Phần thứ hai Bộ luật tố tụng dân sự 2015: Thủ tục giải quyết vụ án tại tòa án cấp sơ thẩm

PART TWO

PROCEDURES FOR SETTLING CASES AT FIRST-INSTANCE COURTS

Chapter XII

INSTITUTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF CASES

Article 186. Right to institute cases

Agencies, organizations and individuals are entitled to institute cases by themselves or through their lawful representatives (hereinafter referred to as the litigators) at competent Courts to request the protection of their legitimate rights and interests.

Article 187. Right to institute civil lawsuits to protect legitimate rights and interests of other persons, public interests and/or the State's interests

1. Family affair authorities, children affair authorities and Vietnam Women's Union, within their tasks and power, may initiate lawsuits pertaining to marriage and family as prescribed in Law on marriage and family.

2. Employee collective’s representative organizations shall have the right to institute labor cases where it is necessary to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the employee collective or where authorized by the employees as prescribed by law.

3. Social organizations protecting interests of consumers shall have the right to represent consumers to institute lawsuits to protect interests of consumers or institute lawsuits themselves for public interests according to provisions of the Law on protection of consumers’ interests.

4. Agencies and organizations shall, within the scope of their respective tasks and powers, have the right to institute civil lawsuits to request Courts to protect the public interests and/or the State’s interests in the domains under their respective charge or according to law provisions.

5. Individuals shall have the right to institute lawsuits pertaining to marriage and family to protect legitimate rights and benefits of other people according to regulations on marriage and family.

Article 188. Scope of initiation of lawsuits

1. An agency, organization or individual may initiate a lawsuit against another or many other agencies, organizations and/or individuals regarding one legal relation or many interrelated legal relations for settlement in the same case.

2. Multiple agencies, organizations and/or individuals may initiate a lawsuit against another agency, organization or individual regarding one legal relation or many interrelated legal relations for settlement in the same case.

3. Any agency, organization or individual specified in Article 187 of this Code may initiate a lawsuit against another or many other agencies, organizations or individuals regarding one legal relation or many interrelated legal relations for settlement in the same case.

Article 189. Form and contents of a lawsuit petition

1. Individuals, agencies and organizations initiating lawsuits must prepare their petitions.

2. Individuals shall draw up petitions as follows:

a) Individuals with fully civil procedure act capacity may draw up petitions themselves or request other persons to draw up petitions. Names and residential addresses of such individuals shall be written at the blanks for names and addresses of the litigators; at the end of the petitions, there shall be signatures or fingerprints of such individuals;

b) Regarding individuals being minors, legally incapacitated persons, persons with limited cognition or behavior control, their lawful representatives may draw up petitions themselves or request other persons to draw up petitions. Names and residential addresses of such individuals shall be written at blanks for names and addresses of the litigators; at the end of the petitions, there shall be signatures or fingerprints of the lawful representatives;

c) Individuals of cases specified in points a and b of this clause who are illiterate or have visual disabilities or who cannot draw up petitions or append signatures or fingerprints themselves may request other persons to help them draw up the petitions under the witnessing of persons with fully civil procedure capacity. The witnesses must append their signatures on the petitions.

3. If litigators are agencies or organizations, the lawful representatives of such agencies/organizations may draw up themselves or request other persons to draw up petitions. Names and residential addresses of such agencies/organizations and full names and positions of their lawful representatives shall be written at the blanks for names and address of litigators; at the end of the petitions, there shall be signatures and seals of the lawful representatives of such agencies/organizations. If the litigators are enterprises, the use of seals must comply with regulations in the Law on Enterprise.

4. A lawsuit petition must include the following principal contents:

a) Date of its making;

b) Name of the Court receiving the lawsuit petition;

c) Name, place of residence, place of work of the litigator (applicable to litigators being individuals) or head office of the litigator (applicable to litigators being agencies/organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any).

If the parties reach agreement on an address for the Court to contact, such address shall be specified;

d) Name, place of residence, place of work of person whose interests and duties are protected (applicable to individuals) or head office of person whose interests and duties are protected (applicable to agencies and organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any);

dd) Name, place of residence, place of work of the defendant (applicable to individuals) or head office of the defendant (applicable to agencies/organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any). If the place of residence, place of work or head office of the defendant is indefinite, the last place of residence, place of work or head office of the defendant shall be specified;

e) Name, place of residence, place of work of person with relevant interests and duties (applicable to individuals) or head office of person with relevant interests and duties (applicable to agencies and organizations); phone number, fax and e-mail address (if any).

If the place of residence, place of work or head office of the person with relevant interests and duties is indefinite, the last place of residence, place of work or head office of the defendant shall be specified;

g) Lawful interests and duties of the litigator that are infringed upon; specific matters of the defendant, person with relevant interests and duties that are applied for resolution by the Court;

h) Names and addresses of witnesses (if any);

i) List of documents and/or evidences accompanied with lawsuit petitions.

5. The petitions must be accompanied with materials and evidences proving that legal rights and interests of litigators are infringed upon. For cases where due to objective reasons, the litigators failed to provide adequately materials and evidences accompanied with the petitions, they must provide current materials and evidences to prove that legal rights and interests of the litigators are infringed upon. Litigators shall supplement materials and evidences at the request of the Courts during the case resolution.

Article 190. Submission of lawsuit petitions to courts

1. Litigators shall submit their lawsuit petitions and the accompanied documents and/or evidences to Courts competent to settle their cases by the following modes:

a) Direct submission at courts;

b) Sending to Courts by post;

c) Sending through e-portal of Courts (if any).

2. Date of initiation of lawsuits is the day on which the Courts receive the petitions submitted by involved parties or the date written on the seals of the post office where the petitions are sent from.

In cases where the date cannot be identified through the seals of the sending post offices, the date of initiation of lawsuit shall be the day on which the involved parties send the petitions from the post offices. Involved parties shall prove the day on which they sent the petitions from the post offices; otherwise, the date of initiation of lawsuit shall be the day on which the Courts receive the petitions delivered by the post offices.

3. If the litigators send the petitions through e-portal, the date of initiation of lawsuit shall be the day on which the petitions are sent.

4. If the cases are transferred to other Courts as prescribed in Article 41 of this Code, the date of initiation of lawsuit shall be the day on which the petitions are sent to the Courts which have accepted the petitions ultra vires and shall be determined according to provisions in clause 2 and 3 of this Article.

5. The Supreme People’s Court shall provide guidance on the implementation of this Article.

Article 191. Procedures for receiving and processing lawsuit petitions

1. Courts, via petition receiving divisions, must receive lawsuit petitions lodged by litigators directly or via post and must record them in the petition registers. If the petitions are sent through the e-portal, the Courts shall make printing copies of the petitions and must record them in the petition registers.

When receiving petitions that are submitted directly, Courts shall immediately issue the receiving slip for the litigators. For petitions sent by post, within 02 working days from the day on which the petitions are received, the Courts shall send the litigators notifications of the receipt of the petitions. If the petitions are sent through the e-portal, the Courts shall immediately notify the litigators of the receipt of the petitions via their e-portal (if any).

2. Within 03 working days from the day on which the petitions are received, the Chief Justices of Courts shall assign one Judge to review the petitions.

3. Within 05 working days from the day on which they are assigned, the Judges shall review the petitions and make one of the following decisions:

a) To request for amendment and/or supplementation of lawsuit petitions;

b) To carry out the acceptance procedures of the cases according to normal procedures or simplified procedures, if the cases are satisfied for resolution according to simplified procedures as prescribed in clause 1 Article 317 of this Code;

c) To transfer the lawsuit petitions to competent Courts and notify the litigators thereof if the cases fall under other courts' jurisdiction;

d) To return the lawsuit petitions to the litigators if such cases do not fall under the court's jurisdiction.

4. Results of petition processing of the Judges prescribed in clause 3 of this Article must be recorded to the petition registers and notified to the litigators via the Courts’ e-portals (if any).

Article 192. Return of lawsuit petitions, consequences of the return of lawsuit petitions

1. The Courts shall return the lawsuit petitions in the following cases:

a) The petitioners have no right to initiate a lawsuit as prescribed in Articles 186 and 187 of this Code or do not have full civil procedure act capacity;

b) Conditions for initiating lawsuits prescribed by law are not fully satisfied.

Cases where conditions for initiating lawsuits are not fully satisfied are cases where there are provisions about conditions for initiating lawsuits but the litigators initiate lawsuits when any of such conditions has not been satisfied;

c) The matters have been resolved by effective judgments or decisions of Courts or legally binding decisions of competent State agencies, except for cases where the Courts reject the applications for divorce, for change in child adoption, change of alimony levels or damage compensation levels, or applications for change of property manager, change of inherited-property manager, change of guardian or cases of the reclaim of leased or lent properties or houses leased, lent or offered for other people's free-of-charge stay, which have not been recognized by Court and eligible for re-initiation of lawsuits as prescribed by law;

d) After the time limit specified in clause 2 Article 195 of this Code, the litigators fail to submit the receipts of Court fee advances to the Courts, except for cases they are exempt or do not have to pay the Court fee advances or there are objective obstacles or force majeure events;

dd) The cases do not fall under the courts' jurisdiction;

e) The litigators fail to amend or supplement the petitions at the request of the Judges as prescribed in clause 2 Article 193 of this Code.

If in the petitions, the litigators have written sufficiently and accurately the residential addresses of the defendants and/or the persons with relevant interests and duties but such persons change their residences regularly without notification to compentent agencies/persons according to law regulations on residence to evade obligations towards the litigators, the Judges shall not return the lawsuit petitions but regard the defendants/persons with related interests and duties as purposely concealing their addresseses and accept the petition and conduct settlement according to general procedures.

If in the petitions, the litigators failed to declare sufficiently or accurately names and addresses of defendants and/or persons with relevant interests and duties and fail to make amendment/supplement according to the requests of the Judges, the Judges shall return the petitions to the litigators;

g) The litigators withdraw the petitions.

2. When returning the petitions and the enclosed materials and evidences to the litigators, the Judges shall make writings containing reasons for the return of the petitions and send them to the litigators and the procuracies of the same levels. Petitions and materials and evidences that the Judges return to the litigators must be photocopied and retained at the Court to serve as the basis for settlement of the complaints/recommendations on request.

3. Involved parties may re-submit the petitions in the following cases:

a) The litigators have fully had civil procedure act capacity;

b) The petitions for divorces, for change in child adoption, change of alimony levels or damage compensation levels, or petitions for change of property manager, change of inherited-property manager, change of guardian or cases of the reclaim of leased or lent properties or houses leased, lent or offered for other people's free-of-charge stay have not been recognized by Court and are eligible for re-initiation of lawsuits as prescribed by law;

c) Requirements for initiating lawsuits have been fully satisfied;

d) Other cases prescribed by law.

4. The Supreme People’s Court shall provide guidance on the implementation of clauses 1 and 3 of this Article.

Article 193. Request for amendment and/or supplementation of lawsuit petitions

1. In cases where a lawsuit petition does not fully contain the details prescribed in Clause 4, Article 189 of this Code, the Court shall make written notification of such to the litigator for amendment and/or supplementation within a time limit set by the Judge, which, however, must not exceed 01 month; for special cases, the Judge may extend that time limit but for not more than 15 days. The written notification shall be sent directly, online or by post to the litigator and must be recorded to the petition register for supervision. Duration of amendment/supplement shall not be included in the statute of limitations of lawsuit initiation.

2. In cases where the litigators have amended and/or supplemented their lawsuit petitions strictly according to the provisions of Clause 4, Article 189 of this Code, the Courts shall continue processing the cases; if they fail to amend and/or supplement their lawsuit petitions as requested, the Judges shall return the petitions as well as materials and evidences to the litigators.

Article 194. Complaints, recommendations about the return of lawsuit petitions and settlement thereof

1. Within 10 days from the day on which the returned petitions are received, the litigators may file their complaints, or the procuracies may file recommendations to the Courts which have returned the lawsuit petitions.

2. Immediately after the complaints, recommendations about the return of lawsuit petitions are received, the Chief Justices of the Courts shall assign other Judges to review and settle such complaints/recommendations.

3. Within 05 working days from the day on which they are assigned, the Judges shall hold meeting to review and settle the complaints/recommendations. Such meeting must be under the attendance of representatives of procuracies of the same levels and involved parties filing the complaints; if the involved parties are absent, the sessions shall be carried out under the direction of the Judges.

4. Pursuant to materials and evidences related to the return of lawsuit petitions, opinions of representatives of procuracies and involved parties filing complaints at the meetings, the Judge shall make one of the following decisions:

a) To remain the return of lawsuit petitions and notify the involved parties and procuracies of the same level;

b) To receive back the lawsuit petitions and accompanied materials as well as evidences in order to process the cases.

5. Within 10 days from the day on which the decisions responding the complaints/recommendations are received, the litigators may file their complaints, or the procuracies may file recommendations to the Chief Justices of the directly superior Courts for consideration and settlement.

6. Within 10 days from the day on which the complaints/recommendations pertaining to the return of the lawsuit petitions are received, the Chief Justices of the directly superior Courts must make one of the following decisions:

a) To uphold the return of the lawsuit petitions;

b) To request the first-instance Courts to receive back the lawsuit petitions and accompanied materials as well as evidences in order to process the cases.

The decisions on settlement of complaints/recommendations of the Chief Justices of the Courts of the directly superior shall be immediately effective and shall be sent to the litigators, procuracies of the same level, the procuracies filing the recommendation and the Courts having issued the decisions on return of the petitions.

7. If there are grounds to determine that the decisions of Chief Justice of the immediate superior Court prescribed in clause 6 of this Article are contrary to the law, then within 10 days from the day on which the decisions are received, the involved parties may file complaints or the procuracies may file recommendations to the Chief Justices of the Collegial People’s Courts (applicable to cases where the decisions subject to complaint/recommendation are issued by the People’s Courts of provinces) or to the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court (applicable to cases where the decisions subject to complaint/recommendation are issued by Collegial People’s Courts)

Within 10 days as from the day on which the complaints of the involved parties or the recommendations of the procuracies are received, the Chief Justices must consider and settle them. Decision of the Chief Justices shall be the final one.

Article 195. Accepting cases

1. After receiving lawsuit petitions and accompanied materials and/or evidences, if deeming that the cases fall within the courts’ jurisdiction, the Judges shall immediately notify the litigators thereof so that they may come to Courts for carrying out procedures to advance the Court fees in cases where they are liable thereto.

2. The Judges shall estimate the Court fee advance amounts, write them down on the notices and hand them to the litigators for payment of Court fee advances. Within 07 days as from the day on which the courts' notices on payment of Court fee advances are received, the litigators must pay such advances and submit the receipts for payment of Court fee advances.

3. The Judges shall accept the petitions when the litigators have submitted to the Courts the Court fee advance payment receipts.

4. In cases where the litigators are exempt from, or not required to pay, Court fee advances, the Judges must accept the petitions upon receiving the lawsuit petitions and accompanied materials and/or evidences.

Article 196. Notice on acceptance of cases

1. Within 03 working days from the day on which the cases are accepted, the Judge must send written notices to plaintiffs, defendants, agencies, organizations and individuals with rights and obligations related to the settlement of the cases, to the procuracies of the same level on the Courts’ acceptances of the cases.

Regarding cases initiated by consumers, the Courts shall post publicly at the offices of the Courts information about the acceptance of the cases within 03 working days from the day on which the cases are accepted.

2. Such a written notice must contain the following principal details:

a) Date on which the notice is made;

b) Name and address of the Court accepting the case;

c) Name, address; phone number, fax, e-mail address (if any) of the litigator;

d) Specific matters that the litigator for request the Court to resolve;

dd) That whether the case is accepted under normal procedures or simplified procedures;

e) List of materials and evidences submitted together with the lawsuit petition by the litigator;

g) Time limit for the defendant and/ or person with relevant interests and duties to submit to the Court opinions in writing towards the request of the litigator and accompanied materials and evidences, counter-claims, independent claims (if any);

h) Legal consequences of case where the defendant and/or person with relevant interests and duties fail to submit to the Court opinion in writing for the petition for initiating lawsuit.

3. If the plaintiffs file application for the assistance of the Court in the sending of materials and evidences, the notices on the acceptance of the cases that the Courts sent to the defendants and/or persons with relevant interests and duties copies of materials and evidences provided by the plaintiffs.

Article 197. Assigning Judges to settle cases

1. On the basis of the reports on the acceptance of the cases made by the Judges assigned to accept the petitions, the Chief Justices of the Courts shall give decision on assignment of Judges to settle the cases, ensuring the principle of impartiality, objectiveness and contingency.

2. Within 03 working days from the day on which a case is accepted, the court's Chief Justice shall assign a Judge to resolve the case.

For complicated cases and the settlement seemed to be long-lasting, the Chief Justices of the Courts shall assign alternate Judges to ensure the on-schedule settlement as prescribed by the Code.

3. In the course of settling the case, if the assigned Judge cannot continue with the assigned task, the Chief Justice of the Court shall assign another Judge to continue that work; in cases where the trial is being underway without the alternate Judge, the case must be retried from the beginning and the Court must notify the involved parties and the procuracies of the same levels of the retrial.

Article 198. Tasks and powers of Judges when preparing case files

1. Set up the case files as prescribed in Article 204 of this Code.

2. Request the involved parties to submit materials and evidences to courts.

3. Verify the case and collect evidences according to the provisions of Clauses 2 and 3, Article 97 of this Code.

Article 199. Rights and duties of defendants and persons with relevant interests and duties after receiving the notices

1. Within 15 days from the day on which the notices are received, defendants and/or persons with relevant interests and duties must submit to the Court opinions in writing towards the request of the plaintiffs and materials and evidences, counter-claims and independent claims (if any).

Any defendant or person with relevant interests and duties wishing to have such time limit extended must submit to the Court an application for time extension stating the reasons for such extension; if the application is well-grounded, the Court shall grant the extension that must not exceed 15 days.

2. Defendants or persons with relevant interests and duties are entitled to request the Court to allow them to see, take notes or make photocopies of the petitions and materials and evidences enclosed therewith, except for materials and evidences specified in clause 2 Article 109 of this Code.

Article 200. Defendants' right to make counter-claims

1. Together with their obligation to submit to Courts their written opinions on the plaintiffs' claims, the defendants are entitled to file counter-claims against the plaintiffs or persons with relevant interests and duties who have made independent claims.

2. The defendants' counter-claims against the plaintiffs and/or persons with relevant interests and duties shall be accepted in one of the following cases:

a) The counter-claims are made to clear liability against the plaintiffs' claims and/or persons with relevant interests and duties with independent claims;

b) The accepted counter-claims may exclude the partial or full acceptance of the plaintiffs' claims and/or persons with relevant interests and duties who have made independent claims;

c) There is an interrelation between the counter-claim and the claim of the plaintiff/person with relevant interests and duties, and if these claims are settled in the same case, the resolution of such claims in the same case shall be more accurate and quicker.

3. Defendants are entitled to make counter-claims before the opening of the meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating.

Article 201. Right of persons with related interests and obligations to make independent claims

1. In cases where the persons with related interests and obligations do not participate in the procedures on the side of the plaintiff or the defendant, they shall be entitled to make independent claims when the following conditions are met:

a) The resolution of the case is related to their interests and obligations;

b) Their independent claims are related to the case being settled;

c) If their independent claims are settled in the same case, the resolution of such case shall be more accurate and quicker.

2. Persons with relevant interests and duties are entitled to make independent claims before the opening of the meeting held for meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating.

Article 202. Procedures for making counter-claims or independent claims

The procedures for making counter-claims or independent claims shall comply with this Code’s regulations on procedures for initiating lawsuits by plaintiffs.

Chapter XIII

MEDIATION AND TRIAL PREPARATION PROCEDURES

Article 203. Time limit for trial preparation

1. The time limits for preparation for trial over cases of various types, except for cases resolved under simplified procedures or cases involving foreign elements are specified as follows:

a) For the cases prescribed in Articles 26 and 28 of this Code, the time limit shall be 04 months counting from the day on which the cases are accepted;

b) For the cases prescribed in Articles 30 and 32 of this Code, the time limit shall be 02 months counting from the day on which the cases are accepted.

For complicated cases, or when due to force majeure events or objective obstacles, the Chief Justices of Courts may decide to extend the trial preparation time limits but for not more than 02 months for cases prescribed in Point a of this clause and 01 month for cases prescribed in Point b of this clause.

If there are decisions on suspension of case resolution, the time limit for trial preparation shall be calculated from the day on which the decisions to resume the case resolution issued by the Courts take legal effect.

2. In the process of trial preparation, the Judge shall carry out the following tasks and power:

a) Set up the case files as prescribed in Article 198 of this Code;

b) Determine the status of the involved parties and other participants in the procedure;

c) Determine the disputing relationship between involved parties and the applicable law provisions;

d) Examine objective details of the cases;

dd) Verify the cases and collect evidences according to the regulations in this Code;

e) Apply provisional emergency measures;

g) Hold meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating according to provisions of this Code, except for cases resolved under simplified procedures;

h) Fulfill other tasks and power as prescribed in this Code.

3. Within the trial preparation time limits prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the Judges 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 civil lawsuit;

c) To terminate the resolution of the civil lawsuit;

d) To bring the case to trial.

4. Within 01 month from the day on which the decision to bring the case to trial is issued, the Court must open a Court session. In case of good and sufficient reason, this time limit shall be 02 months.

Article 204. Documenting civil lawsuits’ files

1. A civil lawsuit’s file shall include the petition and all the materials and evidences provided by involved parties and other participants; materials and evidences collected by the Courts that are related to the case; procedural documents of the Courts and the Procuracies about the resolution of such civil lawsuit.

2. All papers and documents in the civil-case file must be numbered and arranged by date. Newer papers shall be put above the older ones; such papers shall be managed, retained and used according to law provisions.

Article 205. Principle for conducting mediation

1. During the period of preparation for the first-instance trial over cases, the Courts must carry out mediation for the involved parties to reach agreement on the resolution of the cases, except cases which must not be mediated or cannot be mediated as stipulated in Articles 206 and 207 of this Code or cases settled under simplified procedures.

2. The mediation 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 206. Civil lawsuits which must not be mediated

1. Claims for compensation for damage caused to State properties.

2. Civil lawsuits arising from civil transactions which are contrary to law or social ethics.

Article 207. Civil lawsuits which cannot be mediated

1. The defendants or the persons with relevant interests and duties are intentionally absent though having been duly summoned twice by courts.

2. The involved parties cannot take part in the mediation for plausible reasons.

3. The involved parties being wives or husbands in divorce cases have lost their civil act capacity.

4. One of involved parties applies for non-mediation.

Article 208. Notification about meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating

1. The Judges shall hold meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating between involved parties. Before holding the meetings, the Judges shall notify the involved parties, their lawful representatives and defense counsels of their rights and interests of time, venue and contents of the meetings.

2. If the mediation over the civil lawsuits as cannot be conducted as prescribed in Articles 206 and 207 of this Code, the Judge shall hold the meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences without mediation.

3. Regarding marriage and family cases involving minors, before hold the meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating between involved parties, the Judges and/or Ombudspersons assigned by the Courts shall collect materials and evidences to determine reasons for the arising of the disputes. When it is deemed necessary, the Judges may refer to opinions of family affair authorities and children affair authorities about the situations of the families, reasons for the arising of disputes and the expectation of the wives, husbands and children related to the cases.

Regarding disputes over child rearing after divorces or change of post-divorce child custodian, the Judges shall depend on the expectation of the children who are underage and not younger than 7; when it is deemed necessary, representatives of family affair authorities and children affair authorities shall witness and contribute opinions. The collection of expectation of underage children and the conduct of other procedures for minors must be friendly, suitable for the psychology, age, mature level and the awareness of the minors, ensuring legitimate rights and interests and personal secret of minors.

Article 209. Participants in meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating

1. Participants in the meetings shall include:

a) The meeting presiding Judge;

b) Court clerks in charge of writing up meeting minutes;

c) Involved or lawful representatives of involved parties;

d) Representatives of employee collective’s representative organizations, applicable to labor cases, at the request of employees, excluding labor cases where employee collective’s representative organizations or defense counsels of rights and interests of employees’ collectives/employees attend as representative organizations of employees’ collective. If the representatives of employee collective’s representative organizations do not attend the meeting for mediating, written opinions must be submitted;

dd) Defense counsels of rights and interests of involved parties (if any);

e) Interpreters (if any).

2. W hen it is deemed necessary, the Judges shall request relevant individuals, agencies and organizations to participate in the meetings; for cases pertaining to marriage and families, the Judges shall request representatives of family affair authorities, children affair authorities and/or Vietnam Women's Union to participate in the meetings; if they are absent, the meetings shall be still conducted.

3. In cases where any of involved parties is absent but involved parties who attend agree to conduct the meetings and such meetings do not affect rights and obligations of absent involved parties, the Judges shall conduct meetings between involved parties who attend; if involved parties request to postpone the mediation meeting until all involved parties attend, the Judge must follow their request. The Judges must notify the involved parties of such postponement and the resuming of the meetings.

Article 210. Order of meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating

1. Before conducting the meetings, Court clerks shall report the Judges about the absence and attendance of participants in the meetings that had received notifications from the Courts. The Judges presiding over the meetings shall recheck the attendance and ID cards of participants then provide involved parties with information about their rights and obligations according to provisions of this Code.

2. When checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences, the Judges shall announce materials and evidences in case files and ask the involved parties about the following matters:

a) Requests and scope of lawsuit, the amendment, supplement, modification and withdrawal of petitions for initiating lawsuits, counter-claims, independent claims; matters that have been and have not been agreed to be resolved by the Courts;

b) Materials and evidences that have been submitted to the Courts and the delivery of materials and evidences to other involved parties;

c) The amendment of materials/evidences; requests for collection of materials and evidences by the Courts; requests for summon of other involved parties by the Courts, witnesses and other participants at the Court sessions;

d) Other matters that the involved parties deem to be necessary.

3. When involved parties finished their presentations, the Judges shall review opinions and consider resolving requests of involved parties specified in clause 2 of this Article. If the persons summoned by the Courts are absent, the Courts shall notify them of the results of the meetings.

4. Procedures for mediation:

a) The Judges disseminate to involved parties the provisions of laws related to the resolution of the cases so that involved parties can relate them with their rights and obligations and analyze legal consequence of the success of the mediation then voluntarily reach agreements with each other about the resolution of the cases;

b) Plaintiff and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests make presentations of the disputes, make amendment of petitions for initiating lawsuits; grounds for protecting the petition and express opinions about matters to be mediated and resolution of the cases (if any);

c) Defendants and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests make presentations of the claims of the plaintiffs and about counter-claims (if any); grounds for protesting against the petition of the plaintiffs; grounds for defending their counter claims and express opinions about matters to be mediated and resolution of the cases (if any);

d) Persons with relevant interests and duties, defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests express their opinions about the claims of the plaintiffs and the defendants; present their independent claims (if any); grounds for protesting against the claims of the plaintiffs and the defendants; grounds for protecting their independent claims and express opinions about matters to be meditated and resolution of the cases (if any);

dd) Other participants in the mediation meetings (if any) express their opinions;

e) When involved parties and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests have expressed their opinions, the Judges shall determined matters that involved parties have or have not agreed about and request involved parties to make additional presentation about unclear and not agreed contents;

g) The Judges shall make conclusion of those which involved parties have agreed or not agreed about.

Article 211. Minutes of meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and mediating

1. Court clerks shall be in charge of formulating minutes of meetings for checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences and for mediating.

2. Minutes of the checking the handover of, access to and disclosure of evidences must contain the following contents:

a) Date of meeting;

b) Place of meeting;

c) The participants in the meeting;

d) Opinions of involved parties or lawful representatives of involved parties about contents specified in clause 2 Article 210 of this Code;

dd) Other contents;

e) Decisions of the Court to accept or not accept claims of involved parties.

3. Minutes of the mediation must contain the following contents:

a) Those specified in points a, b and c clause 2 of this Article;

b) Opinions of involved parties and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests of involved parties;

c) Contents have or have not been agreed by involved parties.

4. The minutes must bear the signatures or fingerprints of all participants in the meetings, signatures of the Court clerks in charge of making minutes and of the presiding Judges of the meetings. Participants in the meetings may have a look at the minutes immediately when the meetings finish and may request for amendment and supplement to the minutes before appending signatures or fingerprints.

5. If involved parties reach agreements about matters to be resolved in civil lawsuits, the Courts shall make minutes of successful mediation. Such minutes shall be immediately sent to involved parties participating in the mediation.

Article 212. Issuing decisions to recognize the agreements of the involved parties

1. Upon the expiry of the 07-day time limit after making the records on successful mediation, if no parties change their opinions on such agreement, the Judge who presides over the mediation session or another Judge who has been assigned by the court's Chief Justice shall issue a decision recognizing the agreement of the involved parties.

Within 05 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 4 of Article 210 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 mediation session.

Article 213. 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 are not appealed against according to the appellate procedures.

2. The decisions to recognize the involved parties' agreements may be appealed 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, force or they contravene law or social ethics.

Article 214. Suspension of the resolution of civil lawsuits

1. The Court shall issue a decision to suspend the resolution of a civil lawsuit in one of the following cases:

a) The involved parties being individuals have died or being agencies or organizations have been merged, divided, separated or dissolved without any agencies, organizations or individuals inheriting their procedural rights and obligations;

b) One involved party being an individual has lost his/her civil act capacity or being a minor while his/her representative at law has not been determined yet;

c) The lawful representative of an involved party terminates without a replacement;

d) 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;

dd) The results of the request for judicial assistance, entrustment of evidence collection or materials or evidences sent from agencies/organizations at the request of the Court need to be waited for;

e) The results of the processing of legislative documents, which, related to the case resolution denote violations against a Constitution, Law or Resolution of National Assembly, Ordinance or Resolution of the Standing committee of the National, legislative documents of superior regulatory agencies to which the Court have sent written recommendations for consideration for amendment, supplement or annulment, need to be waited for;

g) The case is mentioned in Article 41 of the Law on Bankruptcy;

h) Other circumstances prescribed by law.

2. Within 03 working days from the day on which the decisions to suspend the resolution of civil lawsuits are issued, the Courts must send such decisions to the involved parties, the agencies/organizations/individuals initiating lawsuits and the procuracies of the same level.

Article 215. Consequences of the suspension of resolution of civil lawsuits

1. The Court must not delete the names of suspended civil lawsuits from the case acceptance books but only note down the number and date of the decisions to suspend the resolution of such civil lawsuits 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 lawsuits.

3. For the cases of suspension prescribed in point e clause 1 Article 214 of this Code, before the suspension, the Chief Justices of the Courts in charge of the cases must make a writing requesting the Chief Justices of the Supreme People’s Court to recommend the competent agencies to consider amending, supplementing or annulling legislative documents denoting contrary to the Constitution, law, resolution of National Assembly, ordinance or resolution of the Standing committee of the National Assembly or legislative documents of superior regulatory agencies as prescribed in Article 221 of this Code.

Within 01 month from the day on which the written recommendations from the Courts are received, competent agencies must make a written response. After such period, if the competent agencies fail to issue the response, the Courts shall continue the case resolution according to the common procedures.

4. During the suspension period of the case resolution, the Judges assigned to resolve the cases must be still responsible for the case resolution.

When the decisions on suspension of the case resolution prescribed in clause 1 Article 214 of this Code have been issued, the Judges assigned to resolve the cases shall supervise and expedite agencies, organizations and individuals to as soon as possible eliminate the problems leading to such suspension to promptly settle the cases.

5. Decisions to suspend the resolution of the civil lawsuits may be appealed against under appellate procedures.

Article 216. Decisions on resuming the resolution of civil lawsuits

Within 03 working days from the day on which the reasons to suspend the resolution of civil lawsuits prescribed in Article 214 of this Code are resolved, the Courts must issue decisions to resume the case resolution and send such decisions to the involved parties, the agencies/organizations/individuals initiating lawsuits and the procuracies of the same level.

Decisions on suspension of civil lawsuit’s resolution shall expire since the decisions on resuming of civil lawsuit’s resolution are issued. The Courts shall resume resolving the cases since the decisions on resuming of civil lawsuit’s resolution are issued.

Article 217. Termination of the resolution of civil lawsuits

1. After accepting cases which fall within their respective jurisdiction, the Courts shall issue decisions to terminate the resolution of the civil lawsuits 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 are bankrupt without any agencies, organizations or individuals inheriting their procedural rights and obligations;

c) The litigators withdraw all petitions for initiation of lawsuits or the plaintiffs are absent though having been duly summoned twice, unless they apply for trials in their absence or a force majeure event or an objective obstacle occurs;

d) 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;

dd) plaintiffs fail to advance the charges for property price appraisal and other procedural charges prescribed in the Code.

If the defendants with counter-claims or persons with relevant interests and duties with independent claims fail to advance the property price appraisal and other procedural charges as prescribed in this Code, the Courts shall terminate the resolution of counter-claims or the independent claims of the persons with relevant interests and duties;

e) The involved parties have requested to apply the statute of limitations before the first-instance Courts issue the judgments/decisions on case resolution and the statute of limitations for lawsuit initiation expire;

g) Cases prescribed in clause 1 Article 192 of this Code that have been accepted by the Courts;

h) Other circumstances prescribed by law.

2. If the plaintiffs withdraw all petitions for lawsuit initiation or are absent without good and sufficient reasons or do not apply for trials in their absence though have been duly summoned twice and there are defendants applying for counter-claims and/or persons with relevant interests and duties applying for independent claims, the cases shall be resolved as follows:

a) If the defendants withdraw all the counter-claims and/or persons with relevant interests and duties withdraw all the independent claims, the Courts shall issue decisions to terminate the resolution of the cases;

b) If the defendants do not withdraw or withdraw only a part of the counter-claims, the Courts shall issue decisions to terminate the resolution of the petitions for lawsuits of plaintiffs; then the defendants shall become the plaintiffs and vice versa;

c) If the defendants withdraw all the counter-claims, persons with relevant interests and duties do not withdraw or withdraw only a part of the independent claims, the Courts shall issue decisions to terminate the resolution of the petitions for lawsuits of plaintiffs and/or counter-claims of defendants; then the persons with relevant interests and duties shall become the plaintiffs, persons who are sued according to independent claims shall become the defendants;

3. The Courts shall make decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits and cross out the civil cases in the acceptance books and return the petitions and accompanied materials and evidences to involved parties on request; in such cases, the Courts must make and retain copies of such petitions, documents and evidences to serve as basis for resolution of appeals and recommendations on request.

Within 03 working days from the day on which decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits are issued, the Courts shall send such decisions to involved parties, agencies, organizations and individuals initiating the lawsuits and procuracies of the same levels.

4. Regarding cases that are re-settled according to first-instance procedures, immediately when decisions to conduct cassation or reopening trials have been issued, if the Courts decide to terminate the resolution of the cases, the Courts shall also resolve the consequences of the enforcement of judgments and other relevant matters (if any); if the plaintiffs withdraw the petitions or are absent though have been duly summoned twice, the termination of the resolution of the cases must be agreed by the defendants and persons with relevant interests and duties.

Article 218. Consequences of the termination of resolution of civil lawsuits

1. When the decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits are issued, the involved parties shall not be entitled to initiate lawsuits to request the Courts to re-settle such civil lawsuits 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 in clause 3 Article 192, point c clause 1 Article 217 of this Code and cases otherwise provided for by law.

2. In cases where the Courts issue decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits as provided for in points a and b Clause 1, Article 217 of this Code or because the plaintiffs are absent though have been duly summoned twice as prescribed in point c clause 1 Article 217 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 terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits because the litigators withdraw all petitions for lawsuit initiation as provided for in point c and other cases specified in points d, dd, e and g clause 1 Article 217 of this Code, the Court fee advance money paid by the involved parties shall be refunded to the payers.

4. The decisions to terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits may be appealed against under appellate procedures.

Article 219. Competence to issue decisions to suspend, resume or terminate the resolution of civil lawsuits

1. Before the opening of the trial, the Judges who are assigned to resolve the civil lawsuits shall be competent to issue decisions to suspend/resume/terminate the resolution of such civil lawsuits.

2. In the Court session, the trial panels shall be competent to issue decisions to terminate/resume/terminate the resolution of the civil lawsuits.

Article 220. 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) Name and address of the plaintiff, defendant or agency/organization/individuals initiating the lawsuit prescribed in Article 187 of this Code and persons with relevant interests and duties;

dd) Full names of the Judge, People’s Juror, Court clerk and full names of the alternate Judge or alternate People’s Juror (if any);

e) Full name of the procurator who takes part in the Court session, full name of alternate procurator (if any);

g) Time, date and venue of the Court 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 within 03 working days from the day on which they are issued.

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 and the decisions to bring a case to trial to the procuracies of the same level. Within 15 days from the day on which the documents are received, the procuracies must study then return the files to the courts.

Article 221. Discovery and recommendation for amendment, supplement or annulment of legislative documents

1. During the course of civil lawsuit’s resolution, if a legislative document related to the resolution of a civil lawsuit denotes contrariness against a Constitution, law or resolution of National Assembly, ordinance, resolution of Standing committee of National Assembly or a legislative document of a superior regulatory agency, the Court shall handle as follows:

a) If not any decisions to bring the case to trial is issued, the Judge assigned to resolve the case shall make a report and request the Chief Justice of the Court being in charge of the case to issue a writing requesting the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court to recommend a competent agency to consider amending, supplementing or annulling a legislative document;

b) If a decision to bring the case to trial has been issued or the case is being examined at the Court trial or is being adjudicated according to cassation/reopening procedure, the trial panel shall suspend the trial as prescribed in point e clause 1 Article 259 of this Code and report the case to the Chief Justice of the Court being in charge of the case so that he/she shall issue a writing requesting the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court to recommend a competent agency to consider amending, supplementing or annulling a legislative document.

2. Within 15 days from the day on which the written request by the Chief Justice of the inferior Court is received, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court shall consider and handle as follows:

a) If the request is well-grounded, a written recommendation shall be issued and sent to the competent agency requesting for amendment, supplement or annulment of the legislative document and a notification shall be sent to the requesting Court so that it issues a decision to suspend the case resolution;

b) If the request is groundless, a written response shall be sent to the requesting Court so that it continues the case resolution according to law provisions.

3. Agencies receiving recommendation of the Court about the amendment, supplement or annulment of legislative documents shall handle as follows:

a) Regarding legislative documents detailing and/or guiding Constitutions, laws or resolutions of National Assembly or ordinances or resolutions of Standing Committee of National Assembly or legislative documents of superior regulatory agencies, within 01 month from the day on which the recommendation made by the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court is received, the agency issuing such documents must consider and send written response to the Supreme People’s Court. When such time limit expires, if not any written response is received, the Court shall resolve the case pursuant to the documents with higher-level effect;

b) Regarding legislative documents being laws or resolutions of National Assembly or ordiances or resolutions of Standing committees of National Assembly, the provisions of the Law on promulgation of legislative documents shall be applied.

Chapter XIV

FIRST-INSTANCE COURT SESSION

Section 1. GENERAL REGULATIONS ON FIRST-INSTANCE Court SESSIONS

Article 222. General requirements for first-instance Court sessions

The first-instance Court sessions must be conducted on the right times and at the right places written in the decisions to bring the cases to trial or in the notices on resuming the Court sessions in cases where the Court sessions have been postponed.

Article 223. Place of Court session

Court sessions must be held at the offices of the Court or outside the Court, provided that the seriousness is ensured and the arrangement of the courtrooms shall conformed to regulations in Article 224 of this Code.

Article 224. Arrangement of courtrooms

1. The national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam shall be put up in the middle of the top of the wall behind the Trial Panel.

2. The courtroom must have areas exclusively reserved for the Trial Panel, Procurator, Court clerk, involved parties, defense counsels of lawful rights and interests of involved parties, other procedure participants and Court participants in the Court sessions.

Article 225. Direct and oral trial

1. The Courts must directly ascertain details and facts of the cases by listening to the presentations of the plaintiffs, the defendants, persons with related interests and duties, lawful representatives, defense counsels of the legitimate rights and interests of the involved parties and other participants in the procedures and agencies and organizations invited to the Court session; questioning and listening to the answers; examining and verifying collected documents and evidences; directing and listening to the debates among the involved parties; listening to the opinions of the procuracy presented by procurators .

2. The trial must be oral trial and must be conducted in courtrooms.

Article 226. Replacement of Trial Panel members in special cases

1. Where Judges or People’s Jurors cannot continue to participate in the trial, the trial may be continued if there are alternate Judges or People’s Jurors present at the Court sessions from the beginning.

In cases where a Trial Panel consists of two Judges and the presiding Judge cannot continue to participate in the trial, the other Judge being member of the Trial Panel shall act as the presiding Judge of the Court session and the alternate Judge shall be added to be member of the Trial Panel.

2. In cases where there is no alternate Judge or People’s Juror to replace a member of the Trial Panel, or where the presiding Judge of the Court session must be replaced while there is no Judge for replacement as provided for in Clause 1 of this Article, the case shall be retried from the beginning.

Article 227. Presence of involved parties, their representatives and defense counsels of legitimate rights and interests

1. For the first time duly summoned by the Court, involved parties or their representatives and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests must be present at the Court session; if any of them is absent, the trial panel shall postpone the Court session, unless such person requests for trial in his/her absence.

The Courts must notify the involved parties, their representatives and defense counsels of legitimate rights and interests of the postponement of the Court session.

2. For the second time duly summoned by the Court, involved parties or their representatives and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests must be present at the Court session, unless they request for trials in their absence; if any of them is absent due to a force majeure event or an objective obstacle, the Court may postpone the Court session, otherwise the Court shall handle as follows:

a) If the plaintiff is absent and his/her representative does not participate in the Court session, such plaintiff shall be considered giving up the lawsuit initiation, thus the Court shall issue a decision to terminate the case resolution for his/her request for lawsuit initiation, unless such plaintiff requests for trials in their absence. The plaintiff may re-initiate lawsuits according to law provisions;

b) If the defendant without counter-claims or a person with relevant interests and duties without independent claims is absent and his/her representative does not participate in the Court session neither, then the Court shall direct the trial according to absence-trial procedure;

a) If the defendant has counter-claims but is absent and his/her representative does not participate in the Court session, such defendant shall be considered giving up the counter claims, thus the Court shall issue a decision to terminate the resolution for his/her counter claims, unless such defendant requests for trial in his/her absence. The defendant may re-initiate lawsuits for his/her counter-claims according to law provisions;

a) If the person with relevant interests and duties has independent claims but is absent and his/her representative does not participate in the Court session, such person shall be considered giving up the independent claims, thus the Court shall issue a decision to terminate the resolution for his/her independent claims, unless such person requests for trial in his/her absence. Such person may re-initiate lawsuits for his/her independent claims according to law provisions;

dd) If the defense counsels of legitimate rights and interests of the involved parties are absent, the Court shall direct the trial according to absence-trial procedures.

Article 228. Trial in absence of involved parties and/or defense counsels of their rights and interests from Court sessions

The Courts shall proceed with the case adjudication in the following circumstances:

1. The plaintiff, the defendant or the persons with related interests and duties and their representatives are absent from Court sessions but such plaintiff/defendant/person with related interests and duties files an application to request the Courts to conduct the trial in their absence;

2. The plaintiff, the defendant or the persons with related interests and obligations, who are absent from Court sessions, have their lawful representatives to attend the Court sessions;

3. The cases prescribed in points b, c, d and dd clause 2 Article 227 of this Code.

Article 229. Presence of witnesses

1. Witnesses shall be obliged to attend Court sessions under Court subpoenas.

2. Where the witnesses are absent, the Trial Panels shall decide to keep adjudicating the cases or to postpone the court.

The Trial Panels shall keep adjudicating the cases if the witnesses are absent but have earlier given their testimonies in person or sent their testimonies to courts. The presiding Judges shall make such testimonies public.

The Trial Panels shall decide to postpone the Court sessions if the absence of the witnesses at Court creates difficulties or affects the objective and comprehensive resolution of the cases.

3. If the witnesses are absent from the Court sessions without good and sufficient reasons and such absence obstructs the adjudication, they can be escorted to the Court sessions under the decision of the trial panels, unless the witnesses are minors.

Article 230. Presence of expert-witnesses

1. Expert-witnesses shall be obliged to attend Court sessions under Court subpoena to explain and answer issues relating to the expertise and expertising conclusions.

2. Where the expert-witnesses are absent, the Trial Panels shall decide to keep adjudicating the cases or postpone the Court sessions.

Article 231. Presence of interpreters

1. Interpreters shall be obliged to attend the Court sessions under Court subpoena.

2. Where the interpreters are absent without substitutes, the Trial Panels shall decide to postpone the Court sessions.

Article 232. Presence of procurators

1. The procurators assigned by the heads of the procuracies of the same level shall have the duty to attend the Court sessions. If the procurators are absent, the trial panels shall keep adjudicating and the Court sessions shall not be postponed.

2. Where the procurators are replaced in Court sessions or cannot continue to participate in the trial sessions and the alternate procurators are available, the latter may attend the Court sessions for continued trial over the cases if they are present at the Court session from the beginning.

Article 233. Time limit for postponing a Court session and decision to postpone a Court session

1. The trial panels shall issue decisions to postpone a Court session in cases specified in clause 2 Article 56, clause 2 Article 62, clause 2 Article 84, Article 227, clause 2 Article 229, clause 2 Article 230, clause 2 Article 231 and Article 241 of this Code. Time limit for postponing a Court session shall not exceed 01 month or not exceed 15 days, applicable to Court carried out under simplified procedure, from the day on which the decision to postpone the Court session is issued.

2. A decision to postpone a Court session must contain the following principal details:

a) Date of issue of the decision;

b) Name of the Court and full names of presiding officers;

c) The case to be brought to trial;

d) Reasons for the postponement of the Court session;

dd) Time and venue for resumption of the Court session.

3. The decisions to postpone the Court sessions must be signed by the Judges presiding over the Court sessions on behalf of the trial panels and be publicly notified at the Court session. For absent persons, the Courts shall immediately send the decisions to them and concurrently to the procuracies of the same level.

4. In cases where the Courts cannot resume the Court sessions on the right time and at the right places inscribed in the decisions to postpone the Courts sessions, the Courts must immediately notify the procuracies of the same level and procedure participants of the time and venues for re-opening the Court sessions.

Article 234. Internal rules of Court sessions

1. When entering the courtroom, everyone shall conform to the security testing of the forces responsible for protecting the Court session.

2. Arms, murder weapons, explosives, flammable substances, poisons, radioactive substances, objects banned from circulation, leaflets, banners and other documents and objects affecting the seriousness of the Court sessions are prohibited from bringing into the Court sessions, except for exhibits serving the resolution of the cases or arms and tools that competent persons used for protecting the Court session.

3. Participants in a Court session at the request of the Court must present their subpoenas, invitations and other relevant papers to the Court reporter at clerk's desk at least 15 minutes before the opening time of the Court session and must take seats in the courtroom according to the guidance of the Court reporter; people who are late must present the required papers to the Court reporter via the security forces of the Court session.

4. Journalists attending a Court session to collect and communicate information about the happening of the Court session must comply with the direction of the presiding Judge of the Court session about press gallery. Journalists shall record audio or video of the trial panel only when allowed by the presiding Judge of the Court session. The recording of audio and video of involved parties or other participants in the procedure must be agreed by them.

5. Any one attending the Court sessions must wear serious costume and must respect the trial panel, keep silent and must comply with the direction of the presiding Judge.

6. Persons attending the Court sessions must not wear hats and color glasses in the courtrooms, unless they have plausible reasons and are permitted by the presiding Judge to do so; use of cell phones, smoking, eating, drinking and other acts affecting the solemnity of the Court sessions are not allowed in the courtrooms.

7. All participants in a Court sessions who are summoned by the Courts shall be present at the Court sessions throughout the course of trial, unless they are permitted by the presiding Judges to leave the courtrooms for plausible reasons.

People who are under 16 must not get into courtrooms, unless they are summoned by the Courts to attend the Court session.

8. All people in courtrooms must stand up when the Trial panel members enter the courtroom and when the judgments are pronounced, except for special cases where they are permitted to stay seated by the presiding Judges.

9. Only persons who are permitted by the Trial panel may raise or answer questions or express opinions. Persons must stand up while questioning, answering or expressing opinions, unless they are permitted by the presiding Judges to stay seated due to health conditions.

Article 235. Procedures for rendering Court judgments or decisions in Court sessions

1. Judgments must be discussed and adopted by the Trial Panels in the deliberation rooms.

2. Decisions to replace the procedure presiding officers, expert-witnesses, interpreters, to transfer the cases, to suspend or terminate the resolution of cases, or to postpone Court sessions, or decisions to recognize the agreement between involved parties or to suspend the Court session, must be discussed and adopted by the trial panel at the deliberation rooms and made in writing.

3. Decisions on other matters shall be discussed and adopted by the Trial Panels at the Court rooms and need not to be made in writing but must be recorded in the minutes of the Court sessions.

Article 236. Minutes of Court sessions

1. Minutes of a Court session must be fully inscribed with the following details:

a) Main contents of the decision to bring the case to trial as stipulated in Clause 1 of Article 220 of this Code;

b) All developments at the Court session from the beginning to the end;

c) Questions, answers and statements given at the Court session.

2. Apart from recording the minutes of Court sessions, the Trial Panels may make audio-recording and/or video-recording of the developments of the Court session.

3. At the end of a Court session, the presiding Judge of the Court session must examine the minutes and co-sign on the minutes with the Court reporter.

4. The procurator and procedure participants shall be entitled to read the minutes of the Court session immediately after the end of the Court session and request the inclusion of amendments or additions into the minutes and append the countersign.

Article 237. Preparing for the opening of a Court session

Before the opening of a Court session, the Court reporter must perform the following jobs:

1. Briefing on the internal rules of the Court session.

2. Checking up on the absence or presence of the persons participating in the Court sessions under the court's subpoenas or notices; if any person is absent, the reasons therefor must be clarified.

3. Maintaining order in the Court room.

4. Requesting all people present in the Court room to stand up when the Trial Panel enters the Court room.

Article 238. Procedures for conducting trial in absence of all procedure participants

1. The Courts shall base themselves on materials and evidences included in the case files to conduct trials in the absence of involved parties and/or other procedure participants according to law provisions when the following conditions are fully satisfied:

a) The plaintiffs and/or their lawful representatives submit applications for trials in their absence;

b) The defendant, persons with relevant interests and duties and/or their lawful representatives submit applications for trials in their absence or are absent though have been duly summoned twice;

c) Defense counsels of legitimate rights and interests of plaintiffs, defendants or persons with relevant interests and duties submit applications for trials in their absence or are absent though have been duly summoned twice.

2. The presiding Judges of the Court session shall announce reasons for the absence of the involved parties or their applications for trials in their absence.

3. The presiding Judges of the Court session shall briefly announce the contents of the cases and materials and evidences included in the case files. The trial panel shall discuss matters to be settled in the cases.

4. Procurators shall present opinions of the procuracies.

5. The trial panels shall deliberate the cases and pronounce judgments according to regulations in this Code.

Section 2. PROCEDURES FOR COMMENCING A Court SESSION

Article 239. Opening a Court session

1. The presiding Judge of the Court session shall open the Court session and read out the decision to bring the case to trial.

2. The Court reporter shall then report to the Trial Panel on the presence and absence of the persons participating in the Court session under the court's subpoenas or notices and the reasons for their absence.

3. The presiding Judge of the Court shall cross-check the presence of the participants in the Court session under the court's subpoenas or notices and examine identities of the involved parties and procedure participants.

4. The presiding Judge shall explain the rights and obligations of the involved parties and other procedure participants.

5. The presiding Judge shall introduce full names of the procedure presiding officers, expert-witnesses, interpreters.

6. The presiding Judge of the Court shall ask persons who are entitled to request the replacement of procedure presiding officers, expert-witnesses or interpreters to see if they wish to replace anyone.

7. The witnesses shall be requested to undertake to give truthful testimonies, if not, they will take legal responsibility, unless the witnesses are minors.

8. The expert-witnesses and the interpreters shall be requested to undertake to provide accurately the expertising results and to interpret accurately the contents to be interpreted.

Article 240. Handling requests for replacement of procedure conductors, expert-witnesses and/or interpreters

In cases where certain persons request the replacement of procedure presiding officers, expert-witnesses and/or interpreters, the trial panels must consider and decide in accordance with procedures stipulated in this Code and may accept or not accept such request. In case of non-acceptance, the reasons therefor must be clearly stated.

Article 241. Considering and deciding on the postponement of Court sessions upon someone's absence

When any procedure participants are absent from Court sessions and they do not fall into the cases where the Courts must postpone the Court sessions, the presiding Judges must ask if there is any one requesting the postponement of the Court sessions. If there is, the Trial Panels shall consider and decide thereon according to the procedures stipulated in this Code and may accept or not accept such request. In case of non-acceptance, the reasons therefor must be clearly stated.

Article 242. Securing the objectivity of witnesses

1. Before asking the witnesses about matters they know, which are related to the resolution of the cases, the presiding Judges may decide to take necessary measures so that witnesses cannot hear each other's testimonies nor contact the relevant persons.

2. If the testimonies of the involved parties and the witnesses are interrelated, the presiding Judges may decide to isolate the involved parties from the witnesses before the witnesses are questioned.

Article 243. Inquiring the involved parties about change, supplementation or withdrawal of their claims

Procedures for inquiring the involved parties about change, supplementation or withdrawal of their claims start when the presiding Judges ask the involved parties about the following matters:

1. Inquiring the plaintiffs to see whether or not they wish to change, supplement or withdraw part or whole of their lawsuit petitions;

2. Inquiring the defendants to see whether or not they wish to change, supplement or withdraw part or whole of their counter-claims;

3. Inquiring the persons with related interests and duties who make independent claims to see whether or not they wish to change, supplement or withdraw part or whole of their independent claims.

Article 244. Considering the change, supplementation or withdrawal of claims

1. The trial panels shall accept the change and/or supplementation of the involved parties' claims, if such change or supplementation does not fall beyond the scope of their original lawsuit petitions, counter-claims or independent claims.

2. Where an involved party voluntarily withdraws part or whole of his/her claim, the Trial Panel may accept such request and terminate the trial regarding the withdrawn part or whole of the claim.

Article 245. Changing the procedural status

1. Where the plaintiff withdraws the entire lawsuit claim, but the defendant still maintains his/her counterclaims, the defendant shall become the plaintiff and the plaintiff shall become the dependant.

2. Where the plaintiff withdraws the entire lawsuit claim and the defendant withdraws the entire counterclaims, but persons with related interests and duties still maintain their independent claims, the persons with related interests and duties shall become plaintiffs while the persons who are sued under the independent claims shall become defendants.

Article 246. Recognizing the agreements of involved parties

1. The presiding Judge of the Court shall ask if the involved parties can reach an agreement about the case resolution. If the involved parties can voluntarily reach an agreement on the case resolution that is not contrary the law or social ethics, the trial panel shall issue decisions on recognition of the agreement between involved parties on the case resolution

2. The Court decisions recognizing the involved parties' agreements on the resolution of the cases shall take legal effect as prescribed in Article 213 of this Code.

Section 3. ORAL ARGUMENT IN Court SESSIONS

Article 257. Contents and mode of oral argument in Court sessions

1. Oral argument at the Courts include the presentation of evidences, questioning and answering and the expression of opinions and argument about evidences and details of the civil lawsuits or disputes and the applicable law provisions for the resolution of petitions of involved parties in the cases.

2. The oral argument at the Courts shall be conducted according to the direction of the Presiding Judge of the Court session.

3. The Presiding Judge must not limit the duration of the oral argument and must enable persons who participate in the argument to present fully their opinions; however, the Presiding Judge shall be entitled to request such persons to stop presenting contents irrelevant to the cases.

Article 248. Presentation of defense counsels of legitimate rights and interests of the involved parties

1. In cases where certain involved parties still maintain their claims and cannot reach agreements on the resolution of the cases, the involved parties shall present in the following order:

a) The defense counsels of the plaintiff's legitimate rights and interests shall present the plaintiff's claims and evidences to prove that their claims are well-grounded and lawful. The plaintiff shall be entitled to give additional opinions.

In cases where agencies or organization institute the cases, their representatives shall present the lawsuit claims and evidences to prove that their lawsuit claims are well-grounded and lawful;

b) The defense counsels of the defendant's legitimate rights and interests shall present the defendant's opinions on the plaintiff's claims; the defendant's counter-claims and proposals as well as evidences to prove that such proposals are well grounded and lawful. The defendant shall be entitled to give additional opinions.

c) The defense counsels of the legitimate rights and interests of persons with related rights and obligations shall present the latter's opinions on the claims and proposals of the plaintiff and the defendant; independent claims and proposals of the persons with related rights and obligations as well as evidences to prove that such proposals are well grounded and lawful.

The persons with related interests and duties shall be entitled to give additional opinions.

2. In cases where the plaintiff, the defendant or the persons with related interests and duties have no defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests, they shall present by themselves their claims and proposals as well as evidences to prove that such claims and proposals are well grounded and lawful.

3. At the Court sessions, the involved parties and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interest are entitled to supplement evidences as prescribed in clause 4 Article 96 of this Code to prove their respective claims and proposals.

Article 249. Order and principle of inquiring in Court session

1. When the presentations of the involved parties finish and the defense counsels of rights and interests of the involved parties, according to provisions of Article 248 of this Code and under the direction of the Presiding Judge of the Court session, the order of inquiring in Court session shall be:

a) The plaintiffs, defense counsels of rights and interests of the plaintiffs; the defendants, defense counsels of rights and interests of the defendants; persons with relevant interests and duties, defense counsels of rights and interests of persons with relevant interests and duties;

b) Other procedure participants;

c) The Judge of the Court session, People’s Jurors;

d) Procurators participating in the Court session.

2. Questions for the inquiry must be clear, serious, unduplicated and the questioners must not misuse the inquiry to infringe upon honor and dignity of procedure participants.

Article 250. Inquiring plaintiffs

1. In cases where there are more than one plaintiff, they shall be inquired and separately one by one.

2. The plaintiffs shall be inquired only about matters presented by themselves or by the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests which are unclear, inconsistent or contradictory to their previous testimonies, or contradictory to the presentations of the defendant, the persons with related rights and obligations and/or the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests.

3. Plaintiffs may themselves reply or the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests may rely on their behalf, then the plaintiffs may give additional answers.

Article 251. Inquiring defendants

1. In cases where there is more than one defendant, each defendant shall be inquired separately.2. The defendants shall only be inquired about matters which have been unclearly presented by themselves or the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests or have been inconsistent or contradictory to their previous testimonies, or contradictory to the claims of the plaintiffs or the persons with related rights and obligations and/or the defense counsels of their legitimate right and interests.

3. Defendants may answer questions by themselves or the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests answer on their behalf before the defendants give additional answers.

Article 252. Inquiring persons with related interests and obligations

1. In cases where there are more than one person with related interests and obligations, each of them shall be inquired separately.

2. The persons with related interests and obligations shall only be inquired about matters which have been unclearly presented by themselves or the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests or have been inconsistent or contradictory to their previous testimonies, or contradictory to the claims of the plaintiffs or the persons with related rights and obligations and/or the defense counsels of their legitimate right and interests.

3. Persons with related rights and obligations may answer questions by themselves or the defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests answer on their behalf before they give additional answers.

Article 253. Inquiring witnesses

1. Before questioning witnesses, the presiding Judges shall ask clearly about the relations between them and parties involved in the cases; if witnesses are minors, the presiding Judges may request their parents, guardians or teachers to help in the inquiries. In cases where there is more than one witness, each of them shall be inquired separately.

2. The presiding Judges shall request the witnesses to present details about the cases that they know. After the witnesses complete their presentations, they may only be further questioned about points which they have presented unclearly, incompletely or inconsistently or which have been contradictory to their previous testimonies, contradictory to the presentations of the involved parties and/or the defense counsels of the involved parties' legitimate rights and interests.

3. After completing their presentations, the witnesses shall stay in the Court rooms so that they may be further questioned.

4. In cases where it is necessary to secure the safety of the witnesses or their relatives, the Trial Panels may decide not to disclose information on their personal records and must keep them from being seen by attendants to the Court sessions.

5. involved parties and defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests may question the witnesses after agreed by the presiding Judges of the Court session.

Article 254. Public disclosure of materials and evidences of the cases

1. The Trial Panel shall publicly disclose materials and evidences of a case in the following cases:

a) Procedure participants are absent from Court sessions but have given their testimonies during adjudication preparation;

b) Testimonies given in Court sessions by procedure participants are contradictory to their previous testimonies;

c) In other cases that the trial panel considers necessary or at the request of procurators, involved parties, defense counsels of rights and interests of involved parties, other procedure participants.

2. In special cases where it is necessary to keep State secrets, to preserve the nation's fine customs and practices, to keep professional secrets, business secrets, private secrets or family secrets or to protect minor people at the requests of the involved parties, the trial panels shall not disclose documents included in the case files.

Article 255. Listening to audio-tapes and/or discs, watching video tapes and/or discs and other audio/video-recording devices

At the request of the involved parties, defense counsels of their legitimate rights and interests, procedure participants or procurators or when deeming it necessary, the Trail Panels may arrange for the audio tapes and/or discs to be listened to, and/or video tapes and/or discs and/or other audio/video recording devices to be screened in Court sessions, except for the cases stipulated in Clause 2 of Article 254 of this Code.

Article 256. Examining exhibits

Exhibits, photos or records certifying exhibits shall be presented for examination in Court sessions.

When necessary, the trial panel, together with the involved parties, may conduct an on-site inspection of the exhibits that cannot be brought to the Court session.

Article 257. Inquiring expert-witnesses

1. The presiding Judges shall request the expert-witnesses to present their conclusions on matters they have been assigned to expertise. During their presentations, the expert-witnesses may give additional explanations on the expertising conclusions and the grounds to make such conclusions.

2. Procurators and procedure participants present in Court sessions shall be entitled to give comments on the expertising conclusions, to ask about matters which are unclear or contradictory in the expertising conclusions or contradictory to other details of the cases.

3. In cases where the expert-witnesses are absent from Court sessions, the presiding Judges shall publicly disclose the expertising conclusions.

4. When any involved parties or defense counsels of rights and interests of involved parties disagrees with the expertising conclusions publicly disclosed in Court sessions and request the expert-witnesses to make additional expertise or re-expertise, if deeming that the additional expertise or the re-expertise is necessary for the settlement of the cases, the Trial Panels shall decide on the additional expertise or re-expertise; in this case, the Trial Panels shall decide to postpone the Court sessions according to provisions in point d clause 1 Article 259 of this Code.

Article 258. Concluding the inquiries in Court sessions

When deeming that the case details have been fully examined, the presiding Judges shall ask the procurators, the involved parties, the defense counsels of the legitimate rights and interests of the involved parties and other procedure participants whether they request to ask about any matters or not; in cases where someone has such request and he/she deems that such request is well grounded, the presiding Judges shall decide to continue the inquiries.

Article 259. Postponement of Court sessions

1. During the process of adjudication, the trial panel shall be entitled to make decisions to postpone the Court session in any of the following cases:

a) Due to health conditions or due to a force majeure event or an objective obstacle, the proceeding officer cannot continue with the Court session, unless the proceeding officer can be replaced;

b) Due to health conditions or due to a force majeure event or an objective obstacle, the procedure participant cannot continue participating in the Court session, unless the presiding officer apply for trial in their absence;

c) Cases where materials and/or evidences must be verified or additional collected to resolve the cases and such activities could not be carried out at the court;

d) Cases where the additional expertising results or the re-expertising results have not been made and must be waited for;

dd) Involved parties agree to request the Court to postpone the Court session so that they will conduct mediation themselves;

e) Cases which must be reported to the Chief Justice of the Courts to apply for amendment and/or supplement or repeal of legislative documents as prescribed in Article 221 of this Code.

2. The postponement of the Court sessions must be recorded in minutes. Duration of the postponement of the Court sessions must not exceed 01 month from the day on which the trial panels make decisions to postpone the Court sessions. When such time expires, if the reasons for the postponement do not exist anymore, the trial panels shall resume the Court sessions; otherwise, the trial panels shall make decisions to suspend the resolution of the lawsuits. The trial panels must send written notification to procedure participants and the procuracies of the same levels about the time for resuming the Court sessions.

Article 260. Order for making arguments

1. At the end of the inquiring process, the Trial Panels shall move on to the arguments in Court sessions. The order for making arguments shall be as follows:

a) The defense counsels of the plaintiffs' legitimate rights and interests shall make their presentations. The plaintiff shall be entitled to give additional opinions. In cases where agencies or organizations initiate lawsuits, the representatives of such agencies or organizations shall present their opinions. The persons having their rights and interests protected may give additional comments;

b) Defense counsels of the defendants' legitimate rights and interests shall present counter-arguments. The defendant shall be entitled to give additional opinions.

c) Defense counsels of the legitimate rights and interests of persons with related interests and duties shall make presentations. The persons with related interests and duties shall be entitled to give additional opinions;

d) Involved shall present their arguments and counter-arguments according to the control of the presiding Judges;

dd) When it is deemed necessary, the trial panels may request involved parties to make additional argument about specific matters that are used as grounds for the resolution of the cases.

2. In cases where the plaintiffs, the defendants or persons with related interests and duties have no one to defend their legitimate rights and interests, they shall themselves make presentations during the arguments.

3. If any of the involved parties or other participants is absent, the presiding Judges of the Court sessions shall publicly disclose his/her testimonies so that involved parties present at the courtroom could make arguments and responses.

Article 261. Presentations during arguments and responses

When making presentations on the assessment of evidences or expressing their views on the resolution of cases, persons participating in the arguments must base themselves on documents and evidences that have been collected, examined and verified in Court sessions as well as results of the inquiring process in Court sessions. They may respond to the opinions of others.

Article 262. Presentations of procurators

When procedure participants have present their arguments and responses, the procurators shall give opinions about the compliance of the Judges, trial panels, Court reporters and other procedure participants with procedure law during the course of resolution of the cases, from the acceptance to the deliberation and about the case resolution.

Immediately when the Court sessions finish, the procurators must send the writings containing their opinions to the Courts so that the Courts save such documents to the case files.

Article 263. Resuming inquiries and arguments

Through arguments, if deeming that details of the cases have not been considered, or have been considered insufficiently, or it is necessary to additionally examine evidences, the trial panels shall decide to resume the inquiring process.

Section 4. DELIBERATION AND PRONOUNCEMENT OF JUDGMENTS

Article 264. Deliberation

1. At the end of arguments, the trial panels enter the deliberation rooms to deliberate the cases.

2. Only members of the trial panels are allowed to participate in the deliberation. During the deliberation, the trial panel members must base themselves on materials and evidences examined at the Court sessions, the results of arguments at the Court sessions and law provisions; if the cases are of cases specified in clause 2 Article 4 of this Code, the trial members must also base themselves on customs The People’s Jurors shall vote first while the presiding Judges shall vote last. The minority may express their opinions in writing which shall be recorded in the case files.

3. Deliberation must be recorded in minutes specifying all opinions discussed and decisions of the trial panels. The deliberation records must be signed at the deliberation rooms by all members of the trail panels before the judgments are pronounced.

4. Where the cases involve many complicated circumstances and the deliberation requires a longer time, the trial panels may decide on the deliberation time limit which, however, shall not exceed 05 working days since the end of arguments in Court sessions.

The trial panels must inform all persons present in Court sessions and the absent procedure participants of the hours, date and place where the judgments shall be pronounced If the trial panels have made the notification while some proceeding participants are absent, the trial panels shall still proceed with the pronouncement of judgments as provided for in Article 267 of this Code.

Article 265. Resumption of inquiries and arguments

Through deliberation, if deeming that details of the cases have not been considered, the inquiries have not been sufficient or evidences should be further examined, the trial panels may decide to resume the inquiries and arguments.

Article 266. First-instance judgments

1. Courts shall render judgments in the name of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

2. A judgment shall contain an introduction, contents of the case and assessment of the court, and the court's decision. To be specific:

a) The introduction section of the judgment must clearly state the name of the first-instance court; the serial number and date of the case acceptance; the serial number of the judgment and the date of judgment pronouncement; full names of the members of the trial panel, the Court reporter, the procurators, expert-witnesses and interpreter; full names and addresses of the plaintiff, defendant, persons with related interests and duties; agencies, organizations or individuals initiating the lawsuit; the lawful representatives, the defense counsels of the legitimate rights and interests of the involved parties; matters under dispute; the serial number and date of the decision to bring the case to trial; form of trial: public trial or closed trial; time and place of trial;

b) The contents of the cases and assessment of the Court must contain the lawsuit petition of the plaintiff, lawsuit petition of agency/organization/individual; counter-claims and/or requests of the defendant; independent claims and/or requests of persons with related interests and duties.

The Court must base themselves on materials and evidences examined at the Court session and result of argument at the Court session to analyze and assess comprehensively and objectively details of the case and legal bases; if the case is of those specified in clause 2 Article 4 of this Code, the customs, the provisions applicable to same matters, basic principles of civil laws, legal precedents or the justice shall be based on when deciding to or to not approve the petitions/requests of the involved parties or representatives of their legitimate rights and interests and resolving relevant matters.

c) The court’s decision must state legal grounds, decisions of the trial panel on each matter to be resolved in the case, on the application of provisional emergency measures, Court fees, procedural charges and right to appeal against the judgment; in cases where there are decisions which must be executed immediately, such decisions must be clearly stated.

3. When retrying cases of which judgments or decisions have been partial or wholly cancelled according to cassation/reopening decisions, the Court shall resolve all issues pertaining to properties and/or duties that have been executed (if any) according to legally effective judgments and decisions that are cancelled; such shall be recorded in the judgment.

Article 267. Pronouncing judgments

The Trial panels shall pronounce the judgments in the presence of involved parties, representatives of agencies/organizations/individuals initiating lawsuits. If the involved parties are present during the Court session but are absent at the time of pronouncing judgments or in cases specified in clause 4 Article 264 of this Code, the judgment shall be still pronounced by the trial panels.

Upon the pronouncement of a judgment, all people in the courtroom must rise up, except for special cases permitted by the presiding Judge. The presiding Judge or another member of the trial panel reads out the judgment and may give further explanation of the judgment execution and the right to appeal.

If Court conducts the trial behind closed doors as prescribed in clause 2 Article 15 of this Code, the trial panel shall publicly pronounce only the beginning and the decisions in the judgment.

If the involved parties need interpreters, the interpreters shall interpret the parts of judgment that are publicly pronounced.

Article 268. Amendment or supplementation of judgments

1. A judgment, once pronounced must not be amended or supplemented, except where obvious mistakes in spelling, in data due to confusion or miscalculation are detected.

2. If the judgment needs to be amended or supplemented as prescribed in clause 1 of this Article, the Judge shall cooperate with People’s Jurors being members of the trial panel making such judgment to issue a decision on amendment and/or supplement of the judgment and immediately send it to the involved parties, agencies/organizations/individuals initiating the lawsuit, procuracy of the same level and civil judgment-executing bodies if the judgment has been sent to such civil judgment-executing bodies.

In cases where the Judge in charge of the case no longer hold the Judge's position at the Court making such judgment, the courts' Chief Justices shall carry out such amendment or supplementation.

Article 269. Supplying judgment extracts and judgments

1. Within 03 working days after the end of a Court session, the involved parties, agencies, organizations or individuals initiating the lawsuits shall be supplied with judgment extracts by the court.

2. Within 10 days as from the date of judgment pronouncement, the Court shall hand over or send the judgment to the involved parties, agencies, organizations or individuals initiating the lawsuit and the procuracy of the same level.

3. An effective first-instance judgment of the Court about resolution of civil lawsuit pertaining to interests of consumers initiated by a social organization protecting interests of consumers must be publicly posted at the office of the Court and must be publicly posted on one of central or local dailies for three consecutive issues.

An effective first-instance judgment of the Court relevant to the compensation responsibility of the State must be sent to State management agencies competent in state compensation by the Court.

An effective first-instance judgment of the Court relevant to the change of civil status of an individual must be notified by the Court in writing enclosed with judgment extracts to People’s Committee where such individual registered for civil status as prescribed in the Law on civil status.

Time limit for public disclosure, posting or delivery of judgments and notices prescribed in this clause is 05 working days from the day on which the judgment takes legal effect.

4. Effective first-instance judgments of the Court shall be posted on e-portal of the Court (if any), except for court’s judgments/decisions containing information specified in clause 2 Article 109 of this Code.

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