TRÁCH NHIỆM KHI KHÔNG CHẤP HÀNH QUYẾT ĐỊNH THI HÀNH ÁN / LIABILITIES UPON FAILURE OF COMPLIANCE WITH

Situation: In the appellate civil judgement, I am the new defendant sentenced by the competent People’s Court, where I am entitled to pay the first-instance and appellate court fees, which is VND 10,000,000 (Ten million dong). After the issuance of this judgment, the Civil Enforcement agency made an enforcement decision requiring me to pay the aforementioned court fees. I am currently having trouble with finances. I would like to ask for legal advice in case of late payment, what responsibilities shall I bear? 

Response:

Pursuant to Article 45, 46 of the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments (LECJ) 2008, amended and supplemented in 2014, provides that the time limit for voluntary execution of judgments is 10 days after the judgment debtor receives or is properly notified of the judgment enforcement decision. Upon the expiration of the time limit specified in this regulation, the judgment debtors with judgment execution conditions who fail to voluntarily execute judgments shall have coercive enforcement measures applied to their property to fully collect the court fees. Some of the coercive measures may be applied: 1. Deduction of money from the account; recovery and handling of money and valuable papers of the judgment debtors; 2. Subtraction of incomes of judgment debtors; 3. Distraint and handling of assets of judgment debtors, including also those held by third parties; 4. Exploitation of assets of judgment debtors; 5. Forcible transfer of objects, property rights, and papers; 6. Forcible performance or non-performance of certain jobs by judgment debtors. The coerce is only to be stopped when You have fulfilled your obligations to pay the payable court fees. 

Besides, point b, clause 1, Article 13 of Resolution No. 01/2019/NQ-HDTP dated January 11th, 2019, providing that cases of interest are charged on amounts payable to the State budget as regulated by laws or non-contractual damage compensations or the late performance of asset-related liabilities arising in or out of the contract on which the interest is not agreed upon by the parties, the court shall decide that from the effective date of the judgment or decision (in case the judgment-enforcing authorities are entitled to proactively decide the judgment enforcement) or from the date of submission of request for judgment enforcement by the judgment creditor (with respect to amounts payable to the judgment creditor) to the end of the judgment debt arrears calculated at the interest rate prescribed in Article 357, Article 468 of the Civil Code 2015, unless otherwise prescribed by laws. 

Therefore, if the stated judgments have regulations on interest payments for the court fees, upon the late payment, you shall be entitled to pay additional interest on late payment in accordance with the laws from the date when the enforcement agency issues the proactive enforcement decision.  

In case the person with delay acts to fulfil enforcement obligations with enforcement conditions, his/her shall be entitled to a fine of 5 million dong (point c, clause 3, Article 64 of Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP). In addition, the judgment debtor with full conditions intentionally fails to comply with the effective Court’s judgment or decisions, had been applied coercive measures in accordance with the law; or had been administratively sanctioned for failure to comply with the judgment, but continues to commit the violation, such person may incur criminal liability for the Offenses of failure to comply with the judgment under Article 380 of the Criminal Code, with the maximum penalty being up to five years’ imprisonment and an additional monetary fine. 

As a result, in case you are difficult in financial status, you may actively contact the Civil Enforcement agency to extend the time limit for voluntary execution of judgments in accordance with the laws, as well as clearly clarify your financial status circumstances, providing essential evidence if any and committing the specific time for paying the court fees (which may be divided into multiple time for paying), the Civil Enforcement agency shall consider such requests, to avoid being applied the responsibilities mentioned in the regulations above. 

Lawyer Pham Thao - FDVN Law Firm Partnerships