Vietnam: Reducing compliance costs for many procedures in the field of legal aid

Specifically, Circular No. 220/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam on the rate, collection, submission, administration and use of the charges and fees for the practice of law has reduced the charge for certification of law practice from VND 400,000 to VND 100,000 per application. Concurrently, this Circular supplements several new charges and fees for the practice of law such as: the fee for verification of eligibility for practicing law is VND 800,000 per application; the fee for verification of eligibility of a foreign lawyer for practicing law in Vietnam is VND 5,000,000 per application; the fee for verification of operational conditions of a foreign organization practicing law in Vietnam is VND 2,000,000 per application; the fee for verification of eligibility of a foreign lawyer for extending his or her practice of law in Vietnam is VND 3,000,000 per application; the fee for verification of conditions to revise the operations of a foreign organization practicing law in Vietnam is VND 1,000,000 per application.

Circular No. 221/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam on the rate, collection, submission, administration and use of the fee for verification of criteria and conditions for the practice of asset auctioning supplements the fee for verification of criteria and conditions for the practice of asset auctioning, which is VND 800,000 per application. This Circular also remains the fee for issuing Auction Practice Certificates at VND 200,000, and the fee for re-issuing is VND 100,000. However, there is no longer a regulation regarding the fees for auctioning assets and participating in asset auctions as currently in effect.

According to Circular No. 222/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, the fee for verification of conditions for the establishment and operation of a foreign arbitration center remains unchanged, which ranges from VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 per time. However, when requesting the reissuance of the Certificate of Establishment or the Certificate of Operation, there is no need to pay a verification fee, instead of the previous requirement of VND 500,000 per application.

Regarding the Vietnam-based branch of a foreign arbitration center, the appraisal fee for operating conditions has been reduced from VND 1,500,000 to VND 1,000,000. The fee for appraising changes in the content of activities has been reduced from VND 1,000,000 to VND 500,000, and there is also no need to pay an appraisal fee when reissuing the Certificate of Operation. For the Branch of the Foreign Arbitration Organization in Vietnam, the fee for appraising establishment conditions has been reduced from VND 6,500,000 to VND 6,000,000, and there is also no need to pay an appraisal fee when reissuing the Certificate of Establishment or the Certificate of Operation.

In particular, according to Circular No. 257/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam on notarial and authentication service fees, the fees for verification of eligibility for practicing as a notary, fees for notarization of contracts or transactions of which the value is more than VND 100 billion shall be increased.

Specifically:

- Fees: VND 32.2 million + 0.02% of the portion of the value of property or the value of contract/transaction in excess of VND 100 billion (VND 5.2 million + 0.03% of the portion of the value of property or the value of contract/transaction in excess of VND 10 billion, according to current regulations).

- The maximum fee shall be VND 70 million/case (VND 10 million/case according to current regulations).

Moreover, Circular No. 257/2016/TT-BTC also specifies the fees for notarization of contracts for buying and selling property at auction, which are VND 100.000, 300.000 or 500.000 per case, depending on the value of the assets. However, fees for notarization of lease of land use right, lease of residential house, lease or sublease of property remain unchanged.

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