Vietnam: Required documents for request of appointment of notaries

Required documents for request of appointment of notaries (latest) (Illustration)

(1) Documents required in the application for the appointment of a notary in Vietnam:

According to the provisions of Vietnam's Law on Notaries 2014 and Circular 01/2021/TT-BTP, the applicant for the appointment of a notary shall submit one set of documents directly or via the postal system to the Department of Justice where the notary practice trainee is registered. An application for the appointment of a notary includes the following documents:

An application for the appointment of a notary according to the form prescribed by the Minister of Justice;

- Judicial history card;

- A copy of a bachelor's degree in law or a master's or doctorate in law;

- Proof of legal working time;

- A copy of the certificate of graduation from the notarized vocational training course. Persons exempted from notarial training must have a copy of the certificate of completion of the notarial training course and papers proving their exemption as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 10 of this Law.

- A copy of the certificate of the result of the notarial practice probation test;

- Health certificate issued by a competent health authority.

(2) Document proving that the person is exempted from notary training in the case of exemption in Vietnam:

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 10 of the Law on Notary 2014, the following case are exempt from notary training:

- Those who have worked as judges, prosecutors or investigators for at least 5 years;

- Lawyers who have been engaged in legal practice for at least 5 years;

- Law professors and associate professors; doctors of law;

- Senior verifiers of courts, senior examiners of procuracies; senior experts, senior researchers and senior lecturers in the legal sector.

According to Clause 2, Article 3 of Vietnam's Circular 01/2021/TT-BTP, proof of persons exempted from notary training is one of the following documents:

- A decision on appointment or re-appointment of a judge, procurator, or investigator, or the identity card of the judge, the identity card of the procurator, the certificate of the investigator, enclosed with papers proving the working time as a judge, procurator or investigator for 5 years or more;

- A decision on appointment of the title of Professor, Associate Professor of Law, Doctorate Degree of Law; in case the Doctorate Degree of Law is granted by a foreign educational institution, the degree must be recognized according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training;

- A decision on appointment of senior examiner of the court branch and senior examiner of the procuracy branch; senior expert, senior researcher, senior lecturer in the field of law;

- Lawyer practicing certificate and lawyer’s card, accompanied by proof of lawyer practicing time of 5 years or more;

- Other documents the person is exempt from notarization training as prescribed by law.

Note: The documents are certified copies or photocopies enclosed with the originals for comparison.

(3) Documents proving the minimum legal working period:

According to the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on Notary 2014, one of the criteria is to having performed legal work at agencies or organizations for at least 5 years after obtaining the bachelor of law degree. According to Clause 3, Article 3 of Circular 01/2021/TT-BTP, document proving the working time of legal practices as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 8 of the Notarization Law is one or several of the following documents:

- A decision on appointment or re-appointment of a judge, procurator, or investigator, or the identity card of the judge, the identity card of the procurator, the certificate of the investigator, enclosed with papers proving the working time as a judge, procurator or investigator for 5 years or more;

- A decision on appointment or re-appointment of a judge, procurator, or investigator, or the identity card of the judge, the identity card of the procurator, the certificate of the investigator, enclosed with papers proving the working time as a judge, procurator or investigator for 5 years or more;

- A decision on appointment of senior examiner of the court branch and senior examiner of the procuracy branch; senior expert, senior researcher, senior lecturer in the field of law;

- Decision on recruitment, decision on rotation, transfer, public employment contract or non-public employment contract enclosed with documents proving the time of payment of social insurance premiums in conformity with the legal position vacancy or the contract;

- Lawyer practicing certificate, lawyer’s card, auction license, liquidator practicing certificate, decision on appointment of a bailiff together with documents proving the time of payment of social insurance premiums in conformity with the position;

- Other legal documents proving working time of legal practices.

The above are the types of documents that the applicant for the appointment of a notary needs to pay attention to in order to prepare and fully supplement the application for the appointment of a notary according to the latest regulations in Vietnam's Circular 01/2021/TT-BTP, which takes effect from March 26, 2021. The person who proposes to appoint a notary is responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, and lawfulness of the papers and information declared in the application file for the appointment of a notary. In the event of necessity, the Department of Justice and the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam shall verify the accuracy, authenticity, and legitimacy of documents and information in the dossier.

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