Chương III Bộ luật Tố tụng dân sự 2004: Thẩm quyền của Tòa án

Chapter III

COURT'S JURISDICTION

Section 1. CIVIL CASES AND MATTERS FALLING UNDER THE COURTS' JURISDICTION

Article 25.- Civil disputes falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. Disputes over the Vietnamese nationality among individuals;

2. Disputes over property ownership;

3. Disputes over civil contracts;

4. Disputes over intellectual property rights, technology transfers, except for the cases prescribed in Clause 2, Article 29 of this Code;

5. Disputes over property inheritance;

6. Disputes over compensation for non-contractual damage;

7. Disputes over the land use right and properties affixed to land under the land legislation;

8. Disputes relating to the professional press operation under law provisions;

9. Other civil disputes as stipulated by law.

Article 26.- Civil requests falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. The request to declare a person losing his/her civil act capacity or having his/her civil act capacity restricted; or to revoke a decision declaring a person losing his/her civil act capacity or having restricted civil act capacity;

2. The request to announce the search of persons who are absent from their residential places and the management of their properties;

3. The request to declare a person missing; or to revoke a decision to declare a person missing;

4. The request to declare a person deceased; or to revoke a decision to declare a person deceased;

5. The request to recognize and enforce in Vietnam civil judgments or decisions or decisions on properties in criminal or administrative judgments or decisions of foreign courts or not to recognize civil judgments or decisions or decisions on properties in criminal or administrative judgments or decisions of foreign courts, which are not required to be enforced in Vietnam;

6. Other civil requests as stipulated by law.

Article 27.- Marriage and family-related disputes falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. Divorces, disputes over child rearing or property division upon divorces.

2. Disputes over division of spousal common property during their marriage.

3. Disputes over change of post-divorce child custodian.

4. Disputes over determination of fathers or mothers for children; or determination of children for fathers or mothers.

5. Disputes over alimonies.

6. Other marriage-and family-related disputes stipulated by law.

Article 28.- Marriage-and family-related requests falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. The requests to revoke illegal marriages;

2. The requests to recognize voluntary divorces, child custody or property division upon divorces;

3. The request to recognize an agreement on change of post-divorce child custodian;

4. The request to restrict rights of a father or mother towards a minor child or his/her right to see the child after divorce;

5. The request to terminate the adoption of children;

6. The request to recognize and enforce in Vietnam foreign courts' judgments or decisions on marriage and family; or not to recognize foreign courts' judgments or decisions on marriage and family which are not required to be enforced in Vietnam;

7. Other marriage-and family-related requests stipulated by law.

Article 29.- Business, trade disputes falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. Disputes arising from business or trade activities among individuals and/or organizations with business registration, which are all for the purpose of profits, including:

a) Purchase and sale of goods;

b) Provision of services;

c) Distribution;

d) Commercial representation and/or agency;

e) Consignment;

f) Renting, leasing, hire-purchase;

g) Construction;

h) Consulting, engineering;

i) Cargo or passenger transportation by rail, road, or inland waterway;

j) Cargo or passenger transportation by air or sea;

k) Purchase and sale of shares, bonds and other valuable papers;

l) Investment, financing, banking;

m) Insurance;

n) Exploration and exploitation.

2. Disputes over intellectual property rights or technology transfers among individuals or organizations, which are all for the purposes of profits.

3. Disputes between a company and its members or among members of a company regarding the establishment, operation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, division, separation, organizational transformation of the company.

4. Other business, trade disputes prescribed by law.

Article 30.- Business or trade requests falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. The requests related to the resolution of disputes by Vietnamese commercial arbitrators under law provisions on commercial arbitration;

2. The requests to recognize and enforce in Vietnam foreign courts' judgments or decisions on business or commercial matters, or not to recognize foreign courts' judgments or decisions on business or commercial matters, which are not required to be enforced in Vietnam;

3. The requests to recognize and enforce in Vietnam foreign arbitrators' awards on business or commercial matters;

4. Other business or commercial requests prescribed by law.

Article 31.- Labor disputes falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. Individual labor disputes between employees and employers, which cannot be conciliated by grassroots labor conciliation boards or labor conciliators of labor State management agencies of urban districts, rural districts, provincial capitals, provincial towns or which have not been settled within the time limit prescribed by law, except for the following disputes which must not necessarily be conciliated at the grassroots level:

a) Disputes over labor discipline in the form of dismissal or over cases of unilateral termination of labor contracts;

b) Disputes over damage compensation between employees and employers; over financial support upon termination of labor contracts;

c) Disputes between household servants and their employers;

d) Disputes over social insurance under the provisions of labor legislation;

e) Disputes over damage compensation between laborers and labor exporters.

2. The collective labor disputes between labor collectives and employers, which have been resolved by labor arbitration boards of provinces or centrally-run cities but the labor collectives or employers disagree with the decisions of the labor arbitration boards, including:

a) Disputes over rights and/or interests related to job, wages, income and other working conditions;

b) Disputes over the performance of collective labor accords;

c) Disputes over the rights to set up, join, or operation of, trade union.

3. Other labor disputes prescribed by law.

Article 32.- Labor requests falling under the courts' jurisdiction

1. The request to recognize and enforce in Vietnam foreign courts' labor judgments or decisions, or not to recognize foreign courts' labor judgments or decisions which are not required to be enforced in Vietnam;

2. The request to recognize and enforce in Vietnam labor awards of foreign arbitrators;

3. Other labor requests prescribed by law.

Section 2. JURISDICTION OF COURTS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS

Article 33.- Jurisdiction of the people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals, provincial towns

1. The people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals, provincial towns (hereinafter referred collectively to as district-level people's courts) shall have the jurisdiction to settle according to first-instance procedures the following disputes:

a) Civil disputes over marriage and family, prescribed in Articles 25 and 27 of this Code;

b) Business, trade disputes prescribed at Points a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h and i of Clause 1, Article 29 of this Code;

c) Labor disputes prescribed in Clause 1, Article 31 of this Code.

2. The district-level people's courts shall have the jurisdiction to resolve the following requests:

a) Civil requests prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Article 26 of this Code;

b) Marriage and family-related requests prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Article 28 of this Code.

3. Disputes and requests prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, which involve parties or properties in foreign countries or which must be judicially entrusted to Vietnamese consulates overseas or to foreign courts, shall not fall under the jurisdiction of the district level people's courts.

Article 34.- Jurisdiction of the people's courts of provinces or centrally-run cities

1. The people's courts of provinces or centrally-run cities (hereinafter referred collectively to as the provincial-level people's courts) shall have the jurisdiction to settle according to first-instance procedures the following cases and matters:

a) Civil, marriage- and family-related, business, trade or labor disputes prescribed in Articles 25, 27, 29 and 31 of this Code, except for disputes falling under the jurisdiction of the district-level people's courts as provided for in Clause 1, Article 33 of this Code;

b) Civil, marriage-and family-related, business, trade or labor requests prescribed in Articles 26, 28, 30 and 32 of this Code, except for requests falling under the jurisdiction of the district-level people's courts as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 33 of this Code;

c) Disputes and requests prescribed in Clause 3, Article 33 of this Code.

2. The provincial-level people's courts shall have the jurisdiction to resolve according to first-instance procedures civil cases and matters falling under the jurisdiction of the district-level people's courts as provided for in Article 33 of this Code, which are taken up by provincial-level people's courts for settlement.

Article 35.- Territorial jurisdiction of courts

1. Territorial jurisdiction of courts to settle civil cases shall be determined as follows:

a) The courts of the localities where the defendants reside or work, if the defendants are individuals, or where the defendants are headquartered, if the defendants are agencies or organizations, shall have the jurisdiction to settle according to first-instance procedures civil, marriage- and family-related, business, trade or labor disputes prescribed in Articles 25, 27, 29 and 31 of this Code;

b) The involved parties shall have the right to agree with each other in writing to request the courts of the localities where the plaintiffs reside or work, if the plaintiffs are individuals, or where the plaintiffs are headquartered, if they are agencies or organizations, to settle civil, marriage and family-related, business, trade or labor disputes prescribed in Articles 25, 27, 29 and 31 of this Code;

c) The courts of the areas where exists immoveables shall have the jurisdiction to settle disputes over such immoveables.

2. Territorial jurisdiction of courts to settle civil matters shall be determined as follows:

a) The requested courts of the areas where persons are to be declared losing their civil act capacity or having restricted civil act capacity reside or work shall have the jurisdiction to resolve such requests;

b) The requested courts of the areas where persons absent from their residential place are to be announced for search or to be declared missing or dead reside for the last time, shall have the jurisdiction to settle requests for announcement of the search for persons absent from their residential places and management of such persons' properties or requests for declaring a person missing or dead;

c) The courts which have issued decisions to declare persons missing or dead shall have the jurisdiction to resolve requests to revoke their decisions;

d) The courts of the areas where the persons who are obliged to execute foreign courts civil, marriage and family, business, trade, or labor judgments or decisions reside or work, if judgment debtors are individuals or where the judgment debtors are headquartered, if they are agencies or organizations, or where exists the property relating to the enforcement of such judgments or decisions of foreign courts, shall have the jurisdiction to resolve requests to recognize and enforce foreign courts' civil, marriage and family, business, trade or labor judgments or decisions in Vietnam;

e) The courts of the areas where the request senders reside or work, if they are individuals, or where the request senders are headquartered, if they are agencies or organizations, shall have the jurisdiction to settle requests not to recognize foreign courts' civil, marriage and family, business, trade or labor judgments or decisions, which are not required to be enforced in Vietnam;

f) The courts of the areas where the persons who are obliged to execute awards of foreign arbitrators reside or work, if the judgment debtors are individuals or where the judgment debtors are headquartered, if they are agencies or organizations or where exists the property relating to the enforcement of foreign arbitrators' awards, shall have the jurisdiction to resolve requests to recognize and enforce in Vietnam awards of foreign arbitrators;

g) The courts of the areas where illegal marriages are registered shall have the jurisdiction to resolve requests to revoke such illegal marriages;

h) The court of the area where one of the parties to a voluntary divorce, child custody or property division resides or works shall have the jurisdiction to resolve the request to recognize the voluntary divorce, child custody, property division upon divorce;

i) The court of the area where one of the parties that requests the court to recognize their agreement on change of post-divorce child custodian resides or works shall have the jurisdiction to resolve that request;

j) The court of the area where one parent of a minor child resides or works shall have the jurisdiction to resolve a request to restrict rights of the father or mother towards the minor child or his/her right to see the child after the divorce;

k) The court of the area where an adoptive parent or adopted child resides or works shall have the jurisdiction to resolve a request to terminate the child adoption;

l) The courts' territorial jurisdiction to resolve requests relating to the settlement of disputes by the Vietnamese commercial arbitrators shall comply with law provisions on commercial arbitration.

Article 36.- Jurisdiction of courts selected by plaintiffs or requesters

1. The plaintiffs shall have the right to select courts for resolution of civil, marriage and family-related, business, trade or labor disputes in the following cases:

a) If the plaintiffs do not know where the defendants reside or work or where their head-offices are located, they may ask the courts of the areas where the defendants last reside or work or where the head-offices of the defendants are last located or where the defendants' properties are located to settle cases;

b) If disputes arise from the operations of a branch of an organization, the plaintiff may ask the court of the area where the organization's head-office is located or where its branch is located to settle them;

c) If defendants do not have residence places, work places or head-offices in Vietnam or the cases related to disputes over alimonies, the plaintiffs may ask the courts of the areas where they reside or work to settle the cases;

d) If disputes are over compensation for non-contractual damage, the plaintiffs may ask the courts of the areas where they reside, work or are headquartered or where the damage is caused to settle them;

e) If disputes are over compensation for damage or allowance upon termination of labor contracts, over social insurance, the rights and/or interests in relation to job, wages, income and other working conditions, for the laborers, the plaintiffs being laborers may ask the courts of the areas where they reside or work to settle them;

f) If disputes arise from the employment of labor by sub-contractors or mediators, the plaintiffs may ask the courts of the areas where their actual employers reside, work or are headquartered or where the sub-contractors or the mediators reside or work to settle them;

g) If disputes arise from contractual relations, the plaintiffs may ask the courts of the areas where the contracts are performed to settle them;

h) If the defendants reside, work or are headquartered in different places, the plaintiffs may ask the court of the area where one of the defendants resides or works or is headquartered to settle them;

i) If disputes are over immoveables which exist in different localities, the plaintiffs may request the court of the area where one of such immoveables exist to settle them.

2. The requesters may select courts to settle their marriage and family-related requests in the following cases:

a) For civil requests prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Article 26 of this Code, the requesters may ask the courts of the areas where they reside, work or are headquartered to resolve them;

b) For requests to revoke illegal marriages as provided in Clause 1, Article 28 of this Code, the requesters may ask the courts of the areas where the illegal marriages are registered to resolve them;

c) For requests to restrict rights of fathers or mothers towards their minor children or their right to visit the children after the divorces, the requesters may ask the courts of the areas where the children reside to resolve them.

Article 37.- Transferring civil cases or matters to other courts; settlement of disputes over jurisdiction

1. If a court has accepted a civil case or matter which does not fall within its jurisdiction, it shall issue a decision to transfer the civil case or matter dossier to a competent court and cross out the case or matter in its acceptance book. Such decision must be immediately sent to all involved parties, concerned individuals, agencies and/or organizations.

The involved parties, concerned individuals, agencies and/or organizations shall have the right to complain about such decision within three working days as from the date of receipt of the decision. Within three working days from the date of receipt of a complaint, the chief judge of the court that issued the decision to transfer the civil case or matter must resolve the complaint.

2. Any dispute over the jurisdiction between district-level people's courts within a province shall be settled by the chief judge of the provincial people's court.

3. Any dispute over the jurisdiction between district-level people's courts of different provinces or centrally-run cities or between provincial people's courts shall be settled by the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court.

Article 38.- Merging or separating cases

1. A court may merge two or more cases which it has separately accepted into a single case for resolution if merger and resolution in the same case ensure the law compliance.

2. A court may separate a case with different claims into two or more cases if the separation and resolution of the separated cases strictly comply with law.

3. Upon case merger or separation prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, the courts which have accepted the cases must issue decisions and send them immediately to the involved parties and the procuracies of the same level.