The Civil Procedure Code (CPC) 2015 comprises 42 chapters and 517 articles, in which 63 articles remain unchanged, 350 articles are amended or supplemented, 104 new articles are added, and 7 articles are repealed.
Article table of contents
Compared to the Civil Procedure Code 2004, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 has the following notable new points:
The Court must not refuse to resolve civil matters due to lack of applicable laws
This is one of the prominent new points of the Civil Procedure Code 2015. The People's Court, as the judicial authority, must resolve all disputes, complaints, and requests from agencies, organizations, and individuals regarding civil matters to protect State interests and the legitimate rights and interests of themselves or others. The court cannot refuse this responsibility.
The Civil Procedure Code 2015 stipulates the State’s responsibility to ensure legal assistance for subjects under the law so they can exercise their rights to protect their legitimate rights and interests before the Court. Moreover, no one is allowed to restrict the rights to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved in Civil Procedure.
Responsibilities of procedure-conducting agencies and persons
To enhance responsibilities in line with the functions and duties of the Court and the Procuracy, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 has clearly defined the responsibilities and duties of these two agencies.
- The Court has the duty to protect justice, human rights, citizens' rights, uphold socialist policies, protect the interests of the State, and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.- The Procuracy has the duty to protect the law, human rights, citizens' rights, uphold socialist policies, protect the interests of the State, and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals, contributing to ensuring the law is strictly and uniformly followed.
Additionally, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 adds content regarding the protection of minors and family secrets to the responsibilities of procedure-conducting agencies and persons.
In terms of liability for damages, the agency directly managing the procedure-conducting person must compensate the harmed individual as per the legal provisions on State liability for compensation if the procedure-conducting person commits an unlawful act while performing their duties, causing damage to an agency, organization, or individual.
Adherence to principles of prompt, fair, and public trials
In trial activities, the Court must adhere to the principles of prompt and fair trials. This principle is emphasized and noted as a new point not previously mentioned in the Civil Procedure Code 2004.
For cases requiring the protection of State secrets, national traditions, protection of minors, professional secrets, business secrets, personal secrets, or family secrets of the parties involved upon their legitimate request, the Court may conduct closed trials.
Ensuring adversarial process in trials
To enhance the quality of the adversarial process in trials and concretize the principle of ensuring the adversarial process, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 has amended and supplemented the principle of ensuring the adversarial process in trials. This is a breakthrough in judicial activities and one of the important contents of the amendments and supplements of the Civil Procedure Code.
The adversarial process is conducted from the filing and acceptance of a case until its resolution. The parties involved have the right to present their case in all stages of the first instance, appeal, cassation, and re-opening trials. Additionally, the parties involved and their legal representatives have the right to collect and submit documents and evidence and to access, record, and copy documents and evidence presented by other parties or collected by the Court (except for non-public documents and evidence).
The Court is responsible for conducting the adversarial process, questioning unclear issues, and basing judgments or decisions on the results of the adversarial process.
Supplementing temporary emergency measures
In addition to the emergency measures stipulated in the Civil Procedure Code 2004, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 has supplemented new temporary emergency measures such as:
- Prohibiting exit for individuals with obligations to the State, agencies, organizations, or other individuals when such exit affects case resolution, enforcement of judgments, etc.;- Prohibiting individuals who commit domestic violence from contacting the victims of such violence.
Furthermore, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 adds regulations that after a decision to apply temporary emergency measures, if the court decides to return the petition or dismiss the case, it must simultaneously decide to cancel the application of the temporary emergency measures.
The Civil Procedure Code 2015 takes effect from July 1, 2016.
