Can plaintiffs authorize another person to participate in civil procedures in Vietnam?

1. Can plaintiffs authorize another person to participate in civil procedures in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 85 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 stipulates the representative as follows:

1. The representatives in civil procedures comprise the representatives at law and the proxy representatives. The representatives can be individuals or legal entities as defined in Civil Code

2. The representatives at law as defined in the Civil Code shall be the representatives at law in the civil procedures, except where the representative right is restricted under law provisions.

Agencies, organizations and individuals that initiate lawsuit to protect the legitimate rights and interests of others shall also be the representatives at law of the protected persons in the civil procedures.

3. Employee collective’s representative organizations shall be lawful representatives of collective of employees initiating lawsuits over labor cases, participate in procedures at Courts when legitimate rights and interests of the collective of employees are infringed upon; employee collective’s representative organizations are in charge of representing employees in initiating lawsuits over labor cases and participate in procedures when being authorized by employees.

If multiple employees filing the same claim towards the employer of the same enterprise/unit, such employees may authorize a representative from the employee collective’s representative organization to represent them in initiating lawsuits over labor cases and participate in procedures at the Court.

4. The proxy representatives as defined in the Civil Code shall be the proxy representatives in the civil procedures.

For the divorce, the involved parties must not designate any other persons to participate in the procedure on their behalf. If parents or other relatives of the involved parties petition the Courts to resolve the divorce cases as prescribed in clause 2 Article 51 of the Law on marriage and family, they such be the representatives.

In addition, Article 86 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulates rights and obligations of representatives as follows:

1. The representatives at law in civil procedures shall exercise the procedural rights and obligations of the involved parties within the scope they represent.

2. The proxy representatives in civil procedures shall exercise the procedural rights and obligations of the involved parties according to the written authorization.

As such, you may authorize in writing another person to represent you in civil proceedings in Vietnam, the representative may act on your behalf in civil proceedings, unless you are an involved party in the divorce case. You cannot authorize others to participate on your behalf.

2. What are cases of disallowance to act as proxy representatives in civil procedures in Vietnam?

According to Article 87 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, cases of disallowance to act as representatives:

1. Persons must not act as representatives at law in the following cases:

a) They are also the involved parties in the same case with the represented persons where their legitimate rights and interests are contrary to those of the represented persons;

b) They are acting as representatives at law in civil procedures for other involved parties whose legitimate rights and interests are contrary to those of the represented persons in the same case.

2. The provisions in Clause 1 of this Article shall also apply to the case of proxy representatives in civil procedures.

3. Officials or employees in the court, procuracy or police sectors must not act as representatives in civil procedures, except for cases where they participate in civil procedures in the capacity as representatives of their agencies or as representatives at law.

According to this Article, cases of disallowance to act as proxy representatives in civil proceedings are specified above in Vietnam.

Best Regards!