Vietnam: What is a legal power of attorney? Is it mandatory to notarize the power of attorney?
What is a legal power of attorney in Vietnam?
Up to now, Vietnamese law has not had any legal documents specifying the definition of power of attorney. The Civil Code 2015 also only mentions the concept of authorization contracts. Other documents often use the term power of attorney without giving a specific definition of a power of attorney or contract.
In a number of legal documents referring to power of attorney, specifically in Clause 1, Article 107 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, the following are recorded:
Authorized representation in procedures related to industrial property rights
1. Authorization for carrying out procedures related to the establishment, maintenance, extension, amendment, termination and invalidation of protection titles must be made in writing in the form of a power of attorney.
2. A power of attorney must contain the following principal contents:
(a) Full name and address of the principal and of the attorney;
(b) Scope of authorization;
(c) Valid term of authorization;
(d) Date of making the power of attorney;
(dd) Signature and seal (if any) of the principal.
3. A power of attorney without any valid term shall be considered valid indefinitely, and validity shall be terminated only when the principal declares termination of validity.
Pursuant to Point b, Clause 19, Article 20 of Circular 58/2020/TT-BCA stipulates:
Solutions to dealing with other specific cases during the registration and issuance of license plate
...
19. Vehicles commonly owned by a married couple
a) If the legal owner voluntarily declare a vehicle as a marital property, write full names and signatures of both husband and wife on the declaration of vehicle registration; in the event that a spouse has undersigned the certificate of vehicle registration and currently wish to change it to a legal community property, fill in the declaration of vehicle registration signed by both husband and wife; the competent registry shall revoke the previous certificate of vehicle registration and issue the new one;
b) The co-owner’s vehicle, when being sold or offered as a gift, must obtain sufficient signatures and a trust of sale from these co-owners.
Accordingly, it can be understood that a power of attorney is a form of representation under authorization that the principal performs by his/her unilateral act without the consent of the authorized person.
Thus, it can be seen that a power of attorney is a unilateral legal act, performed according to the will of one party, performing simple tasks such as submitting an application for issuance of a Red Book, paying an administrative fine...
Vietnam: What is a legal power of attorney? Is it mandatory to notarize the power of attorney?
Is it mandatory to notarize the power of attorney in Vietnam?
The current Law on Notarization does not provide for the notarization of power of attorney, but only refers to the notarization of authorization.
In fact, power of attorney is often used for simple authorization. For complicated cases, the parties will use authorization contracts. Therefore, normally the power of attorney is not required to be notarized.
Pursuant to Point d, Clause 4, Article 24 of Decree 23/2015/ND-CP stipulating the cases of signature authentication referring to the power of attorney as follows:
Authentication of signatures on power of attorney with respect to empowerment without pay and responsibilities undertaken by attorney in fact and bearing no relation to transfer of ownership of assets and real estate use rights.
Thus, authentication of signatures on power of attorney with respect to empowerment without pay and responsibilities undertaken by attorney in fact and bearing no relation to transfer of ownership of assets and real estate use rights.
How to notarize a power of attorney in Vietnam?
The authentication of signatures on the power of attorney is carried out in the cases mentioned in Clause 2, Article 14 of Circular 01/2020/TT-BTP, including:
- Authorization for submission and receipt of documents unless otherwise specified by the law;
- Authorization for receipt of pension, postal parcel, allowances and benefits;
- Authorization for housekeeping;
Authorizing household members to loan in Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.
In addition to the above cases, signatures on the power of attorney will not be authenticated, but procedures must be performed to authenticate contracts and transactions.
In case of signature authentication, the authorizing party needs to prepare the following documents:
- Identity documents: Citizen ID / Identity card / valid passport
- Papers on marital relationship if the authorizing party is husband and wife, divorced person
- Documents on authorization contents: retirement book, allowance, allowance
In addition to the above documents, the authorizing party must also prepare identification documents and household registration of the authorized party.
Regarding the place to authenticate the signature of the power of attorney, Article 5 of Decree 23/2015/ND-CP stipulates the place for signature authentication as follows:
- District Justice Department
- Commune People's Committee
- Diplomatic missions, consular offices and other agencies authorized to perform the consular function of Vietnam abroad
- Notary of the Notary Office/Notary Office
Note: Power of attorney signature can be authenticated in any locality regardless of the applicant's place of residence if the content of the authorization is related to movable property. Fees for authentication of power of attorney signatures are:
- At the Justice Department; Commune-level People's Committee, Notary Office/Department: 10,000 VND/case.
- At representative offices: 10 USD/copy.
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