Procedures for receiving and processing lawsuit petitions in Vietnam

Procedures for receiving and processing lawsuit petitions in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Procedures for receiving and processing lawsuit petitions in Vietnam

Procedures for receiving and processing lawsuit petitions in Vietnam under Article 191 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 are as follows:

- Courts, via petition receiving divisions, must receive lawsuit petitions lodged by litigators directly or via post and must record them in the petition registers. If the petitions are sent through the e-portal, the Courts shall make printing copies of the petitions and must record them in the petition registers.

When receiving petitions that are submitted directly, Courts shall immediately issue the receiving slip for the litigators.

For petitions sent by post, within 02 working days from the day on which the petitions are received, the Courts shall send the litigators notifications of the receipt of the petitions. If the petitions are sent through the e-portal, the Courts shall immediately notify the litigators of the receipt of the petitions via their e-portal (if any).

- Within 03 working days from the day on which the petitions are received, the Chief Justices of Courts shall assign one Judge to review the petitions.

- Within 05 working days from the day on which they are assigned, the Judges shall review the petitions and make one of the following decisions:

+ To request for amendment and/or supplementation of lawsuit petitions;

+ To carry out the acceptance procedures of the cases according to normal procedures or simplified procedures, if the cases are satisfied for resolution according to simplified procedures as prescribed in clause 1 Article 317 of of the Civil Procedure Code 2015;

+ To transfer the lawsuit petitions to competent Courts and notify the litigators thereof if the cases fall under other courts' jurisdiction;

+ To return the lawsuit petitions to the litigators if such cases do not fall under the court's jurisdiction.

- Results of petition processing of the Judges prescribed in clause 3 of Article 191 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 must be recorded to the petition registers and notified to the litigators via the Courts’ e-portals (if any).

2. Form and contents of a lawsuit petition in Vietnam

According to Article 189 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015, the form and contents of a lawsuit petition in Vietnam are as follows:

- Individuals, agencies and organizations initiating lawsuits must prepare their petitions.

- Individuals shall draw up petitions as follows:

+ Individuals with fully civil procedure act capacity may draw up petitions themselves or request other persons to draw up petitions. Names and residential addresses of such individuals shall be written at the blanks for names and addresses of the litigators; at the end of the petitions, there shall be signatures or fingerprints of such individuals;

+ Regarding individuals being minors, legally incapacitated persons, persons with limited cognition or behavior control, their lawful representatives may draw up petitions themselves or request other persons to draw up petitions.

Names and residential addresses of such individuals shall be written at blanks for names and addresses of the litigators; at the end of the petitions, there shall be signatures or fingerprints of the lawful representatives;

+ Individuals of cases specified in points a and b of clause 2 of Article 189 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 who are illiterate or have visual disabilities or who cannot draw up petitions or append signatures or fingerprints themselves may request other persons to help them draw up the petitions under the witnessing of persons with fully civil procedure capacity.

The witnesses must append their signatures on the petitions.

- If litigators are agencies or organizations, the lawful representatives of such agencies/organizations may draw up themselves or request other persons to draw up petitions.

Names and residential addresses of such agencies/organizations and full names and positions of their lawful representatives shall be written at the blanks for names and address of litigators; at the end of the petitions, there shall be signatures and seals of the lawful representatives of such agencies/organizations.

If the litigators are enterprises, the use of seals must comply with regulations in the Law on Enterprise.

- A lawsuit petition must include the following principal contents:

+ Date of its making;

+ Name of the Court receiving the lawsuit petition;

+ Name, place of residence, place of work of the litigator (applicable to litigators being individuals) or head office of the litigator (applicable to litigators being agencies/organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any).

If the parties reach agreement on an address for the Court to contact, such address shall be specified;

+ Name, place of residence, place of work of person whose interests and duties are protected (applicable to individuals) or head office of person whose interests and duties are protected (applicable to agencies and organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any);

+ Name, place of residence, place of work of the defendant (applicable to individuals) or head office of the defendant (applicable to agencies/organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any). If the place of residence, place of work or head office of the defendant is indefinite, the last place of residence, place of work or head office of the defendant shall be specified;

+ Name, place of residence, place of work of person with relevant interests and duties (applicable to individuals) or head office of person with relevant interests and duties (applicable to agencies and organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any).

If the place of residence, place of work or head office of the person with relevant interests and duties is indefinite, the last place of residence, place of work or head office of the defendant shall be specified;

+ Lawful interests and duties of the litigator that are infringed upon; specific matters of the defendant, person with relevant interests and duties that are applied for resolution by the Court;

+ Names and addresses of witnesses (if any);

+ List of documents and/or evidences accompanied with lawsuit petitions.

- The petitions must be accompanied with materials and evidences proving that legal rights and interests of litigators are infringed upon.

For cases where due to objective reasons, the litigators failed to provide adequately materials and evidences accompanied with the petitions, they must provide current materials and evidences to prove that legal rights and interests of the litigators are infringed upon.

Litigators shall supplement materials and evidences at the request of the Courts during the case resolution.

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