribed by the procedural law to reconsider the judgment or decision.

V- HANDLING OF REMAINING FUNDS AND PROPERTY

Handling of remaining funds and property shall be carried out as follows:

a) For funds and property of cases where the judgment or decision has become legally effective but are currently held by other agencies or organizations, the enforcement agency shall proactively recover them or coordinate with the same-level prosecution agency and relevant agencies to take necessary measures to recover the funds and property.

b) For remaining funds and property where the enforcer has been identified, the enforcement agency shall notify and set a deadline for them to come and collect. If they fail to collect the funds and property within the deadline, the enforcement agency shall record the reasons in a protocol and temporarily deposit the funds in the state treasury, retain the property at the enforcement agency. After three years for individual enforcers and one year for organizational enforcers, from the date the judgment or decision becomes legally effective, if the enforcer still does not claim the funds and property, the enforcement agency shall proceed with depositing the funds and auctioning the property, then depositing the proceeds into the state budget.

c) For remaining funds and property where the enforcer has not been identified, the enforcement agency must publicly announce and post notices about each remaining fund and property. After three months from the date of public announcement, if no one claims the funds and property, the enforcement agency shall temporarily deposit the funds in the state treasury and retain the property at the enforcement agency.

In cases where the enforcer requests and proves their entitlement to funds temporarily deposited into the state budget, and the statute of limitations for enforcement has not expired or has been restored, the enforcement agency shall proceed with withdrawing the funds from the treasury for enforcement.

d) For remaining funds and property that fall under the category of destruction according to the judgment or decision that has become legally effective, or have deteriorated severely and lost their value, the enforcement agency shall establish a destruction committee comprising representatives from the same-level financial agency and other relevant specialized agencies, chaired by the head of the enforcement agency. The prosecution agency will supervise the destruction. The destruction protocol must bear the signatures of the chairman and members of the destruction committee and be sent to the court, prosecution agency, same-level financial agency, and kept in the enforcement file.

VI. ASSESSMENT OF ASSETS

1. In cases where the person subject to enforcement only has a single valuable asset exceeding the amount required for enforcement and this asset is a unified object whose value would significantly decrease if divided, the enforcement officer has the right to seize the asset. After auctioning the asset and settling the costs of enforcement, the remaining funds shall be returned to the person subject to enforcement.

2. When seizing assets, if there is a dispute over the seized asset, the enforcement officer shall explain to the enforcer, the person subject to enforcement, and those with rights and interests related to the disputed asset regarding the procedure for initiating a civil lawsuit. After accepting the lawsuit, the court must promptly resolve the issue of the asset to continue the enforcement process and ensure the rights of the parties.

After three months from the date of asset seizure, if no lawsuit has been initiated, the seized asset shall be processed for enforcement.

VII. SUPERVISION OF ENFORCEMENT

1. Within its functional and authority scope, the prosecution agency has the responsibility to conduct supervision of enforcement work, specifically:

a) Supervising the court's activities in complying with the provisions of the Civil Enforcement Law on:

- Time limits and procedures for transferring copies of judgments, decisions, seizure protocols, temporary detention of property, and transfer of property and evidence.

- Issuing copies of judgments and decisions to the parties.

b) Supervising whether enforcement agencies and enforcement officers comply with the provisions of the Civil Enforcement Law on:

- Issuing enforcement decisions and entrusting enforcement decisions;

- Enforcement procedures, implementing coercive enforcement measures; - Resolving complaints against unlawful acts of the head of the enforcement agency or enforcement officers.

c) Supervise the compliance with the law of the people's public security forces in protecting and enforcing court orders; supervise the compliance with the law of agencies, organizations, and individuals related to the implementation of forced execution decisions.

2. When conducting supervision of enforcement of judgments, the People's Procuracy has the right:

a) Request these agencies, organizations, and individuals to self-inspect and report the results of such self-inspection to the People's Procuracy; request the provision of materials and evidence related to the enforcement of judgments. The request document of the People's Procuracy must clearly specify the object, content of self-inspection or provision of materials, and the deadline for reporting the results of self-inspection or provision of materials and evidence. The requests of the People's Procuracy must be fulfilled within thirty days from the date of receipt of the request.

b) Directly supervise compliance with the law. When exercising this right, the Chief Prosecutor of the same-level People's Procuracy must issue a decision clearly specifying the object, content, scope of issues to be supervised, time and duration of the supervision, and appointing inspectors and staff to carry out the direct supervision and prepare a conclusion document of the direct supervision.

c) Protest to the Court, enforcement agency at the same level and subordinate levels, enforcement officers, agencies, organizations, units, and individuals responsible for enforcement if there is a violation of the law; protest decisions on enforcement that contravene the law.

Upon receiving a protest from the People's Procuracy, these agencies, organizations, units, and individuals must respond within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the protest;

d) Request the competent authority to impose disciplinary action or administrative penalties on law violators; initiate criminal proceedings if there are signs of a crime; initiate civil cases according to the provisions of the law. In the case where superior agencies, organizations, units receive a protest from the People's Procuracy against their subordinates, the response period is thirty days from the date of receipt of the protest.

If the competent agencies, organizations, units, and individuals do not agree with the content of the protest, they have the right to request the higher-level People's Procuracy to review the protest or the decision. The higher-level People's Procuracy must examine and respond within thirty days from the date of receipt of the enforcement file. The decision of the higher-level People's Procuracy is enforceable.

VIII. EFFECTIVE DATE OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect from the date of signature and replaces previous guiding documents issued by the Supreme People's Court, Ministry of Justice, and Supreme People's Procuracy regarding the enforcement of civil judgments.

For civil judgments and decisions with legal force before June 1, 1993, but not yet enforced, the enforcement shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Enforcement Ordinance and this Circular.

During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, relevant agencies should reflect them to the Supreme People's Court, Ministry of Justice, and Supreme People's Procuracy for guidance on resolution./.