VIETNAM Law and Practice Contributed by: Tung Ngo, Linh D. Nguyen and Minh Doan, VILAF
4.3 Court Intervention In Vietnam, court intervention in the selection of arbi - trators is limited. The competent court may participate in the appointment process only in the context of ad hoc arbitrations and only upon the request of one or both parties. This is prescribed in Article 41 of the LCA and Article 8 of Resolution 01/2014. Accordingly, the court’s involvement is subject to party autonomy. It does not have the authority to intervene of its own initiative. 4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators Under Article 42.1 of the LCA, parties may challenge the appointment of an arbitrator or seek the removal of an arbitrator on the following grounds: • the arbitrator is a relative or representative of a party; • the arbitrator has an interest related to the dispute; • there are clear grounds to conclude that the arbi - trator is not impartial or objective; or • the arbitrator was a mediator or representative or lawyer of any party prior to the dispute being brought to arbitration for resolution, unless the par - ties have provided written consent. 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements Pursuant to Article 4.2 and Article 21.2 of the LCA, arbitrators must remain impartial and independent and must act in accordance with the law. Under Arti - cle 42.2 of the LCA, arbitrators are required to provide written notice to the arbitration centre or arbitral tribu - nal and to the parties of any circumstances that may affect their independence or impartiality. This obliga - tion is also reflected in the rules of arbitration institu - tions, such as Article 16.1 of the Rules of Arbitration of the VIAC.
In particular, pursuant to Article 20.1 of the LCA, a person is eligible to become an arbitrator if the person: • has full civil legal capacity as prescribed in the 2015 Civil Code; • has a university qualification and at least five years’ work experience in the field of their studies; • in special cases, is an expert with highly profes - sional qualifications and substantial practical expe - rience, despite not satisfying the second standard. Pursuant to Article 20.2 of the LCA, a person is not eligible to become an arbitrator if the person is: • currently a judge, a prosecutor, an investigator, a bailiff, or an official of the people’s courts, the people’s procuratorate, an investigative agency or a judgment enforcement agency; or • under a criminal charge or prosecution or is serving a criminal sentence or has fully served the sen - tence but their criminal record has not yet been cleared. 4.2 Default Procedures In the case of institutional arbitration, Article 40 of the LCA applies. If the parties’ agreed method for appointing arbitrators fails, the president of the arbi - tration centre will make the appointment. In the case of ad hoc arbitration, Article 41 of the LCA governs the process. In a three-member tribunal, each party appoints one arbitrator, and the two appoint - ed arbitrators then agree on the presiding arbitrator. If either party or the two arbitrators fail to make an appointment within 30 days, the competent arbitral institution or court may step in to make the appoint - ment. Arbitrator Appointment in Multiparty Arbitration There are no specific default procedures under Viet - namese law for the appointment of arbitrators in mul - tiparty arbitration. The general procedures applicable to two-party disputes can be followed. Where there are multiple parties on one side (eg, multiple claimants or respondents), those parties are expected to jointly select one arbitrator.
5. Jurisdiction 5.1 Challenges to Jurisdiction
The principle of competence-competence is recog - nised under Vietnamese law. Pursuant to Article 43 of the LCA, an arbitral tribunal has the authority to rule on its own jurisdiction. This includes the power to
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