ADR & Mediation Services in Vietnam

Mediation Services in Vietnam

A lack of awareness about the benefits of mediation leads to huge amounts of money being spent by businesses on court proceedings.” “But it is not just about financial and time costs; it’s also about relationship costs. Lengthy legal proceedings mean hundreds of thousands of broken commercial relationships,” said Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of Eurochambers.

The advantages of alternative dispute resolution processes such as commercial mediation, conciliation, and arbitration over litigation are numerous. Disputing parties can expect to benefit from less costly and much faster process, with commercial proceedings seldom taking longer than a week, the ability to maintain amicable relationships with one another (and save face), and full confidentiality in the process. The legislative basis for mediation is noted to improve and countries, such as Vietnam, have pursued mediation reforms as a response to contemporary demands.

At ANT Lawyers we have a team of qualified mediators and arbitrators who have years of experience working with difficult situations and who will guide you through the process to reach a settlement that works for you both, financially and commercially.

Our mediators are accredited by leading organisations from Canada and USA.

ANT Lawyers ADR & Mediation Services offer mediation and conflict resolution services to assist businesses, employers, groups, organizations in resolving disputes, differences and conflict, and promote the use of ADR and Mediation through training services.

ANT Lawyers is supported by a team of experienced mediator, attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to ADR & Mediation in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers - a Law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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The Regulations on Mediation in the Draft of Law on Mediation, and Dialogue in Vietnam

Over the past few years, the civil cases or administrative claims have been increasing on quantity as well as complex nature. There are opinions that, in reality, while Western countries choose negotiation or mediation as the first measure of dispute settlement, court is favored in Vietnam as main measure of dispute resolution in Vietnam. Theoretically, Vietnam legal system shows that the regulations on mediation, dialogue have been relatively formulated during the judicial reform process. To address the gap in reality, there are recent changes in regulations encouraging parties to use mediation and dialogue as dispute resolution. Recently, the Draft Law on Mediation, Dialogue at the Court has been published since 01 October 2018 for public opinions. 

Mediation Services in Vietnam

Organization of Court Annexed Mediation and Dialogue in Vietnam

In order to implement mediation and dialogue at court, the Chief Justice of People’s Supreme Court issues the decision on establishing Mediation and Dialogue Center including Director, Deputy Director(s), Mediators. The Director is the head of Center appointed by one of two following measures: (1) the Chief Justice of the Court in the locality where the Center is located assigns the Judge to act according to the rotational regime; or (2) the Mediators elect among themselves. Human resources are mobilized to appoint Mediators selected from the followings: (1) retired Judges, Procurators, Investigators and other retired judicial officials; (2) Retired junior or senior officials; (3) Experts and other professionals with at least 10 years of experience in its work; and (4) Person with high prestige in society and satisfying the following standards:

– Being a Vietnamese citizen, residing in Vietnam, loyal to the Fatherland and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, having good moral qualities, having strong political will and prestige in the community, honest, objective;

– Having good health to ensure the fulfillment of the assigned tasks;

– Having experience and capacity for mediation and dialogue;

– Volunteer for mediation, dialogue settlement.

In the situation of tight state budget and overload of work at Court, the mobilization of human resources not belonging to the State but meeting certain criteria for being Mediators is one of the necessary requirements to ensure the success of this regulation.

Scope of Court Annexed Mediation and Dialogue in Vietnam

Scope of mediation and dialogue under the provision of this Draft shall be applicable to civil and administrative disputes; request for recognition of voluntary divorces, child custody agreement, division of property upon divorce within the jurisdiction of the Court according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, Law on Administrative Procedures or civil, administrative dispute requested by one or more parties to the Court annexed mediation and dialogue for settlement.

The Procedures for Court Annexed Mediation and Dialogue in Vietnam

Upon receipt of the lawsuit petition, petition for recognition of voluntary divorces, child custody agreement, division of property upon divorce as provided in Article 190 of the Civil Procedure Code, Article 119 of the Law on Administrative Procedures, the Court shall forward the petition, request and the documents and evidences enclosed to the court annexed Mediation and Dialogue Center when satisfying the following conditions: (1) The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Court; (2) The claimant, the defendant do not refuse the mediation or dialogue before the court accepts the case; and (3) The case shall not fall into the case which must not be mediated under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code or which dialogues cannot be held under the Law on Administrative Procedures.

According to the prevailing laws, there are two types of conciliation: pre-litigation conciliation and conciliation in litigation proceedings. The conciliation process under Civil Procedure Code, Law on Administrative Procedures shall not be governed by the Law on Mediation and Dialogue. Therefore, mediation under this draft law is in the form of optional pre-litigation mediation.

Recognition and Enforcement of Court Annexed Mediation Settlement in Vietnam

After mediation or dialogue, the parties can request the Court to recognize the successful mediation or dialogue settlement. The decision to recognize or to not recognize a successful out-of-Court mediation result shall immediately take effect and shall not be appealed against according to appellate procedures (Item 8 of Article 419 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015), but can be protested according to cassation or reopening procedures under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. This provision is also recorded in the Draft of Law on Mediation, Dialogue. Out-of-court mediation results are recognized by the court and will be enforced by civil judgment enforcement agencies under law on enforcement.

From the international experience and the reality of Vietnam, the effective implementation of the mechanism of mediation and dialogue has great significance for the settlement of civil and administrative disputes, promotes consensus in society; reduces the number of cases workload, the demand to bring to trial; facilitates the Court to focus resources to further improve the quality of the trial.

Pilot Project of Court Annexed Mediation in Vietnam

Through the pilot project under decision No. 332/QD-TANDTC dated Mar 9th, 2018, Official letter No. 48/TANDTC-PC dated Mar 9th, 2018, and Official letter No. 72/72/TANDTC-PC dated Apr 16th, 2018 the Mediation and Dialogue Center in Hai Phong has received more than 2,500 petition and brought to mediation, dialogue nearly 2,400 applications. The project has been expanded to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Bac Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Long An. The results and experience of the project will be an important basis for the drafting of the Law on Mediation and Dialogue.

Contact Us for ADR & Mediation Services in Vietnam provided by qualified mediators and lawyers, supported by field experts. Via email ant@antlawyers.vn, office tel +84 28 730 86 529 or talk to our partner directly at + 84 912 817 823.

 

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The Benefits of Mediation Services in Vietnam

The process of integrating with market economy is developing strongly, which creates many opportunities for businesses to extend their operation and cooperate with international companies. As a result, dispute arising is inevitable. To coincide with benefits, especially information confidentiality under parties’ agreement, commercial mediation is one of the commercial alternative dispute resolution which is more and more popular. 

Mediation Services in Vietnam

Commercial mediation is a dispute resolution negotiated by parties and the mediator is the third party as an intermediary to support parties to resolve dispute under the regulations of Decree 22/2017/ND-CP on February 24th, 2017. Following the regulations, commercial mediation can be negotiated by parties before, after or at any time of dispute resolution process. By Decree 22, commercial mediation is applied in cases of a dispute between parties with at least one party practicing commercial activities or another dispute under the laws can be resolved by the commercial mediation. Moreover, participating in commercial mediation is voluntary and all the information of mediation shall be kept secret under parties’ agreement, provided that agreement’s content is legal.

Commercial mediationis becoming a popular dispute resolution because of its simple and flexible procedure, economical cost for parties. Parties have chance to choose a suitable procedure and avoid complicated legal procedure. Under the law on parties’ self-determination to choose any mediator and a place to proceed procedures, which helps parties select a mediator with professional skills on dispute resolution. Furthermore, parties could reach an agreement with good will and cooperating spirit. Both still continue to develop and protect business relationship because of parties’ benefits. Under the Decree, all the information involving dispute must be kept secret, unless parties have written agreement or current law has other regulations.

Under the law, parties are entitled to choose a mediator to resolve dispute. According to Decree 22/2017/ND-CP, commercial mediators include commercial case mediators and mediators from commercial mediation institutions selected by the parties or appointed by a commercial mediation institution at the request of disputing parties to support them to resolve dispute pursuant to regulations of this Decree. A person who wants to become a mediator must qualify conditions of Article 7 of Decree 22. Apart from general moral standards following Law on Civil, mediators must have a university or higher qualification and at least two years of working experience in their educated discipline, also mediation skills as well as legal understanding, knowledge of business and commercial practice. Instead of bringing the case to court, which parties cannot predict the result, even inextricable, choosing a mediator who is knowledgeable and experienced could help parties resolve dispute smoothly.

Pursuant to Civil Procedure Code 2015, time for resolving commercial disputes belonging to the jurisdiction of the Court could take years. Meanwhile, choosing mediation, parties take less time to resolve dispute. Moreover, dispute is absolutely resolved by parties’ agreement because in the mediating procedure, with mediator’s support, parties can show their decision on dispute resolution. Then, they can save significant cost.

Another benefit of dispute resolution is that parties decide themselves how to resolve dispute and can know the result. This is a prominent advantage of dispute resolution compared with other resolutions, which have unpredictable result. Importantly, mediation is a private procedure so that parties’ name is not revealed publicly during mediating procedure, decrease hazards to parties’ business reputation.

According to Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group, Alternative Dispute Resolution Center Manual: A Guide for Practitioners on Establishing and Managing ADR Centers, mediating resolution has brought many benefits. For individual benefits, mediation reduces the need for enforcement proceedings to ensure one party complies with an agreement, since the parties enter into their settlement agreements consensually. For private sector benefits, mediation enhances private sector development by creating a better environment for business. It lowers the direct and indirect costs that businesses incur in enforcing contracts and resolving disputes.

Contact Us for ADR & Mediation Services in Vietnam provided by qualified mediators and lawyers, supported by field experts. Via email ant@antlawyers.vn, office tel +84 28 730 86 529 or talk to our partner directly at + 84 912 817 823.

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The Regulations on Mediation in the Draft of Law on Mediation, and Dialogue in Vietnam

Over the past few years, the civil cases or administrative claims have been increasing on quantity as well as complex nature. There are opinions that, in reality, while Western countries choose negotiation or mediation as the first measure of dispute settlement, court is favored in Vietnam as main measure of dispute resolutionin Vietnam. Theoretically, Vietnam legal system shows that the regulations on mediation, dialogue have been relatively formulated during the judicial reform process. To address the gap in reality, there are recent changes in regulations encouraging parties to use mediation and dialogue as dispute resolution. Recently, the Draft Law on Mediation, Dialogue at the Court has been published since 01 October 2018 for public opinions.

Organization of CourtAnnexed Mediation and Dialogue in Vietnam

In order to implement mediation and dialogue at court, the Chief Justice of People’s Supreme Court issues the decision on establishing Mediation and Dialogue Center including Director, Deputy Director(s), Mediators. The Director is the head of Center appointed by one of two following measures: (1) the Chief Justice of the Court in the locality where the Center is located assigns the Judge to act according to the rotational regime; or (2) the Mediators elect among themselves. Human resources are mobilized to appoint Mediators selected from the followings: (1) retired Judges, Procurators, Investigators and other retired judicial officials; (2) Retired junior or senior officials; (3) Experts and other professionals with at least 10 years of experience in its work; and (4) Person with high prestige in society and satisfying the following standards:

– Being a Vietnamese citizen, residing in Vietnam, loyal to the Fatherland and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, having good moral qualities, having strong political will and prestige in the community, honest, objective;

– Having good health to ensure the fulfillment of the assigned tasks;

– Having experience and capacity for mediation and dialogue;

– Volunteer for mediation, dialogue settlement.

In the situation of tight state budget and overload of work at Court, the mobilization of human resources not belonging to the State but meeting certain criteria for being Mediators is one of the necessary requirements to ensure the success of this regulation.

Scope of Court Annexed Mediation and Dialogue in Vietnam

Scope of mediation and dialogue under the provision of this Draft shall be applicable to civil and administrative disputes; request for recognition of voluntary divorces, child custody agreement, division of property upon divorce within the jurisdiction of the Court according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, Law on Administrative Procedures or civil, administrative dispute requested by one or more parties to the Court annexed mediation and dialogue for settlement.

The Procedures for Court Annexed Mediation and Dialogue in Vietnam

Upon receipt of the lawsuit petition, petition for recognition of voluntary divorces, child custody agreement, division of property upon divorce as provided in Article 190 of the Civil Procedure Code, Article 119 of the Law on Administrative Procedures, the Court shall forward the petition, request and the documents and evidences enclosed to the court annexed Mediation and Dialogue Center when satisfying the following conditions: (1) The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Court; (2) The claimant, the defendant do not refuse the mediation or dialogue before the court accepts the case; and (3) The case shall not fall into the case which must not be mediated under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code or which dialogues cannot be held under the Law on Administrative Procedures.

According to the prevailing laws, there are two types of conciliation: pre-litigation conciliation and conciliation in litigation proceedings. The conciliation process under Civil Procedure Code, Law on Administrative Procedures shall not be governed by the Law on Mediation and Dialogue. Therefore, mediation under this draft law is in the form of optional pre-litigation mediation.

Recognition and Enforcement of Court Annexed Mediation Settlement in Vietnam

After mediation or dialogue, the parties can request the Court to recognize the successful mediation or dialogue settlement. The decision to recognize or to not recognize a successful out-of-Court mediation result shall immediately take effect and shall not be appealed against according to appellate procedures (Item 8 of Article 419 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015), but can be protested according to cassation or reopening procedures under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. This provision is also recorded in the Draft of Law on Mediation, Dialogue. Out-of-court mediation results are recognized by the court and will be enforced by civil judgment enforcement agencies under law on enforcement.

From the international experience and the reality of Vietnam, the effective implementation of the mechanism of mediation and dialogue has great significance for the settlement of civil and administrative disputes, promotes consensus in society; reduces the number of cases workload, the demand to bring to trial; facilitates the Court to focus resources to further improve the quality of the trial.

Pilot Project of Court Annexed Mediation in Vietnam

Through the pilot project under decision No. 332/QD-TANDTC dated Mar 9th, 2018, Official letter No. 48/TANDTC-PC dated Mar 9th, 2018, and Official letter No. 72/72/TANDTC-PC dated Apr 16th, 2018 the Mediation and Dialogue Center in Hai Phong has received more than 2,500 petition and brought to mediation, dialogue nearly 2,400 applications. The project has been expanded to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Bac Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Long An. The results and experience of the project will be an important basis for the drafting of the Law on Mediation and Dialogue.

Tuan Nguyen, Esq., CEDR Accredited Mediator

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