Persons ineligible for appointment as notaries in Vietnam

Hello, Lawnet would like to answer as follows:

1. Conditions to appointment of notaries in Vietnam

What is notary?

According to Clause 2, Article 2 of the Law on Notarization 2014, notary means a person who fully meets the criteria prescribed by this Law and is appointed by the Minister of Justice to conduct notarial practice.

Conditions to appointment of notaries in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on Notarization 2014, the conditions to appointment of notaries are as follows:

-  Having a bachelor of law degree.

-  Having performed legal work at agencies or organizations for at least 5 years after obtaining the bachelor of law degree.

-  Having graduated from a notary training course as prescribed in Article 9 of this Law or completed a notary re-training course as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 10 of this Law.

-  Meeting requirements on notarial practice probation results.

-  Being physically fit for notarial practice.

Thus, to become a notary, it is necessary to have a bachelor of law degree, to study more training/retraining courses in the profession of notarial practice, and to pass a test after notarial practice probation .

2. Persons ineligible for appointment as notaries in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Article 13 of the Law on Notarization 2014, persons ineligible for appointment as notaries include:

- Those who are being examined for penal liability or have been convicted under a court’s legally effective sentence of an unintentional crime but have not yet had their criminal records written off, or of an intentional crime.

- Those who are being subjected to administrative handling measures in accordance with the law on handling of administrative violations.

- Those who have their civil act capacity lost or restricted.

- Cadres who have been disciplined in the form of removal from office; civil servants or public employees who have been disciplined in the form of dismissal; officers, professional army men, workers and public employees of agencies and units under the People’s Army, and officers, non-commissioned officers, workers and employees of units under the People’s Public Security Force who have been disciplined in the form of deprival of the title of army man or people’s policeman or have been expelled from the service.

- Those who have their legal practice certificates revoked after they are disciplined in the form of disbarment; those who have been deprived of the right to use their legal practice certificates and the 3-year period, counting from the effective date of the decision on revocation of legal practice certificates or the date of completing the serving of the decision on deprival of the right to use legal practice certificates, has not yet expired.

Thus, lecturers who have been disciplined in the form of severance from the school cannot be appointed notaries. Right from the very beginning, the code of ethics for notary practice has affirmed that notarization is a noble career, so the strictness of human resources in this profession is also understandable.

At the same time, notaries have obligation being loyal to Motherland, for benefits of the People, by their professional operation, contribute to protect rights and benefits of the State, rights and legal benefits of individuals, organizations in society. (Article 1 of Circular 11/2012/TT-BTP).

3. Dossier of request for appointment as a notary in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 12 of the Law on Notarization 2014, a dossier of request for appointment as a notary must comprise:

- A written request for appointment as a notary, made according to a form set by the Minister of Justice;

- The requester’s judicial record;

- A copy of the bachelor of law, master of law or doctor of law degree;

- Papers proving the working seniority in the legal sector;

- A copy of the certificate of graduation from a notary training course. For those exempted from notary training, a copy of the certificate of completion of a notary re-training course and papers proving the eligibility for exemption from notary training as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 10 of this Law;

- A copy of the certificate of notarial practice probation results;

- A health certificate granted by a competent health agency.

(*) Within 10 working days after receiving a complete dossier of request for appointment as a notary prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, the provincial-level Justice Department shall make a written proposal enclosed with the dossier to the Minister of Justice to appoint the requester as a notary. In case of refusal, it shall reply in writing clearly stating the reason to the requester.

(*) Within 30 days after receiving the written proposal and dossier from the provincial-level Justice Department, the Minister of Justice shall consider and decide to appoint the requester as a notary; in case of refusal, he/she shall issue a written reply clearly stating the reason to the provincial-level Justice Department and the requester.

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