Vietnam: Court clerks will officially no longer be obliged to make annual declarations from December 20, 2020

According to Article 3 of Decree No. 130/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, “declaration of assets, income” refers to clear, adequate and accurate depiction of assets, income, fluctuation of assets, income to be declared, origin of additional assets, income using the form attached to this Decree. Declaration of assets, income helps asset, income controlling bodies clarify assets, income, fluctuation in terms of assets, income, origin of additional assets, income of persons obliged to make declaration to prevent corruption, serve officer operation, promptly detect corruption, prevent dispersion of assets of corruption and recall assets of corruption.

According to Article 10 of the Decree No. 130/2020/NĐ-CP, persons in charge of official management, management of public funds, public property or public investment, or have influence over the operation of other entities obliged to make declarations as stated in Point b Clause 3 Article 36 of Law on Anti-corruption of Vietnam, including:

1. Following officer titles and ranks: enforcement officers; investigators; accountants; rangers; procurators; banking procurators; market controllers; auditors; examiners of the Communist Party; customs examiners; tax examiners; inspectors; judges.

2. Persons holding managerial positions from deputies and equivalent to higher positions operating in fields defined under Annex III attached to Decree No. 130/2020/NĐ-CP.

3. Representatives of state capital in enterprises.

According to Clause 8 Article 7 of Decree No. 78/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government on transparency of assets and income, investigators, prosecutors, verifiers, judges, court clerks, state auditors, inspectors, enforcers, and notary officials are obliged to make declarations.

Thus, from December 20, 2020, when the Decree No. 130/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government takes effect, court clerks will officially not be obliged to make annual declarations. Moreover, this regulation also supplements subjects obliged to make annual declarations, including: rangers; banking procurators; market controllers; examiners of the Communist Party; customs examiners; tax examiners.

Besides, according to Article 20 of the Decree No. 130/2020/NĐ-CP, persons obliged to make declarations who fail to stay truthful or truthfully explain origin of additional assets and income shall be met with penalties depending on nature and severity of the violations according to Article 51 of Law on Anti-corruption of Vietnam. Specifically, he/she shall face one of the disciplinary actions including warning, demotion, dismissal; such a person who is expected to hold a managerial position will be rejected; disciplinary actions may be exempted if the violator voluntarily resigns from the position.

Compared to Decree No. 78/2013/NĐ-CP, persons obliged to declare in this case shall be disciplined in one of the following forms: reprimand, warning, salary cut, demotion, or dismissal.

Thus, Decree No. 130/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government stipulates that the lowest and highest disciplinary for persons failing to make declaration are warning and discharge, while according to Decree No. 78/2013/NĐ-CP are warning and dismissal. It can be seen that this new regulation is more severe and deterrent against this dishonest act of declaring assets and income, and also ensures the strictness of the law.

Le Vy

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