Vietnam: Guidance on application of security measures and forcible measures in civil judgment enforcement

Guidance on application of security measures and forcible measures in civil judgment enforcement (Image from Internet)

1. Guidance on application of security measures and forcible measures in civil judgment enforcement

According to the provisions of Article 13 Decree 62/2015/ND-CP of Vietnam's Government (amended Clause 8 Article 1 Decree 33/2020/ND-CP), the application of measures to ensure and enforce civil judgments is as follows:

- The enforcement officer shall apply security measures and forcible measures according to the judgment, the enforcement order, the obligations to civil judgment enforcement; the judgment debtor’s capacity, the litigant’s requests and local conditions.

The enforcement officer shall apply security measures and forcible measures in case of a decision of implementation of temporary emergency measures specified in Article 130 of the Law on Civil judgment enforcement (amended in 2014).

The application of measures to ensure, enforce the judgment must correspond to the obligation of the judgment debtor and the execution costs as prescribed by law, except in cases where the only asset of the judgment debtor is much larger than the execution obligation, and that asset cannot be divided or the division significantly reduces the value of the asset; the secured asset has been declared for execution by the judgment or decision or in cases specified in Clause 4 Article 24 Decree 62/2015/ND-CP.

In case the parties, the person managing, using, storing the asset do not comply with the executor's request, depending on each specific case, the executor shall organize enforcement to unlock, unseal; force out of the house, construction, asset attached to land or take necessary measures to check the current state, appraise the price, auction the asset or deliver the asset to another individual or organization for storage as prescribed by law.

In case after applying enforcement measures, the maintenance of assets cannot be performed according to Article 58 Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments 2008 (amended 2014), the head of the civil judgment enforcement agency shall issue a document requesting the commune People's Committee to coordinate and support the maintenance until the asset is handled.

- Except for cases where the enforcement of judgments is not organized as prescribed by the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments 2008 (amended 2014), the civil judgment enforcement agency does not organize the enforcement of judgments using force within 15 days before and after the Lunar New Year; traditional days for policy beneficiaries if they are the judgment debtors; other special cases seriously affecting security, politics, public order and safety, customs, and practices in the locality.

- In necessary cases, the head of the civil judgment enforcement agency shall report to the chairman of the same level People's Committee, the head of the military region-level enforcement agency shall report to the Commander of the military region and equivalents at least 5 working days before organizing the enforcement of large, complicated cases affecting local security, politics, public order and safety as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 172, Clause 2 Article 173, and Clause 2 Article 174 Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments 2008 (amended 2014).

- Assets that have been handed over in reality to the asset recipient and the recipient has signed the handover receipt but are later repossessed, the civil judgment enforcement agency is not responsible for re-handing over the asset to the recipient.

The person who has received the asset has the right to request the commune People's Committee where the asset is located to ask the repossessor to return the asset to them. If the repossessor does not return it, the person who has received the asset has the right to request the competent authority to handle administrative violations or criminal prosecution according to the provisions of law.

2. Provisions on suspension of civil judgment enforcement

The suspension of civil judgment enforcement is stipulated in Article 14 Decree 62/2015/ND-CP as follows:

- The head of a civil judgment enforcement authority shall issue a decision on suspension of civil judgment enforcement in accordance with Point a and Point b Clause 1 Article 48 of the Law on Civil judgment enforcement (amended in 2014) if the judgment debtors have to fulfill their obligations themselves.

- Where the judgment debtor has property other than that specified in Point b Clause 1 Article 48 of the Law on Civil judgment enforcement (amended in 2014), the civil judgment enforcement authority shall seize it to satisfy the judgment.

Vo Tan Dai

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