1. What is a Foreign Arbitral Award?

According to Article 3.12 of the 2010 Law on Commercial Arbitration, “Foreign arbitral award means an award pronounced by a foreign arbitration outside or within the Vietnamese territory which is selected as agreed by the parties to settle their disputes”.

A foreign arbitration is an arbitration established under the provisions of foreign arbitration law, chosen by the parties to settle disputes either outside or within the territory of Vietnam.

Therefore, according to Vietnamese law, a Foreign arbitral award is a judgment pronounced by a “foreign arbitrator”, regardless of whether it is outside or within the territory of Vietnam. At the same time, “Foreign Arbitration” is an Arbitration established according to the provisions of foreign arbitration law and selected by agreement of the parties. Thus, the determination of foreign arbitration or Vietnamese arbitration is not based on the nationality of the arbitrator but must be based on the basis for establishing the arbitration to resolve the dispute. Specifically, if the parties choose arbitration established under Vietnamese arbitration law to resolve disputes, the arbitration award established by these arbitration centers is not considered a Foreign Arbitral Award, including cases where the arbitrator is a foreigner; This award shall be enforced according to the law on enforcement of civil judgments without having to go through the procedure for recognition and enforcement in Vietnam of foreign arbitration awards.

2. Statute of limitations for requesting recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Vietnam

As per the provisions of Article 451 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, the time limit for submitting a request for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award is three years from the date the award becomes legally effective.

If the party can prove events of force majeure or objective obstacles that prevent them from submitting the request within the prescribed period, the time during such events will not be counted toward the deadline.

3. Requirements for requesting recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Vietnam

Similar to judgments or decisions of foreign courts, foreign arbitration awards are not immediately enforced according to civil judgment enforcement law, but must be recognized and enforced by Vietnamese courts in Vietnam. To be recognized and enforced in Vietnam, a foreign arbitration award must meet the following requirements:

• The foreign arbitration award in which that country and Vietnam are both members of the international treaty on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards;

• The Foreign Arbitration award does not fall into the above cases but are considered for recognition and enforcement in Vietnam based on the principle of reciprocity.

4. Cases of non-recognition

Article 459 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stimulates the cases in which the recognition of a foreign arbitral award is not recognized. The provisions are as follows:

“1. The Court shall not recognize a foreign arbitral award when deeming that the evidence provided by the judgment debtors to the Court for appealing against the application for recognition is well-grounded and the arbitral award falls within one of the following cases:

a) The parties to the arbitral agreement have no capacity to sign such agreement as prescribed by the law applicable to each party

b) The arbitral agreement is legally invalid under the law of a country which has been selected by the parties to apply, or under the law of the country where the award was pronounced, if the parties has not selected any law applicable to such agreement;

c) The judgment debtor being an agency, organization or individual was not promptly and properly notified of the appointment of arbitrators and of the procedures for settlement of the dispute at the foreign arbitration, or could not exercise their litigation rights for a plausible reason;

d) The foreign arbitral award is pronounced on a dispute not requested by the parties for settlement or going beyond the request of the parties to the arbitral agreement. In case the award can be separated into distinct parts on matters requested for settlement and parts on matters not requested for settlement at foreign arbitration, the parts on matters requested for settlement may be recognized and permitted for enforcement in Vietnam;

dd) The composition of the foreign arbitration or the procedures for dispute settlement by foreign arbitrators do not conform with the arbitral agreement or with the law of the country where the foreign arbitral award is pronounced, if the arbitral agreement does not prescribe such matters;

e) The foreign arbitral award has not yet become legally binding on the parties;;

g) The foreign arbitral award has been cancelled or terminated from enforcement by a competent agency of the country where the award was pronounced or of the country whose law has been applied.

2. A foreign arbitral award shall also not be recognized, if the Vietnamese court sees that:

a) The dispute cannot be settled by arbitration under Vietnamese law;

b) The recognition and enforcement in Vietnam of the foreign arbitral award violate the fundamental principles of the law of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.

​5. Courts have the authority to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards in Vietnam

Article 451.1 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code stipulates: “... the judgment creditor or a person with related lawful rights or obligations or his/her/its lawful representative may file a written request with the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice in accordance with a treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party or, in case the treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party does not so prescribe or there is no relevant treaty, with a competent Vietnamese court prescribed by this Code to request the latter to recognize and enforce such foreign arbitral award in Vietnam”. According to this regulation, the requester can submit the application to one of the two authorities:

• The Ministry of Justice when the international treaty to which Vietnam is a member prescribes; the Ministry of Justice transfers the dossier to the competent court after the preliminary examination of the request.
• In other cases, when there is no international treaty or the international treaty does not prescribe, the application can be submitted directly to the competent court in Vietnam.

Based on Article 31.5, Article 37.1.(b) and Article 39.2.(e) of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, the competent court to accept and resolve the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Vietnam is the provincial-level people's court where the judgment debtor resides, works if the judgment debtor is an individual, or has its headquarters if the judgment debtor is an entity, or where assets related to the enforcement of the foreign arbitral award are located.

6. Procedures for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Vietnam

6.1. The application for recognition and enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards

​a. Person entitled to submit the application

The judgment creditor or their legal representative has the right to request the Vietnamese Court to recognize and enforce the foreign arbitral award in Vietnam when:

• An individual to be enforced resides or works in Vietnam.

• An entity to be enforced has its main office in Vietnam.

• Assets related to the enforcement of the foreign arbitral award are located in Vietnam at the time of the request.

​b. Form and content of the Request

The application for recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral award must be made in Vietnamese. If it made in a foreign language, it must be accompanied by a certified translation into Vietnamese.

The application must include the following:

• Name, address of residence or workplace of the judgment creditor, or their legal representative in Vietnam. If judgment creditor is an entity, the full name and address of its main office must be provided.

• Name, address of residence or workplace of the judgment debtor. If the judgment debtor is an entity, the full name and address of its main office must be given. In case the judgment debtor is an individual without a residence or workplace in Vietnam or an entity without its main office in Vietnam, the application must specify the address where assets and types of assets related to the enforcement of the foreign arbitral award are located in Vietnam.

• Request of the judgment creditor: Request for recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral award.

​c. Attached documents

• For a request to recognize and enforce a foreign arbitral award under the 1958 Convention, the accompanying documents include:

+ The original Decision or copy of Decision with valid certification;

+ The original Agreement or copy of Agreement with valid certification.

• For a request to recognize and enforce a foreign arbitral award in case there is no international treaty or the international treaty does not stipulate, the request must be accompanied by the following papers and documents:

+ The original or a certified copy of the foreign arbitral award.

+ The original or a certified copy of the Arbitration Agreement between the parties.

If the foreign arbitral award and arbitration agreement are not in Vietnamese, the applicant must provide a notarized and legally authenticated translation of these documents. The 1958 Convention stipulates that the translation must be certified by an official or a translator with the qualification to certify, or by diplomatic or consular agents.

6.2. Processing the application

Upon receiving the application for recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral award, the Court shall carry out procedures for accepting, considering applications, and other procedures such as appeals and protests as specifically stipulated from Article 455 to Article 463 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code.

The examination of the application is carried out at a hearing by the Council for examination of the application, consisting of three Judges, with one Judge presiding as designated by the Chief Justice of the Court. The Council has the authority to decide on the recognition and enforcement in Vietnam of the foreign arbitral award or decide not to recognize the foreign arbitral award.

In case the Council issues a Decision to recognize and enforce the foreign arbitral award in Vietnam, and the Decision becomes legally effective, it shall be executed in accordance with the regulations of civil execution laws.

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