Can involved parties' testimonies at the court hearing in the Civil case be considered evidences in Vietnam?

Can involved parties' testimonies at the court hearing in the Civil case be considered evidences in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 95 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, identifying evidences is as follows:

1. Contents-readable materials shall be regarded as evidences if they are originals or copies lawfully notarized or authenticated or supplied and certified by competent agencies or organizations.

2. Audible, visible materials shall be regarded as evidences if they are presented together with documents about the origins of such materials (applicable to materials recorded by the presenting persons themselves) or the documents certified by the one providing such materials for the presenting persons about the origins of those materials or documents related to such audio and/or video recording.

3. Electronic data shall be presented in form of exchange of electronic data, electronic invoices, electronic mails, telegram, telegraphy, facsimile and other similar forms according to legislation on electronic transactions.

4. Exhibits to be regarded as evidences must be the original and related to the cases.

5. Involved parties' testimonies, witnesses' testimonies shall be regarded as evidences if they are recorded in writing or in audio-tapes, audio-discs, or video-tapes or discs or other audio or image recording devices as provided for in Clause 2 of this Article, or are given orally in Court sessions.

6. Expertising conclusions shall be regarded as evidences if the expertise is conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law.

7. On-site appraisal minutes shall be regarded as evidences if the appraisal is conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law.

8. Property evaluation results and price appraisal results shall be regarded as evidences if the evaluation/appraisal is carried out in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law.

9. Written records of legal facts or acts that are formulated on site by functional persons shall be regarded as evidences if the formulation of such records is carried out according to the procedures prescribed by law.

10. Notarized/authenticated documents shall be regarded as evidences if the notarization/authentication is conducted according to the procedures prescribed by law.

11. Other sources prescribed by law shall be determined to be evidences according to requirements and procedures prescribed by law.

Thus, the testimony at the trial is determined as evidence in Vietnam. Therefore, you can use evidence that is the involved parties' testimonies at the court hearing to protect your legitimate rights and interests in the Civil case.

Do involved parties in the Civil case hand over evidences that are documents in foreign languages have to be enclosed with their Vietnamese translations?

According to Article 96 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, hand-over of materials and evidences is as follows:

1. During the process of resolving civil cases by courts, the involved parties shall have the rights and obligations to hand over materials and evidences to the courts. If the handed materials/evidences are inadequate to form the base for resolution of the matters/cases, the Judge shall request the involved parties to supplement the materials/evidences. If the involved parties fail to hand over the materials/evidences or do not hand over adequately the materials/evidences requested by the Courts, the Courts shall resolve the civil cases pursuant to the materials and evidences handed over by the involved parties and those collected by the Courts according to regulations in Article 97 of this Code.

2. The hand-over of materials/evidences to Courts by involved parties must be recorded in the minutes. The minutes must clearly state the appellations, forms, contents, characteristics of the materials/evidences; the number of copies, the number of pages and time of reception; the signatures or append finger prints of the deliverers, the signatures of the recipients and seals of the courts. The minutes must be made in two copies, one of which shall be incorporated in the civil case files and the other shall be handed to the involved parties handing over the evidences.

3. The materials/evidences submitted in ethnic minority languages or foreign languages to Courts by the involved parties must be enclosed with their Vietnamese translations that are lawfully notarized or authenticated.

4. Deadline for handing over materials and evidences shall be defined by the Judges in charge of the cases provided that such time does not exceed the duration of preparation for adjudication according to first-instance procedures and/or the duration of preparation for resolution of civil matters according to regulations in this Code.

If the Courts request the involve parties to hand over materials and evidences but the involved parties fail to comply with due to good and sufficient reason and supply the required materials and evidences when decisions to bring the cases to trial according to first-instance procedures and the decisions to hold meetings to resolve the civil matters have been issued, such involved parties must prove the reasons for the lateness of supply of such materials/evidences. Regarding materials and evidences which the Courts did not request the involved parties to supplied or materials and evidences that the involved parties cannot know about during the resolution of the cases according to first-instance procedures, the involved parties may supply and present such materials/evidences in first-instance trial sessions or the meetings for resolving civil matters or later procedural stages of the resolution of such civil cases.

5. When materials and evidences hand over to the Courts, there must be their copies sent to other involved parties or lawful representatives or other involved parties; regarding materials and evidences specified in clause 2 Article 109 of this Code or materials and evidences whose copies cannot be made, written notifications must be sent to other involved parties or lawful representatives of other involved parties.

According to this Article, when handing over documents and evidences in a foreign language to the Court, they must be enclosed with their Vietnamese translations, which is lawfully notarized or authenticated.

Best Regards!