Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Civil status and registration of civil status
1. Civil status means fundamental events determining the personal status of a person from the time he/she is born to the time he/she dies.
2. Civil status registration under the provisions of this Decree means that competent state agencies:
a/ Certify the events of birth; marriage; death; child adoption; guardianship; recognition of father, mother, child; change, correction, supplement, adjustment of civil status; re-determination of gender; re-determination of ethnicity;
b/ Based on decisions of competent state agencies, write in civil status books the events of determination of father, mother, child; change of citizenship; divorce; annulment of illegal marriage; termination of child adoption.
3. The registration of marriage; the recognition of father, mother, child; and the child adoption which involve foreign elements shall comply with the Government's Decree No. 68/2002/ND-CP of July 10, 2002, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Marriage and Family regarding marriage and family relations involving foreign elements.
Article 2. Purposes of civil status management
Civil status management is an important and regular task of the administration at all levels, aiming to monitor the actual situation of and changes in civil status and, on that basis, to protect the legitimate rights and interests of individuals and families, at the same time contribute to formulating economic, social, security, defense, population and family planning policies.
Article 3. Right and obligation to register civil status
Individuals shall have the right and obligation to make civil status registration
Persons responsible for performing civil status registration must voluntarily register civil status events in accordance with the provisions of this Decree.
Civil status registration offices shall have to create favorable conditions for every individual to exercise his/her right and perform his/her obligation to make civil status registration.
Article 4. Principles on civil status registration and management
1. All civil status events must be registered fully, promptly and accurately in accordance with the provisions of this Decree.
2. Each civil status event can be registered only at one place strictly according to the competence provided for in this Decree.
3. Superior civil status management offices must regularly examine, urge, guide and direct their subordinates; if detecting violations, they must rectify and handle them in time.
4. Civil status registration offices must post up publicly and accurately the regulations on papers to be produced or submitted by civil status registration applicants for civil status registration, on the time limit for settlement and civil status registration fees.
Article 5. Legal validity of civil status papers
1. Civil status papers granted to individuals by competent state agencies under the provisions of law on civil status shall serve as legal bases for certification of civil status events of such individuals.
2. The birth certificate is an original civil status paper of each individual. All files and papers of individuals written with their family names, given names, middle names; dates of birth; gender, ethnicity; citizenship; native places; parental, offspring relations must be compatible with the birth certificates of such persons.
3. Civil status papers granted by overseas-based diplomatic missions, consular offices of Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as Vietnamese diplomatic missions and consulates) shall have the same validity as civil status papers granted domestically.
Article 6. Use of civil status papers issued by competent foreign bodies
1. Civil status papers issued by competent foreign bodies must be consular legalized when they are used in Vietnam, except otherwise provided for by treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a party.
Civil status papers issued by Vietnam-based foreign diplomatic missions or consulates to their citizens for use in Vietnam shall be exempt from consular legalization on the basis of reciprocity.
2. Civil status papers specified in Clause 1 of this Article in foreign languages must be translated into Vietnamese and the translations must be notarized according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.
3. Vietnamese citizens who possess civil status papers specified in Clause 1 of this Article and return to the country for permanent residence shall have to carry out the procedures for recording in civil status books according to the provisions in Section 4, Chapter III of this Decree.
Article 7. Witnesses
1. In cases where this Decree provides for testimonies, witnesses must have full civil act capacity and clearly know the facts they testify to.
2. Witnesses must bear responsibility before law for the accuracy of the facts they have testified to.
Article 8. Determination of the competence for civil status registration
Where this Decree provides the civil status registration competence according to residence places, the civil status registration competence shall be determined as follows:
1. For Vietnamese citizens living in the country, civil status registration shall be made at the places where they register their permanent residence in household registration books; in case of non-availability of such places of permanent residence registration, civil status registration shall be made at the places where they register their temporary residence for a definite period according to the provisions of law on household registration.
2. For foreigners residing in Vietnam, civil status registration shall be made at the places where they register their permanent residence; in case of non-availability of such places of permanent residence registration, civil status registration shall be made at the places where such persons register their temporary residence.
Article 9. Personal papers to be produced upon civil status registration
Upon civil status registration, if civil status judicial officials of communes, wards or district townships (hereinafter called civil status judicial officials) or judicial officials of Justice Sections of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns (hereinafter called judicial officials of Justice Sections) or civil status officials of provincial/municipal Justice Services do not know clearly about the personal identities or residence places of the persons concerned, they shall request the latter to produce the following papers for examination:
1. People’s identity cards or passports of the civil status registration applicants in order to identify such individuals;
2. Household registration books, written certifications of collective residence registration or temporary residence registration papers (for Vietnamese citizens living in the country); permanent residence cards, temporary residence cards or certificates (for foreigners residing in Vietnam) for use as grounds to determine the civil status registration competence under the provisions of this Decree.
Article 10. Authorization
Persons who request civil status registration (except for marriage registration, child adoption registration, guardianship registration, registration of recognition of father, mother or child) or apply for civil status papers but have no conditions to personally go to civil status registration offices may authorize other persons to do such things for them. Authorization must be made in writing and notarized or lawfully authenticated.
If the authorized persons are the grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, children, spouses or siblings of the authorizing persons, letters of authorization are not required.
Article 11. Application of treaties
In cases where treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a party contain provisions different from those of this Decree, the provisions of such treaties shall apply.
Article 12. Civil status registration fees
Civil status registration offices shall be entitled to collect fees according to the provisions of law which are inclusive of expenses for civil status papers and forms.
The levels, collection, remittance and use of civil status registration fee shall be prescribed by the Finance Ministry.
Tìm kiếm
Nghị định 158/2005/NĐ-CP (Bản Word)