Civil Code 2015

Issue Date: 24/11/2015 Effective Date: 01/01/2017 Status: Available Update: 23/02/2016

CIVIL CODE

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

The National Assembly promulgates a Civil Code.

PART ONE

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

The Civil Code provides the legal status, legal standards for the conduct of natural and juridical persons; the rights and obligations of natural and juridical person (hereinafter referred to as persons) regarding personal and property rights and obligations in relations established on the basis of equality, freedom of will, independence of property and self-responsibility (hereinafter referred to as civil relations).

Article 2. Recognition, respect, protection and guarantee of civil rights

1. In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, all civil rights are recognized, respected, protected and guaranteed under the Constitution and law.

2. Civil rights may be limited as prescribed in law in exceptional circumstances that due to national defense and security, social safety and order, social ethics and the community's health.

Article 3. Basic principles of civil law

1. Every person shall be equal in civil relations, may not use any reason for unequal treatment to others, and enjoy the same protection policies of law regarding moral rights and economic rights.

2. Each person establishes, exercises/fulfills and terminates his/her civil rights and obligations on the basis of freely and voluntarily entering into commitments and/or agreements. Each commitment or agreement that does not violate regulations of law and is not contrary to social ethics shall be bound by contracting parties and must be respected by other entities.

3. Each person must establish, exercise/ fulfill, or terminate his/her civil rights and/or obligations in the principle of goodwill and honesty.

4. The establishment, exercise and termination of civil rights and/or obligations may not infringe national interests, pubic interests, lawful rights and interests of other persons.

5. Each person shall be liable for his/her failure to fulfill or the incorrect fulfillment of any such civil obligations.

Article 4. Application of the Civil Code

1. This Law is a common law that applies to civil relations.

2. Any relevant law that applies to civil relations in specific fields may not be contrary to the basic principle of civil law prescribed in Article 3 of this Law.

3. If another relevant law has no regulation or has regulations that infringe Clause 2 of this Article, the regulations of this Law shall apply.

4. In cases where an international agreement to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory contains provisions different from the provisions of this Code with regard to a same matter, the provisions of such agreement shall apply.

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Article 688. Transitional regulations

1. With respect to civil transactions established before the effective date of this Code, the law shall be implemented as follows:

a) The parties of non-performed civil transactions whose contents and forms are different from this Code shall keep complying with regulations of the Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11 and legislative documents on guidelines for the Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11, unless the parties agree to amend the contents or forms of the transactions in accordance with this Code.

a) The parties of being-performed civil transactions whose contents and forms are different from this Code shall keep complying with regulations of the Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11 and legislative documents on guidelines for the Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11;

b) The parties of non-performed or being-performed civil transactions whose contents and forms are conformable to this Code shall comply with regulations of this Code;

c) The parties of civil transactions that are completely performed before the effective date of this Code but arise dispute shall keep complying with regulations of the Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11 and legislative documents on guidelines for the Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11;

d) Prescriptive periods shall comply with this Code.

2. This Code shall not apply to a case settled by a court in accordance with law on civil before the effective date of such Code for the purpose of appeal under cassation procedures.

Article 689. Effect

This Code comes into force from January 1, 2017.

The Civil Code No. 33/2005/QH11 shall be annulled from the effective date of this Code.

This Code is passed by the 13th National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam during the 10th session on November 24, 2015.