Steps to settle disputes at the Commercial Arbitration Center in Vietnam

According to Clause 6 Article 3 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010 of Vietnam, institutional arbitration means a form of dispute settlement at an arbitration center under this Law and rules of proceedings of such arbitration center.

Dispute resolution procedures at the Commercial Arbitration Center shall be carried out as follows:

Step 1: The plaintiff shall send a petition to the Commercial Arbitration Center (according to Article 30 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

When a dispute is settled at an arbitration center, the plaintiff shall file a petition with the arbitration center.

A petition contains:

- Date of its making;

- Names and addresses of the parties; names and addresses of witnesses, if any;

- Summary of the circumstances of the dispute;

- Grounds and evidence for initiating the lawsuit, if any;

- Specific requirements of the plaintiff and the value of the dispute;

- Name and address of the person whom the plaintiff selects as arbitrator or requests to be designated as arbitrator.

Enclosed with the petition shall be the arbitration agreement and the originals or copies of relevant documents.

Thus, similar to the dispute resolution procedure at Court, the plaintiff, when requesting dispute resolution at the Arbitration Center, must file a petition with the above contents. This is the basis for the Arbitration Center to conduct dispute resolution procedures.

Step 2: The commercial arbitration center shall send a copy of the petition and related documents to the defendant (according to Article 32 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

Unless otherwise agreed by the parties or provided by the rules of proceedings of an arbitration center:

Within 10 days after receiving the plaintiff's petition, enclosed documents and arbitration charge receipt, the arbitration center shall send to the defendant copies of the petition and relevant documents.

Step 3: The defendant shall send to the arbitration center a self-defense statement (according to Article 35 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

Unless otherwise agreed by the parties or provided by the arbitration center's rules of proceedings:

Within 30 days after receiving a petition and enclosed documents, the defendant shall send to the arbitration center a self-defense statement. 

However, the defendant or both the plaintiff and the defendant may request an extension of this deadline. At the request of one party or all parties, this time limit may be extended by the arbitration center based on the particular circumstances of the case.

A self-defense statement contains:

- Date of making;

- Name and address of the defendant;

- Grounds and evidence for self-defense, if any;

- Name and address of the person whom the defendant selects as arbitrator or requests for designation as arbitrator.

Note: The arbitration council that settles the plaintiff's petition shall settle a counter-claim according to the order and procedures for settling plaintiffs' petitions under this Law.

Step 4: Formation of an arbitration council at an arbitration center (according to Article 40 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

The formation of an arbitration council is specified as follows:

- Appointment of arbitrators:

+ Within 30 days after receiving a petition and request for selecting an arbitrator sent by the arbitration center, the defendant shall select an arbitrator and notify such to the arbitration center or request the arbitration center's chairman to designate an arbitrator;

+ Otherwise, within 7 days after the expiration of the time limit specified in this Clause, the arbitration center's chairman shall designate an arbitrator for the defendant;

- Election of the chairman of the arbitration council:

+ Within 15 days after being selected by the parties or designated by the arbitration center's chairman, the arbitrators shall elect another arbitrator as the chairman of the arbitration council;

+ Past this time limit, if this election cannot take place, within 7 days the arbitration center's chairman shall designate the chairman of the arbitration council.

Thus, the defendant has the right to appoint an arbitrator according to the above regulations. The appointment of the plaintiff's arbitrator will be made when the plaintiff submits a petition to the Commercial Arbitration Center. The appointment of an arbitrator is within the contents contained in the petition. From the arbitrators appointed by the plaintiff and defendant, an Arbitration Council will be established. The number of arbitrators can be one or more as agreed by the parties. In case the parties do not agree on the number of arbitrators, the Arbitration Council includes 03 arbitrators.

Step 5: Open of dispute settlement meetings (according to Articles 54, 55 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

Unless otherwise agreed by the parties or provided by the arbitration center's rules of proceedings:

- The arbitration council shall decide on the time and venue for holding dispute settlement meetings;

- A dispute settlement meeting shall be held in private, unless otherwise agreed by the parties;

- The parties may personally, or authorize their representatives to. attend dispute settlement meetings and may invite witnesses and persons to protect their lawful rights and interests.

The order and procedures for holding dispute settlement meetings shall be specified in the arbitration center's rules of arbitral proceedings.

Step 6: The arbitration council shall issue an arbitral award (according to Article 60 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

The arbitration council shall issue an arbitral award on the basis of majority vote. In case a majority vote cannot be obtained, an arbitral award shall be issued based on the opinion of the arbitration council's chairman.

The judgment of the Commercial Arbitration Center is final, meaning this judgment is immediately valid and has no appeal or protest like dispute resolution procedures at Court.

Step 7: Enforcement of arbitral awards (according to Articles 65, 66 of the Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010)

The State encourages the parties to voluntarily comply with arbitral awards. However, past the lime limit for complying with an arbitral award, if the party to comply with the award fails to voluntarily comply with it and does not request cancellation of the award, the party in favor of whom/which the arbitral award is issued may request in writing the competent civil judgment enforcement agency to enforce the award.

During the process of resolving disputes in the form of institutional arbitration (at the Arbitration Center), the law always upholds and respects the spirit of voluntary agreement of the parties as well as the regulations of the Commercial Arbitration Center by stipulating "Unless otherwise agreed by the parties or provided by the rules of proceedings of an arbitration center…". It can be seen that the form of dispute resolution at the Arbitration Center demonstrates and enhances the sense of autonomy and civilization of the parties when resolving disputes to suit all types of disputes in the field of business and commerce.

Thuy Tram

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