THE GOVERNMENT

DECREES:

Article 1.- To hereby amend and supplement Articles 5, 12, 13, 15, 17 and 43 of the August 7, 1999 Decree No.67/1999/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations as follows:

1. Article 5 is amended as follows:

"Article 5.- Upon receiving letters of complaint, the State bodies shall handle them as follows:

1. For letters of complaint which fall under their settling jurisdiction and satisfy the conditions prescribed in Article 1 of this Decree, the receiving agencies shall have to accept, process and settle them; where a letter of complaint is signed by many persons, the receiving agency shall have to guide the complainants to write separate letters of complaints;

2. For letters of complaint which fall under their settling jurisdiction but fail to satisfy the conditions for being accepted, processed and settled according to the provisions in Article 1 of this Decree, the receiving agencies shall have to reply the complainants in writing, clearly stating the reasons therefor;

3. For letters of complaint, which contain both complaints and denunciations, the receiving agencies shall have to handle the complaints according to the provisions at Points 1, 2 and 5 of this Article and the denunciations according to the provisions in Article 43 of this Decree;

4. For letters of complaint which fall under the settling jurisdiction of their subordinate agencies but have been left unsettled past the prescribed time limits, the immediate superior bodies shall directly handle them as provided for at Point 2, Article 17 of this Decree;

5. For letters of complaint which do not fall under their settling jurisdiction and letters of complaint about matters which have been settled by the final decisions, the complaint-receiving bodies shall not have to accept and process them but issue written notices and guidance thereon to the complainants. The notification shall be made only once for each complained matter; where a complainant sends together with the letter of complaint the original documents or papers relating to the complained matter, the complaint-receiving body shall return them to the complainant."

2. Article 12 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 12.-

1. The presidents of the provincial-level People�s Committees shall have to settle complaints falling under their jurisdiction according to the order and procedures prescribed in the Law on Complaints and Denunciations.

a/ With regard to complaints about their own administrative decisions and/or acts, the presidents of the provincial-level People�s Committees shall assign the heads of the specialized agencies under the provincial-level People�s Committees or the provincial-level chief inspectors to consider them, make conclusions thereon and propose solutions thereto;

b/ With regard to complaints which have already been settled by the presidents of the district-level People�s Committees or the directors of the provincial-level Services but are further lodged and have contents falling within the scope of their management, the provincial-level People�s Committee presidents shall assign the provincial-level chief inspectors to make verifications and conclusions thereon and propose solutions thereto;

c/ Basing themselves on the verification reports, conclusions and proposed solutions, the provincial-level People�s Committee presidents shall issue settling decisions or authorize the provincial-level chief inspectors to issue settling decisions according to the provisions in Clause 2, Article 20 of this Decree and within the time limits prescribed in the Law on Complaints and Denunciations. The decisions on the settlement of complaints mentioned at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article shall be the first complaint-settling decisions; the decisions on the settlement of complaints mentioned at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article shall be the final ones.

For complicated matters, before signing the final complaint-settling decisions, the provincial-level People�s Committee presidents shall have to consult ministries, ministerial-level agencies or agencies attached to the Government on the contents related to the latter�s State management functions.

In consultation, the matters� contents and the to be-consulted contents must be pointed out. The ministries, ministerial-level agencies and agencies attached to the Government that receive the written consulting requests shall have to reply within 15 days thereafter.

2. The provincial-level People�s Committee presidents or chief inspectors authorized to issue settling decisions shall have to send such decisions to the complainants, the complained persons and the persons with involved rights and interests; if they are the final complaint-settling decisions, they shall also be sent to the State Inspector General; if they are the first complaint-settling decisions, they shall be sent to the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, who are competent to continue settling such complaints; for complicated matters, the complainants, the complained persons, the persons with involved rights and interests and the representatives of the concerned agencies shall be invited to witness the publicization of the complaint-settling decisions.

3. The provincial-level People�s Committee presidents shall have to enforce and organize the enforcement of legally effective complaint-settling decisions within the ambit of their responsibilities; and inspect and urge the enforcement thereof by their subordinate agencies and units.

4. The provincial-level People�s Committee presidents shall, before signing the final complaint-settling decisions on complicated cases where many persons complain about one matter, have to talk directly with the complainants, the complained persons, the persons having previously settled the complaints and the persons with involved rights and interests.

When organizing such dialogues, the complaint-settling persons shall have to make public the matter-verification reports, evidences and legal bases relating to the settlement of the matters and announce the planned handling thereof. The dialogue participants shall have the right to give their opinions and evidences related to the matters as well as their requests. The dialogues must be recorded in writing."

3. Article 13 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 13.-

1. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall have to settle complaints falling under their jurisdiction according to the order and procedures prescribed in the Law on Complaints and Denunciations.

a/ With regard to complaints about administrative decisions and/or acts of their own, or their officials and employees, the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies or the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall assign the department directors, the heads of functional units or the chief inspectors of the same level to consider them, make conclusions thereon and propose solutions thereto;

b/ With regard to complaints which have already been settled by the heads of the bodies under the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies or the agencies attached to the Government, the presidents of the provincial-level People�s Committees or the directors of the provincial/municipal Services, but which are still further lodged and fall under their settling jurisdiction, the chief inspectors of the same level shall be assigned to make verifications and conclusions thereon and propose solutions thereto;

c/ Basing themselves on the verification reports, conclusions and proposed solutions to the settlement of complaints, the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall issue the settling decisions within the time limits prescribed in the Law on Complaints and Denunciations. The decisions on the settlement of complaints mentioned at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article shall be the first complaint-settling decisions; the decisions on the settlement of complaints mentioned at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article, of the ministers or the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, shall be the final ones.

For complicated matters, before signing the final complaint-settling decisions, the ministers or the heads of the ministerial-level agencies shall have to consult other ministries and/or branches on the contents related to the latter�s State management domains, as well as the provincial-level People�s Committees of the localities where the complained matters arise.

In consultation, the matters� contents and the to be-consulted contents must be pointed out. The consulted agencies shall have to reply within 15 days after receiving the written consulting requests.

2. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall have to send the complaint-settling decisions to the complainants, the complained persons, the persons with involved rights and interests and the State Inspector General; for complicated matters, the complainants, the complained persons, the persons with involved rights and interests and the representatives of concerned agencies shall be invited to witness the publicization of the complaint-settling decisions.

3. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall have to enforce and organize the enforcement of the legally effective complaint-settling decisions within the ambit of their responsibilities; and inspect and urge the agencies and units under their management in the enforcement thereof.

4. The ministers and the heads of the ministerial-level agencies shall, before signing the final complaint-settling decisions on complicated cases where many persons complain about one matter, have to talk directly with the complainants, the complained persons, the persons having previously settled the complaints and the persons with involved rights and interests.

When organizing such dialogues, the complaint-settling persons shall have to make public the matter-verification reports, evidences and legal bases relating to the settlement of the matters and notify the planned handling thereof. The dialogue participants shall have the right to give their opinions and evidences related to the matters as well as their requests. The dialogues must be recorded in writing."

4. Article 15 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 15.-

1. The final decisions on the settlement of complaints must be strictly implemented by responsible organizations and individuals.

The final decisions on the settlement of complaints shall be reviewed only upon the detection of new circumstances or signs of law violations, which cause damage to the State�s interests or legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations.

The persons who have issued the final complaint-settling decisions, when detecting new circumstances or finding out that such decisions breach law, thus causing damage to the State�s interests or legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations or if requested by the persons defined in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article, shall have to review such decisions in order to issue the new ones in replacement of the law-breaking decisions on the settlement of complaints.

2. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and/or the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, when detecting that the final complaint-settling decisions of provincial-level People�s Committee presidents having contents related to the State management functions of their respective ministries or branches reveal new circumstances or signs of law violation, thus causing damage to the State�s interests or legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations, shall request the decision makers to review them; within 30 days, if their request fails to be met, they shall make verification and conclusions and propose the Prime Minister to consider and decide thereon.

3. The State General Inspector, upon detecting that the final complaint-settling decisions of ministers or heads of the ministerial-level agencies reveal new circumstances or signs of law violations, thus causing damage to the State�s interests or legitimate rights and interests of citizens, agencies and/or organizations, shall request the decision makers to review them; within 30 days, if his request is not met, he shall make verification, conclusions and propose the Prime Minister to consider and decide thereon.

4. The statute of limitations for the review of final decisions on the settlement of complaints prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article shall be 12 months as from the dates such decisions take effect."

5. Article 17 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 17.-

1. The heads of the State bodies shall have to direct, inspect and urge their subordinate agencies and units in promptly settling complaints falling under their respective competence.

2. The heads of the State bodies, when receiving complaints which fall under the jurisdiction of their immediate subordinate agencies but have been left unsettled past the prescribed time limits, shall request their subordinate agencies to settle them and at the same time have to direct, inspect and urge the settlement by the latter and apply measures according to their competence in order to handle those persons who show irresponsibility or deliberately delay the settlement of such complaints. In cases where it is necessary to apply ultra vires measures, they shall propose them to the competent State agencies for handling."

6. Article 43 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 43.-

1. Upon receiving written denunciations, a State body shall have to classify and handle them as follows:

a/ If the denunciations fall under its settling jurisdiction, it shall have to accept, process and settle them in strict compliance with the order and procedures prescribed in the Law on Complaints and Denunciations and this Decree.

b/ If the denunciations do not fall under its settling jurisdiction, within 10 days after receiving them, it shall have to transfer the written denunciations or recorded oral denunciations as well as relevant documents and evidences to the competent persons for settlement.

c/ Denunciations with unknown or falsified the names, with unknown addresses or with copied signatures instead of the original ones or denunciations which have already been considered and concluded by competent authorities but further lodged without new documents or evidences shall not be considered and settled.

d/ The denunciations about criminal acts shall be forwarded to the investigation agency and procuracy for handling according to the provisions of Article 27 of the Law on Complaints and Denunciations.

2. Where a denounced act causes or threatens to cause serious harms to the State�s and collectives� interests or the citizens� life and properties, the denunciation-receiving body shall have to immediately report it to the functional agency for preventive measures.

3. In cases where the heads of the State bodies of different levels or branches receive information that the denouncers have been intimidated, maltreated for retaliation or revenged, they shall have to direct or coordinate with the relevant functional agencies in verifying the information and taking measures to protect the denouncers and prevent such acts, and propose the competent authorities to handle according to law provisions the persons who have committed acts of intimidating, maltreating or revenging the denouncers."

Article 2.- The State Inspector General, the ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to organize the implementation of this Decree.

Article 3.- This Decree takes effect 15 days after its signing. The previous regulations, which are contrary to this Decree, are hereby annulled.

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI