The Court's responsibility to support in collecting evidence to resolve civil cases. Some issues to note and suggestions and recommendations

Responsibility of the Court to support in collecting evidence to resolve civil cases. Some issues to note and suggestions, recommendations

Date of publication: 25-08-2025 - Views: 1774

Documents and evidence are important in resolving civil cases. The Civil Procedure Code stipulates that litigants have the right and obligation to proactively collect and submit evidence to the Court and prove that their requests are well-founded and legal. However, in some cases, the Court has the responsibility to support litigants in collecting evidence and only collect and verify evidence in cases prescribed by this Code. The current regulations on the Court's responsibility to support in collecting evidence to resolve civil cases have some changes, it is necessary to ensure consistency in perception to effectively apply the law.

1. Regulations on the Court's responsibility to support the collection of evidence for the settlement of civil cases
Point e, Clause 1, Article 97 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code (2015 Civil Procedure Code) stipulates:
“1. Agencies, organizations and individuals have the right to collect documents and evidence themselves by the following measures:
….
e) Request the Court to collect documents and evidence if the litigant is unable to collect documents and evidence;”.
Clause 3, Article 106 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulates:
“3. In case of a request from the litigant or when deemed necessary, the Court shall issue a decision requesting the agency, organization or individual currently managing or preserving documents and evidence to provide the Court.
The agency, organization or individual currently managing or preserving documents and evidence shall be responsible for providing all documents and evidence as requested by the Court within 15 days from the date of receipt of the request; after this period, if the agency, organization or individual fails to provide all documents and evidence as requested by the Court, the requested agency, organization or individual shall respond in writing and state the reasons. The agency, organization or individual that fails to comply with the Court's request without a valid reason shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of the violation, be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of law. The imposition of administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of law for with agencies, organizations, and individuals is not a reason for exemption from the obligation to provide documents and evidence to the Court”.
According to the provisions of the above-mentioned law, it is necessary to determine the responsibility to collect documents and evidence belonging to the litigants in civil cases. However, in cases where the litigants cannot collect documents and evidence, they have the right to request the Court to collect documents and evidence. In this case, the question is how is the responsibility of the Court in collecting documents and evidence determined?
Previously, Clause 4, Article 2 of the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2014 stipulated:
“The Court verifies and collects documents and evidence to resolve civil, marriage and family, business, commercial, labor, administrative cases and exercises other powers as prescribed by procedural law”.
This content has been fundamentally changed in the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2024, amended and supplemented in 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2024), specifically, Clause 4, Article 15 stipulates:
“4. The Court shall assist in collecting documents and evidence by requesting agencies, organizations and individuals to provide documents and evidence in administrative cases, civil cases and other cases as prescribed by law in cases where the parties have taken necessary measures but have not collected documents and evidence and request the Court to provide support.”.
Thus, the Law on Organization of Courts 2024 clearly defines that the responsibility for collecting documents and evidence belongs to the litigants, not the Court. This is a fundamental difference from the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2014, which stipulates that the Court is responsible for collecting documents and evidence that the litigants cannot provide.
It is completely appropriate to clearly state that the Court is not responsible for collecting evidence and documents to resolve civil cases, but only responsible for supporting the collection of documents and evidence when requested, in order to ensure the resolution of the case accurately, objectively and fairly. Because the Court collects evidence and then evaluates that evidence, it may lead to a failure to ensure objectivity when resolving the case, "If the Court collects evidence that is favorable to the plaintiff, it will be biased toward the plaintiff; if the Court collects evidence that is favorable to the defendant, it will be biased toward the defendant" (Statement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court at the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly, on the afternoon of November 22, 2023). This will easily give rise to complaints and denunciations when the litigants believe that the Court collects documents and evidence in a way that is favorable to one party and unfavorable to the other. The court has the role of an arbitrator in adjudicating disputes and complaints, but collecting evidence is not suitable for the position and role of an arbitrator. Therefore, the provision "The court is not responsible for collecting evidence, but that obligation belongs to the parties" is necessary, approaching the provisions in the civil procedure law of many countries with highly developed legal systems (according to the Common law system), iconsistent with the practice of the Court system, resolving many difficulties and shortcomings for the Court in general and Judges in particular.[1]

2. Some issues to note in law enforcement
As analyzed above, in collecting documents and evidence, the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2024 stipulates that the Court has the responsibility to support but not the responsibility to collect documents and evidence to resolve civil cases. This issue needs to be clarified in comparison with the provisions of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code to ensure consistency in application.
Clause 3, Article 107 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulates:
“3. In case ... when deemed necessary, the Court shall issue a decision requesting the agency, organization or individual that is managing and preserving documents and evidence to provide the Court.”.
Article 97 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulates the verification and collection of evidence as follows:
“…
2. In cases prescribed by this Code, the Court may take one or more of the following measures to collect documents and evidence:
a) Taking statements from litigants and witnesses;
b) Confronting litigants with each other, between litigants and witnesses;
c) Requesting an expert appraisal;
d) Valuing assets;
d) On-site examination and appraisal;
e) Entrusting the collection and verification of documents and evidence;
g) Requesting agencies, organizations and individuals to provide readable, audible, visible documents or other exhibits related to the settlement of civil cases;
h) Verifying the presence or absence of litigants at their place of residence;
i) Other measures as prescribed by this Code.
3. When taking the measures prescribed in points c, d, dd, e and g, clause 2 In this case, the Court must issue a decision stating the reasons and the Court's request.
4. During the review and retrial stages, the Examiner may take measures to collect documents and evidence as prescribed in Points a, g and h, Clause 2 of this Article.
When the Examiner takes the measures prescribed in Point g, Clause 2 of this Article, the Court must issue a decision stating the reasons and the Court's request.
5. Within 03 working days from the date the Court collects documents and evidence, the Court must notify the parties of such documents and evidence so that they can exercise their rights and obligations.
….
Comparing the above provisions of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code and Article 15 of the 2024 Law on Organization of People's Courts, there is a view that these two documents have different provisions on the Court's responsibility to collect documents and evidence in resolving civil cases. Accordingly, this view holds that the provisions of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulate the Court's responsibility to collect documents and evidence to resolve the case. Specifically, when deemed necessary, the Court will collect documents and evidence by itself, instead of issuing a decision requesting the agency, organization or individual that is managing and keeping them to provide documents and evidence to the Court without having to have a request from the litigant in the case. However, this understanding is not correct.
First, it is necessary to unify the following perception and viewpoint: The litigant has the right to decide to initiate a lawsuit and make requests for the Court to resolve when he/she believes that his/her rights and interests have been violated. At the same time, along with the right to sue and the right to request, the litigant has the responsibility to search for and collect documents and evidence to submit to prove that his/her request is well-founded and legal. The Court is not responsible for collecting documents and evidence on behalf of the litigant. This ensures the unity of legal awareness of all agencies and litigants, as the Court does not perform this task on behalf of the litigant. In addition, a unified understanding of this content will increase the responsibility of the litigant when making requests, limit the making of unfounded requests, and reduce the burden on the Court. The Court only acts as an intermediary, reviewing the documents and evidence in the case to make the most fair and objective judgment.
Second, the practice of adjudication and the provisions of civil law recognize the protection of the disadvantaged, in addition, due to the low level of legal awareness of the people, there is no uniformity between regions; The legal understanding of people in rural areas and ethnic minority areas is often lower than that of people in urban areas, etc. In addition, in practice, many agencies and organizations are not really confident in providing documents and evidence at the request of the parties without the intervention of competent authorities such as the Court. Therefore, the responsibility to collect documents and evidence belongs to the parties, but the Court has the responsibility to support the parties when two conditions are satisfied: (i) the parties have taken necessary measures but have not been able to collect documents and evidence, and (ii) request the Court to support.

Third, the provisions of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code and the 2024 Law on Organization of People's Courts are completely consistent. Specifically, it is necessary to determine that the responsibility for collecting documents and evidence belongs to the litigants, the Court does not have this responsibility. The Court only assists in collecting documents and evidence when deemed necessary (Clause 3, Article 107 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code) - the case where the Court deems it necessary is the case that satisfies the 02 conditions analyzed above. The 2024 Law on Organization of People's Courts and the 2015 Civil Procedure Code both recognize that the Court assists in collecting documents and evidence to resolve civil cases by requesting agencies, organizations and individuals to provide documents and evidence in administrative cases, civil cases and other cases as prescribed by law (stipulated in Article 91 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code). In addition, Clause 2, Article 15 of the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2024 also stipulates that the Court shall guide relevant agencies, organizations and individuals to collect and submit documents and evidence in administrative cases, civil cases and other cases as prescribed by law.

3. Some proposals and recommendations
The provisions on the Court's responsibility for collecting documents and evidence in resolving civil cases in the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2024 have fundamentally changed compared to the provisions in the Law on Organization of People's Courts 2014 as analyzed above. This change is consistent with the practical situation in our country as well as with the trend of law-making in the world; however, this is a new provision, so there needs to be synchronous solutions to ensure that this provision is effective and efficient in practice. We would like to make the following suggestions and recommendations:
First, it is necessary to strengthen information and propaganda work so that people clearly understand that the responsibility to collect documents and evidence to provide to the Court to prove that their lawsuit request is well-founded and legal belongs to the parties involved, not the Court. In reality, many people still have the view that the responsibility to prove in a case belongs to the Court, so they only file a lawsuit and make a request, the Court must collect evidence to resolve the case. This causes the Court to face many difficulties in the process of accepting and resolving civil cases. One of the forms of propaganda that we believe is practical and effective that the Court needs to proactively implement is that, along with guiding relevant agencies, organizations and individuals to collect and submit documents and evidence in civil cases, the Court disseminates and clearly explains to these subjects the responsibility to collect evidence to prove their requests. This needs to be implemented in a synchronous and unified manner in Courts at all levels nationwide. To successfully build a socialist rule-of-law state, the requirement is to raise people's awareness of law compliance. In this case, people need to determine whether or not to file a lawsuit is their right; which means that the responsibility to provide documents and evidence to prove that their request is well-founded and legal is the responsibility of the people, so that they can consider when filing a lawsuit, avoiding filing a lawsuit without grounds when they think they have the right to make a request, while the responsibility to prove belongs to the Court. Second, regarding the responsibility of individuals, agencies and organizations in providing evidence upon request.
Clause 3, Article 106 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulates: “… Agencies, organizations and individuals that are managing and storing documents and evidence are responsible for providing complete documents and evidence as requested by the Court within 15 days from the date of receipt of the request; after this time limit, if they fail to provide complete documents and evidence as requested by the Court, the requested agency, organization or individual must respond in writing and state the reasons. Agencies, organizations and individuals that do not comply with the Court's request without a valid reason may, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of law…”.

We believe that, along with specifically recording the responsibility for collecting evidence and documents in civil cases, it is necessary to record the responsibility of individuals, agencies and organizations in providing evidence when requested by both parties, not just the Court. Accordingly, when amending and supplementing the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, lawmakers need to study and supplement the provisions that in cases where agencies, organizations and individuals do not comply with the request to provide documents and evidence of the parties without a legitimate reason, depending on the nature and level of the violation, they may be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution according to the provisions of law.
Recording and supplementing this content is to ensure the best protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the parties, ensuring that the law is effective in practice.

Conclusion
Today, civil disputes are increasing, therefore, the number of civil cases that the Courts have to handle and resolve is increasing, which puts great pressure on the Courts. The Law on Organization of People's Courts 2024 was issued with new amendments and supplements on the responsibility of the Court in collecting evidence and documents to resolve civil cases, which needs to be understood in a consistent manner with the provisions of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code. By analyzing and clarifying some contents on the responsibility of the Court in collecting evidence and documents to resolve civil cases; along with making some specific proposals and recommendations, we hope that the application of the law in practice will be effective and efficient.

According to the Court Magazine

The Court's responsibility to support in collecting evidence to resolve civil cases. Some issues to note and suggestions and recommendations

Practices

Team of Lawyer

RIGHT TO INVITE LAWYERS AND RIGHT TO VISIT THE DEFENDANT DURING DETENTION: LEGAL BASIS, ...

NOTARIZATION OF CONTRACTS AND TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING FOREIGN ELEMENTS ACCORDING TO ...

RESOLVING LABOR DISPUTES INCLUDES FOREIGN ELEMENTS UNDER CURRENT LAW

REGULATIONS ON PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY RESIDENCE UNDER CURRENT RESIDENCE LAW

SCOPE OF LAWSUIT AND RIGHT TO CHANGE AND SUPPLEMENT REQUESTS OF THE LICENSEE UNDER THE ...

RELEASE IN CRIMINAL CASES UNDER CURRENT LAW

The Court's responsibility to support in collecting evidence to resolve civil cases. Some issues to note and suggestions and recommendations

Practices

Team of Lawyer

RIGHT TO INVITE LAWYERS AND RIGHT TO VISIT THE DEFENDANT DURING DETENTION: LEGAL BASIS, ...

NOTARIZATION OF CONTRACTS AND TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING FOREIGN ELEMENTS ACCORDING TO ...

RESOLVING LABOR DISPUTES INCLUDES FOREIGN ELEMENTS UNDER CURRENT LAW

REGULATIONS ON PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY RESIDENCE UNDER CURRENT RESIDENCE LAW

SCOPE OF LAWSUIT AND RIGHT TO CHANGE AND SUPPLEMENT REQUESTS OF THE LICENSEE UNDER THE ...

RELEASE IN CRIMINAL CASES UNDER CURRENT LAW

Modal title