Vietnam - Enforcement of Money Judgments

Vietnamese law currently only provides for the enforcement of a relatively narrow range of civil decisions and verdicts of foreign courts. The mechanism for the recognition and enforcement of foreign courts’ civil verdicts or decisions is provided in the CPC.

According to the CPC, “civil judgments and decisions of foreign courts” are those relevant to civil, marriage and family, business, commercial or labor matters; decisions on property matters in criminal or administrative decisions or verdicts of foreign courts and other decisions or verdicts defined as civil matters under Vietnamese law.

Vietnam does not distinguish between the enforcement of foreign money judgments and the enforcement of other types of foreign judgments. The CPC only sets out general procedures for the enforcement of foreign civil judgments mentioned above. The current CPC will, as such, be applicable to the enforcement and recognition of foreign money judgments. Compared to the former governing law, the CPC now clearly states that the State shall ensure the transfer of money and assets from Vietnam to foreign countries for the enforcement of civil judgments by foreign courts; only if, the civil judgement has been recognized and permitted to be enforced in Vietnam by Vietnamese courts.

The CPC provides a mechanism to enforce: (i) civil judgments granted by a court within a country which has entered into international treaties regarding this matter with Vietnam; or (ii) foreign judgments granted by a court within a country that has not entered into an international treaty with Vietnam but is recognized and is allowed to be enforced in Vietnam on a reciprocal basis. International treaties on this matter are usually made in the form of judicial assistance agreements.