To implement the loosening of social distancing restrictions when Vietnam has moved to a new stage of long-term prevention and control of COVID-19 under the conclusion of Notice No. 164/TB-VPCP dated April 23rd, 2020 of the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Government Standing Committee on COVID-19 prevention and control, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court issued Official Dispatch No. 141A/TANDTC-VP dated April 23rd, 2020 regarding the prevention and control of COVID-19 (“Official Dispatch No. 141A”), requesting the Chief Justice of the Courts, the Heads of units of the Supreme People’s Court to directs and seriously executes the following tasks:
First, from April 23rd, 2020, civil servants and employees of the Courts and units of the Supreme People’s Court come to work at headquarters. Previously, according to Official Dispatch No. 118/TANDTC-VP on March 31st, 2020 and Official Dispatch No. 127/TANDTC-VP on April 16th, 2020, employees, civil servants of the Court, especially the Courts in the provinces and cities of High-Risk Group, were recommended to work from home with the help of information technology until April 22nd (except for special cases in which they had to be at the workplace according to the heads’ request). For Courts located in provinces and cities of Risk Group and Low-Risk Group, from April 16th, 2020, employees can come to work to conduct trials and handle cases. Now that there are only four High-Risk districts in Vietnam (Me Linh and Thuong Tin – Hanoi; Dong Van – Ha Giang; Yen Phong – Bac Ninh), the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court asked civil servants and employees to come to their offices in order to speed up the trials and resolution of the cases.
Second, to schedule trials, solve cases on both Saturdays and Sundays to ensure the progress and time limit for handling. Accordingly, the cases that have been temporarily suspended shall be brought to trial and resolved in accordance with the procedural law; however, it is mandatory to implement measures for prevention and control of COVID-19 till the end of May 31st, 2020, specificially as follows:
– Only summon presiding officers, civil procedure-participants to attend the trials and meetings. Gatherings of more than 20 people in a room are not recommended; it is requested to keep a distance of over 2m between a person and a person in the trial room and workplace. Arranging a courtroom online to ensure the minimum distance between people.
– When going to Courts, civil servants, employees, presiding officers, civil procedure-participants must adhere to social distancing, temperature measurements, antiseptic hand-wash and wear a mask throughout the working time.
In particular, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court required to give priority to trial and deal with cases that are about to expire; cases related to COVID-19 prevention; cases in serving of local political duties; serious cases that are a public concern;…
In the event that there are not enough meetings or trial rooms, Courts at all levels hire and arrange additional courtrooms satisfied the conditions.
Courts located in areas of High-Risk Group shall continue to strictly apply the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 16/CT-TTg. The Chief positions in such localities must take initiative in organizing and strictly implementing social distancing guidelines, as well as pandemic prevention requirements.
These are the main and new requirements for the prevention and control of Covid-19 pandemic in the People’s Court system stated in Official Dispatch No. 141A. Depending on the situation and development of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme People’s Court will have timely guidance.