Can complaints that has been accepted for settlement be withdrawn in Vietnam? Which complaints are not eligible to be accepted for settlement in Vietnam?

1. Can complaints that has been accepted for settlement be withdrawn in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 10 of the Law on Complaints 2011, there are provisions on withdrawal of complaints as follows:

A complainant may withdraw his/her complaint at any time in the course of complaint and its settlement; a written request for withdrawal must be made, signed or fingerprinted by the complainant and sent to the person competent to complaint settlement.

When receiving a written request for complaint withdrawal, the person competent to complaint settlement shall suspend the complaint settlement and notify such suspension in writing to the complainant.

According to this Article, you may withdraw your complaint at any time in the course of complaint and its settlement in Vietnam. Therefore, if the complaint has been accepted, you can still withdraw the complaint. 

2. Which complaints are not eligible to be accepted for settlement in Vietnam?

According to Article 11 of Law on Complaints 2011, complaints not eligible to be accepted for settlement:

A complaint falling into one of the following cases is not accepted for settlement:

1. It is about an administrative decision or act within a state agency for directing and organizing the performance of tasks and official duties; an administrative decision or act related to direction and administration by an administrative agency toward its subordinate administrative agency; an administrative decision containing legal rules issued by competent agencies, organizations or persons according to the order and procedures prescribed in law on promulgation of legal documents; an administrative decision or act involving a state secret in the field of defense, security or foreign affairs as listed by the Government;

2. It is about an administrative decision or act not directly related to the rights and lawful interests of the complainant;

3. The complainant has no full civil act capacity and no a lawful representative;

4. The complaint is implemented by an unlawful representative;

5. There is no signature or fingerprint of complainant in the written complaint;

6. The statute of limitations or time limit for making a complaint has expired but the complainant has no legitimate reason;

7. A second-time complaint settlement decision has been issued;

8. There is a written notice of suspension of the complaint settlement and the complainant does not continue making complaint during 30 days after the issuance of such notice;

9. It has been accepted by a court for settlement or has been settled under a court judgment or decision other than a court’s decision on suspension of the settlement of an administrative case.

Thus, if your complaint falls into one of the above cases, it will not be resolved in Vietnam.

3. What are rights and obligations of complainants in Vietnam? 

According to Article 12 of the Law on Complaints 2011, rights and obligations of complainants are as follows:

1. A complainant has the following rights:

a/ To make a complaint by him/herself.

In case the complainant is a minor or has lost, his/her civil act capacity, his/her representative at law may implement a complaint.

In case the complainant is ill or old and weak or has a physical defect or encounters an objective circumstance which causes him/her unable to implement a complaint, he/she may authorize his/her parent, spouse, blood sibling or adult child or another person with full civil act capacity to implement a complaint;

b/ To ask a legal counsel or authorize a lawyer to make a complaint to protect his/her rights and lawful interests.

In case the complainant is eligible for legal aid as specified by law, he/she is entitled to ask a legal aid officer to provide legal consultancy or authorize a legal aid officer to make a complaint to protect his/her rights and lawful interests;

c/ To participate in dialogs or authorize a lawful representative to do so;

d/ To be entitled to know, read, photocopy or copy documents and evidences collected by the complaint settler for settling his/her complaint, except information and documents involving state secrets;

dd/ To request relevant persons, agencies and organizations that are preserving or managing information and documents related to his/her complaint contents to provide such information and documents within 07 days after being requested for submission to the complaint settler, except information and documents falling in state secrets;

e/ To request the complaint settler to apply urgent measures to prevent possible consequences of the execution of the complained administrative decision;

g/ To show evidences of the complaint and make explanation on his/her opinions for these evidences;

h/ To receive a written reply on the acceptance of the complaint for settlement, to receive the complaint settlement decision;

i/ To have his/her infringed rights and lawful interests restored; to receive damage compensations in accordance with law;

k/ To make a second-time complaint or institute an administrative case at court in accordance with the Law on Administrative Procedures;

l/ To withdraw his/her complaint.

2. A complainant has the following obligations:

a/ To make a complaint with the right person who is competent to settlement;

b/ To honestly present the matter and show evidences of the correctness and reasonability of the complaint; to provide relevant information and documents to the complaint settler; to take responsibility before law for the presented contents and provided information and documents:

c/ To abide by the administrative decision or act about which he/she makes a complaint pending the complaint settlement, unless such decision or act is suspended from execution as prescribed in Article 35 of this Law;

d/ To strictly abide by the legally effective complaint settlement decision.

3. Complainants shall also implement other rights and obligations as prescribed by law.

According to this Article, the complainants in Vietnam will have the rights and obligations as prescribed above.

Best Regards!