The Law on amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations was passed by the XIV National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 10th session on November 13, 2020 (hereinafter collectively referred to as and abbreviated as “Amendment Law”).
Through this article, let’s learn with Bizlawyer about 04 notable new points of the Amendment Law in the section of general provisions.

Firstly: Clarifying the terms “recidivism” and “repeated administrative violations”

Current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations (Article 2): There is no clear distinction between regulations on “recidivism” and “repeated administrative violations”.
The Amendment Law (Clause 5, Article 2 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations) explains the word “recidivism”, according to which: “Recidivism means an individual or organization that has been issued a decision on sanctioning an administrative violation but not yet expires the time limit to be considered not yet sanctioned for an administrative violation but commits an administrative violation that has already been sanctioned. Accordingly, this content is distinguished from the content of “repeated administrative violations” explained in Clause 4, Article 2 of the current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, Accordingly: “A repeated administrative violation is a case where an individual or organization commits an administrative violation that has previously committed this administrative violation but has not been handled and the time limit for handling has not expired”.

Secondly: Handling repeated administrative violations

The current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations: Point d Clause 1 Article 3 provides that: “A person […] who commits the repeated administrative violations shall be sanctioned for each violation;”. Meanwhile, Point b, Clause 1, Article 10 provides that: “repeated administrative violations is an aggravating circumstance.” Consequences: These regulations have created many difficulties in the process of reviewing and making decisions on sanctioning administrative violations.
The Amendment Law: Added regulations to be more specific on the sanctioning principle for each act in the case of “repeated administrative violations”, specifically: “A person […] who commits the repeated administrative violations shall be sanctioned for each violation, except for cases of repeated administrative violations which are prescribed by the Government as an aggravating circumstance;”. This is expected to remove difficulties in the process of reviewing and making decisions on sanctioning administrative violations.

Thirdly: Time limit for application of administrative handling measures

The Amendment Law has added point dd to Clause 2, Article 6 of the current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations as follows: “dd) Within the time limit specified at Points a, b, c and d of this Clause, if the individual intentionally evades or obstructs the application of administrative handling measures, the time limit shall be recalculated from the time of stop the act of evading, obstructing the application of administrative handling measures”.
This regulation reflects the rigor in the management of the state in the sanctioning of administrative violations in general and the application of administrative handling measures in particular.

Fourthly: Prohibited behaviors

The Amendment Law amends a number of prohibited acts in the handling of administrative violations in Article 12 of the current Law on handling of administrative violations, specifically:
Amending and supplementing Clause 6, Article 12 of the current Law on Handling of Administrative Violations: “6. Identifying improper administrative violations; application of improper and inadequate forms of sanction, sanctioning level and remedial measures to administrative violations.”
Adding Clause 8a after Clause 8, Article 12 of the current Law on Sanctions of Administrative Violations: “8a. Failing to monitor, urge, inspect and organize the enforcement of sanctioning decisions and remedial measures.”

The above amended and supplemented regulations stem from practical needs arising during the implementation process.
Above are 04 notable new points in the Amendment Law.

The Amendment Law will come into force from January 1, 2022.

* This newsletter is only for informational purposes about newly issued legal regulations, not used to advise or apply to specific cases.

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