VIETNAM Law and Practice Contributed by: Vinh Luu, Phong Tran, The Nghiem and Thu Nguyen, Asia Legal
The courts may grant the same interim measures available to an arbitral tribunal under the LCA, includ - ing preservation or attachment of disputed property, prohibition or mandatory orders, preservation or dis - posal of property, interim payment and prohibitions on the transfer of disputed assets. The LCA does not expressly empower Vietnamese courts to grant interim relief in support of foreign- seated arbitrations. Accordingly, the availability of such relief remains uncertain under Vietnamese law. Vietnamese law also does not recognise the con - cept of an emergency arbitrator. The LCA contains no provisions governing the appointment, powers or enforceability of emergency arbitrators and no Viet - namese arbitral institution currently provides a statu - tory emergency arbitrator mechanism. Consequently, parties requiring urgent relief before the constitution of the arbitral tribunal must generally seek assistance from the competent Vietnamese court where avail - able. 6.3 Security for Costs The LCA does not expressly empower either arbitral tribunals or Vietnamese courts to order security for costs, such as requiring a claimant to provide security for the respondent’s prospective legal fees or arbitra - tion costs. This should be distinguished from security for interim measures. Under Article 49 of the LCA, an arbitral tribunal may require a party requesting an interim measure to provide appropriate security before granting such measure. However, this security is intended to protect against losses that may arise from the interim measure itself, rather than to secure the opposing party’s legal costs. 7. Procedure 7.1 Governing Rules Arbitral procedure in Vietnam is governed by three complementary layers: • first, the LCA establishes the mandatory legal framework and minimum procedural safeguards that cannot be derogated from by agreement;
• second, the procedural rules of the chosen arbi - tral institution (eg, VIAC Rules 2026) govern the conduct of the proceedings, including case man - agement, submissions, evidence, hearings and the issuance of awards; and • third, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 applies residually wherever the process interfaces with the courts, for example in relation to interim relief, set - ting aside or enforcement. Within the above boundaries, the parties retain sub - stantial autonomy to shape their own procedure. 7.2 Procedural Steps The LCA prescribes several minimum procedural requirements while leaving detailed case management largely to the parties’ agreement and the applicable institutional rules. In particular: • proceedings commence with the claimant’s request for arbitration and statement of claim, followed by an opportunity for the respondent to submit a statement of defence; • the arbitral tribunal must be constituted in accord - ance with the parties’ agreement or, failing such agreement, the default appointment mechanism under the LCA shall be applied; • the parties may agree on the time and place of the hearings; however, in the absence of such agree - ment, the arbitral tribunal determines these mat- ters; • the tribunal may conduct an oral hearing or decide the dispute on a document-only basis, depending on the parties’ agreement and the circumstances of the case and throughout the proceedings, each party must be given a full and equal opportunity to present its case; and • the proceedings conclude with a written arbitral award signed by the arbitral tribunal, which is final and binding upon the parties. 7.3 Powers and Duties of Arbitrators Under the LCA, arbitrators are subject to specific
statutory rights and duties. Their principal rights include:
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