Online and regular hearing in Vietnam: What are the similarities and differences on order and procedures?
What is online hearing in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Article 3 of the Draft Circular on the Regulation on organizing an online hearing (Draft 2), an online court is:
"Article 3. Words used in the Regulations
1. Online hearing is the organization of a court hearing of a case according to the statutory order using electronic devices, linked together through the network environment, allowing the accused, victims and litigants , other proceeding participants to participate in the trial at the bridge points, but still ensure to directly monitor the full picture and sound and participate in all the proceedings of the trial orally, direct, continuous, public procedural acts, witnessed by the subjects at the same time.
2. Central location: is the space to hold the court hearing of the case at the Court's headquarters or at a location selected by the Court, organized in accordance with the provisions of Circular No. 01/2017/TT-TANDTC dated July 28, 2017 of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court stipulates the courtroom, with the participation of procedure-conducting persons and other procedure participants in accordance with law and ensuring the requirements of the court. demand for technological equipment to support the organization of an online trial.
3. Component locations: is space for holding court hearings for case trial organized or accepted by the Court, with the participation of a number of subjects participating in the proceedings and organized according to the provisions of this Circular."
Thus, an online hearing is one of the forms of organizing a hearing for a case according to the statutory order, in which involves the use of electronic devices connected together through the network environment that allowing the accused, victims, litigants and other proceeding participants to participate in the hearing at the bridge points that still ensure to directly monitor the full image and sound and participate in all procedural order and procedures of the hearing by speech, face-to-face, continuous, public proceedings, witnessed by the subjects at the same time.
What are the judicial process in online hearing?
According to the provisions of Article 14 of the Draft Circular on the Regulation on organizing an online hearing (Draft 2), judicial process is expected as follows:
"Article 14. Judicial process at the online hearing
1. The order and procedures for an online hearing shall be the same as that of a regular Court in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code, the Civil Procedure Code, and the Administrative Procedure Law.
2. Some requirements to be fulfilled at the online court hearing are as follows:
a) Courts check the identities of court participants through online comparison of identification documents or through the national population database system.
For the trial of a criminal case at a component bridge, the court civil servant or the officer and soldier of the detention facility assisting the trial must check the presence of the summoned persons and notify the court. to the Court Clerk.
For the appellate court hearing of an administrative or civil case at a component bridge of the Court's headquarters that has heard and settled the first-instance trial, the court civil servant assisting the court hearing must check the presence of the authorized persons. summon and notify the court clerk.
b) At the opening, the judge presiding over the court session must further disseminate the online trial while ensuring the procedural order and procedures; The legitimate rights and interests of the accused, victims and litigants shall still be exercised in accordance with the procedural law.
c) In case the procedure participants at the requesting point provide more documents and evidences, the following actions shall be taken:
For criminal cases, court civil servants or officers and soldiers of detention facilities shall receive, make copies in the form of electronic data and send them to the Trial Panel. Court civil servants or officers and soldiers of detention facilities shall make minutes on receipt of documents and evidences as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 253 of the Criminal Procedure Code. After the end of the court session, the minutes together with documents and evidences must be immediately transferred to the presiding judge of the court session.
For administrative and civil cases, they themselves make copies in the form of electronic data and send them to the Trial Panels. The handover of evidences and documents shall comply with the provisions of Article 96 of the Civil Procedure Code and Article 83 of the Law on Administrative Procedures.
The presiding judge of the court session must announce, consider and evaluate these documents and evidences after receiving photocopies of documents and evidences.
d) An online hearing session must be audio or video recorded in the form of electronic data.
d) The minutes of the court session must comply with the form prescribed by the procedural law. Specify at which bridge points the trial takes place; clearly state the full name of the procurator, court civil servant or officer and soldier of the detention facility, at the component bridge.
e) Court judgments and decisions must comply with the form prescribed by procedural law. The opening part of the court's judgment or decision must clearly state at which bridge points the trial takes place; clearly state the full name of the procurator, court civil servant or officer and soldier of the detention facility, at the component bridge.
3. Determining the legal participation status of procurators, court civil servants or officers and soldiers of detention facilities, at component bridges as “other procedure participants”.”
Thus, judicial process for an online hearing are the same regular hearing by the Criminal Procedure Code, the Civil Procedure Code, and the Administrative Procedure Law. However, judicial process at the online court must ensure the specific requirements for online techniques and electronic data mentioned above.
How are measures of handling some situations arising at the online hearing expected?
According to the provisions of Article 15 of the Draft Circular on Regulations on organizing an online hearing (Draft 2), measures of handling some situations arising at the online hearing are expected as follows:
"Article 15. Handling a number of situations that may arise at the court hearing
1. In time of an online court, the online system is interrupted due to a transmission line failure, power failure or other incident that makes the court session unable to continue, the Court shall issue a decision to suspend the hearing.
Court officials or officers and soldiers of detention facilities shall notify the decision to suspend the trial to participants at the component locations.
2. If by the date of reopening the court hearing is still unable to be held, the court shall issue a decision to postpone the court session. The court considers and decides to reopen the court hearing in the online form or in the normal form as prescribed by law.
*Details content of the Draft Circular on the Regulation on organizing the online hearing (Draft 2): here.
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