Vietnam’s National Assembly Approves Key Amendments to Judicial Records, Civil Judgment Enforcement, and Judicial Expertise Laws

The National Assembly on December 5 passed three important laws, including amendments to the Law on Judicial Records, the revised Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement, and the amended Law on Judicial Expertise.
The updated Law on Judicial Records streamlines administrative procedures by allowing agencies to access judicial record information through data-sharing links with the national population database. This removes the need for individuals to present physical certificates. Judicial-record data displayed on the VNeID digital ID app will now hold full legal validity. Certificates can also be issued online, while in-person applications remain available only for limited cases such as foreigners or individuals without a digital identity. Processing time has been reduced to five working days.
The revised Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement authorizes enforcement officers to request competent authorities to freeze accounts or assets to prevent asset dispersal, without granting them full coercive powers. This aims to maintain legal safety while allowing limited socialisation in enforcement activities.
The amended Law on Judicial Expertise expands the scope of judicial-expertise offices. However, specialised fields such as DNA analysis, document examination, digital forensics, and fingerprint analysis will continue handling only civil and administrative cases, leaving criminal cases to public forensic agencies.