On June 12, 2018, the Minister of Justice, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and the Chief Procurator of the Supreme People’s Procuracy issued Joint Circular No.07/2018/TTLT-BTP-VKSNDTC-TANDTC on cooperation in enforcement of court’s decision on bankruptcy settlement. This Circular took effect since August 1, 2018.
Accordingly, Joint Circular No.07/2018/TTLT-BTP-VKSNDTC-TANDTC regulates in detail the cases of temporary suspension and suspension of judgment enforcement in bankruptcy settlement as follows:
1. After receiving a court’s notice regarding acceptance of a petition for initiation of bankruptcy process against an insolvent enterprise or cooperatives which is a judgment debtor (obligated to execute the judgment), the head of civil enforcement agency shall issue a decision on temporary suspension of judgment enforcement against its asset(s), other than a judgment forcing the insolvent enterprise or cooperatives to compensate for lives, health, honor or salaries of employees. The decision on temporary suspension of judgment enforcement shall be made within 5 working days from the date on which the court’s notice is received.
2. If the court decides not to initiate the bankruptcy process after it accepted the case and the civil enforcement agency issued a decision on temporary suspension of judgment enforcement as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 71 of the Law on Bankruptcy, within 5 working days from receipt of the court’s decision, the civil enforcement agency shall issue a decision on revocation of such a decision on temporary suspension of judgment enforcement and resumption of judgment enforcement as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 37 and Clause 3 Article 49 of the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement.
3. If the court issues a decision on suspension of bankruptcy process and suspension of business resumption after it issued a decision on initiation of bankruptcy process and the civil enforcement agency issued a decision on suspension of judgment enforcement as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 71 of the Law on Bankruptcy, within 5 working days from receipt of the court’s decision, the civil enforcement agency shall issue a decision on revocation of such a decision on suspension of judgment enforcement and resumption of judgment enforcement as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 137 of the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement.
Thus, it can be seen that Joint Circular No.07/2018/TTLT-BTP-VKSNDTC-TANDTC has specific and detailed provisions on cases of temporary suspension and suspension of judgment enforcement in bankruptcy settlement. Therefore, this Circular is expected to remove obstacles and inadequacies that have occurred in the recent past, creating a clear coordination mechanism between the competent bodies conducting proceedings in bankruptcy settlement.