4 significant events about litigation procedures occurring in early January 2018

1. The Supreme Court addresses some issues regarding trial procedures

Recently, the Supreme Court has issued Official Dispatch 01/GD-TANDTC regarding some issues in trial procedures. The issues addressed include:

In Civil Matters:

- Determining the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit to divide inherited real estate.

In Civil Procedure:

- Resolution of disputes over inherited houses and land where parties cannot agree on the value of the estate;- Suspension of the case related to the advance payment of appraisal and asset valuation costs;- Delays in issuing decisions to acknowledge the settlement agreements of the involved parties;- Court decisions on divorce cases where reconciliation between the spouses has been successful;- Unresolved civil cases;- Court decisions on temporarily suspended civil cases;- Order and procedures for resolving cases in the first-instance trial when there are changes or additions to the claims by the involved parties;- Resolving child custody in divorce cases between spouses.

For detailed content, refer to Official Dispatch 01/GD-TANDTC issued on January 5, 2018.

2. Official guidance on applying the 2015 Criminal Code and Resolution 41 in 2018

The Supreme Court also recently issued the first guidance document on applying the 2015 Criminal Code and Resolution 41/2014/QH14.

From January 1, 2018, when applying the 2015 Criminal Code for first-instance, appellate, cassation, reopening, and enforcement of criminal judgments, courts at all levels need to note the following:

- All provisions of the 2015 Criminal Code are applicable for prosecuting, investigating, prosecuting, trying, and executing sentences for offenses committed from 00:00 hours on January 1, 2018;- Provisions on the abolition of crimes, aggravation, exemption, and reduction of criminal liability, etc., and regulations beneficial to offenders apply to offenses committed before 00:00 hours on January 1, 2018, but discovered later or prosecuted, tried, etc.;- Separate offenses derived from compound offenses, if beneficial for the offender, also apply to offenses committed before 00:00 hours on January 1, 2018; if not beneficial, the previous regulations before January 1, 2018, apply.

The above content is based on Official Dispatch 04/TANDTC-PC dated January 9, 2018.

3. The Supreme People's Procuracy issues a series of guiding documents on prosecutorial work in 2018

The documents issued by the Supreme People's Procuracy to guide prosecutorial work in 2018 include:

- Guidance 12/HD-VKSTC on practicing prosecution and supervising the investigation and first-instance trial of security cases in 2018;- Guidance 04/HD-VKSTC on supervising and resolving complaints and denunciations in judicial activities in 2018;- Guidance 02/HD-VKSTC on practicing prosecution, supervising the investigation and first-instance trial of drug cases in 2018;- Guidance 35/HD-VKSTC on supervising the detention, custody, and execution of criminal sentences in 2018;- Guidance 05/HD-VKSTC on supervising the enforcement of civil and administrative judgments in 2018;- Guidance 07/HD-VKSTC on supervising the resolution of administrative cases, commercial, and labor disputes and other cases according to the law in 2018.

(To be continued...)

4. Application of new Regulations on supervising criminal procedure from January 1, 2018

From January 1, 2018, Prosecutors will start supervising criminal cases based on the following regulations:

- Regulations on practicing prosecution and supervising the trial of criminal cases as stipulated in Decision 505/QD-VKSTC, replacing Decision 960/2007/QD-VKSTC;- Regulations on supervising detention, custody, and execution of criminal sentences in 2018 as stipulated in Decision 501/QD-VKSTC, replacing Decision 35/QD-VKSTC-V4;- Provisional regulations on practicing prosecution and supervising the initiation, investigation, and prosecution as stipulated in Decision 03/QD-VKSTC, replacing Decision 07/2008/QD-VKSTC.

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