JUDICIAL MANUAL ON ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION

The recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards before 2015 have made significant achievements to protect legitimate rights and interests of award creditors. However, due to the lack of consistent and uniform understanding of domestic legal regulations and New York Convention 1958, the procedures for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards have not been consistent at Courts to gain absolute trust of investors. With the Civil Procedural Code promulgated in 2015, various former law issues have been overcome and the consistency between Vietnamese legislative and regulatory framework and regulations of New York Convention 1958 which Vietnam officially joined in 1995 has been ensured. The roles of the courts in promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) measures were more clearly provided for in the new Code, covering arbitration and mediation. It was provided in more details in the Code about the Court's support of arbitration proceedings during the arbitration process and the Court's recognition of out-of-Court mediated settlement agreements so that such agreements can be enforceable as Court judgments or decisions. 

The Manual has been jointly developed by international and national experts within the scope of operation between the Supreme People's Court and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide reference information for Judges and to ensure consistency in the application of the law to resolve requests for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, for setting aside arbitral awards, for the support of arbitration operations, and for recognition of mediated settlement agreements, etc. when applying new regulations in the Civil Procedural Code 2015. The Manual is the result of the cooperation of international experts with rich experience in enforcing New York Convention and national experts with abundant experience in resolving arbitration-related civil matters to ensure that information has been looked at from different perspectives and to assist readers to have a more complete view of relevant legal regulations.

The Supreme People's Court would like to express our sincere thanks to International Finance Corporation for providing translation and technical support for this engagement; and to IFC experts and working team, Judges, and Judicial staff who have spent a lot of efforts and dedication in the drafting and completing of this Manual.

We hope that this Manual will serve as a practical desk guide for the Judges to better understand the legal regulations and properly adopt them to efficiently resolve the arbitration and mediation-related matters within jurisdiction of the People’s Courts.

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