Vietnam: Discussion about compensation for damages in administrative cases

One of the convenient and effective mechanisms for compensation for damages in administrative cases is the option to request compensation during the process of resolving the administrative case. According to Vietnam’s current administrative litigation law (Law on Administrative Procedures 2015), the resolution of compensation claims in administrative cases is divided into the following two groups:

Firstly, the resolution of compensation claims will be handled by the Court simultaneously with the examination of the legality of the administrative actions being challenged in the same administrative case. In this case, the Court will apply the provisions of state compensation liability and the regulations of civil procedure law to resolve the compensation claims.

Secondly, if an administrative case includes a compensation claim for which there is insufficient evidence to prove the claim, the Court will separate the compensation claim and resolve it as an independent case according to the regulations of civil procedure law, separate from the administrative case.

In order for the Court to accept their compensation claim, the claimant must provide sufficient evidence for the following three elements:

- There must be actual damages that have occurred in reality;

- There must be unlawful or improper actions that have caused the damages;

- There must be a causal relationship between the behavior and the consequences.

Therefore, based on the provisions of the law, it can be concluded that if the claimant fails to prove even one of the three aforementioned elements, the compensation claim for damages must be separated into an independent case from the administrative case.

Furthermore, the Law on Administrative Procedures 2015 of Vietnam also incorporates the spirit of Resolution 02/2011 of the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court, which provides guidance for the implementation of the Law on Administrative Procedures 2010 to further detail the provisions related to the resolution of compensation claims for damages.

In cases where the Court of first instance or the appellate court resolves the compensation claim for damages together with the administrative case (belonging to the first group), and subsequently, only the decision related to the resolution of the compensation claim for damages is appealed, protested, or overturned by the appellate court, director of the appellate court, or the higher court requesting a retrial, the resolution of this claim still follows the administrative litigation law. In other words, although the scope of appeal or protest only applies to the decision of the Court of first instance or the appellate court regarding the resolution of the compensation claim for damages, if this claim was initially resolved together with the administrative case, the retrial of this claim still adheres to the administrative litigation law.

Source: Mang phap luat

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE