VIETNAM Law and Practice Contributed by: Vinh Luu, Phong Tran, The Nghiem and Thu Nguyen, Asia Legal
Asia Legal – Business Law Firm No 23, Lot N03 Dich Vong New Urban Area Cau Giay Ward Hanoi City Vietnam
Tel: (+84) 24 2269 3399 Email: info@asialegal.vn Web: www.asialegal.vn
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
have experienced significant arbitration activity in recent years. The most active sectors include: • sale of goods – this sector accounted for the larg - est share of VIAC’s new cases, representing 24% of the total caseload; • construction – construction disputes ranked second, accounting for 23% of total cases, reflect - ing the complexity and high value of construction projects; • real estate – real estate disputes represented 20% of the total caseload, driven by the increasing number of large-scale property development and investment projects; and • other notable sectors – VIAC also recorded a sig - nificant number of disputes in finance and banking, logistics, leasing, business cooperation and inter - nal corporate disputes, particularly those relating to share purchase agreements (SPAs) and sharehold - ers’ agreements (SHAs). VIAC has also observed a growing number of disputes in e-commerce, fintech and energy, reflecting the rapid development of these sectors. These industries tend to experience more arbitration activity because they typically involve high-value transactions, technically complex projects, long-term contractual relationships or foreign investment. 1.3 Arbitration Institutions The Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) remains the leading and most widely used arbitral institution in Vietnam for both domestic and interna - tional commercial disputes. Its prominence is attribut - able to several factors, as outlined below.
Court litigation remains the primary mechanism for resolving commercial disputes in Vietnam. In 2025, Vietnamese courts published 6,152 commercial judg - ments, compared with 532 new cases admitted by the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre, the country’s leading commercial arbitration institution. Nevertheless, arbitration has become an increasingly important method of dispute resolution. According to VIAC’s 2025 statistics, purely domestic disputes accounted for 51.5% of its caseload (274 cases), while disputes involving foreign-invested enterprises (FDI) or other foreign elements represented 48.5% (258 cases). This demonstrates that arbitration is increasingly used not only for international commer - cial disputes but also by domestic parties. Although many domestic parties continue to favour litigation because of their familiarity with the court system and the lower perceived costs, arbitration is gaining popularity because of its procedural flexibil - ity, confidentiality, neutrality and the finality of arbi - tral awards. The 532 new cases registered by VIAC in 2025 also represent an 11.2% increase compared with 2024, marking the highest annual caseload since the centre’s establishment. 1.2 Key Industries Although Vietnamese authorities have not published official nationwide statistics on the total volume of arbitration cases, data from the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre indicates that several industries
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