Regulation on crime of negligence of responsibility, causing serious consequences in Vietnam

Negligence of responsibility, causing serious consequences are acts of infringing upon the proper operation of agencies and organizations performed by people with positions while performing their official duties and tasks and fall into the group of crimes related to positions, as defined in Article 360 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended in 2017).

The crime of negligence of responsibility, causing serious consequences was defined in Article 285 of the Criminal Code 1999 of Vietnam, is currently defined in Article 360 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended in 2017).

Article 285 of the Criminal Code 1999 stipulates:

"1. Those who, due to negligence of their responsibility, fail to perform or improperly perform their assigned tasks, causing serious consequences in cases other than those stipulated in Articles 144, 235 and 301 of this Code, shall be sentenced to non-custodial reform for up to three years or between six months and five years of imprisonment.

2. Committing the crime and causing very serious or particularly serious consequences, the offenders shall be sentenced to between three years and twelve years of imprisonment.

3. The offenders shall also be banned from holding certain posts, practicing certain occupations or doing certain jobs for one to five years."

Article 360 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended in 2017):

"1. Any person who negligently fails to perform or correctly perform his/her in any of the following circumstances, except in the circumstances specified in Article 179, Article 308 and Article 376 hereof, shall face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence or 06 - 60 months' imprisonment:

a) The offence results in the death of a person;

b) The offence causes ≥ 61% WPI for another person;

c) The offence causes a total WPI of 61% - 121% for more than one person.

d) The property damage caused by the offence is assessed at from VND 100,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 03 - 07 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence results in the death of 02 people;

b) The offence causes a total WPI of 122% - 200% for more than one person;

c) The property damage caused by the offence is assessed at from VND 500,000,000 to under VND 1,500,000,000.

3. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 07 - 12 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence results in the death of ≥ 03 people;

b) The offence causes a total WPI of ≥ 201% for ≥ 03 people;

c) The property damage caused by the offence is assessed at ≥ VND 1,500,000,000.

4. The offender might also be prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain jobs for 01 - 05 years."

It can be seen that, compared with the Criminal Code 1999, the current law has more specific provisions for damage circumstances "causing serious consequences" and "causing very serious or particularly serious consequences." At the same time, separate the penalty frame to concretize criminal responsibility to suit the requirements of fighting against position crimes in the new situation. This makes it easier to apply the law in the trial process because it is difficult to determine the severity of the consequences.

Signs of this crime are as follows:

- Object: The crime of irresponsibility, causing serious consequences, infringing upon the proper operation of State agencies and social organizations.

- Subject: Person with position and authority

- Objective side: Objective behavior is the act of not performing or improperly performing the assigned tasks. Consequences are a requirement to constitute a crime. The above acts must cause serious consequences to people's health and lives or cause great damage to property if they do not fall into the cases specified in Articles 179, 308, and 376 of the Penal Code.

- Subjective side: crime is committed with unintentional error. Offenders should have foreseen the consequences of their actions but did not foresee them, or foresaw that their acts could cause harmful consequences for society but thought that such consequences would not occur or could have been prevented.

Regarding penalties:

- Basic framework: non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment of between 6 months and 5 years as specified in Clause 1, Article 360 ​​of the Criminal Code.

- Heavy frame:

+ Imprisonment from 03 to 07 years (Clause 2, Article 360 ​​of the Criminal Code)

+ Imprisonment from 07 to 12 years (Clause 3, Article 360 ​​of the Criminal Code)

Additional penalties: prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain jobs for 01 - 05 years

Below is a typical sentence of the crime of Negligence causing serious consequences that has been tried in practice.

Judgment 108/2021/HS-PT dated February 2, 2021 for the crime of irresponsibility causing serious consequences.

From 2009 to May 2018, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Ca Mau Provincial Department of Health signed 9 contracts and 34 contract appendices on Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy training for Ca Mau Department of Health's 690 students studying at the address used. The Department of Health of Ca Mau province must pay the Can Tho University of Medicine and Medicine according to the value of the contracts and contract appendices of VND 58,460,400,000. The training process has many changes in the number of students, so the contract value is also adjusted. Payment method: Ca Mau Department of Health transfers money to the account of Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, on the other hand, directly collects VND 14,033,175,000 in tuition fees from students during the implementation process (Autumn 2009, 2010, and 2018). Ca Mau Provincial Department of Health is responsible for collecting and transferring the samples to Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Do Thanh C, Phan Ngoc T are accountants and treasurers of the Department of Health of Ca Mau province, responsible for collecting this tuition fee. C and T used fraudulent tricks to appropriate a total of 8,921,335,000 VND. During the investigation, defendants Huynh Quoc V (director of the Department of Health of Ca Mau province) and Trinh Minh K (Deputy Department of Organization and Personnel in 2008) were found to be irresponsible in the process of organizing, managing, reviewing, and facilitating C and T to appropriate tuition fees.

Therefore, the People's Court of Ca Mau province declared: the defendants Huynh Quoc V and Trinh Minh K committed the crime of "Negligence of responsibility, causing serious consequences." Huynh Quoc V was sentenced to two years in prison, and Trinh Minh K was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. 

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