Chapter XIII
CONCILIATION AND TRIAL PREPARATION
Article 179.- Time limit for trial preparation
1. The time limits for preparation for trial of cases of various types are specified as follows:
a) For the cases prescribed in Articles 25 and 27 of this Code, the time limit shall be four months counting from the date of acceptance of the cases;
b) For the cases prescribed in Articles 29 and 31 of this Code, the time limit shall be two months counting from the date of acceptance of the cases.
For complicated cases, or when due to objective obstacles, the courts' chief judges may decide to extend the trial preparation time limits but for not more than two months for cases prescribed at Point a and one month for cases prescribed at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article.
2. Within the trial preparation time limits prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the courts shall, on a case-by-case basis, issue one of the following decisions:
a) To recognize the agreement between the involved parties;
b) To suspend the resolution of the case;
c) To stop the resolution of the case;
d) To bring the case to trial.
3. Within one month as from the date of issuing the decision to bring the case to trial, the court must open a trial session. In case of plausible reasons, this time limit shall be two months.
Article 180.- Principle for conducting conciliation
1. The courts must, during the period of preparation for the first-instance trial of cases, carry out conciliations for the involved parties to reach agreement on the resolution of the cases, except cases which must not be conciliated or cannot be conciliated as stipulated in Articles 181 and 182 of this Code.
2. The conciliation must be conducted on the following principles:
a) Respect for the voluntary agreement of the involved parties, non-use of force or non-threat to use force to compel the involved parties to reach agreements against their will.
b) The contents of agreements between the involved parties must not contravene law and social ethics.
Article 181.- Civil cases which must not be conciliated
1. Claims for compensation for damage caused to State assets.
2. Civil cases arising from transactions which are contrary to law or social ethics.
Article 182.- Civil cases which cannot be conciliated
1. The defendants are intentionally absent though having been duly summoned twice by courts.
2. The involved parties can not take part in the conciliation for plausible reasons.
3. The involved parties being wives or husbands in divorce cases, who have lost their civil act capacity.
Article 183.- Notices on conciliation sessions
Before conducting conciliation sessions, the courts must notify the involved parties or their lawful representatives of the time and venue of the conciliation sessions as well as issues to be conciliated.
Article 184.- Participants in a conciliation session
1. The judge who presides over the conciliation session.
2. The court clerk who records the minutes of the conciliation session.
3. The involved parties or their lawful representatives.
In a case with many involved parties, where one of them is absent from the conciliation meeting, but the present parties agree to proceed with the conciliation and such conciliation shall not affect the rights and obligations of the absent party, the judge shall conduct the conciliation among the present parties. If the involved parties request the postponement of the conciliation meeting so that all involved parties can be present, the judge must postpone the conciliation session.
1. The interpreter, if involved parties do not know Vietnamese.
Article 185.- Conciliation contents
When conducting conciliations, the judges shall brief the involved parties on relevant law provisions on settlement of the cases so that they relate them to their rights and obligations, and analyze the legal consequences of successful conciliation so that they voluntarily reach agreements on the resolution of the cases.
Article 186.- Minutes of conciliation
1. The conciliations shall be recorded by court clerks in minutes. The minutes of conciliation must contain the following principal details:
a) Date on which the conciliation session is held;
b) Venue of the conciliation session;
c) Participants in the conciliation session;
d) Opinions of the involved parties or their lawful representatives;
e) Contents which have been or have not been agreed upon by the involved parties.
2. A minutes of conciliation must be fully affixed with signatures or fingerprints of the parties present at the conciliation session, signature of the court clerk recording the minutes, and signature of the judge presiding the conciliation session.
When the involved parties have reached mutual agreements on issues to be settled in civil cases, the courts must make records of the successful conciliation. Such records must be immediately sent to the parties participating in the conciliation.
Article 187.- Issuing decisions to recognize the agreements of the involved parties
1. Upon the expiry of the seven-day time limit after making the records on successful conciliation, if no parties change their opinions on such agreement, the judge who presides over the conciliation session or another judge who has been assigned by the court's chief judge shall issue a decision recognizing the agreement of the involved parties.
Within five working days after the issuance of the decision to recognize the agreement of the involved parties, the court must send the decision to the involved parties and the procuracy of the same level.
2. The judge shall only issue a decision to recognize the agreement of the involved parties if they have reached an agreement on the resolution of the whole case.
3. In the cases stipulated in Clause 3 of Article 184 of this Code, where the present parties have reached agreement on the settlement of their case, such agreement shall be valid only for the present persons and shall be recognized by the judge in a decision if it does not affect the rights and obligations of the absent parties. In cases where such agreement affects the rights and obligations of the absent parties, it shall be valid and recognized by the judge in a decision only if it is accepted in writing by the parties that are absent from the conciliation session.
Article 188.- Effect of decisions to recognize the involved parties' agreements
1. The decisions to recognize the involved parties' agreements shall take effect immediately after they are issued and neither appealed nor protested against according to the appellate procedures.
2. The decisions to recognize the involved parties' agreements may be protested against according to the cassation procedures only if there are grounds to believe that such agreements were reached as a result of mistakes, deceptions, intimidation or they contravene law or social ethics.
Article 189.- Suspension of the resolution of civil cases
1. The involved parties being individuals have died or being organizations have been merged, divided, separated or dissolved without any individuals, agencies or organizations inheriting their procedural rights and obligations.
2. One involved party being an individual has lost his/her civil act capacity while his/her representative at law has not been determined yet.
3. The legal representative of the involved party terminates without a replacement.
4. The results of resolution of another related case or matter, which, as required by law, must be settled by other agencies or organizations before the cases are resolved, need to be waited for.
5. Other circumstances as prescribed by law.
Article 190.- Consequences of the suspension of resolution of civil cases
1. The court must not delete the names of suspended civil cases from the case acceptance books but only note down the number and date of the decisions to suspend the resolution of such civil cases in the case acceptance books.
2. The court fee advances and court fees paid by the involved parties shall be deposited at the State Treasury and handled when the courts proceed with the resolution of the civil cases.
3. Decisions to suspend the resolution of the civil cases may be appealed or protested against under appellate procedures.
Article 191.- Resuming the resolution of suspended civil cases
The courts shall resume the resolution of suspended civil cases only when the suspension reasons no longer exist.
Article 192.- Stopping the resolution of civil cases
1. After accepting cases which fall within their respective jurisdiction, the courts shall issue decisions to stop the resolution of the civil cases in the following circumstances:
a) The plaintiffs or defendants being individuals have died while their rights and obligations are not inherited;
b) Agencies or organizations have been dissolved or declared bankrupt without any individuals, agencies or organizations inheriting their procedural rights and obligations;
c) The litigators withdraw their lawsuit petitions with the courts' approval or the litigators have no right to initiate lawsuits;
d) Agencies or organizations withdraw their written lawsuits in cases where there are no plaintiffs or where the plaintiffs request not to continue resolving the cases;
e) The involved parties have reached agreements among themselves and do not request the courts to continue resolving the case;
f) The plaintiffs are still absent although they have been duly summoned twice;
g) The courts have issued decisions to open bankruptcy procedures for enterprises or cooperatives being a party to the cases and the resolution of such cases is related to the obligations and property of such enterprises or cooperatives;
h) Other circumstances prescribed by law.
2. The courts shall issue decisions to stop the resolution of civil cases, delete names of such cases from the case acceptance books and return the lawsuit petitions and accompanying documents as well as evidences to the involved parties if the cases fall into one of the circumstances under which the lawsuit petitions must be returned as provided for in Article 168 of this Code.
Article 193.- Consequences of the stoppage of resolution of civil cases
1. When the decisions to stop the resolution of civil cases are issued, the involved parties shall not be entitled to initiate lawsuits to request the courts to re-settle such civil cases if the institution of the subsequent cases does not bring in any difference from the previous cases in terms of the plaintiff, defendant and the disputed legal relations, except for cases prescribed at Points c, e and f of Clause 1, Article 192 of this Code and cases otherwise provided for by law.
2. In cases where the courts issue decisions to stop resolving civil cases as provided for in Clause 1, Article 192 of this Code, the court fee advance money paid by the involved parties shall be confiscated by the State for public fund.
3. In cases where the court issue decisions to stop resolving civil cases as provided for in Clause 2, Article 192 of this Code, the court fee advance money paid by the involved parties shall be refunded to the payers.
4. The decisions to stop resolving civil cases may be appealed or protested against under appellate procedures.
Article 194.- Competence to issue decisions to suspend or stop the resolution of civil cases
1. The judges who are assigned to resolve civil cases shall be competent to issue decisions to suspend or stop the resolution of such civil cases.
2. Within five working days after the issuance of decisions to suspend or stop the resolution of civil cases, the courts must send such decisions to the involved parties and the procuracies of the same level.
Article 195.- Decisions to bring cases to trial
1. A decision to bring a case to trial shall contain the following principal details:
a) Date of issue of the decision;
b) Name of the court issuing that decision;
c) The case to be brought to trial;
d) Names and addresses of the plaintiff, the defendant or other persons who initiate the lawsuit to request the court to settle the case, persons with related rights and obligations;
e) Full names of the judge, people's jurors, court clerk and full names of the alternate judge or people's jurors, if any;
f) Full name of the procurator who takes part in the court session, if any;
g) Time, date and venue of the trial session;
h) Public trial or closed trial;
i) Full names of persons who are summoned to the court session.
2. Decisions to bring the cases to trial must be sent to the involved parties and the procuracies of the same level immediately after the issuance thereof.
Where the procuracies participate in court sessions as provided for in Clause 2, Article 21 of this Code, the courts must send the case files to the procuracies of the same level. Within fifteen days after receiving the dossiers, the procuracies must study then return the files to the courts.
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