Vietnam: Modes of settling disputes between consumers and organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services

Specifically, according to Article 30 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010 of Vietnam, disputes arising between consumers and organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services are addressed through:

1. Negotiation

Consumers have the right to submit a request to organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services to negotiate when their legitimate rights or interests are deemed to be infringed upon.

Organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services are obliged to receive and negotiate with consumers for a period not exceeding 07 working days after receipt of the request.

The result of a successful negotiation between the organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services and consumers shall be made in writing unless the parties otherwise agree.

2. Mediation

Organizations or individuals trading goods, services, and consumers have the right to agree to select a third party, that is, individual or organization to perform the mediation.

The mediation shall comply with the following principles:

- To ensure objectivity, honesty and good will, no force or deceit.

- Organizations or individuals conducting the mediation, the mediation-participating parties must ensure confidentiality of information relating to the mediation, unless the parties agree otherwise or otherwise provided by law.

3. Arbitration

Organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services must notify of the arbitration terms and conditions before concluding the contract and the notification must be accepted by consumers. Where the arbitration term and condition is incorporated into the form-based contract or the general transaction condition by organizations or individuals trading goods and/or services, if any disputes happen, consumers as individuals have the right to select other modes to resolve the dispute.

4. Court

Civil cases on the protection of consumers’ interests is the case that the suitor is a consumer or social organizations that protect consumers’ interests.

Civil cases on the protection of consumers’ interests are resolved by simple procedures prescribed in the law on civil proceedings when all the following conditions are met:

- Individual as a consumer takes lawsuit against organizations or individuals that directly provide goods or services to consumers subject to the lawsuits;

- The case is simple, and evidence is clear;

- The transaction value of less than VND 100 million.

Legal basis: Articles 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 41 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010 of Vietnam.

In addition to the above-mentioned 04 modes, Articles 25 and 26 of the Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010 also stipulates requirements of state management agencies to protect consumers’ interests and resolving the request to protect consumers’ interests.

View more: The Law on protection of consumers’ rights 2010 of Vietnam takes effect from July 01, 2011.

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