The Presidential Decree on Administrative Case Proceedings No.001/PSD dated 19 March 2021 ("Presidential Decree") was published in the Lao Official Gazette on 6 April 2021 and came into force on 21 April 2021. The Presidential Decree is a comprehensive piece of legislation comprising 71 articles and is based on the Law on Civil Procedure 2012 and Law on People's Court 2012.
The Presidential Decree is the first piece of legislation which applies to public organisations, civil servants, as well as organisations and local citizens involved in administrative case proceedings in Lao PDR. The Presidential Decree also sets out the principles, rules, and measures in relation to administrative case proceedings in line with the law of Lao PDR.
The administrative case proceedings are proceedings relating to disputes the cases relating to the conflicts of administrative cases between:
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A Public organisation, civil servants and organisation, and citizens;
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A Public organisation and civil servants;
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Civil servants in the administrative positions and general civil servants;
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Two Public organisations and public organisation.
The Administrative Law Chamber of the People's Court and Public Prosecutor's Office shall be in charge in adjudicating administrative cases. It shall oversee the proceedings which may involve litigants, third parties, witnesses, experts, interpreters, and attorneys or other legal representation, as the case may be. Events and cases that are currently under the consideration of the Administrative Law Chamber, or events or cases that occurred within the year before the coming into force of the Presidential Decree can be considered as being within the scope of the Presidential Decree.
The Presidential Decree also sets out the categories of cases or issues which the Administrative Law Chamber can adjudicate.
For issues of national secrecy, stability in the areas of defense-security and foreign relations shall not be taken into account.
