This Ordinance provides for a number of litigation costs; advances on litigation costs; responsibility for payment, obligation to bear litigation costs; funding for payment of litigation costs according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Civil Procedure Code, and the Administrative Procedure Law.
Trial allowance is the amount of money paid to the jury when performing the trial duty. This allowance is calculated based on the actual days of participating in the trial, studying the case file, and is confirmed by the court's decision to bring the case to trial.
The court that decides to bring the case to trial is responsible for paying the costs to the jury.
In addition to the trial allowance, the Jury is also entitled to one or more expenses including: travel expenses; room rental expenses; accommodation allowance; and other expenses, according to Article 46 of the Ordinance.
Before the National Assembly Standing Committee voted to approve the Ordinance, presented a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Ordinance, Chairwoman of the Judicial Committee Le Thi Nga said that the majority of opinions agreed to amend and increase the level of litigation costs to suit the reality after 12 years of implementing Ordinance No. 02. There were opinions requesting further clarification on adjusting the level of expenses for the Jury.
The Standing Committee of the Judiciary Committee has coordinated with the Supreme People's Court and relevant agencies to review and carefully study the List of litigation costs.
Regarding the trial allowance of the jury, according to Decision No. 41/2012/QD-TTg dated October 5, 2012 of the Prime Minister on the allowance regime for participants in court sessions and civil settlement meetings, from 2012 to present, the jury is entitled to an allowance of 90,000 VND/day.
Meanwhile, according to Joint Circular No. 191/2014/TTLT-BTC-BTP dated December 12, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice, the remuneration paid for 1 working day of an appointed lawyer is 0.4 times the basic salary; accordingly, the remuneration for an appointed lawyer from July 1, 2024 is 936,000 VND/day (0.4 x 2,340,000), 10 times higher than the remuneration for a jury.
Based on reviewing legal regulations, fully assessing the significance, responsibility and efforts of the Jury when participating in trials, ensuring compliance with reality and correlation with a number of other subjects when participating in litigation activities, the Standing Committee of the Judicial Committee found that the expenditure level of VND 900,000/day for the Jury as proposed by the Supreme People's Court is appropriate.
In addition, the Standing Committee of the Judicial Committee also proposed to continue considering the trial allowance level of the jury. It is proposed to stipulate a level of 700,000 VND/day to correspond to the remuneration level of the People's Defender (in the List of litigation costs attached to the Ordinance).
At the same time, it also corresponds to the daily salary of a Senior Specialist level 1 (salary coefficient is 6.2, about 660,000 VND/day) and reduces part of the burden on the state budget.
Based on the opinions of the agencies, the Standing Committee of the Judiciary Committee proposed that the draft ordinance continue to regulate the cost of remuneration when participating in litigation activities, without distinguishing between those who receive salaries and those who do not receive salaries from the State budget.
"When there is a document guiding the new salary regime, the Standing Committee of the Judiciary Committee will proactively coordinate with relevant agencies to propose and report to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to amend and supplement the provisions of the ordinance if necessary," said Chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee Le Thi Nga.
The Ordinance on Litigation Costs has 73 articles and takes effect from July 1, 2025.
