NEWLY UPDATED POINTS OF THE 2024 LAW ON ORGANIZATION OF THE PEOPLE’S COURTS

The Law on Organization of the People’s Courts No. 34/2024/QH15 was adopted by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during its 15th tenure, at the 7th session, on 24 June 2024, and officially comes into effect on 01 January 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the “2024 Law”). The 2024 Law introduces amendments, supplements in both form and substance compared to those of the 2014 Law, with the following notable points:

Form of 2024 Law

The 2024 Law is structured into 09 chapters with 152 articles. Compared to the 2014 Law on Organization of the People’s Courts (hereinafter referred to as the “2014 Law”), the 2024 Law reduces 02 chapters but increases 54 articles, which closely aligns with the objectives, guiding principles while concretizing the six policy groups approved by the National Assembly under Resolution No. 89/2023/QH15 dated 02 June 2023. The specific structure is as follows:

• Chapter I: General Provisions (from Article 1 to Article 22);
• Chapter II: Duties, powers of the People’s Courts (from Article 23 to Article 38);
• Chapter III: National Council for Selection and Supervision of Judges (from Article 39 to Article 45);
• Chapter IV: Organizing the Apparatus (from Article 46 to Article 72);
• Chapter V: Officials, Civil Servants, Public Employees, and Workers in the People’s Courts (from Article 73 to Article 129);
• Chapter VI: Jury Members (from Article 121 to Article 134);
• Chapter VII: Organizing Hearings (from Article 135 to Article 141);
• Chapter VIII: Ensuring the Operations of the People’s Courts (from Article 142 to Article 149);
• Chapter IX: Implementing Provisions (from Article 150 to Article 152).

Contents of 2024 Law

The 2024 Law inherits the provisions of the 2014 Law that remain relevant for application, while also amending, supplementing several provisions to address the difficulties and shortcomings encountered in practice in order to meet the requirements of the judicial reform in the new period, with the following notable points:

Removing the powers of the courts to initiate criminal cases

The 2024 Law has removed the provisions that allow the court to make decisions on initiating prosecution of criminal cases during a trial((Article 150.1(a) of the 2024 Law

Article 50. Amending, supplementing, removing a number of the relevant law

1. Amending, supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Criminal Procedures No. 101/2015/QH13 whose certain articles were amended, supplemented in accordance with the Law No. 02/2021/QH15 as below:

a) Amending Article 153.4 as below:

“4. The trial panel requires the Procuracies to prosecute a criminal case if it detects signs of omission of crimes during the trial.”;)). Instead, if the trial panel detects signs of omission of crimes during the trial, it shall exercise its right by requesting the Procuracies to decide on prosecution of a criminal case. As previously stated in the 2014 Law, the court shall, while performing its adjudication duties, have the power to prosecute a criminal case if it discovers omission of crimes((Article 2.3(d) of the 2014 Law:

“Article 2. Functions, duties, powers of the People’s Courts

3. When performing the duty of adjudicating criminal cases, courts have the following powers:

d) To request investigators, procurators and other people to present matters related to cases at hearings; to institute criminal cases when detecting omission of crimes”;)). The removal of this power of the court is reasoned on the grounds that: “The court, as a judicial body, would lack impartiality and objectivity if it were to initiate criminal proceedings and subsequently adjudicate the case it initiated. This would result in the court overstepping into the role of the executive branch, conflicting with the principle of adversarial proceedings, and proving ineffective in practice”((Section 2 Part V of the Submission on the project of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts (amended) (fourth drafted), https://vbpq.toaan.gov.vn/webcenter/portal/htvb/chi-tiet-vbdt?dDocName=TAND312484)). In addition, Article 102.1 of the 2013 Constitution states: “The people’s court is the judicial body of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, exercising the judicial power”. The court initiating prosecution of a criminal case is inconsistent with the functions, duties, and powers defined by the Constitution, the highest legal document. Therefore, removal by the 2024 Law of the court’s power to initiate criminal cases not only ensures objectivity and impartiality in judicial activities but also aligns with the provisions of the Constitution.

Supplementing the provisions to strengthen the principle that judges and jury members adjudicate independently in strict compliance with the law only

The 2024 Law has supplemented the following provisions:

(i) The courts, judges, jurors, and other judicial officers are not required to explain nor disclose their views on the adjudication or resolution of cases or matters that are currently under review or being resolved (Article 11.2); and

(ii) Judges and jurors are not subject to investigation regarding their adjudication or resolution of cases or matters under litigation proceedings, except in cases where there is evidence that the judge or juror has violated the criminal law in the course of adjudicating or resolving the case or matter (Article 11.3).

Such the above supplemented provisions further strengthen the role and position of the court, judges, jurors, and other judicial officers in their adjudicating cases, affirming that these individuals remain independent, objective, and are solely bound by the law during their adjudication of cases. At the same time, the provision prohibiting the investigation against judges and jurors regarding their adjudication or resolution of cases under litigation proceedings, except in cases where there is evidence of criminal law violations in their adjudication, resolution of the case, serves as a mechanism to protect judges and jurors in performing their functions and duties as prescribed by law((Phan Thanh Nhan (from the People’s Court of Lap Vo District, Dong Thap Province), Perfecting the mechanism for protecting judges in exercising their functions and duties as prescribed by law, https://tapchitoaan.vn/hoan-thien-co-che-bao-ve-tham-phan-trong-thuc-hien-chuc-nang-nhiem-vu-theo-luat-dinh11990.html)).

Establishing specialized first-instance courts

In addition to the current organizational system of the People’s Courts, the 2024 Law has introduced the provisions for specialized first-instance People’s Courts to adjudicate specific types of cases. This institutionalizes the policy outlined in the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which emphasizes “building professional courts“; Resolution No. 755/NQ-UBTVQH15 dated March 27, 2023, by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which calls for “supplementing, perfecting the law and organizational apparatus to meet the requirements of resolving cases with special nature such as bankruptcy, intellectual property, and juvenile justice“; and the Resolution of the second and fourth sessions of the 15th National Assembly on “improving the quality of administrative case resolution”((Section 2 Part V of the Submission on the project of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts (amended) (fourth drafted), https://vbpq.toaan.gov.vn/webcenter/portal/htvb/chi-tiet-vbdt?dDocName=TAND312484)).

Accordingly, the organizational system of the people’s courts has been expanded to include:

(i) Specialized administrative first-instance people’s court;

(ii) Specialized intellectual property first-instance people’s court; and

(iii) Specialized bankruptcy first-instance people’s court.

The establishment of these specialized first-instance courts shall be decided by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly based on the proposal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, depending on the practical situation. These specialized first-instance courts shall ensure professionalism in organization and operation; enhance the expertise of judges and jurors in adjudication, and thereby improve the quality and effectiveness of resolving such the above mentioned cases.

Also pursuant to the 2024 Law, the specialized Administrative First-instance People’s Court has the first-instance jurisdiction based duty and power to adjudicate administrative cases involving complaints against administrative decisions and administrative acts of state administrative agencies, and individuals with authority in state administrative agencies at the provincial level or higher, except for cases specified in Article 62.2(a) of the 2024 Law; and complaints regarding disciplinary decisions for dismissal made by the head of a provincial-level or higher agency or organization pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Administrative Procedures (Article 62.1(a) of the 2024 Law).

The specialized intellectual property first-instance people’s court has the first-instance jurisdiction based duty and power to adjudicate intellectual property cases pursuant to the Civil Procedure Code; and to adjudicate administrative cases involving intellectual property in accordance with the Law on Administrative Procedures (Article 62.2(a) of the 2024 Law).

The specialized bankruptcy people’s court is tasked with resolving bankruptcy cases under the jurisdiction of the people’s court in accordance with the law (Article 62.2(a) of the 2024 Law).

Currently, Article 26.4 ((Code on Civil Procedures 2015

Article 26. Civil disputes falling under the courts’ jurisdiction

4. Disputes over intellectual property rights, technology transfers, except for the cases prescribed in Article 30.2 of this Code”.)) and Article 30.2((Code on Civil Procedures 2015

Article 30. Business and/or trade disputes falling under the courts’ jurisdiction

2. Disputes over intellectual property rights or technology transfers among individuals or organizations, which are all for the purposes of profits.)) of the 2015 Civil Procedures Code; Article 32 of the 2015 Law on Administrative Procedures((Law on Administrative Procedures 2015

Article 32. Jurisdiction of provincial-level courts Provincial-level courts shall settle according to first-instance procedures:

1. Lawsuits over administrative decisions or acts of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, the Presidential Office, the National Assembly Office, the State Audit Office of Vietnam, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuracy, and administrative decisions or acts of competent persons in these agencies, which are filed by plaintiffs whose places of residence, workplaces or head offices are located within the same administrative boundaries with the courts. In case plaintiffs have no places of residence, workplaces or head offices in the Vietnamese territory, courts of localities in which agencies or persons competent to issue administrative decisions or commit administrative acts are located have jurisdiction to settle these lawsuits.

2. Lawsuits over administrative decisions or acts of state agencies among those specified in Clause 1 of this Article, and administrative decisions or acts of competent persons in these agencies, which are filed by plaintiffs whose places of residence, workplaces or head offices are located within the same administrative boundaries with the courts. In case plaintiffs have no places of residence, workplaces or head offices in the Vietnamese territory, courts of localities in which agencies or persons competent to issue administrative decisions or commit administrative acts are located have jurisdiction to settle these lawsuits.

3. Lawsuits over administrative decisions or acts of provincial-level state agencies within the same administrative boundaries with the courts and of competent persons in these state agencies”.

Article 8. Jurisdiction of courts to resolve bankruptcy

1. The people’s court of a province or a city under central authority (hereinafter collectively referred to as provincial people’s court) has jurisdiction to resolve bankruptcy in respect of enterprises with business registration or enterprise registration and cooperatives with business registration or cooperative registration made in such province and in one of the following cases:

a) Bankruptcy involving overseas assets or overseas participants in bankruptcy procedure;

b) An insolvent enterprise or cooperative with branches or representative offices located in many rural districts, urban districts, towns or cities of various provinces;

c) An insolvent enterprise or cooperative having real estate located in many rural districts, urban districts, towns or cities in various provinces;

d) Bankruptcy under the jurisdiction of the people’s court of a rural district, urban district, town or city of a province (hereinafter referred to as district-level people’s court) which the provincial people’s court takes to resolve due to the complicated nature of the matter.

2. A district-level people’s court has jurisdiction to resolve a bankruptcy as to an enterprise or cooperative whose head office is located in a rural district, urban district, town or city of the same province and such bankruptcy does not fall into the cases stipulated by clause 1 of this article.

3. The People’s Supreme Court shall provide guidelines on the implementation of this article.)) provide for specific provisions concerning the jurisdiction of the people’s courts in resolving such above mentioned cases, which are currently being implemented in practice. Therefore, in the future, the competent authorities need to consider and issue regulations to provide guidelines for transfer of jurisdiction for revolving specialized cases, especially for cases that are currently under review for resolution, in order to avoid jurisdictional disputes.

Supplementing the duties and powers of the high people’s court for resolving proposals, recommendations, and appeals against decisions on bankruptcy by the specialized bankruptcy people’s court

The 2024 Law supplements the jurisdiction to resolve proposals, recommendations, and appeals against decisions on bankruptcy made by the specialized bankruptcy people’s court within the territorial jurisdiction of the high people’s court, as prescribed by the law((Article 50.2 of the 2024 Law)). This supplement aims to concretize the new provision in the 2024 Law regarding the establishment of the specialized bankruptcy people’s court as part of the organizational system of the people’s courts.

However, the 2024 Law does not provide a specific explanation of what constitutes a “decision on bankruptcy,” which may lead to varying interpretations. The first interpretation suggests that bankruptcy decisions will include, without limitation, (i) the decision to commence or not to commence bankruptcy proceedings; (ii) decision to appoint or change the bankruptcy administrator, management company, or asset liquidator; (iii) decision on conducting an audit of insolvent businesses or cooperatives as may be necessary; (iv) decision on the sale of assets of insolvent businesses or cooperatives after opening bankruptcy proceedings to secure bankruptcy costs; (v) decision to apply injunctive relief as prescribed by the law; (vi) decision to recognize the resolution of the creditors’ meeting regarding the business recovery plan; (vii) decision on stay of bankruptcy proceedings; and (viii) decision to declare bankruptcy for insolvent businesses or cooperatives.

The second interpretation suggests that a decision on bankruptcy only refers to the decision to declare bankruptcy for an insolvent business or cooperatives.

The differing interpretations of what constitutes a “decision on bankruptcy” would pose challenges in its application by the courts. Specifically:

• For decisions to commence or not to commence bankruptcy proceedings under Article 44 of the 2014 Bankruptcy Law, the superior court shall directly be responsible for reviewing, resolving appeals.
• For decisions on stay of bankruptcy proceedings under Article 86 of the 2014 Bankruptcy Law, the chief justice of the people’s court resolving the bankruptcy procedures shall be responsible for reviewing, resolving petitions for such the above said decisions.

If interpreted in the first manner, for decisions such as the decision on stay of bankruptcy proceedings, the specialized bankruptcy court or the high people’s court shall be the competent authorities to resolve such petitions. In this case, the 2014 Bankruptcy Law shall need to be amended, supplemented in the future to provide for a clearer explanation of the aforementioned provision.

Ranks of judges

The 2024 Law has been amended to provide for the provisions regarding the ranks of judges. Accordingly, judges are categorized into the following ranks: (i) Judges of the Supreme People’s Court; and (ii) Judges of the people’s courts.

The applicable regulations categorize judges into the following ranks: (i) Judges of the Supreme People’s Court; (ii) senior judges; (iii) intermediate judges; and (iv) junior judges.

As explained by the Supreme People’s Court: “The regulation of two ranks of judges aims to address the limitations and shortcomings of the current provisions; enhance public trust in judges working at the first-instance and appellate courts; improve the professional reputation of judges among the public; and encourage judges to dedicate themselves to adjudication to become highly qualified experts”((Section 2 Part V of the Submission on the project of the Law on Organization of the People’s Courts (amended) (fourth drafted), https://vbpq.toaan.gov.vn/webcenter/portal/htvb/chi-tiet vbdt?dDocName=TAND312484))