Vietnam’s new regulations on regime of communications for persons in stay

According to Decree No. 65/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, persons in stay may contact by telephone or receive/send letters to their relatives, legal representatives, diplomatic missions or consular offices under regulations of accommodation establishments; the telephone and post charges shall be at persons in stay’s expenses.

The communications of a person in stay is stipulated in Decree No. 65/2020/NĐ-CP as follows:

- The person in stay may send 4 letters every month. If a person in stay who has been investigated with respect to an offense or regarding other criminal cases is subject to a request for scrutiny of any letter which that person sends or receives made by the authority in charge of the case so as to prevent that person from exchanging information with other people which possibly prejudices the investigation process, the head of the accommodation establishment shall, before making a decision, seek consultation from the authority in charge of the case whether or not allow such person to receive or send any letter. If the head of the accommodation establishment decides not to allow that person to receive or send a letter, he/she shall take a record and provide specific reasons, and then notify such person in stay and relatives thereof.

- The accommodation establishment shall cooperate with local post and telecommunications authority to install a fixed telephone, wired or wireless, and allow the persons in stay to make domestic calls, 4 times a month, not exceeding 10 minutes for each call. In an urgent circumstance, according to a written explanation of the person in stay, the head of the accommodation establishment may consider allowing that person to make a phone call not up to 10 minutes. When making a phone call, the person in stay must dial the number and exchange information as registered. The head of accommodation establishment shall assign a supervisor to supervise the information exchanged between the person in stay and recipient; the supervisor shall stop the call if any content exchanged goes beyond the registered content and then provide explanation for the person in stay; a record shall be taken if necessary. The phone call shall be charged as the same as the post and telecommunications authority and at the expense of the person in stay in form of delayed payment or other sponsorship with the consent of the head of accommodation establishment.

- If a person in stay who has been investigated with respect to an offense or regarding other criminal cases is subject to a request for scrutiny of any phone call which that person makes or receives made by the authority in charge of the case so as to prevent that person from exchanging information with other people which possibly prejudices the investigation process, the head of the accommodation establishment shall, before allowing that person to make or receive such phone call, cooperate with the authority in charge of the case in supervising that person. When the person in stay exchanges any information deemed prejudicing the investigation process, the head of accommodation establishment shall, with the consent of the authority in charge of the case, stop the phone call, take a record, provide specific reasons, and then notify that person in stays and the visitor.

View  relevant provisions at Decree No. 65/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from June 15, 2020.

Thu Ba

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE