Proposal to pilot the issuance of criminal record certificates at the district level.

The Ministry of Justice has proposed a pilot program in which Justice Departments under the People's Committees of districts in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nghe An are authorized to issue criminal record certificates.

The Ministry of Justice has just released a draft resolution proposing a pilot program to decentralize the issuance of criminal record certificates. The 2009 Law on Criminal Records stipulates that the competent authorities for issuing criminal record certificates include the National Criminal Record Center under the Ministry of Justice and provincial Departments of Justice.

According to the Ministry of Justice, this decentralization aligns with the goal of simplifying administrative procedures, strengthening decentralization and delegation of power, and addressing the delays in issuing criminal record certificates in the past. "However, since this is a new initiative, the Ministry of Justice proposes a pilot program in some district-level units of several provinces and centrally-administered cities," the draft proposal states.

After the pilot program concludes, the Ministry of Justice will summarize and evaluate the implementation and report to the Government and the National Assembly. The results of the pilot program will serve as the basis for studying amendments to the Law on Criminal Records.

People lined up from 4 am at the Hanoi Department of Justice to wait for criminal record verification, April 2023. Photo: Ngoc Thanh — People lined up from 4 am at the Hanoi Department of Justice to wait for criminal record verification, April 2023. Photo: *Ngoc Thanh*

In addition, the Ministry of Justice also noted that resources and facilities for issuing criminal record certificates are limited; the construction, management, use, and exploitation of the criminal record database still have unprocessed and unupdated information.

According to statistics, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nghe An are the three localities with the highest number of requests for criminal record certificates nationwide. From 2021 to 2023, Hanoi issued an average of over 51,000 certificates annually, Ho Chi Minh City issued approximately 96,000, and Nghe An issued 57,000 certificates.

In that context, the large volume of applications received led to an overload. "At times, people had to queue up very early to submit applications for certificates, causing public outrage," the Ministry of Justice stated.

The total number of district-level administrative units in these three localities is 73, meaning that residents will have 73 additional locations to register for criminal record certificates. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice considers the pilot program of decentralization to district-level administrative units in these three localities "extremely necessary in the current period, contributing to reducing pressure and creating more convenience for the people." The pilot period for this policy is two years.

A criminal record certificate is a document proving whether or not an individual has a criminal record. Citizens can request a certificate from the Department of Justice or apply online. However, after registering on the national or local public service portal, citizens must still submit paper documents by mail or in person to the competent authority.

Many businesses and organizations have recently abused the requirement for criminal record checks when recruiting, managing, and employing workers. Some provinces and cities have not promptly addressed the need for these checks, causing public dissatisfaction.

The reason is that government ministries and agencies have not yet reduced the requirement to submit criminal record certificates and have not yet applied information technology to issue them online to citizens.

Son Ha

Source link