10th Session, 15th National Assembly: Digital transformation in issuing criminal record certificates.

Continuing the 10th session, on the afternoon of December 5th, the National Assembly voted to approve the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Criminal Records with 92.39% of participating delegates voting in favor.

Before the vote, the National Assembly heard General Luong Tam Quang, Minister of Public Security, on behalf of the Prime Minister, present a summary report on the acceptance, revision, and explanation of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Criminal Records. Accordingly, in the discussions in the committees and the plenary session, the majority of National Assembly deputies agreed with the content of the draft law.

The draft law has institutionalized the policy of streamlining the organizational structure and transferring state management tasks related to criminal records. Many policies outlined in the draft law clearly demonstrate a strong innovative mindset, aiming to promote administrative procedure reform, digital transformation, and innovation in the methods of state management of criminal records.

Regarding the purpose of managing criminal record information, the Government has incorporated and revised the draft law in the following direction: the purpose of managing criminal record information and criminal record certificates is to help citizens know their own criminal record information to resolve personal administrative procedures. At the same time, it clearly stipulates the purpose of supporting the management of officials, civil servants, and public employees, minimizing the need for criminal record certificates in personnel management.

Regarding the request for criminal record certificates, the provision of criminal record information, and the use of criminal record certificates and information, the Government has incorporated and revised the draft law to stipulate that agencies, organizations, and individuals are not allowed to request individuals to provide criminal record information or criminal record certificates. They may only request Form No. 01 in cases where a law, resolution of the National Assembly, ordinance, resolution of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, or decree, resolution of the Government provides for it.

At the same time, the draft law has amended and supplemented regulations stating that when agencies and organizations request to use individuals' criminal record information, they may access and use it through data connection and sharing from the criminal record database and the national population database, without requiring individuals to provide criminal record certificates.

Regarding criminal record certificates No. 01, No. 02, and electronic criminal record certificates, the Government has incorporated feedback and revised the draft law to stipulate the continued maintenance of criminal record certificates No. 01 and No. 02. Certificates issued in electronic or paper form have the same legal validity.

If an electronic criminal record certificate has already been issued, the updated criminal record information displayed on VNeID will be considered a readily available field, similar to full name, date of birth, and year of birth.

The criminal record information displayed on VNeID has the same legal validity as a criminal record certificate. Individuals do not need to request a criminal record certificate when they need one.

Regarding the procedures for issuing criminal record certificates and the time limit for issuing them, the Government has incorporated feedback and revised the draft law to stipulate that criminal record certificates be issued online, in order to institutionalize the policy on developing the application of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

Only in certain cases, such as foreigners or individuals without electronic identification, can a voucher be requested in person or via postal service. Individuals may authorize another person to handle the application process for both types of vouchers. The voucher issuance time has been shortened to 5 working days.

Through the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments (amended)

Also on the afternoon of December 5th, the National Assembly voted to pass the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments (amended) with 91.54% of participating delegates voting in favor.

Before the vote, Chairman of the Committee on Law and Justice Hoang Thanh Tung, authorized by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, presented a report explaining, accepting, and revising the draft Law.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly has received a maximum of 79 discussion comments from National Assembly deputies, along with numerous written suggestions, focusing on 116 important issues related to the organizational model for enforcement of judgments, digital transformation, enforcement authority, and reform of judgment enforcement procedures.

After revisions, the draft submitted to the National Assembly consists of 5 chapters and 116 articles, fully institutionalizing the Party's policies and meeting the requirements of judicial reform in the context of strong digital transformation.

The issue of socializing the enforcement of judgments was also discussed in depth, with many opinions expressing a desire to expand the coercive authority of the Enforcement Office and Enforcement Officers to enhance the effectiveness of socialization. However, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly affirmed that coercive judgment enforcement is an activity of state power, directly impacting the fundamental rights of citizens such as property and residence.

Entrusting enforcement to non-governmental organizations could pose significant risks to security and public order. Therefore, the draft Law does not grant comprehensive enforcement authority to the Enforcement Office; Enforcement officers are only authorized to request competent authorities to freeze accounts, assets, or temporarily suspend transactions to prevent asset dissipation. This approach ensures legal safety while creating room for socialized enforcement within controlled scope.

Another important set of issues is shortening the timeframes for many enforcement procedures to reduce time and costs for citizens, in line with the spirit of Resolution 27-NQ/TW on reforming legal policies.

Through the Law on Forensic Examination (amended)

Also at the session, the National Assembly voted to pass the amended Law on Judicial Expertise with a majority of delegates in favor (92.81%).

Before proceeding to the vote, the National Assembly heard Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh, authorized by the Prime Minister, present a summary report on some major issues of the draft Law on Judicial Expertise (amended).

Minister Nguyen Hai Ninh stated that, regarding the scope of establishment and operation of forensic examination offices, some National Assembly deputies agreed with the draft Law's provision on expanding the scope of establishment of forensic examination offices.

In addition, some opinions suggest considering further expansion based on actual needs such as: information and communication, science and technology, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food safety, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, wildlife, rare and endangered animals, environment, transportation, and also serving criminal proceedings and social needs to help alleviate the pressure on current expert assessment agencies and units.

Furthermore, there are suggestions that the Law should not stipulate the establishment of forensic examination offices, but instead allow the Government to specify the details more flexibly.

Regarding this matter, Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh stated that, in recent times, the Party has issued directives on further improving the mechanism for mobilizing resources to socialize and develop the field of forensic expertise, and amending the Law on Forensic Expertise to expand the scope of establishing forensic expertise offices in some fields and specialized areas with high and frequent needs, ensuring compliance with practical requirements.

In particular, Directive No. 54-CT/TW dated November 30, 2025, of the Politburo on strengthening the Party's leadership over forensic expertise work has directed: "Promote the socialization of some areas of forensic expertise to better meet the requirements of litigation activities, especially civil and administrative litigation; encourage and create conditions for the development of non-governmental forensic expertise organizations with a roadmap that suits practical requirements, while simultaneously implementing measures to ensure and strictly control the quality of forensic expertise."

Therefore, in order to institutionalize the above-mentioned policies and directives of the Party, the draft Law stipulates that the scope of establishing forensic examination offices should be expanded to include several fields and specialties, with the exception of DNA, document, digital and electronic, and fingerprint examination, which will only be conducted in civil and administrative proceedings.

Based on this fundamental principle of the Law, the Government will continue to provide detailed regulations on the procedures for establishing, registering, and controlling the quality of operations of forensic expert offices.

Although some fields and specialized areas (environment, information and communication, science and technology, etc.) do have requests for expert opinions, these requests are not yet significant or frequent. Therefore, for the time being, the scope of establishing forensic expert offices to these fields and specialized areas will not be expanded.

For the reasons stated above, the Government proposes to retain the provisions on expanding the scope of establishment and operation of forensic examination offices as in the draft Law; however, for specialized fields such as DNA analysis, document analysis, digital and electronic analysis, and fingerprint analysis, forensic examination offices may only operate in civil and administrative proceedings, while public forensic agencies may operate in criminal proceedings.

(VNA/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/ky-hop-thu-10-quoc-hoi-khoa-xv-chuyen-doi-so-trong-cap-phieu-ly-lich-tu-phap-post1081258.vnp