Guidance on records management by the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam

Guidance on records management by the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam (Image from the internet)

1. Principles for records management of the Ministry of Justice

The principles for records management of the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam include:

- The records management and archive of the Ministry of Justice is carried out scientifically, accurately, transparently, and legally.

- Documents classified as “Confidential”, “Secret”, “Top Secret” (hereinafter referred to as confidential documents) and “Secret Telegrams” are registered and managed in accordance with the law on records management, the protection of state secrets, and the Regulations on the protection of state secrets of the Ministry of Justice.

- Outgoing and incoming documents of agencies or units under the Ministry must be centrally managed at the Ministry’s Clerical Office, unit clerical office (hereinafter referred to as Clerical Office) to complete the procedures for reception, registration, submission, transfer, and issuance of documents.

- Outgoing and incoming documents must be registered, issued, or transferred the same day, at the latest on the next working day. Incoming documents stamped with urgency levels such as “Urgent”, “Express”, “Immediate” (collectively referred to as urgent documents) must be registered, submitted, and transferred immediately after reception. Outgoing documents with urgent stamps must complete the issuance and transfer procedures immediately after the document is signed.

- Outgoing electronic documents must be submitted, issued on the day of signing, at the latest on the morning of the next working day (for regular documents). Incoming electronic documents are transferred immediately to the authorized person for assignment and handling.

- Seals and secret key storage devices of agencies or units must be managed and used in accordance with the law.

- Civil servants, public employees, and workers assigned to resolve or monitor tasks are responsible for creating task files and submitting files, and materials to the unit’s Archives.

2. Guidelines for records management by the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam

2.1. Drafting documents of the Ministry of Justice

- The drafting of legislative documents is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents 2015 (amended 2020), Decree 34/2016/ND-CP, Decree 154/2020/ND-CP.

- The drafting of administrative documents is carried out as follows:

+ Based on functions, tasks, powers, and objectives, the content of the document needs to be drafted. The head of the agency, unit, or authorized person assigns the unit or individual to draft or take charge of drafting the document;

+ The unit or individual assigned to take charge of drafting the document carries out tasks such as determining the type name, content, and level of confidentiality and urgency of the document to be drafted; collecting and processing relevant information; drafting the document in the correct format, style, and presentation technique; if necessary, proposing the unit leader seek opinions from other relevant units, organizations, or individuals; research and incorporate feedback to finalize the draft; present the draft document;

+ For newly created electronic documents, the individual assigned the drafting task, besides performing the above-mentioned contents, must transfer the draft document along with accompanying materials (if any) into the System and update the necessary information for digital signing according to regulations;

+ For response documents, the individual assigned the task drafts the response directly in the incoming document stream on the System, simultaneously transferring the draft document along with accompanying materials (if any) into the System and updating the necessary information for digital signing according to regulations.

- The individual assigned the drafting task is responsible to the unit leader and before the law for the draft document within the scope of their duties and assigned tasks.

2.2. Use of the Ministry of Justice’s seal

- Seals must be clear, neat, correctly oriented, and use the specified red ink;

- When stamping over signatures, the seal must cover about one-third of the signature on the left side;

- Documents issued with the main document or appendix: The seal is stamped on the first page, covering part of the name of the agency, unit, or appendix title;

- Stamping on appendices accompanying the main document is carried out according to regulations, and the seal is stamped on the first page, covering part of the name of the issuing agency or name of the appendix;

- The overlapping seal is stamped in the middle right edge of the document or appendix, overlapping part of each paper; each stamp covers no more than 5 pages.

More details can be found in Decision 2539/QD-BTP.

Diem My

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