LAW ON COMPLAINTS AND DENUNCIATIONS

(No. 09/1998/QH10 of December 2, 1998)

In order to ensure that complaints and/or denunciations are made and settled lawfully, thus contributing to the promotion of democracy, the enhancement of socialist legal system, and the protection of the interests of the State as well as the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and organizations;

Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

This law prescribes complaints and denunciations and the resolution thereof.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.-

1. Citizens, agencies and organizations are entitled to complain about administrative decisions and/or administrative acts of State administrative bodies and/or competent persons therein when having grounds to believe that such decisions and/or acts have contravened laws and infringed upon their legitimate rights and interests.

Officials and public servants are entitled to complain about disciplinary decisions of competent persons when having grounds to believe that such decisions have contravened laws and infringed upon their legitimate rights and interests.

2. Citizens are entitled to denounce to competent agencies, organizations or individuals illegal acts committed by any agencies, organizations and/or individuals, which cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the interests of the State and/or the legitimate rights and interest of citizens, agencies and/or organizations.

Article 2.- In this law, the following terms shall be construed as follows:

1. “To complain” means that citizens, agencies, organizations or public employees, according to the procedures prescribed by this law, propose competent agencies, organizations and/or individuals to review administrative decisions, administrative acts or disciplinary decisions against public employees when having grounds to believe that such decisions or acts contravene laws and infringe upon their legitimate rights and interests.

2. “To denounce” means that citizens, according to the procedures prescribed by this law, report to competent agencies, organizations and/or individuals on illegal acts of any agencies, organizations and/or individuals, which cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the interests of the State and/or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations.

3. “Complainants” are citizens, agencies, organizations or public employees who exercise their right to complaints.

4. “Eligible complaining agencies and organizations” include the State bodies, political organizations, socio-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-political organizations, economic organizations, People’s Armed Forces units.

5. “Denunciators” are citizens who exercise their right to denunciation.

6. “The complained” shall include agencies, organizations and individuals, whose administrative decisions, administrative acts and/or disciplinary decisions are complained about.

7. “The denounced” shall include agencies, organizations and individuals, whose acts are denounced.

8. “The complaint settler” means agencies, organizations and individuals, that are competent to settle complaints.

9. “The denunciation settler” means agencies, organizations and individuals, that are competent to settle denunciations.

10. “An administrative decision” is a written decision issued by a State administrative agency or a competent person in a State administrative agency and applied once to one or several particular objects for a specific matter in the administrative management activities.

11. “An administrative act” is an act of a State administrative agency and/or a competent person in a State administrative agency during the performance of tasks and/or public duties as prescribed by law.

12. “A disciplinary decision” is a written decision of the head of an agency or organization to apply one of such disciplinary forms as reprimand, warning, wage reduction, demotion, dismissal from office or sack against a public employee in his/her charge according to the provisions of legislation on public employees.

13. “Complaint settlement” means the verification, conclusion and issuance of settlement decision by the complaint settler.

14. “Denunciation settlement” means the verification of, and conclusion on, the denunciation contents, and the issuance of handling decision by a denunciation settler.

15. “The final complaint settlement decision” is a decision that has the implementation effect and thereby the complainant is not entitled to further complain thereabout.

16. “The legally effective decisions on complaint settlement” shall include the final complaint settlement decisions; the initial complaint settlement decision about which the complainants have, within the complaining timelimits prescribed by law, failed to further complain or to initiate administrative lawsuits in courts; and the subsequent complaint settlement decisions about which the complainants have, within the complaining timelimits prescribed by law, failed to further complain.

Article 3.- Agencies, organizations and individuals shall have to examine and review their administrative decisions, administrative acts or disciplinary decisions, for timely amendments if they are deemed unlawful in order to avoid complaints.

The State encourages the conciliation of disputes among population before they are settled by competent agencies, organizations and/or individuals in order to restrain complaints from arising from the grassroots.

Article 4.- The making and settlement of complaints and denunciations must comply with the provisions of law.

Article 5.- Agencies, organizations and individuals shall, within their respective functions, tasks and powers, have to receive people who come to make complaints, denunciations, petitions and reports; to receive and settle complaints and denunciations in a timely manner and according to laws; to strictly deal with violators; apply necessary measures to prevent damage that may occur; to ensure the strict execution of settlement decisions and take responsibility before law for their decisions.

Article 6.- Persons who are responsible for settling complaints and denunciations but fail to do so, show irresponsibility in settling them or deliberately settle them illegally shall be severely dealt with; if damage is caused, compensation must be made according to law.

Article 7.- Concerned agencies and organizations shall have to coordinate with competent agencies, organizations and/or individuals in settling complaints and denunciations; and supply information and documents relating to the complaints and denunciations at the latter’s requests.

Article 8.- Complaint settlement decisions must be respected by agencies, organizations and individuals. Complaint settlement decisions with legal effect must be strictly implemented by concerned agencies, organizations and/or individuals. Persons having the responsibility to execute the complaint settlement decisions but fail to do so shall be strictly dealt with.

The denunciation settlers shall have to study and make conclusion on the denunciation contents; if any violations are found they must promptly deal with or request competent persons to deal with the violators.

The victims shall have their legitimate rights and interests, which are infringed upon, restored, be compensated for damage as prescribed by law.

Article 9.- The National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Nationality Council and Commissions of the National Assembly, the People’s Councils at all levels, the National Assembly deputies and the People’s Council deputies shall, within their respective functions, tasks and powers, supervise the enforcement of legislation on complaints and denunciations.

Article 10.- The Government shall, within its functions, tasks and powers, organize and direct the settlement of complaints and denunciations; perform the State management over the settlement of complaints and denunciations nationwide.

The People’s Committees at all levels shall, within their respective functions, tasks and powers, organize and direct the settlement of complaints and denunciations; and perform the State management over the settlement of complaints and denunciations in their respective localities.

Article 11.- The State inspectorates at all levels shall, within their functions, tasks and powers, inspect the observance of complaint and denunciation legislation by the State administrative bodies; consider and settle complaints and denunciations according to the provisions of this law and other law provisions.

Article 12.- The people’s procuracies shall control the observance of complaint and denunciation legislation according to the provisions of this law and other law provisions.

Article 13.- The Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations shall mobilize the people to strictly abide by the complaints and denunciations legislation and supervise the enforcement thereof according to the provisions of this law.

Article 14.- The people’s inspectorates, established and operating according to law, shall supervise the complaint and denunciation settlement by the presidents of the People’s Committees of communes, wards and district towns, as well as by heads of local agencies and units according to the provisions of this law.

Article 15.- Complaints and denunciations forwarded by press agencies must be considered and settled by competent bodies, organizations and/or individuals and the complaint and/or denunciation forwarding agencies must be informed of the settlement as prescribed by law.

Press agencies shall report on complaints and denunciations and the settlement of complaints and denunciations in according with the provisions of the Press Law after full verification thereof and take responsibility before law for such reports.

Article 16.- Strictly prohibited are all acts of obstructing the exercise of the right to make complaints and denunciations; threatening, revenging or retaliating the complainants and/or denunciators; disclosing names, family names, addresses and/or autographs of denunciators; deliberately unsettling or settling illegally complaints and/or denunciations; covering and protecting the complained and/or denounced; illegally intervening in the settlement of complaints and denunciations; inciting, forcing, inducing or buying off other people to make false complaints and/or denunciations; threatening and/or offending persons competent to settle complaints and denunciations; and taking advantage of the complaint and denunciation-making to make distortions or slanders or to cause disorder.

Chapter II

COMPLAINTS AND SETTLEMENT OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS, ADMINISTRATIVE ACTS

Section 1. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMPLAINANTS AND THE COMPLAINED

Article 17.-

1. The complainant shall have the following rights:

a/ To make complaints by themselves or through their lawful representatives;

b/ To receive written replies on the acceptance of complaints for settlement; to receive decisions on complaint settlement;

c/ To be entitled to the restoration of their legitimate rights and interests which were infringed upon, and to the compensation for damage according to the provisions of law.

d/ To be entitled to further their complaints or initiate administrative lawsuits in courts according to the provisions of this law as well as the administrative procedures legislation;

e/ To withdraw their complaints at any time during the process of settlement.

2. The complainants shall have the following obligations:

a/ To complain to the right persons with settling competence;

b/ To honestly present the matters; provide information and documents for complaint settlers; and take responsibility before law for the contents they have presented as well as their provision of such information and documents;

c/ To strictly abide by the legally effective decisions on complaint settlement.

Article 18.-

1. The complained shall have the following rights:

a/ To show evidence of the legality of the complained administrative decisions and/or administrative acts;

b/ To receive the complaint settlement decisions of the subsequent complaint settler regarding the complaints they have settled, but the complainants have furthered.

2. The complained shall have the following obligations:

a/ To receive and settle complaints about the administrative decisions and/or administrative acts; to send written notices on the receipt of complaints for settlement as well as settlement decisions to complainants and take responsibility before law for their settlement; in cases where complaints are forwarded by agencies, organizations and/or responsible person, the latter must be informed of the settlement or settlement results according to the provisions of this law;

b/ To make justifications for the complained administrative decisions and/or administrative acts and to provide relevant information and documents when requested by competent bodies, organizations and/or individuals;

c/ To strictly abide by legally effective decisions on complaint settlement;

d/ To compensate the damage and overcome the consequences, caused by their illegal administrative decisions and/or administrative acts, according to the provisions of law.

Section 2. COMPETENCE TO SETTLE COMPLAINTS

Article 19.- The presidents of the People’s Committees of communes, wards and district towns (collectively called the commune level), heads of the agencies under the People’s Committees of rural districts, urban districts and the provincial    capitals and towns are competent to settle complaints about the administrative decisions and/or administrative acts of their own as well as of responsible persons under their direct management.

Article 20.- The presidents of the People’s Committees of rural and urban districts, provincial    capitals and towns (collectively called the district level) shall have the competence.

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

2. To settle complaints which have already been settled by presidents of the commune-level People’s Committees or heads of agencies attached to the district-level People’s Committees, but further made.

Article 21.- The heads of agencies under the provincial/municipal departments and equivalent levels are competent to settle complaints about the administrative decisions and/or administrative acts of their own or of officials or employees under their direct management.

Article 22.- Directors of the departments under the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities and equivalent levels have the competence:

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

2. To settle complaints which have already been settled by persons defined in Article 21 of this law, but still further made.

Article 23.- 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 administrative acts;

2. To settle complaints which have already been settled by Presidents of the district-level People’s Committees but further made; these shall be the final decisions on the settlement of such complaints;

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

Article 24.- The heads of the sections under the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies and agencies attached to the Government shall have competence to settle complaints about administrative decisions and/or administrative acts of their own and/or of officials and employees under their direct management.

Article 25.-

1. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government are competent:

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 this law, but further made;

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

2. The complaint settlement decisions of the ministers and the heads of the ministerial-level agencies defined in Points b and c of Clause 1, this Article, shall be the final ones.

Article 26.- The State Inspector-General shall have the competence:

1. To settle complaints which have already been solved by heads of the agencies attached to the Government but further made, except for complaints settled by decisions of heads of the agencies under the Government, namely ministers; these shall be the final decisions on the settlement of such complaints;

2. To verify, make conclusion on and propose the resolution of, complaints under the Prime Minister’s jurisdiction;

3. To settle complaints under the Prime Minister’s authorization according to the Government’s regulations;

4. To propose the Prime Minister to reconsider final decisions on complaint settlement, which are found having violated law, thus causing damage to interests of the State as well as the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and organizations.

Article 27.-

1. Chief inspectors of the provincial level and the chief inspectors of the district level shall have the competence:

a/ To verify, make conclusion on and propose the resolution of, complaints which fall under the settling competence of the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the same level;

b/ To settle complaints under the authorization of the presidents of the People’s Committees of the same level according to the Government’s regulations.

2. The chief inspectors of the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies and the agencies attached to the Government and the chief inspectors of the provincial/municipal departments or equivalent levels shall have to verify, make conclusion on, and propose the resolution of, complaints which fall under the jurisdiction of the heads of such agencies.

Article 28.-

1. The Prime Minister shall have the competence to make the final decisions on the settlement of:

a/ Complaints which have already been settled by ministers or heads of the ministerial-level agencies but further made, except for those with final settlement decisions;

b/ Particularly complicated complaints involving many localities and many fields of State management.

2. The Prime Minister shall have the competence to reconsider the final complaint settling decisions which have violated laws, causing damage to interests of the State as well as the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies or organizations.

Article 29.-

1. The Prime Minister shall settle disputes over the complaint settling competence among ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies attached to the Government and provincial-level People’s Committees.

2. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the provincial-level People’s Committees shall settle disputes over the complaint-settling competence among agencies and units under their management.

Section 3. COMPLAINTS, PROCEDURES FOR SETTLEMENT THEREOF

Article 30.- The complainants shall have to first complain with the persons who have issued the administrative decisions or with bodies managing the officials and/or employees who have committed the administrative acts, and the complainants have grounds to believe that such decisions and/or acts have contravened laws, infringing upon their legitimate rights and interests.

Article 31.- The statute of limitation for a complaint shall be 90 days from the date of receiving the administrative decision or detecting the administrative act.

In cases where a complainant cannot exercise his/her right to complain within such statute of limitation due to his/her illness, natural calamities, enemy sabotage, his/her travel to distant places for mission or study or due to other objective obstacles, the duration when such obstacles exist shall not be calculated into the statute of limitation for the complaint.

Article 32.- Complaints made in one of the following circumstances shall not be accepted for settlement:

1. The complained administrative decisions and/or administrative acts do not directly relate to the complainants’ legitimate rights and interests;

2. The complainants have no full    acity for their acts while having no lawful representatives, except otherwise provided for by law;

3. The representatives are unlawful;

4. The statute of limitations for complaints and the timelimit for further complaints have expired;

5. The complaints have been settled by final decisions;

6. The complaints have been accepted by courts for settlement or already settled by the court judgements and/or decisions.

Article 33.-

1. Where complaints are made in writing, the written complaints must clearly state the dates of complaints; names and addresses of the complained agencies, organizations and/or individuals; the contents and reasons of the complaints and the requests of the complainants. The written complaints must be signed by the complainants.

2. Where the complainants come to make complaints personally, the responsible officials shall have to guide them to make the complaints in writing or record their contents, as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, with the signatures of the complainants.

3. Where the complaints are made through the complainants’ representatives, the latter shall have to show papers evidencing the legality of their representation, and the complaint-making must comply with the procedures prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 34.- Within 10 days after receiving a written complaint which falls under his/her settling competence but not under the circumstances prescribed in Article 32 of this law, the first complaint settler shall have to take it for settlement and notify in writing the com-plainant thereof; in case of refusal to take the complaint for settlement, the reason(s) therefor must be given.

Article 35.- In the course of complaint settlement, if deeming that the execution of a complained administrative decision will cause irremediable consequences, the first complaint settler shall have to issue a decision to temporarily suspend the execution of such administrative decision. The suspension duration shall not exceed the remainder of the timelimit for the first settlement. The suspension decision must be addressed to the complainant and persons with related rights and interests. When the reason for suspension is deemed no longer in existence, that suspension must be cancelled immediately.

Article 36.- The timelimit for the first settlement of a complaint shall not exceed 30 days after the receipt of the complaint for settlement; for a complicated case, such timelimit may be longer but shall not exceed 45 days after the receipt of complaint for settlement.

In deep-lying or distant areas difficult to access, the timelimit for the first settlement of a complaint shall not exceed 45 days after the receipt of the complaint for settlement; for  a complicated case, such timelimit may be longer but shall not exceed 60 days after the receipt of complaint for settlement.

Article 37.- When necessary, the first complaint settler shall meet and talk directly with the complainant and the complained person for the clarification of the complained contents as well as the complainant’s claims, and for settlement directions.

The first complaint settler shall have to issue the complaint settlement decision in writing and send it to the complainant and persons with related rights and interests; when necessary, such a decision shall be publicly announced to the complainant and the complained person.

Article 38.- A decision on the first settlement of a complaint must include the following contents:

1. The day, month and year when the decision is issued;

2. The names and addresses of the complainant and the complained as well;

3. The complained contents, which are true, partially true or totally untrue;

4. The legal grounds of the complaint;

5. Retaining, amending or canceling part or whole of the administrative decision; terminating the administrative acts which are complained about; the settling of specific matters in the complained contents;

6. Compensation to victims (if any);

7. The right to further lodge complaints or initiate an administrative lawsuit at court.

Article 39.- If within 30 days from the date of expiry of the settlement timelimits prescribed in Article 36 of this law a complaint is not settled, or from the date of receipt of the decision on the first settlement of the complaint which the complainant disagrees with, 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 distant areas difficult to access, the above-said timelimit may be longer but shall not exceed 45 days.