Laws of Vietnam

Article 1.- To issue, together with this Decision, the Regulations on the Management and Use of the Market Management Badges, Market Control Cards, and Military Weapons by Market Control and Supervision Force.

Article 2.- These Regulations take effect from the date of their signing. All stipulations made earlier which are contrary to these Regulations are now annulled.

Article 3.- The Head of the Ministerial Office, the Directors of the Statute Department and the Finance - Accounting Department, the Director of the Trade Service, and the Heads of the Market Management Offices at various levels shall have to organize the implementation of this Decision.

For the Minister of Trade

Vice Minister

Article 1.- The Market Management badges, market control cards and military weapons supplied to the market control and supervision force can be used only when it is on duty.

Article 2.- The public employees of the Market Management Force who are supplied with the Market Management badges and market control cards and assigned the task of managing and using military weapons and other equipment, must strictly observe law and other regulations of the State and of the Ministry of Trade.

Article 3.- The use of these equipments for purposes other than prescribed (such as lending them to others, using the card and weapon to intimidate others, buying, selling or exchanging them, using the weapons for hunting, or causing explosions as substitutes for firecrackers during festive occasions) is strictly prohibited.

The offender is liable to administrative fine or examined for penal liability, depending on the seriousness of the offence; at the same time, he/she must compensate for the material losses caused to the persons concerned.

II. REGULATIONS ON THE MANAGEMENT AND USE OF THE MARKET MANAGEMENT BADGES AND MARKET CONTROL CARDS.

Article 4.- The public employees of the Market Management Force, who go to work or on mission, attend a meeting, or perform the task of controlling and supervising the market, must wear the uniform and badge of the Market Management Force. When inspecting a unit or individual engaged in trade or service activities on the market, they must present the controller's card and other necessary papers (control order) to the unit or individual concerned.

Article 5.- The Market Management badge is issued to all public employees working in the Market Management Force at the central and local levels. The market control card is issued only to those public employees who are assigned the task of directly controlling and supervising the market with the following conditions :

1. They are officials and members of the staff employed by the State, are on the payroll of market controllers, and are fully qualified under State regulation.

Not entitled to the card are those who are suspended from their work, who are being disciplined, or who are being examined for penal liability.

2. They are assigned the task of controlling and supervising the market.

Article 6.- The Ministry of Trade empowers the Director of the Market Management Department to issue the Market Management badge and the market control card (according to the models issued together with Decree No.10-CP on the 23rd of January 1995 of the Government) on a national scale as follows :

1. The Market Management Department shall have the badges made and the cards printed according to the models defined by the Government, and on behalf of the Ministry, shall consider the applications and issue these badges and cards to those public employees working in the Market Management Force at the central and local levels, and report the results of the issue to the Ministry's leadership.

2. Procedure of applying for the badges and control cards :

- Interested applicants send in a C.V. with a portrait and four 4x6cm color photographs to the local Market Management Office.

- The Market Management Offices of the provinces and cities shall draw up the lists of the applicants, keep back the C.V. of the applicants, and send the lists with the 4 photographs of each applicant enclosed in an official dispatch proposing the issue of market control cards and badges to the Market Management Department.

With 30 days after receipt of the duly made dossiers, the Market Management Department shall consider whether or not to issue market control cards and Market Management badges to the public employees proposed by the local Market Management Office.

Article 7.- When issuing the Market Management badges and control cards, the Market Management Department must see to it that all the letters on the Market Management badge are printed and the letters on the market control cards are typed, and not written by hand, erased, or corrected.

The Market Management Department must keep a record on the issue of badges and control cards, and carefully manage and preserve it.

Article 8.- Only those public employees who have been issued control cards can inspect the observance of law on trade and service activities on the market and handle violations within their power as stipulated by law.

Before issuing market control cards to public employees in its unit, the local Market Management Office must make known to each of them the regulations on the management and use of control cards, and must retrieve the old cards before issuing new cards to them.

The control cards are valid for 2 years. When members of the Market Management Force are transferred to other work, retire, or are disciplined, the local Market Management Office must withdraw their cards, report it to the Department, carefully keep the cards, and produce them upon request by the Department.

Article 9.- The control cards and badges must be kept carefully. If the cards or badges are worn out by use, they can be replaced with new ones, but the old ones must be retrieved. In case a member of the Market Management Force loses his/her card, he/she must send an application explaining the reason of the loss, report it immediately to the Head of the unit and the local police station for help in its recovery, at the same time to announce over the mass media to prevent its misuse. If the lost card cannot be found within one month, then the Market Management Office of the province or city concerned must send a dossier to the Department requesting the issue of another card. In case a badge is lost, the local Market Management Office must send an official dispatch enclosed with an application of the public employee concerned to the Market Management Department explaining the circumstances of the loss and requesting the issue of another badge.

III. REGULATIONS ON THE MANAGEMENT AND USE OF MILITARY WEAPONS

Article 10.- The military weapons supplied by the State to the Market Management Force include AK rifles, pistols, electric rods, gas sprayers, masks and walkie-talkies for self-defence while on mission.

The Ministry empowers the Market Management Department to work with the Ministry of Defence to supply the above-mentioned military weapons to the market control and supervision force in the whole country, and to contact the Ministry of the Interior for guidance on the granting of licenses for the use of the military weapons supplied.

Article 11.- Within 10 days at the latest after receiving the military weapons (from whatever source), the local Market Management Office must apply to the provincial or municipal police station for the granting of licenses for the use of the military weapons supplied.

The local Market Management Office must keep a record of each kind of weapons supplied, and only after receiving a license for the use of a weapon can it hand the weapon over to a member of its force for use as stipulated at Article 12 of these Regulations.

In case the weapons are still kept in storage, the Office must assign persons to protect them, and furnish the storage with all the necessary safety equipment.

Article 12.- The management and use of military weapons must comply with the current regulations of the State, namely:

1. After receiving military weapons, the unit must organize a course to study the regulations of the Government, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior on the use, management, maintenance and transport of weapons, and the skilful use of military weapons equipped.

2. All military weapons must be kept at the office building. When it is necessary for market controllers to bring along weapons on a mission, the Head of the Office must issue a certificate, and the weapon user must bring along the necessary papers : mission certificate, the license issued by the provincial or municipal police for use of weapons, control card, and other papers to produce to the authorized persons upon request.

3. Users must always keep their weapons with them and not to leave pistols in their rucksack or handbag, or tie them to their bicycles or motorbikes.

4. Never use weapons carelessly, at variance with the stipulations, or the purpose defined.

5. Regularly clean the weapons, check their safety, keep them in good condition, and check them carefully before use.

Those who are given weapons for keeping and using must bear full responsibility for any loss, damage, or accidental explosion. In case he/she loses his/her weapon, he/she must send an application to the Head of his/her Office and the police station (which issued the license for use of weapon) explaining the reason of the loss; if he/she loses it on the way to carry out an assignment, he/she must report it to the nearest police station asking for help to recover it.

6. The Head of the Unit must regularly inspect the maintenance and use of military weapons and the observance of the regulations on the use of military weapons at his unit. At regular intervals (every 6 months and at year-ends), he must send a report in writing on the state of military weapons at his unit to the provincial or municipal police office.

7. When they are transferred to other work, retire or are disciplined, the members of the unit, who are given weapons for maintenance and use, must return the weapons, licenses and other related papers to their unit. The transfer of weapons must be made carefully and registered.

Article 13.- Regulations for firing a gun when necessary (excerpts from Part II, Article 1, of Decree No.94-HDBT on the 2nd of July 1984 of the Council of Ministers, now the Government) :

"While performing the task of defending political security and social order and safety, those persons equipped with weapons can open fire on the following persons only after they have already fired a warning shot and the persons concerned fail to obey, except in special urgent cases in which there is no other measure to immediately stop the person concerned from acts that are likely to cause serious consequences, or when the weapon user exercises their legitimate right to self-defence as stipulated by law:

1. Those who are resorting to violence to cause unrest, who carry out acts of sabotage, who manhandle officers or soldiers on guard, or who attack the persons or targets being defended.

2. Those who are undermining prisons to release prisoners; who are rioting, robbing weapons, destroying prisons, or using force to threaten the officers and soldiers who are performing the task of controlling, guarding or escorting prisoners; the dangerous criminals who are being detained, escorted or wanted for arrest, but who attempt to es e.

3. Those who disobey order from the officers and men who are patrolling or keeping guard by using force to resist them, seriously threatening the life of the officers on duty, or the life of other people.

4. The robbers and hooligans who are committing murder or rape, causing serious disorder, or who are using force to rob or destroy socialist property or the property of citizens.

5. Those vehicle and motorbike drivers who disobey and deliberately speed up after the traffic controllers have already ordered them to stop, knowing clearly that they are carrying weapons or reactionary documents, documents containing national secrets, or property of special value of the State; or that they are carrying criminals, robbers or hooligans on the way to es e. The traffic controllers can open fire to put the means of transport out of action in order to arrest the persons concerned.

The officers and men on duty must be cautions when there are other people in the means of transport or around".

IV. ORGANIZING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATIONS:

Article 14.- The Market Management Offices of the provinces and cities must pay for the cost of making the Market Management badges and control cards to the Market Management Department when they receive these badges and cards from the Department (or from the Department's representative in Ho Chi Minh City). This expenditure shall be deducted from the budget allocations supplied to the unit for its operation.

Article 15.- The expenditure for the purchase of military weapons for the market control and supervision force shall be funded by the State budget.

The equipment and purchase of weapons shall be made in accordance with Circular No.206-TT/LB on the 23rd of June 1993 of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Steering Committee for Market Management.

Article 16.- If any problem arises in the process of implementing these Regulations, the Market Management Department should report it to the Ministry for consideration and settlement.

For the Minister of Trade

Vice Minister