Afternoon on November 13, 2020, the National Assembly voted to pass the Law amending and supplementing certain articles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations with a 93.5% approval rate of the total National Assembly Deputies. One of the notable contents passed in this Law is the regulation on handling multiple administrative violations.
Article table of contents
Vietnam: Are repeated administrative violations subject to penalties for each violation? (Illustration)
To be specific, at point e, Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 stipulates:
A person who commits multiple administrative violations or repeatedly commits administrative violations shall be penalized for each administrative violation.
It is evident that the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 has rigidly stipulated that a person who repeatedly commits administrative violations shall be penalized for each violation.
Before the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations was approved, there were suggestions to make a clearer distinction regarding penalties for each repeated violation in the case of multiple administrative violations, with the application of aggravating circumstances for repeated administrative violations. Additionally, there were suggestions to stipulate that repeated administrative violations should be subject to aggravating circumstances.
Regarding this matter, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly noted that administrative violations are diverse, therefore, rigid regulations that every repeated administrative violation must be penalized individually or only once with the aggravating circumstance of "repeated administrative violations" are not appropriate.
Therefore, the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations has amended point e, Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012:
A person who commits multiple administrative violations or repeatedly commits administrative violations shall be penalized for each administrative violation, except in cases where repeated administrative violations are stipulated by the Government of Vietnam as an aggravating circumstance.
Thus, from 2022, to be more flexible in the process of handling administrative violations, multiple repetitions of administrative violations can be considered with aggravating circumstances if such repeated administrative violations are stipulated by the Government of Vietnam as an aggravating circumstance.
Besides the above rule, other principles for handling administrative violations in the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 remain unchanged.
From January 1, 2022, the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations will take effect. When administering penalties for administrative violations, the following principles will be applied:
- All administrative violations must be detected, promptly prevented, and strictly handled, all consequences of administrative violations must be remedied according to the law;- The imposition of penalties for administrative violations must be conducted promptly, transparently, objectively, within the correct jurisdiction, ensuring fairness, and in accordance with the law;- The imposition of penalties for administrative violations must be based on the nature, severity, consequences of the violation, the violating subjects, and mitigating and aggravating circumstances;- Administrative penalties shall only be imposed when there is a specific administrative violation prescribed by law.
An administrative violation shall only be penalized once.
When multiple people commit the same administrative violation, each violator shall be penalized for that administrative violation.
A person who commits multiple administrative violations or repeatedly commits administrative violations shall be penalized for each administrative violation, except in cases where repeated administrative violations are stipulated by the Government of Vietnam as an aggravating circumstance;
- The person authorized to impose penalties is responsible for proving the administrative violation. Individuals and organizations subjected to penalties have the right to prove their innocence by themselves or through their lawful representatives;- For the same administrative violation, the monetary fine imposed on an organization shall be twice that imposed on an individual.
Thuy Tram
