Hanoi Chairman questions department leaders about issuing criminal records

Mr. Tran Sy Thanh requested the leaders of the Department of Justice to clearly report on the issue of organizations and businesses forcing people and workers to request a criminal record certificate every 6 months.

Regarding the workers' petition to cut down on administrative and judicial procedures at the dialogue session on the afternoon of May 18, Chairman of Hanoi City Tran Sy Thanh asked the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Justice to clarify the situation of people queuing up and working back and forth to request confirmation of their judicial records and the direction to resolve it completely.

Chairman of Hanoi Tran Sy Thanh spent more than 10 minutes questioning the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Justice about the situation of organizations and businesses requiring unreasonable procedures from people and workers when requesting criminal records. Photo: Vo Hai — Chairman of Hanoi Tran Sy Thanh spent more than 10 minutes questioning the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Justice about the situation of organizations and businesses requiring unreasonable procedures from people and workers when requesting criminal records. Photo: *Vo Hai*

Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Justice, said that since April, the number of people requesting criminal records in the area has increased dramatically. The reason is that students are applying for school, graduates are going to work, and many businesses are restarting recruitment after the pandemic.

The Department of Justice has found that some organizations and businesses have abused the amendment of criminal record certificates to make unreasonable demands on people. Specifically, the law does not stipulate the validity period of criminal record certificates. However, through checking the purpose of requesting confirmation, this agency discovered that many officials and employees, even though they are working at the enterprise, are still required to update the certificate after 6 months. This is one of the reasons leading to the overload situation.

Assessing this as an abuse of troublesome procedures, the Hanoi Department of Justice has recommended that the Ministry of Justice seek opinions from competent authorities to amend the regulations in a way that clearly states the purpose of issuing criminal records so as not to cause difficulties for people.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Justice Pham Thi Thanh Huong spoke about the overload of criminal record certificates in the city, at a dialogue on the afternoon of May 18. Photo: Vo Hai — Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Justice Pham Thi Thanh Huong spoke about the overload of criminal record certificates in the area at a dialogue session on the afternoon of May 18. Photo: *Vo Hai*

After two rounds of continuous dialogue of more than 10 minutes, Mr. Thanh questioned the leaders of the Department of Justice about whether the above actions of organizations and enterprises were in accordance with the law or not? If not, what measures are there to correct them? The Chairman of Hanoi City said that any organization or enterprise that "creates" additional procedures, requiring employees to apply for a criminal record certificate every 6 months is "torturing the people".

"What is the reason for requiring a request every 6 months? Who allows that? This is an unreasonable abuse, wasting both time and money. 200,000 VND per ticket is not a small amount while the salary of workers is already not high," Mr. Thanh said harshly, requesting the leaders of the Department of Justice to review each case, work with businesses and organizations and report back to the city for correction.

In response, the Deputy Director of the Department of Justice said that there would be a document requesting organizations and agencies to use criminal records for the right purposes, limit unnecessary requests, and avoid abuse. Currently, the city issues criminal records through three forms: directly, by post , and by the National and City Public Service Portal. However, in reality, the software for issuing criminal records of Hanoi City is still in testing, so it is very difficult for people who need to do so.

Ms. Huong gave an example: if at the one-stop department, two officers receive 30 files directly, then through the software, only one file is received. After two days of testing, the Department of Justice sent a document requesting the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications to upgrade and fix to facilitate citizens.

People lined up from dawn to request a criminal record certificate in front of the Hanoi Department of Justice headquarters on April 7. Photo: Thanh Chieu — People lined up from dawn to request a criminal record certificate in front of the Hanoi Department of Justice headquarters on April 7. Photo: *Thanh Chieu*

In April, the number of people coming to the Hanoi Department of Justice to verify their criminal records increased dramatically. At times, the queue was so long that people waited in line for dozens of meters or even from 4 a.m. Many workers said they had to go for the fourth time to apply for a job.

Many organizations and service units such as tourism and transportation update the criminal records of employees every 6 months to increase reliability and safety for customers. For state agencies, in case of appointment or transfer from one unit to another, a criminal record is also required. Those who work for foreigners also need verification.

Also in this afternoon's dialogue, workers petitioned the Hanoi government to support a maximum 15% reduction in electricity prices due to rising living costs and falling incomes. Mr. Tran Sy Thanh said he would take note and report to the competent authorities.

The judicial record shows the criminal record of a person convicted by a court's criminal judgment or decision that has come into legal effect, the status of execution of the judgment, and the prohibition of an individual from holding a position, establishing or managing an enterprise or cooperative in the event that the enterprise or cooperative is declared bankrupt by the court.

The purpose of requesting a criminal record certificate is to know whether a person is subject to the above prohibitions or not; or is subject to penalties according to the law or not.

Clause 4, Article 3 of the Law on Judicial Records stipulates that the management of judicial records is only intended to support personnel management, business registration activities, establishment and management of enterprises and cooperatives...

Vo Hai - Hong Chieu

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