DISPUTE RESOLUTION, PAGE 4
12. On what grounds can the parties appeal, and what restrictions apply?
Is
there a right of further appeal?
To what extent is enforcement suspended pending
an appeal?
Any appeal against a judgment or order of the District People’s
Court must be made to the Provincial People’s Court and any appeal against
a judgment or order of the Provincial People’s Court must be made to the
Supreme People's Court, whose decision is final. Parties have an automatic right
to appeal a first instance judgment. The time limit for lodging an appeal is
fifteen days.
The time limit for an appeal runs from the date of judgment or, if the appellant was absent from the hearing, from the date the appellant receives a copy of the judgment or the date when the judgment was posted on the notice board of the People's Committee of the ward in which the appellant's head office or residence is located. An appeal generally operates as an automatic stay of execution of enforcement of the first instance judgment.
An appeal can also be
instigated for reconsidering or reviewing a judgment which has already come into
effect in the following circumstances:
(i) if the conclusion in the judgment
does not accord with the objective circumstances of the case;
(ii) in the event
of serious procedural errors;
(iii) in the event of serious errors in the application
of laws;
(iv) if an important circumstance of the case is discovered in respect
of which the person concerned was not aware during the hearing of the case;
(v)
if there are grounds that the conclusion of an inspector or the translation of
a translator is incorrect, or evidence has been falsified;
(vi) if the Judge,
People’s Juror, or Procurator intentionally falsified the files of the
case or intentionally reached a conclusion which does not properly comply with
the law; and
(vii) if a judgment or decision of a Court or a state body, which
has in fact been repealed, is relied upon by the lower Court.
13. To what extent can domestic and/or foreign state entities claim immunity from civil proceedings?
Vietnamese law is silent on the issue as to whether a domestic state entity can claim immunity from civil proceedings. In practice, we are unaware of any case where such a claim has been made. Vietnamese law states that sovereign immunity relates to acts which are governmental, rather than commercial in nature. For this reason, foreign state entities involved in commercial transactions are unlikely to be able to claim immunity from civil proceedings in Vietnam.
14. What procedures exist for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments?
The CPC incorporates the provisions of the Ordinance on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Civil Judgments dated 17 April 1993 and the Ordinance on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards dated 14 September 1995 without substantial change.
The CPC provides that a civil judgment or order from a Court in a foreign country will be recognised in Vietnam only if such country has signed an agreement with Vietnam with regard to the enforcement for foreign judgments, or is a co-signatory with Vietnam to an international treaty on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Agreements with certain COMECON countries on the enforcement of foreign judgments still exist although it is doubtful that a Vietnamese Court would enforce judgments from these countries as a matter of practice.
At this time, no other agreements exist, and Vietnam is not yet a signatory to an international treaty on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Therefore, a party wishing to enforce a foreign civil judgment in Vietnam cannot do so, unless it submits an application to the Ministry of Justice for a review of the judgment by the relevant Vietnamese Court and such application is accepted. There is no procedure for seeking expedited judgment in any Court action in Vietnam which involves consideration of a foreign judgment.
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