Draft Circular guiding the policies on collection, payment, management, and use of fees and charges in the field of legal practice is currently being solicited for public feedback by the Ministry of Finance.
Article table of contents
Draft Circular was officially opened for public comment by the Ministry of Finance from September 12, 2016. Accordingly:
Fee and charge payers in the field of practicing law include 6 subjects specified in Article 1 of the Draft as follows:
- Individuals applying for a lawyer's certificate must pay fees and charges as prescribed;
- Foreign lawyer-practicing organizations that apply for the issuance, re-issuance, or change of the practice content of foreign lawyer-practicing organizations, 100% foreign-owned limited liability law companies, joint venture limited liability law companies, and partnership law firms between foreign lawyer-practicing organizations and Vietnamese partnership law firms must pay fees as prescribed;
- Foreign law firms applying for the issuance, re-issuance, or change of the practice content of their branches in Vietnam must pay fees as prescribed;
- Branches of foreign lawyer-practicing organizations and foreign law firms in Vietnam applying for the issuance, re-issuance, or change of operating content must pay fees as prescribed;
- Foreign law firms applying for the issuance, re-issuance, or change of operating content of their branches in Vietnam must pay fees as prescribed;
- Foreign lawyers applying for the issuance, re-issuance, or extension of their practice in Vietnam must pay fees as prescribed;
Regarding the collection and fee levels, it is implemented according to the current regulations in Circular 02/2012/TT-BTC and Circular 118/2015/TT-BTC. The fee for issuing a Lawyer Practice Certificate for those who must participate in the professional training inspection and those who do not need to participate is 400,000 VND. The new draft has abolished these two fees and replaced them with a Certificate Issuance Fee with a minimum fee of 100,000 VND. Additionally, the Draft supplements the Assessment Fee for professional standards and conditions with a fee of 400,000 VND. This can be seen as an assessment fee for domestic professional standards and conditions, distinct from the Assessment Fee for the professional standards and conditions of foreign lawyers in Vietnam with a fee of 2,000,000 VND. This can be an important point to note as Vietnam is in the process of integrating with the world, thus limiting the creation of discrimination between domestic and foreign laborers, such as different fees and complicated procedures.
Fee levels in the field of practicing law according to the Draft:
Detailed contents of the Draft Circular here.
