The Ministry of Justice proposes to allow commune-level civil servants to perform authentication.

Faced with the current workload of the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, ward, and special zone (commune level) and the increasing need for certification of people at the commune level, the Ministry of Justice proposes to amend and supplement regulations on issuing copies from original books, certifying copies from originals, certifying signatures, and certifying contracts and transactions.

This content is stated in the Draft Submission in the appraisal dossier of the Draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP of the Government on issuing copies from original books, certifying copies from originals, certifying signatures and certifying contracts and transactions, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 07/2025/ND-CP, chaired by the Ministry of Justice .

People come to carry out administrative procedures at the People's Committee of Binh Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City.

In the first 6 months of 2025, the People's Committee at the commune level certified 20,365,770 copies.

The Ministry of Justice said that the arrangement of local government organization according to a two-level model and the development of the scale of commune-level administrative units have led to an increasing volume of certification work performed at commune-level People's Committees.

Practice in many localities shows that there is an overload in receiving and handling certification requests, especially in commune-level administrative units with large populations.

According to statistics, in 2024, the Justice Departments nationwide certified copies of 1,994,901 copies; certified signatures in documents, papers, translators' signatures, and certified contracts and transactions for 1,321,947 cases. Commune-level People's Committees nationwide certified copies of 46,385,220 copies; certified signatures in documents, papers, and certified contracts and transactions for 6,406,300 cases.

In the first 6 months of 2025, the Justice Departments nationwide certified copies of 886,445 copies; certified signatures in documents, papers, translators' signatures, and certified contracts and transactions for 672,708 cases. Commune-level People's Committees nationwide certified copies of 20,365,770 copies; certified signatures in documents, papers, and certified contracts and transactions for 3,111,413 cases.

In that context, many localities have made recommendations and proposals that the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level be authorized to perform certification to reduce the workload for the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level.

In order to carry out the authorization in the certification activities as prescribed in the Law on Organization of Local Government 2025, the Ministry of Justice issued Official Dispatch No. 4158/BTP-BTTP dated July 11, 2025 to guide localities on some difficulties in the field of certification. However, in order to ensure a consistent and unified legal basis for certification activities, it is necessary to amend and supplement some provisions in Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP in a simplified order.

Thereby, removing difficulties and obstacles in certification activities when operating local governments at two levels; ensuring smooth and uninterrupted certification activities, creating favorable conditions for individuals and organizations. At the same time, ensuring consistency, synchronization, transparency, feasibility, accessibility, effectiveness and efficiency, and ease of application in practice.

Commune-level civil servants can also certify.

Based on the above practice, the Ministry of Justice proposes to amend and supplement Clause 9, Article 2, Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP amended and supplemented by Decree No. 07/2025/ND-CP in the direction of expanding the subjects of certification.

Specifically: "The person performing the certification" is the Chairman, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, ward, or special zone (hereinafter referred to as the People's Committee at the commune level); Chief of Office, Deputy Chief of Office of the People's Council and People's Committee at the commune level; Director, Deputy Director of the Public Administration Service Center at the commune level; civil servants authorized by the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level; notaries of the Notary Office, Notary Office (hereinafter referred to as notary practice organizations); diplomatic officers, consular officers of diplomatic representative agencies, consular representative agencies, and other agencies authorized to perform consular functions of Vietnam abroad (hereinafter referred to as Representative Agencies).

Thus, compared to the old regulations, the Draft Decree expands 5 more cases of "Certification implementers", including: Chief of Office, Deputy Chief of Office of People's Council and People's Committee at commune level; Director, Deputy Director of Public Administration Service Center at commune level; civil servants authorized by Chairman of People's Committee at commune level.

If the Draft Decree is approved, the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level can authorize the certification to commune-level civil servants. In the photo, people in Phu Dien Ward, Hanoi City receive the results of administrative procedure settlement from ward officials.

The Ministry of Justice also proposed to amend Article 5 of Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 07/2025/ND-CP on the authority and responsibility for certification. Specifically as follows:

- Amend the authority and responsibility for certification from the collective (Commune-level People's Committee) to the individual (Chairman of the Commune-level People's Committee).

- Specific regulations on the implementation of certification and use of seals and authorization are as follows:

+ The Chairman, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level, and civil servants authorized by the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level shall perform authentication and use the seal of the People's Committee at the commune level. Authorized civil servants must have a bachelor's degree in law and have at least 2 years of work experience in the judicial field. The Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level may authorize all or some of the authentication tasks as prescribed in this clause.

+ The Chief of Office and Deputy Chief of Office of the People's Council and People's Committee shall sign and certify and affix the seal of the Office of the People's Council and People's Committee.

+ The Director and Deputy Director of the Commune-level Public Administration Service Center shall sign, certify and stamp the Commune-level Public Administration Service Center.

The amendment and supplementation of the above regulations aims to promptly institutionalize the Party's policy in Conclusion 179-KL/TW dated July 25, 2025 of the Politburo and the Secretariat on continuing to implement tasks of perfecting the organization and operation of the 2-level local government model; creating favorable conditions for people requesting certification; reducing the workload for the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level.

After 10 years of implementing Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP, domestic and foreign certification agencies have performed 712 million certified copies, more than 58 million certified signatures, and more than 14 million certified contracts and transactions.

People's Army Newspaper

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/bo-tu-phap-de-xuat-cho-phep-cong-chuc-cap-xa-duoc-thuc-hien-chung-thuc-post879837.html