Workshop on “Current situation and orientation, solutions to improve the law on resolving business and commercial disputes by mediation and arbitration in Vietnam”
On the morning of May 30, the Judicial Academy organized a scientific workshop “Current situation and orientation, solutions to improve the law on resolving business and commercial disputes by mediation and arbitration in Viet Nam” in both offline and online method. The workshop was chaired by Dr. Truong The Con – Deputy Director of the Judicial Academy, with the participation of Prof. Dr. Le Hong Hanh – Vice Chairman of the VIAC Council, Editor-in-Chief of the Law and Development magazine; Dr. Phan Huu Thu – Former Director of the Judicial Academy and delegates from universities, arbitration centers, mediation centers, law firms interested in the field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
Mr. Nguyen Hung Quang, Managing Partner of NHQuang&Associates, President of Vietnam International Commercial Mediation Center (VICMC), was invited to present a paper on the current state of commercial mediation in Viet Nam at the Workshop. In his presentation, Mr. Quang mentioned that the method of resolving commercial disputes by mediation is becoming a trend in the world. In Viet Nam, although this method is recognized through Party resolutions, such as Resolution No. 49-NQ/TW dated June 2, 2005 of the Politburo on the Judicial Reform Strategy to 2020, Resolution 27-NQ/TW of the Central Executive Committee on building a socialist rule-of-law state; or is stipulated in many specialized laws, such as the Maritime Code 2015, Commercial Law 2005, Law on Construction Law 2014, Law on Land 2024 and new-generation international free trade agreements, this method still faces many limitations and difficulties. Mr. Quang also analyzed the current situation of market demand and the ability of professional commercial mediators to meet the reality, the awareness of businesses and lawyers about this method is not high, some legal regulations related to commercial mediation activities are unclear; the current legal framework on mediation still has some regulations that need to be improved to facilitate commercial mediation activities, etc.
According to Lawyer Quang, to be able to resolve problems and inadequacies from the market as well as from legal regulations, the Government needs to take the following measures:
– The Judges at Courts at all levels have knowledge and understanding of commercial business and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms;
– The 2015 Civil Procedure Code needs to be amended in the direction that the Provincial Court is the Court with authority to recognize the application for mediation results;
– Developing a team of commercial mediators in a professional manner through requirements to participate in mandatory training and courses;
– Researching and developing a set of framework rules on ethics and conduct of mediators of mediation centers;
– Amending the legal regulations so that the time for resolving disputes by commercial conciliation is not included in the statute of limitations for initiating lawsuits and the duration of proceedings;
In particular, it is necessary to study and summarize commercial mediation activities according to Decree 22/2017/ND-CP in order to develop a Law on Commercial Mediation as well as pay attention to the possibility of Vietnam joining the Singapore Convention on Mediation.