Private bailiffs still under trial
HCM CITY — A pilot project to set up private bailiff services in HCM City has gained some positive results over the last two years, but several bottlenecks have stymied their development, officials say.
Addressing a review meeting last Friday, Nguyen Van Dua, standing deputy secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, expressed his appreciation for the project's achievements in expediting execution of civil verdicts.
Since May 21, 2010, HCM City has had eight private bailiff offices with 33 bailiffs and 69 staff members.
The major duties of a bailiff include verifying conditions for enforcing civil verdicts, serving all claims, summons or orders from the Court to the defendants, and executing civil enforcement warrants unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
Pham Thi Thanh Loan, deputy head of the HCM City Civil Verdicts Execution Department, said private bailiffs had helped reduce working pressures on judicial officers, limit stagnation in enforcement of civil verdicts, expedite the settling of civil disputes and reduce numerous repetition of claims.
The private bailiff offices had contributed to improved protection of people's legitimate interests as well as the functioning of judicial agencies, she said.
However, other speakers at the meeting noted that this being the first stage, the court and other judicial agencies were not confident about the capacity of private bailiff offices, so they had limited work given to the offices in order to test their capability.
Furthermore, the laws in certain fields, including tax management, property and credit activities were not consistent with those governing private bailiffs, causing problems, they said.
Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong said legislation passed by the National Assembly on private bailiffs to date were neither sufficient nor complete.
Private bailiffs were yet to meet the demands of society, he said, adding that his ministry was trying to solve several problems toward improving services provided by private bailiffs.
Other localities in the country, including Da Nang City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces, are now asking the Government for permission to introduce private bailiff services, he noted.
The Ministry of Justice would ask the National Assembly at an upcoming meeting to further expand the model of private bailiffs and issue more comprehensive laws detailing their rights and responsibilities, Cuong said.
HCM City is the first locality in the country allowed by the Government to set up private bailiff services under a decision issued in 2009. — VNS