Minister of Public Security: "Continue to maintain Criminal Record Certificate No. 1 and No. 2"

(Dan Tri) - The amended law recently passed by the National Assembly stipulates that criminal records issued to individuals include Criminal Records No. 1 and No. 2. Previously, some opinions proposed to abolish the issuance of Criminal Records No. 2.

On the afternoon of December 5, the National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Judicial Records with 437/441 delegates present in favor (accounting for 92.39% of the total number of National Assembly delegates). The Law will take effect from July 1, 2026.

According to this Law, the criminal records database is built centrally and uniformly at the Ministry of Public Security and is connected and shares information with the National Population Database, specialized databases, and other relevant databases according to the provisions of law.

The National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Judicial Records with 437/441 delegates present in favor (Photo: Hong Phong).

The provisions on criminal records in the Law clearly state that "Criminal records issued to individuals include Criminal Records No. 1 and Criminal Records No. 2".

Thus, both types of criminal record certificates No. 1 and No. 2 are still kept and maintained, instead of abolishing the issuance of Criminal Record Certificate No. 2 as some opinions previously proposed.

The Law stipulates that criminal records are issued in electronic or paper form and have the same legal value. In case an electronic criminal record has been issued in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the criminal record information will be simultaneously displayed on the national identification application and have the same value as the criminal record.

Criminal record information displayed on the national identification application is updated for individuals to use when needed without having to request a Criminal Record Certificate.

Regarding the procedure for requesting a Criminal Record Certificate, the Law clearly states that individuals may request a Criminal Record Certificate online. Foreigners and those without an electronic identification may request a Criminal Record Certificate in person or via postal service.

Notably, the Law recently passed by the National Assembly stipulates that "agencies, organizations and individuals are not allowed to request individuals to provide Criminal Record Certificate No. 2 as prescribed in Article 43 of this Law".

Also according to the Law, "agencies, organizations and individuals are not allowed to request individuals to provide criminal record information or Criminal Record Certificate No. 1", except in cases where there are provisions of law on the need to use criminal record information to serve purposes in certain cases such as recruitment, granting licenses, practice certificates, etc.

National Assembly deputies at the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly (Photo: Hong Phong).

Presenting the Government 's report explaining, accepting and completing the draft Law before the National Assembly deputies voted to approve it, Senior General Luong Tam Quang, Minister of Public Security, emphasized the regulation "continuing to maintain Judicial Record Certificate No. 1 and Judicial Record Certificate No. 2". The certificates are issued in electronic or paper form and have the same legal value.

According to the Minister, once the electronic Criminal Record Certificate has been issued, the citizen's criminal record information will be updated and displayed on VNelD (considered an available information field similar to full name, date of birth).

“The criminal record information displayed on VNelD has the same legal value as a Criminal Record Certificate. Individuals do not need to request a Criminal Record Certificate when needed, thereby creating maximum convenience for people to use the service anytime, anywhere, bringing practical benefits to society, people, businesses and State management,” General Luong Tam Quang emphasized.

This regulation also helps save time, effort and money, contributing to the effective implementation of the policy of national innovation and digital transformation and international integration.

General Luong Tam Quang, Minister of Public Security (Photo: Hong Phong).

Previously, when this draft law was presented to the National Assembly at the end of October, Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung said that through examination, some opinions said that the draft's provisions would hardly be able to overcome the situation of abusing the request for Criminal Record Certificate No. 2.

Because if agencies and organizations, especially foreign agencies and organizations, still request, individuals will still be reluctant to provide it in order to complete the documents and procedures.

Therefore, this opinion suggests studying and completely removing the regulation on issuing Criminal Record Certificate No. 2, this content is only kept in the database and serves the lookup and use of competent State agencies.

Criminal Record Certificate No. 1 is issued to Vietnamese citizens and foreigners who have resided or are residing in Vietnam. State agencies, political organizations, and socio-political organizations have the right to request a Criminal Record Certificate to serve the work of personnel management, business registration activities, establishment and management of enterprises and cooperatives.

Judicial record certificate No. 2 is a certificate issued to the prosecution agency that has the right to request a Judicial record certificate to serve the investigation, prosecution, and trial work and to issue it at the request of an individual so that he or she can know the content of his or her judicial record.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/bo-truong-cong-an-tiep-tuc-duy-tri-phieu-ly-lich-tu-phap-so-1-va-so-2-20251205092322878.htm