Cases Where Civil Court Fees Are Not Required or Exempted and Related Procedures

The Resolution does not specify where the parties pay the advance court fees and what the procedures are. This Resolution also does not specify how the Court will instruct the parties to pay the advance court fees. This causes inconsistency, wastes time and makes it difficult for the parties to fulfill their obligations.

2.4. CASES IN WHICH CIVIL COURT FEES ARE NOT REQUIRED TO BE PAID OR EXEMPTED FROM PAYING THEM AND RELATED PROCEDURES

2.4.1. Cases where advance payment of civil court fees is not required

Clauses 2, 4 and 5, Article 10 of the Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges stipulate:

2. Agencies and organizations initiate civil lawsuits to protect the legitimate rights and interests of others, public interests, and State interests;

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4. The Procuracy appeals against the judgment or decision of the Court according to the appellate procedure;

5. The agencies and organizations specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall appeal against the judgment or decision of the Court according to the appellate procedure [33].

This provision is consistent with the provisions of Article 162 of the 2004 Civil Procedure Code on the recognition of these subjects as plaintiffs in the case. These subjects initiate lawsuits to protect the legitimate rights and interests of others, the common public interest and the interests of the State, not to protect their own legitimate rights and interests, so the law's provision that they do not have to pay advance civil court fees at first instance is completely reasonable. This provision has partly encouraged agencies and organizations when there is a legal event that violates the public interest and the interests of the State, to be ready to stand up as plaintiffs to initiate lawsuits and appeals to protect those interests.

According to Article 3 of Resolution No. 01/2012/NQ-HDTP, it has been explained more clearly.

Regarding the issue of "not having to pay advance court fees and court fees as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 10 of the Ordinance" as follows:

Agencies and organizations that initiate civil lawsuits to protect the legitimate rights and interests of others, public interests, and State interests do not have to pay advance court fees or court fees, including agencies and organizations as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 162 of the 2004 Civil Procedure Code and instructions in Section 2, Part I of Resolution No. 02/2006/NQ-HDTP dated May 12, 2006 of the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court guiding the implementation of the provisions in Part Two "Procedures for resolving cases at the Court of First Instance of the Civil Procedure Code" [26].

Currently, the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court has issued Resolution No. 05/2012/NQ-HDTP replacing Resolution No. 02/2006/NQ-HDTP guiding the implementation of a number of provisions of the Civil Procedure Code on "procedures for resolving cases at the Court of First Instance" which has provided guidance for agencies and organizations initiating civil lawsuits to protect public interests and State interests as follows: "a) Such agencies and organizations have tasks and powers in performing the functions of state management and social management in a certain field; b) Public interests and State interests that require the Court to protect must be in the field under the responsibility of such agencies and organizations" [27]. Example 1: The Department of Natural Resources and Environment has the right to initiate a civil lawsuit to request the Court to force individuals, agencies and organizations that cause environmental pollution to compensate for damages and remedy incidents that cause public environmental pollution. Example 2: The Department of Culture and Information has the right to initiate a civil lawsuit to request the Court to force individuals, agencies and organizations that violate cultural heritage owned by the whole people to compensate for damages caused by the violation; Agencies and organizations that initiate lawsuits to protect the interests of others such as the Women's Union, the State Management Agency for Family and Children initiate lawsuits for various types of cases according to regulations.

of the Law on Marriage and Family.

Thus, the current law has provided quite detailed and specific regulations on cases where it is not necessary to pay advance court fees. With the aim of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of others, public interests, and the interests of the State, the law stipulates that civil cases can be brought to the Court for settlement without having to pay advance court fees. This is a humane regulation, aiming to encourage individuals, agencies, and organizations to stand up as plaintiffs to file lawsuits to protect the legitimate interests of other individuals, public interests, and the State when they are violated. The law's regulation is completely reasonable and has profound social significance.

2.4.2. Cases of exemption from paying advance civil court fees

In cases where the plaintiff is exempted by law from paying all or part of the advance payment of civil court fees at first instance, these are cases where the subject has its legitimate rights and interests violated and needs to be protected promptly, and their requests are related to essential civil issues but have economic difficulties (poor households). These are provisions originating from the humanitarian policy of our Party and State to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the subjects, ensuring equality between the subjects in civil proceedings. From that, Clauses 2, 3, 5 and 6, Article 11 of the Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges stipulate cases where the entire advance payment of civil court fees at first instance is exempted, including:

2. Employees file lawsuits to claim wages, unemployment benefits, severance pay, social insurance, compensation for work-related accidents and occupational diseases; resolve issues of compensation for damages or for illegal dismissal or termination of labor contracts;

3. The person requesting alimony, requesting to determine the father and mother for a minor child, an adult child who has lost civil act capacity;

5. Individuals and households classified as poor according to Government regulations;

6. Person claiming compensation for life, health, honor and dignity [33].

In addition, Clause 1 and Clause 3, Article 14 of the Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges stipulate:

1. A person with economic difficulties as confirmed by the People's Committee of the commune, ward or town where he/she resides or the agency or organization where he/she works, shall be exempted by the Court from paying a part of the advance payment of court fees and court fees.

3. The amount of money exempted as prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article shall not exceed 50% of the amount of advance court fees, advance fees, court fees, and court fees that the person must pay [33].

In addition, Resolution 01/2012 also mentions this issue in Article 4 "Exemption from payment of all advance court fees, court fees, court fees and charges prescribed in Clause 5, Article 11 and Article 13 of the Ordinance" and Article 5 "Exemption from payment of part of advance court fees, court fees and charges prescribed in Article 14 of the Ordinance" is a timely and detailed guidance, contributing to the completion of the provisions of the Ordinance on cases of exemption from payment of advance civil court fees. According to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 5 of Resolution 01/2012, the Court is allowed to consider and decide on the exemption level but must not exceed 50% of the advance court fees, court fees and charges that the person must pay according to the provisions of the Ordinance. Resolution 01/2012/NQ-HDTP has provided quite detailed and specific instructions for each case, which is a legal basis to help make practical application easy and consistent.

2.4.3. Procedures for considering exemption from advance payment of civil court fees

This is the content that the Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges has quite clearly stipulated.

detailed and strict. First of all, the applicant must submit a request for exemption from advance payment of court fees and civil court fees to the competent Court, along with documents and evidence proving that he or she is eligible for exemption. The content of the request must comply with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 15 of the Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges. In addition, Article 16 of the Ordinance also specifically stipulates the authority to consider the request at each stage of case handling as follows:

1. Before accepting a case, the Judge assigned by the Chief Justice of the Court has the authority to consider the request for exemption from advance payment of court fees.

2. After accepting a case, the Judge assigned by the Chief Justice of the Court to resolve the case has the authority to consider the request for exemption from advance payment of court fees of the defendant with a counterclaim against the plaintiff, or of the person with related rights and obligations with an independent request in the case.

3. The judge assigned by the Chief Justice of the Court of First Instance has the authority to consider the request for exemption from advance payment of appeal court fees.

4. Before opening the first instance or appeal trial, the Judge assigned by the Chief Justice of the Court to resolve the case has the authority to consider exempting court fees for the requesting party.

5. At the trial, the first-instance or appellate trial panel has the authority to consider exempting court fees for the requesting party when issuing a judgment or decision to resolve the content of the case [33].

According to the above regulation, there has been a very reasonable change in the authority to consider the decision to exempt the advance payment of court fees, because previously it was decided by the Chief Justice of the Court, but now the initiative has been expanded to the Judge. This is consistent with other regulations of the Civil Procedure Code on the authority of the Judge in resolving civil cases, so it has created consistency in application.

2.4.4. Handling of advance payment of civil court fees

In fact, the law does not clearly stipulate the procedure for handling advance payment of civil court fees, but the Ordinance has stipulated the general principle of handling that all court fees and charges collected by the Court must be fully and promptly paid into the State Budget at the State Treasury, the collection and payment must be made to the competent authority, and can only be handled when the Court's decision has legal effect. When the Court's decision takes effect, if any party is required to pay the court fees, the advance payment of court fees must be transferred to the Budget, otherwise it will be returned.

However, the provisions on handling advance payment of court fees as prescribed in Clause 6, Article 18 of the Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges are not appropriate in cases where the plaintiff withdraws the lawsuit:

In case a civil case or criminal case is suspended according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 192 of the Civil Procedure Code or Points a, b and c, Clause 1, Article 41 of the Ordinance on Procedures for Settling Administrative Cases, the amount of advance payment of court fees paid shall be added to the state budget [26].

Because this provision is only consistent with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 193 of the Civil Procedure Code: "In case the Court issues a decision to suspend the settlement of a civil case according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 192 of this Code, the advance payment of court fees that the litigant has paid shall be confiscated into the state budget" [12]. After this provision was promulgated, there were many opinions that it was unreasonable, because it did not encourage the plaintiff to withdraw the lawsuit, or in cases due to objective reasons. Therefore, the Civil Procedure Code has amended and supplemented the above provision. Clause 3, Article 193 of the Civil Procedure Code after being amended and supplemented stipulates: "In case the Court issues a decision to suspend the settlement of a civil case according to the provisions of Points c, g, h and i, Clause 1, Article 192 of this Code, the advance payment of court fees that the litigant has paid shall be confiscated into the state budget" [12].

"The money paid will be returned to them" [14].

In Clause 3,4, Article 6 of Resolution No. 01/2012/NQ-HDTP, the implementation instructions are provided, creating completeness and consistency, avoiding contradictions in regulations on this issue as follows:

3. From the effective date of the Ordinance (July 1, 2009) to before the effective date of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2004 Civil Procedure Code (January 1, 2012), the provisions of Article 18 of the Ordinance shall apply to handle advance payment of court fees, advance payment of fees, court fees, and court fees.

4. From the effective date of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2004 Civil Procedure Code (January 1, 2012), the settlement of advance court fees, advance fees, court fees and charges shall be as follows:

a) In case the settlement of a civil case is suspended according to the provisions at points a, b, d, dd, e and k, Clause 1, Article 192 of the 2011 amended Civil Procedure Code, the amount of advance payment of court fees paid shall be added to the state budget;

b) In case the settlement of a civil case is suspended according to the provisions at points c, g, h and i, Clause 1, Article 192 of the 2011 amended Civil Procedure Code, the advance payment of court fees shall be returned to the person who paid the advance payment of court fees [26].

The Ordinance on Court Fees and Charges does not stipulate the handling of advance court fees in cases where the Court transfers the case file to another Court for settlement according to its jurisdiction. Therefore, after accepting the case, this Court decides to transfer the case file to another Court for settlement according to its jurisdiction but does not mention the handling of the advance court fees at first instance that the plaintiff has paid at the Civil Judgment Enforcement Office (except in cases where the advance court fee is exempted). On the other hand, the decision to transfer the case file does not state to send it to the Office

The Civil Judgment Enforcement Department has collected the advance payment of court fees from the plaintiff, so that this agency can coordinate to resolve the issue when requested. Therefore, when the Procuracy receives the decision to transfer the case file, it does not know how much the plaintiff has paid in advance? How do the Court and the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department handle this amount? This situation occurs quite commonly in practice, causing unnecessary waste of time and effort, requiring legal perfection in regulations on this issue.

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 2

Civil court fees are stipulated in the Civil Procedure Code, the Ordinance on Court Fees and Court Charges and are guided for implementation in Resolution No. 01/2012/NQ-HDTP, including the basic contents of the court fee regime such as: court fee levels, obligation to pay court fees, procedures for paying court fees, cases where court fees are not required to be paid or exempted and related procedures... In general, these regulations are consistent with each other, have many new points, are complete and strict, thus overcoming many limitations of previously issued civil procedural legal documents on the court fee regime. However, through the practical application of the law, there are still certain points that are not specific, clear and reasonable, such as the provisions on the subject that must pay advance court fees; court fee levels... In addition, some courts, due to not fully understanding the regulations on court fees, have applied them incorrectly and inconsistently. To continue to contribute to the proper resolution of civil cases by the Court, it is necessary to continue to research, amend and supplement specific instructions on missing and unclear regulations so that the Courts can apply the law smoothly, correctly and consistently.

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