The Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam Addresses Challenges in Supervising Civil, Marriage, and Family Cases

Supreme People's Procuracy Addresses Challenges in Supervising Civil, Marriage, and Family Cases

In 2023, many lower-level People's Procuracies raised issues and difficulties in supervising the resolution of civil, marriage, and family cases. Under the direction of the leadership of the Supreme People's Procuracy, Division 9 summarized and coordinated with Division 14 of the Supreme People's Procuracy to respond as follows:

Question 1. The Civil Procedure Code prescribes an unreasonable timeframe for the Procuracy to review files for court participation and exercise the right to appellate protest.

Answer:

• Regarding the timeframe for the Procuracy to review files to participate in court: This difficulty was addressed in Official Letter 1120/VKSTC-V14 dated March 28, 2023, of the Supreme People's Procuracy. During the summary of the implementation of the Civil Procedure Code 2015, the Supreme People's Procuracy acknowledged that the 15-day limit for reviewing files in all cases is unreasonable, especially for complex cases requiring a longer timeframe and has compiled recommendations to the Supreme People's Court (the agency responsible for drafting the Civil Procedure Code) for consideration when amending the Civil Procedure Code.

• Concerning the timeframe for appellate protest against civil judgments and decisions: Article 280 of the Civil Procedure Code stipulates a timeframe similar to the appellate protest timeframe in administrative procedures (Article 213 of the Administrative Procedure Law 2015) and criminal procedures (Article 337 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2015). According to the practical review of civil supervision by the entire sector, the Supreme People's Procuracy found no violations regarding the appellate protest timeframe. Procurators need to thoroughly study the files, understand the cases during the first-instance trial phase, and closely monitor the first-instance judgments and decisions to ensure timely appellate protests.

Question 2. The transfer of civil case files and delivering judgments and decisions to the Procuracy have not been timely carried out by the Court as required by law.

Answer:

• Regarding the Court’s untimely transfer of files to the Procuracy: On March 14, 2019, the Supreme People's Procuracy issued Recommendation No. 04/KN-VKS-DS to the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court regarding the requirement to transfer civil and administrative case files. On April 26, 2019, the Supreme People's Court issued Official Letter 183/TANDTC-VP informing the instructions of the Chief Justice to the People's Courts to strictly comply with the provisions on the timeframe for transferring case files to the Procuracy as per Joint Circular 02/2016/TTLT-VKSNDTC-TANDTC. Therefore, if a court still does not strictly implement the transfer of files, the Procuracy should issue a recommendation, specifying the above-mentioned documents from the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Supreme People's Court as the basis for the recommendation.

• Regarding the Court’s delay in sending judgments and decisions to the Procuracy: To proactively supervise judgments, decisions, and execute the right to appellate protests, procurators need to grasp the content of the court's pronouncements during the trial sessions, supervise the trial minutes, and after the trial, urging the court to send the judgments, especially in cases where the court's decisions differ from the Procuracy’s stance. The Procuracy should issue a general recommendation at the same level or report to the superior Procuracy to issue a recommendation if the court's violations in the timeframe for sending judgments and decisions are common.

Detailed information can be found in Official Letter 1083/VKSTC-V9 dated March 26, 2024.

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