STATE MANAGEMENT OF ARBITRATION IN VIETNAM AND COURT’S ROLES IN ARBITRAL ACTIVITIES

How can the government perform State management of arbitration in Vietnam? What are the roles of courts in arbitral activities? The good lawyers in Hanoi, Vietnam, Dragon Law Firm will answer you that question according to Vietnam’s Law.

Arbitral proceedings in Vietnam are governed by the Law on commercial Arbitration No.54-2010-QH12 dated 17 June 2010, which came into force on 1^st January 2011. The Law on commercial Arbitration is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law (Model Law) but contains additional or different provisions. The Law on Commercial Arbitration applies to all domestic arbitrations with respect to international arbitration proceedings.

According to Article 15 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration, we have:

“Article 15. State management of arbitration

1. State management of arbitration covers:

a/ Promulgating, and guiding the implementation of, legal documents on arbitration;

b/ Granting and revoking establishment licenses and operation registration papers of arbitration centers; or branches and representative offices of foreign arbitration institutions in Vietnam;

c/ Announcing lists of arbitrators of arbitration institutions operating in Vietnam;

d/ Propagating and disseminating the arbitration law; entering into international cooperation on arbitration; and guiding the training and retraining of arbitrators:

c/ Examining, inspecting, and handling violations of the arbitration law;

f/ Settling complaints and denunciations related to the activities specified at Points b, c. d and e of this Clause.

2. The Government shall perform the unified state management of arbitration.

3. The Ministry of Justice shall take responsibility before the Government for performing the state management of arbitration.

4. Provincial-level Justice Departments shall assist the Ministry of Justice in performing several tasks under the Government's regulations and this Law.”

So, the State will manage arbitral activities through promulgating and guiding the operation of legal documents on arbitration and through activities of competent State agencies ( the Ministry of Justice and Provincial-level Justice Departments) such as examining, inspecting and handling violations of the arbitration law.

Although arbitral activities are independent and impartial, the roles of courts are very important and cannot be ignored. Those roles are: (i) designating of arbitrators to form an ad hoc arbitration council; (ii) changing  of an arbitrator of an ad hoc arbitration council; (iii) settling a complaint about the arbitration council’s decision that the arbitration agreement was invalid or unrealizable or about the arbitration council’s jurisdiction; (iv) collecting evidences; (v) applying interim urgent measures; (vi) summoning a witness; (vii) cancelling an arbitral award of register an ad hoc arbitral award.

And which courts are competent for each activity above mentioned? Article 7 of the Law on Commercial arbitration stated as below:

“Article 7. Identification of courts which have competence over arbitral activities

1. In case the parties have agreed to select a specific court, the competent court is the selected court.

2. In case the parties have no agreement to select a court, the court's competence shall be determined as follows:

a/ For the designation of arbitrators to form an ad hoc arbitration council, the competent court is the court in the place in which the defendant resides if the defendant is an individual or the place in which the defendant has its head office if the defendant is an institution. If there arc many defendants, the competent court is the court in the place in which one of these defendants resides or has its head office.

If the defendant resides or has its head office in a foreign country, the competent court is the court in the place in which the plaintiff resides or has its head office;

b/ For the change of an arbitrator of an ad hoc arbitration council, the competent court is the court in the place in which the arbitration council settles the dispute:

c/ For a request to settle a complaint about the arbitration council's decision that the arbitration agreement was invalid or unrealizable or about the arbitration council's jurisdiction, the competent court is the court in the place in which the arbitration council issued such decision;

d/ For a request for the court to collect evidence, the competent court is the court in the place in which exists evidence to be collected;

e/ For a request for the court to apply interim urgent measures, the competent court is the court in the place in which such measures need to be applied;

f/ For summoning a witness, the competent court is the court in the place in which the witness resides;

g/ For a request to cancel an arbitral award or register an ad hoc arbitral award, the competent court is the court in the place in which the arbitration council pronounced such arbitral award.

3. Courts with competence over arbitral activities specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article are people's courts of provinces or centrally run cities.”

There is no specialist arbitration court in Vietnam. However the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Justice have recognized in public for that enforcement of arbitral awards under the New York Convention has been uneven and inconsistent largely because courts spread throughout the country do not share the same background and experience in respect of such enforcement.

The Law on Commercial Arbitration, read here

For more detailed information or you need good lawyers in Hanoi, Vietnam to consult you about arbitral proceedings , please contact: 

Dragon Law Firm - 1900. 599.979

Website: dragonlaw.vn

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