Chương III Thông tư 08/2023/TT-BTP: Kiểm tra kết quả tập sự hành nghề công chứng

Chapter III

NOTARIAL APPRENTICESHIP EXAMINATION

Article 16. Contents and formats of examination

1. Examination contents include:

a) Laws on notarization and authentication, Code of ethics of notarial practice and relevant regulations on notarization;

b) Performance of notarial skills and tasks as prescribed in Article 6 of this Circular.

2. Examination formats include:

a) The first part is a written test. The allotted time is 180 minutes.

b) The second part is a computer-based multiple-choice test; or a paper-based multiple-choice test if the computer-based examination is unavailable.

The Ministry of Justice shall decide and announce the format of the second test in the proposed examination plan.

Article 17. Registration for examination

1. An apprentice may register for an examination if:

a) He/she has received the recognition of apprenticeship completion as per Article 12 of this Circular;

b) He/she was qualified to take the previous examination but later applied to postpone participation and was approved by the Apprenticeship Examination Council;

c) He/she failed the previous examination, except that he/she failed three previous examinations but he/she has not taken another apprenticeship.

2. An apprentice may not register for an examination if:

a) He/she has not been recognized as completing the notarial apprenticeship;

b) He/she was recognized as completing notarial apprenticeship but the recognition was cancelled later;

c) He/she copied another person's apprenticeship performance report or committed fraudulent or dishonest acts to register for the examination.

3. The registrant for the examination must submit a set of registration documents to the Department of Justice where the apprentice is registered, either directly, by mail, or through the online public administrative center. Required registration documents:

a) A registration form to take the notarial apprenticeship examination (Form TP-TSCC-10);

b) A decision on recognition of notarial apprenticeship completion;

c) An apprenticeship performance report;

d) Proof of payment of fees for the appraisal of notary standards and requirements.

The documents specified in Points b, c and d, Clause 1 of this Article are certified copies or photocopies accompanied by originals for comparison. People who were postponed from taking the previous examination only need to submit a registration form stating the postponement.

4. Within 15 days of receiving complete and valid documents, the Department of Justice shall notify the registrant of their eligibility to request the Ministry of Justice to take the examination. In case of refusal, the Department of Justice shall provide explanation in writing.

5. The person who is notified by the Apprenticeship Examination Council as eligible to take the examination is called the examinee. A person who is ineligible to take the examination or who is qualified but does not take the examination will not have their documents and paid fees returned. If they re-register for the next examination, they must submit documents and pay fees as prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 18. Responsibilities for conducting examinations

1. The Ministry of Justice shall conduct notarial apprenticeship examinations according to this Circular and other relevant legal regulations.

2. The expected plan for conducting the examination will be notified by the Ministry of Justice to the Departments of Justice and posted on the Ministry of Justice's website at least 2 months before the date of the examination. The Department of Justice shall publish the notice of submission of registration documents to take the examination according to this Circular and the proposed plan of the Ministry of Justice; make a list of examinees enclosed with their written requests to the Ministry of Justice to take the examination and their registration documents.

Article 19. Apprenticeship Examination Council

1. Apprenticeship Examination Council (hereinafter referred to as Examination Council) is established under a decision of the Minister of Justice. The Examination Council may use the seal of the Ministry of Justice to perform its tasks according to this Circular. The Examination Council terminates upon completion of its tasks.

2. The Examination Council is composed of 7 to 9 people:

a) The leader of the Ministry of Justice is the President of the Council;

b) The leader of the Department of Judicial Assistance is the Deputy President of the Council;

c) Council members are proposed by the Director of the Department of Judicial Assistance, including representatives of certain units affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, representatives of the Vietnam Association of Notaries, and representatives of some Notary Associations.

3. The Examination Council is assisted by the Secretariat, Examination Paper Board, Invigilation Board, Answer Sheet Heading Board, Marking Board and Review Board (hereinafter referred to as the Boards of the Examination Council).

4. Members of the Examination Council and Boards of the Examination Council cannot be relatives of examinees: including their spouses; biological parents, adoptive parents, parents-in-law, biological children, adoptive children, biological siblings, and siblings-in-law.

Article 20. Duties and powers of the Examination Council

1. Issue a plan to conduct the examination and decide amendments to the plan where necessary; issue examination regulations and documents related to the examination.

2. Establish Boards of the Examination Council.

3. Review and decide a list of examinees and a list of ineligible registrants, and then send a such notice to the Department of Justice, and post it on the website of the Ministry of Justice no later than 15 days before the examination date. Where necessary, they can verify or request verification of information in any examination registration documentation.

4. Direct the setting of exam papers; conduct the examination, mark examination scripts, review examination scripts, and announce test results.

5. Provide passing certificates to successful examinees.

6. Cancel the examination results and revoke the passing certificate when there are grounds to believe that the examinee was not allowed to register as an apprentice but was still on apprenticeship, or was ineligible to take the examination but still registered to take the examination or committed other fraudulent acts or violations that change their apprenticeship performance, the examination taking and the examination results.

In case an examinee is discovered to fall into one of the above cases at the time the Examination Council has been dissolved, the Minister of Justice shall consider cancelling the examination results and revoke their passing certificate.

7. Report and be held accountable to the Minister of Justice for the conduction and results of the examination.

8. Other tasks and powers according to this Circular.

Article 21. Duties and powers of the President of the Examination Council and members of the Examination Council

1. The President of the Examination Council has the following duties and powers:

a) Perform the tasks and powers of the Examination Council specified in Article 20 of this Circular; be accountable to the Minister of Justice for performing the tasks and powers of the Examination Council;

b) Assign responsibilities to each member of the Examination Council;

c) Decide on the number of members, tasks, and powers of the Boards of the Examination Council;

d) Decide on the official examination papers to be used for each examination period;

dd) d) Set regulations and instructions on testing methods and marking scales; direct the marking of written tests, recording of examination marks, and review of examination scripts;

e) Take responsibility for management of examination scripts, test results and other relevant documents according to regulations;

g) Take actions against violations of examination regulations within their competence;

h) Resolve complaints and whistleblowing reports related to the examination within their competence.

2. Other members of the Examination Council perform tasks as assigned by the President of the Examination Council and are held accountable to the President of the Examination Council.

Article 22. Supervisory Board

1. The Minister of Justice shall establish a Supervisory Board at the request of the Director of the Department of Judicial Assistance. The Supervisory Board is composed of the Head of the Board and 2 (two) members.

2. Duties and powers of the Supervisory Board:

a) Supervise the conduction of examination;

b) Detect and recommend actions to be taken against violations of examination regulations;

c) Request the Examination Council to take measures to ensure that the examination takes place safely, seriously, and in accordance with regulations.

3. Matters to be supervised:

a) Supervise the implementation of regulations on examination, the performance of duties and powers of members of the Examination Council and Boards of the Examination Council;

b) Supervise the conduction of the examination;

c) Supervise the implementation of regulations of the Examination Council and the resolution of complaints and whistleblowing reports related to the examination.

4. The Supervisory Board shall be held accountable to the Minister of Justice for its supervision activities and report to the Minister of Justice on the results of supervision after each examination period.

Article 23. Rights and obligations of examinees

1. Take the examination at the announced time and location.

2. Comply with the internal regulations of the examination and the decisions and announcements of the Examination Council; be subject to penalties for violations according to law and examination regulations.

3. Be granted a notarial apprenticeship passing certificate in case they pass the examination.

4. Other rights and obligations according to this Circular and other relevant legal documents.

Article 24. Examination marking

1. Examination scripts are marked on a 100-point scale.

Each written test script is marked independently by two members of the Examination Board according to the given instructions, answers, and marking scale, as decided by the President of the Examination Board. The mark of each test script is the average mark given by two examiners. If two examiners give marks that differ by 20 points or more, two other members of the Examination Board, as designated by the Head of the Examination Board, will re-mark the examinee's script. The mark given by the second group of examiners will be the official mark for the test.

Multiple choice test scripts are marked according to the instructions, answers, and marking scale, as decided by the President of the Examination Council.

2. Successful examinees must have 50 marks or more on each examination test.

3. Within 20 days from the end of the examination marking, the President of the Examination Council shall notify the examination results to the Department of Justice, Vietnam Notary Association and Notary Association of the locality where examinees live, and also post the examination results on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

Article 25. Management of examination scripts, examination results and examination registration documents

1. Examination scripts must be sealed immediately after the end of the examination; answer sheet headings and examination marks must be sealed at the end of each working day and immediately after finishing giving codes, cutting off, and matching of answer sheet headings, marking written test scripts, and recording examination marks.

2. Examination scripts and examination results are kept at the Ministry of Justice for a period of 3 years from the examination date.  Examination registration documents are kept for a period of 1 year from the examination date.

3. At the end of the time specified in Clause 2 of this Article, the Minister of Justice shall invalidate the kept examination scripts, examination results, and examination registration documents.

Article 26. Review of examination scripts

1. Examinees who disagree with their written or paper-based multiple-choice test marks may request a review with the President of the Examination Council within 15 days of the results being posted on the Ministry of Justice's website. Computerized-based multiple-choice test scores are not reviewable.

2. Within 15 days from the end of the deadline for receiving the review application, the President of the Examination Council shall decide to establish a Review Board. The Review Board is composed of the Head of the Board and 2 (two) members. Members of the Answer Sheet Heading Board and Marking Board cannot be members of the Review Board.

3. The marking in examination review is carried out according to Article 24 of this Circular. The results of the examination review must be approved by the President of the Examination Council and shall be final and conclusive.