VIETNAM Law and Practice Contributed by: Tony Nguyen, Ta Phuong Thao, Nguyen Minh Duc, Nguyen Phuong Anh, Nguyen Duc Tai and Truong Que Chi, EPLegal
7.4 Class Actions, Mass Claims and Arbitration
8.2 Privilege Vietnamese law does not recognise the common law concept of the attorney-client privilege in respect of communications with lawyers or documents prepared by or for legal counsel. Instead, lawyers are subject to a duty of confidentiality under the Law on Lawyers, requiring them to keep client information confidential unless disclosure is permitted by the client or required by law. However, this duty does not prevent courts or com- petent authorities from compelling the production of evidence, as Vietnamese procedural law grants broad powers to obtain relevant documents. Accordingly, there is no formal privilege allowing doc- uments to be withheld and no clear statutory exemp- tion comparable to common law privilege regimes. 8.3 Confidentiality Generally, no. Under Article 106 of the Civil Proce- dure Code 2015, all individuals, agencies and organi- sations are obliged to provide evidence to the Court. If a party possesses relevant evidence, the Court has the power to compel its production. However, there is a “soft” protection for specific types of secrets. If evidence relates to state secrets, business secrets or personal/family secrets, a party can request the Court to take protective measures. Instead of allowing you to withhold the evidence, the Court will typically order a closed trial (trial behind closed doors), refrain from publicising the evidence upon request or restrict According to the Civil Procedure Code 2015, at the request of parties or when deemed necessary, the judge shall take witness testimony at or outside the court premises. Before taking witness testimony, the judge must explain the witness’s rights and obligations and require the witness to testify. The witness must read their statement aloud, then sign or fingerprint it. The witness has the right to request that amend- ments or additions be recorded in the statement and to sign or fingerprint to confirm them. The statement must bear the signatures of the person taking the statement, the person recording the statement and the seal of the Court; if the statement is recorded on access to the case file. 8.4 Witness Evidence
At present, Vietnamese arbitration law does not con- tain any specific provisions governing class actions or mass claims in arbitration. Most arbitral rules likewise do not expressly provide for a separate regime appli- cable to class actions, although, in theory, class action proceedings in arbitration remain possible. In practice, however, class action-type cases in Vietnamese arbi- tration appear rare. 7.5 Trends Although there are currently no specific provisions on class actions, the need for a class action and mass claims mechanism in Vietnam is considerable. Legal journals and public commentary have produced a substantial number of articles highlighting this need. Moreover, Vietnam has recently witnessed a number of cases in which a single defendant has been pur- sued by numerous claimants arising from the same underlying facts, circumstances or conduct, such as the Trịnh Văn Quyết case and the Alibaba Real Estate Joint Stock Company fraud case. Vietnam does not have a broad disclosure or discov- ery regime comparable to common law jurisdictions. Instead, the system is evidence-driven, with each party responsible for collecting and submitting the evidence it relies on. It means that both claimants and defendants must provide supporting documents to the court (no matter whether they are individuals, agencies or organisations) Relevant authorities are required to provide docu- ments within their control when requested or explain any inability to do so. Certain facts do not require proof, such as matters of common knowledge, prior judgments or notarised documents. 8. Evidence 8.1 Disclosure There is an obligation for parties to exchange evi- dence, but the Civil Procedure Code 2015 provides no clear sanctions for non-compliance.
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