Enforcement of civil judgments is an essential process in the legal system of Vietnam, ensuring fairness and the execution of court decisions. However, to ensure effectiveness and specificity in the enforcement of judgments, relevant parties need to pay attention to the prescriptive period for requesting enforcement of civil judgments in Vietnam.
Article 30(1) of Consolidated Document No. 09/VBHN-VPQH on the Enforcement of Civil Judgments states: “Within a period of 5 years from the date the judgment or decision takes legal effect, the person entitled to enforcement and the person obligated to enforce the judgment have the right to request the competent civil enforcement agency to issue a decision on the enforcement of the judgment.”
For cases of postponement or temporary suspension of enforcement according to the provisions of the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, the time of postponement or temporary suspension is not counted towards the prescriptive period for requesting enforcement of the judgment, except when the person entitled to enforcement agrees to postpone enforcement.
If the requesting party can prove objective obstacles or force majeure events preventing them from requesting enforcement of the judgment within the specified prescriptive period, the time during which the objective obstacles or force majeure events exist shall not be counted towards the prescriptive period for requesting enforcement of the judgment.
Therefore, parties involved in civil disputes need to pay attention to the prescriptive period for requesting enforcement of judgments to avoid situations where the right to request enforcement of the judgment expires.
If the prescriptive period for requesting enforcement of a civil judgment expires and the person entitled to enforcement or the person obligated to enforce the judgment does not exercise their right to request the civil enforcement agency to organize enforcement, they lose the right to request the civil enforcement agency to organize enforcement in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments.
According to Article 151 of the Civil Code of 2015, the prescriptive period is calculated from the beginning of the first day of the prescriptive period and ends at the end of the last day of the prescriptive period.
According to the provisions of Article 147(2) of the Civil Code of 2015, when the prescriptive period is determined by days, weeks, months, or years, the first day of the prescriptive period is not counted, and counting starts from the next consecutive day after the determined day. When the prescriptive period begins with an event, the day of the occurrence of the event is not counted, and counting starts from the next consecutive day after the occurrence of that event.
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