LAW

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE LAW ON COMPLAINTS AND DENUNCIATIONS

(No. 26/2004/QH11 of June 15, 2004)

Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10 of December 25, 2001 of the Xth National Assembly, the 10th session;

This Law amends and supplements a number of articles of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations, which was passed on December 2, 1998 by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations:

1. Article 23 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 23.

The presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities (collectively called the provincial level) shall have the competence:

1. To settle complaints about their own administrative decisions and/or acts;

2. To settle complaints which have already been settled by the presidents of the district-level People's Committees but further lodged; their decisions shall be the final ones on the settlement of such complaints;

3. To settle complaints which have already been settled by the directors of the provincial services or equivalent levels under the provincial-level People's Committees, but further lodged with contents falling under the scope of management of the provincial-level People's Committees; their decisions shall be the final ones on the settlement of such complaints;

4. To re-examine the final complaint-settling decisions which violate law provisions and thereby cause damage to the State's interests and/or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations, at the request of the Inspector General."

2. Article 25 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 25.

1. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall have the competence:

a/ To settle complaints about administrative decisions and/or administrative acts of their own and/or of officials and employees under their direct management;

b/ To settle complaints which have already been settled by persons defined in Article 24 of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations, but further lodged;

c/ To settle complaints with contents falling under the State management of their respective ministries or branches, which have been first settled by the presidents of the provincial-level People's Committees, and complaints which have already been settled by the directors of provincial services or equivalent levels under the provincial-level People's Committees, but further lodged.

2. The ministers and the heads of the ministerial-level agencies shall assume the prime responsibility for, or take part in, the settlement of complaints related to many localities or many State management domains under the Prime Minister's direction; to reconsider the final complaint-settling decisions which violate law provisions and thereby cause damage to the State's interests and/or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations, at the request of the Inspector General.

3. The complaint-settling decisions of the ministers and the heads of the ministerial-level agencies defined at Points b and c, Clause 1 of this Article shall be the final ones."

3. Article 26 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 26.

The Inspector General shall have the competence:

1. To settle complaints which have already been settled by the heads of the agencies attached to the Government but further lodged; their decisions shall be the final ones on the settlement of such complaints;

2. To assist the Prime Minister in monitoring and urging the ministries and ministerial-level agencies to settle complaints related to many localities or many State management domains;

3. To assist the Prime Minister in re-examining the final decisions on the settlement of complaints by the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies or the presidents of the provincial-level People's Committees; in case of detecting law violations that cause damage to the State's interests and/or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations, to propose or request the persons who have issued the settlement decisions to re-examine such decisions; if after 30 days such proposal or request is still ignored, to report such to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision."

4. Article 27 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 27.

The chief inspectors of different levels and branches shall have to verify, make conclusion on, and propose the settlement of complaints falling under the settling competence of the heads of management agencies of the same level."

5. Article 28 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 28.

The Prime Minister shall have the responsibility:

1. To lead the work of complaint settlement by the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People's Committees of all levels;

2. To direct the ministers and the heads of the ministerial-level agencies to settle complaints related to many localities or many State management domains and assign the Inspector General to monitor and urge the settlement thereof;

3. To re-examine the final complaint-settling decisions which violate law provisions and thereby cause damage to the State's interests and/or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations."

6. Article 37 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 37.

The first complaint settlers must meet and talk directly with the complainants and the complained persons to clarify the contents of the complaints, the complainants' claims and the way of complaint settlement; the subsequent complaint settlers shall meet and talk directly with the complainants and the complained persons when necessary.

The first complaint settlers must issue the complaint-settling decisions in writing and send them to the complainants and the persons with relevant rights and interests; and publicly announce such decisions to the complainants and the complained persons when necessary."

7. Article 39 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 39.

If within 30 days as from the date of expiry of the settlement time-limit prescribed in Article 36 of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations, a complaint is not settled, or as from the date of receipt of the first complaint-settling decision, the complainant disagrees therewith, he/she may further lodge the complaint to the next competent complaint settler or initiate an administrative lawsuit at a court as prescribed by law; for deep-lying and remote areas difficult to access, the above-said time-limit may be prolonged but must not exceed 45 days.

In cases where the complainants disagree with the first complaint-settlement decisions of ministers or heads of the ministerial-level agencies, they may initiate administrative lawsuits at the provincial-level People's Courts, except otherwise provided for by law."

8. Article 54 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 54.

Within 10 days as from the date of receiving the first complaint-settlement decisions, if the complainants disagree therewith, they may further lodge their complaints to the next competent complaint settlers; for complaints about decisions to discipline officials and/or employees, which have been first settled by the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government or the presidents of the provincial-level People's Committees but the complainants still disagree with the settlement, such complainants may further lodge their complaints to the next complaint settler being the Minister of Home Affairs.

Within 30 days after receiving the complaints for settlement, the next competent complaint settlers must consider and issue complaint-settling decisions in writing; for complicated cases, the complaint-settlement time-limit may be prolonged but must not exceed 45 days as from the date of receipt of the complaints. These shall be the final decisions on the settlement of complaints."

Article 2.

1. To annul Article 12 of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations.

2. To replace the phrase "State Inspector General" in Articles 63, 64 and 84 of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations with the phrase "Inspector General"; and the phrase "State Inspectorate" in Article 81 of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations with the phrase "Government Inspectorate."

Article 3. This Law takes affect as from October 1, 2004.

The Government shall details and guides the implementation of this Law.

This Law was passed on June 15, 2004 by the 11th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 5th session.