Vietnam: Administration and use of the charges and fees for the practice of law

Circular No. 220/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam stipulates several changes on the collection rates and supplements fees and charges for the practice of law in comparison with previous regulations. To be specific:

- Regarding the charges and fees for the practice of law, there are the charge for certification of law practice (100,000 VND/application) and the fee for verification of eligibility for practicing law (800,000 VND/application).

- Circular No. 220/2016/TT-BTC annuls the fees for foreign legal professional organizations, foreign law firms in Vietnam, and replaced them with the following types of charges:

+ For foreign organization practicing law in Vietnam, there are the fee for verification of eligibility of a foreign organization for practicing law in Vietnam (20,000,000 VND/application); the fee for verification of conditions to revise the practice of a foreign organization practicing law in Vietnam (4,000,000 VND/application); the fee for verification of eligibility of a foreign lawyer for practicing law in Vietnam (5,000,000 VND/application); the fee for revision to the practice (3,000,000 VND/application).

+ The fee for verification of practicing eligibility or revision to the practice of a branch of a foreign law firm operating in Vietnam is 1,000,000 VND/application. The fee for verification of operational conditions of a branch of a foreign law firm operating in Vietnam is 600,000 VND/application, the fee for verification of conditions to revise the operations of a branch of a foreign law firm operating in Vietnam is 400,000 VND/application.

+ The fee for verification of eligibility of a foreign lawyer for practicing law in Vietnam is 5,000,000 VND/application; the fee for verification of eligibility of a foreign lawyer for extending his or her practice of law in Vietnam is 3,000,000 VND/application. In comparison with previous regulations of Circular No. 02/2012/TT-BTC, the fees are the fee for practice licenses for foreign lawyers in Vietnam (2,000,000 VND/application) and fee for extended practice licenses for foreign lawyers in Vietnam (1,000,000 VND/application).

Circular No. 220/2016/TT-BTC also specifies payers, including:

- Individuals applying for certification and recertification of the practice of law;

- The foreign law practicing organizations, the branches of a foreign law firm in Vietnam applying for issuance, reissuance or amendment of their practice.

- Foreign lawyers applying for certification, recertification or extension of their practice in Vietnam.

The collection of the charges and fees for the practice of law is placed under the authority of the Department of Judicial support (Ministry of Justice) and Provincial Departments of Justice.

Circular No. 220/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam takes effect from January 01, 2017 and replaces Circular No. 02/2012/TT-BTC and Circular No. 118/2015/TT-BTC.

Source: Finance Magazine

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