Tasks and powers of civil status officers in Vietnam under the Law on Civil Status

Tasks and powers of civil status officers in Vietnam under the Law on Civil Status (Internet image)

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

Tasks and powers of civil status officers in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 73 of the Law on Civil Status 2014, in the field of civil status, commune-level justice and civil status officers have the following tasks and powers:

- To comply with this Law and other relevant laws concerning civil status;

- To take responsibility before commune-level People’s Committees and law for civil status registration;

- To disseminate, and mobilize people to observe, the law on civil status;

- To assist commune-level People’s Committees in performing civil status registration in a prompt, accurate, objective and truthful manner; fully update registered civil status events in the electronic civil status database;

- To take the initiative in examination and review work to promptly register births and deaths arising in localities.

For scattered residential areas with difficult access and far away from the head offices of commune-level People’s Committees, justice and civil status officers shall report to commune-level People’s Committees for permission to organize mobile registration for births, marriages and deaths.

- To regularly update themselves with legal knowledge to raise their civil status registration capacity and skills; to participate in professional training courses held by People's Committees or superior-level justice agencies;

- To take the initiative in reporting to and proposing the People's Committees of the same level to coordinate with agencies and organizations in checking and verifying civil status information; to request agencies, organizations and individuals to provide information for civil status registration verification;

To coordinate with public security offices of the same level in providing basic civil status information of individuals for the national population database.

Note: The above regulations also apply to civil status officers in district-level Justice Divisions and diplomats and consuls performing civil status work in representative missions according to their tasks and powers.

(Clause 2, Article 73 of the Law on Civil Status 2014)

07 Prohibited acts of civil status officers in Vietnam

Prohibited acts of civil status officers include:

(1) Being authoritarian, harassing, delaying, causing difficulties and troubles, or receiving bribes when performing civil status registration and management.

(2) Collecting civil status fees higher than prescribed rates or imposing charges for civil status registration.

(3) Imposing formalities and papers and prolonging the time for civil status registration in violation of this Law.

(4) Erasing, altering or tampering with information contents in the civil status database.

(5) Registering or granting papers related to civil status in violation of this Law.

(6) Revealing personal information known through civil status registration.

(7) Civil status officers who commit prohibited acts specified in Article 74 of the Law on Civil Status 2014 shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, be disciplined or examined for penal liability in accordance with law.

(Article 74 of the Law on Civil Status 2014)

Regulations on recruitment, placement, and training for civil status officials in Vietnam

Recruitment, placement, and training for civil status officials are carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 8 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

- From January 1, 2016, the competent person may solely recruit new civil status officials that meet standards as prescribed in the Law on civil status.

- According to the statutory number of officials, public employees of commune prescribed by the Government, each People’s Committee of province or central-affiliated city (hereinafter referred to as People's Committee of province) shall, upon placement of civil status officials, give priority to full-time civil status officials in communes, wards and towns which are commune-level administrative divisions class 1, class 2, populated and have a great number of civil status affairs.

- The Ministry of Justice shall formulate a training program for civil status affairs and regulate issuance of certificates of training in civil status affairs to civil status officials.

Each People's Committee of province shall formulate and implement the plan for training in civil status affairs provided for civil status officials in the province.

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