Originally from: International Commercial Arbitration in Asia - 3rd Edition

I. INTRODUCTION

Arbitration is a relatively new concept in Vietnam, and its path of development is facing considerable challenges. It was not until the late 1980’s and early 1990’s of the 20th century when the country was opened to foreign trade that the concept was legislated, and non-governmental arbitration institutions were set up in Vietnam. Vietnam also became a member of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) in 1995.

Legislative development has shown that the Government has been attempting to promote non-governmental arbitration in the transitional period from centrally planned economy to market-oriented economy. The first piece of legislation that governed arbitration in Vietnam is Decree No. 116-CP, which was promulgated by the Government in 1994. Following the issuance of this Decree, a number of arbitration centers were established including the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC) which remains the largest arbitration tribunal in Vietnam to date. Decree No. 116-CP was later replaced by the Ordinance on Commercial Arbitration (the Ordinance) in 2003.2 The Ordinance adopted a number of internationally recognized principles and norms such as ad hoc arbitration, finality of arbitration awards, and independence of arbitration agreement. In addition, the Ordinance affirmed the court’s support for arbitration and provided a mechanism to enforce arbitral awards. Other laws that support the enforcement of arbitration awards were also enacted recently, such as the Code of Civil Procedures3 and the Law on Execution of Civil Judgments.4