On May 1, 2020, Decree No. 33/2020/ND-CP amending Decree No. 62/2015/ND-CP regarding the implementation of the Law on civil judgment enforcement officially takes effect. Accordingly, Article 1.9 of Decree No. 33/2020/ND-CP replaced Article 16 of Decree No. 62/2015/ND-CP related to authorizing civil judgment enforcement, as follow:
On the basis of the judgment or decision being executed or the result of the verification, the head of the civil judgment enforcement authority shall authorize another civil judgment enforcement authority where the judgment debtor has property, works, resides or locates headquarters. As such, the replaced provision expands the scope of the determination on civil judgment enforcement authority which is no longer limited by the place where the property exists, but also the workplace, residence or headquarters of the judgment debtors. This provision has contributed to solving difficulties arising in practice when the identification of place of enforceable property is in difficulty. Decree No. 33/2020/ND-CP also stipulates that where judgment debtor’s property is located in more than one place, the civil judgment enforcement authority shall authorize in the following order:
- under an agreement of litigants;
- where the property is sufficient to satisfy the judgment;
- Where the most valuable total properties are located (replaces the previous provision stipulating where the most valuable property is located or where the most property is located).
Moreover, in order to create favorable conditions for the judgment enforcement, Decree 33/2020/ND-CP also sets forth regulations to deal with cases in which enforceable property is under dispute: “In case the enforceable property is under dispute and it has been settled by the court, if the judgment debtor has property in another place, then the case is authorized to the civil judgment enforcement authority of such place to enforce the judgment.”
At the same time, Article 1.9 of the amended Decree also stipulates in detail the rights and obligations of entities, the procedures on authorizing judgment enforcement in order to facilitate judgment enforcement process and ensure the benefit of stakeholders.
In order to overcome the shortcomings of Decree no. 62/2015/ND-CP related to the authorization of judgment enforcement, Decree No. 33/2020/ND-CP has made some changes in an effort of improving the implementation process and protecting the legal rights of the entities.