Vietnam: What documents to be notarized as prescribed by law are certified by notaries?
What are the regulations on the social functions of notaries in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Article 3 of the Law on Notarization 2014 as follows:
Social functions of notaries
Notaries shall provide public services under the assignment of the State with a view to ensuring legal safety for parties to contracts or transactions; preventing disputes; contributing to protecting lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations; and ensuring socio-economic stability and development.
Accordingly, notaries have the following social functions:
- Ensure legal safety;
- Prevent disputes;
- Protect the lawful rights and interests of the parties;
- Ensure socio-economic stability and development
What are the duties of notaries in Vietnam?
According to the laws of some countries in the world such as Spain, France, and China, in providing evidence, consulting, reconciling, preparing documents, and collecting taxes, notaries have a relatively wide working scope compared to other civil servants.
The only legal activity that notaries do not have the power to perform is justifying in lawsuits. This is also perfectly suited to ensure the independence of the notary's activities. By granting special functions and duties as above to notaries, the State sets strict requirements and standards for the activities of notaries, and at the same time, creates a worthy position for this title in society, where people trust and consider notaries as "contract judges", their "property doctor".
Currently, the Law on Notarization 2014 does not have specific provisions for the duties of notaries. However, it can consider the main duties of notaries based on Clause 1, Article 2 of the Law on Notarization 2014 as follows:
Interpretation of terms
In this Law, the terms below are construed as follows:
1. Notarization means the written certification by a notary of a notarial practice organization of the authenticity and lawfulness of a contract or another civil transaction (below referred to as contract or transaction) or of the accuracy, lawfulness and conformity with social ethics of the Vietnamese or foreign-language translation of a paper or document (below referred to as translation) which is prescribed by law or voluntarily requested by an individual or organization to be notarized.
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Accordingly, notaries in Vietnam shall certify the authenticity and lawfulness of the following documents:
- Contracts and other civil transactions in writing;
- Translations of papers and documents from Vietnamese to foreign languages and vice versa;
- Other papers and documents upon request.
What documents to be notarized as prescribed by law are certified by notaries in Vietnam?
According to the proposal in Article 3 of the detailed outline of the Law on Notarization (amended), the functions and duties of notaries are as follows:
Functions and duties of notaries (amended, supplemented)
1. Notaries providing public services authorized by the State in the judicial assistance sector; through the activities of witnessing, creating, preserving and providing notarized written evidence in order to ensure the authenticity and stability of basic transactions in society, especially real estate transactions; ensure legal safety for the parties to contracts and transactions; prevention of disputes; contribute to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the State, individuals and organizations; stability and socio-economic development.
2. Certify documents to be notarized as prescribed by law, including:
a) Certify contracts for transfer, donation, mortgage or capital contribution by land use rights, land use rights and land-attached assets.
b/ Certify contracts for sale, gift, exchange, capital contribution, housing mortgage, transfer of commercial housing purchase and sale contracts.
c) Certify contracts for sale, lease and purchase of houses, construction works, contracts for transfer of land use rights in which the parties are households and individuals.
d/ Certify real estate business contracts.
dd) Certify agreement on division of common property during the marriage period.
e) Certify the agreement on surrogacy.
g) Certify the authorization to participate in settling civil matters at people's courts at all levels.
3. Certify contracts and transactions at the request of individuals and organizations.
4. Perform other duties prescribed by law.
Accordingly, the following documents to be notarized as prescribed by law are certified by notaries in Vietnam:
- Contracts for transfer, donation, mortgage or capital contribution by land use rights, land use rights and land-attached assets.
- Contracts for sale, gift, exchange, capital contribution, housing mortgage, transfer of commercial housing purchase and sale contracts.
- Contracts for sale, lease and purchase of houses, construction works, and contracts for the transfer of land use rights in which the parties are households and individuals.
- Real estate business contracts.
- Agreements on the division of common property during the marriage period.
- Agreements on surrogacy.
- The authorization to participate in settling civil matters at people's courts at all levels.
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