Regulations on prescriptive periods for initiating legal action for civil cases

Specifically, according to the provisions of Articles 154, 155, 156, 157 of Vietnam's Civil Code 2015:

The start of prescriptive periods for initiating legal action for civil cases

The commencement of the prescriptive period for initiating legal action for a civil case shall be calculated from the date on which the eligible person knows or should know that his/her legal rights or interests are infringed, unless otherwise provided by law.

Prescriptive periods does not apply in the following cases:

- Request for the protection of personal rights not associated with property.

- Request for the protection of ownership rights, unless otherwise provided by this Code or relevant laws.

- Dispute over land use right as prescribed in the Law on land.

- Other cases as provided by law.

Time periods excluded from prescriptive periods for initiating legal action for civil cases and from prescriptive periods for requesting resolution of civil cases

They are the time periods in which the following events occour:

- An event of force majeure or other objective hindrance which renders the person with the right to initiate legal action for a civil case or make the request not able to do so within the prescriptive period.

An event of force majeure is an event which occurs in an objective manner which is not able to be foreseen and which is not able to be remedied by all possible necessary and admissible measures being taken.

An objective hindrance is a hindrance which in an objective context results in a person with civil rights or obligations not knowing that his or her lawful rights and interests have been infringed or not being able to exercise his or her rights or fulfill his or her civil obligations;

- The person with the right to initiate legal action for a civil case or to make the request is a minor or a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition and behavior control or a person with limited legal capacity, and does not yet have a representative.

- The representative of a minor or a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition and behavior control or a person with limited legal capacity has not yet been replaced in any of the following cases:

+ The representative being natural person dies or the representative being juridical person ceases to exist;

+ The representative, for good reasons, cannot continue his/her representation.

The prescriptive period for initiating legal action for a civil case shall re-commence in any of the following cases:

- The obligor has acknowledged part or all of its obligations to the plaintiff;

- The obligor has acknowledged or fulfilled part of its obligations to the plaintiff;

- The parties have become reconciled.

At the same time, according to Articles 132, 429, 588, 623 of Vietnam's Civil Code 2015, a number of outstanding civil disputes have specific prescriptive period for lawsuits as follows:

“Article 623. Prescriptive periods with respect to inheritance

The prescriptive period with respect to a claim of an heir for distribution of an estate shall be thirty years regarding immovable property or ten years regarding movable property from the time of commencement of the inheritance. 

The prescriptive period with respect to a claim of an heir for a declaration of right of inheritance of the requester or to disallow the claim to inheritance of another shall be ten years from the time of commencement of the inheritance.

The prescriptive period with respect to a claim for an heir to fulfill property obligations of the deceased shall be three years from the time of commencement of the inheritance.”

“Article 132. Time limit for requesting court to declare civil transactions invalid

The time limit within which a request may be made to a court to declare a civil transaction invalid as specified in Articles 125 thru 129 of this Code shall be two years as from the date on which:

a) The representative of a minor, a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition and behavior control or a person with limited legal capacity knows and should know the ward established and/or performed the transaction himself/herself.

b) The mistaken or cheated person in a transaction knows and should know that such transaction is established due to misunderstanding or cheating;

c) The person that threatened or compelled other persons in a transaction put an end to such acts;

d) The person lacking in cognition and behavior control establishes his/her transaction;

dd) The civil transaction is established in non-compliance with form.

...

For civil transactions specified in Articles 123 and 124 of this Code, the time limit for requesting a court to declare such civil transactions invalid shall not be restricted."

“Article 429. Prescriptive period for initiating legal action with respect to contracts

...is three years from the date on which the party entitled to request knows or should know that their lawful rights and interests are infringed.”

“Article 588. Prescriptive period for initiating legal action claiming compensation for damage

... is 03 years from the date on which the legal rights or interests of an individual, legal entity or other subject were infringed.”

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