VIETNAM Law and Practice Contributed by: Vinh Luu, Phong Tran, The Nghiem and Thu Nguyen, Asia Legal
8. Evidence 8.1 Collection and Submission of Evidence Each party has the right and obligation to submit evi - dence in support of its claims and defences. Where necessary, a party may request the arbitral tribunal or the competent court to assist in collecting evidence. The arbitral tribunal has broad discretion in the taking of evidence. It may require parties to produce evi - dence, seek expert opinions or appraisals and request witnesses to appear at the hearing. Where a duly sum - moned witness fails to attend without a valid reason and such absence obstructs the proceedings, the tribunal may request the competent court to issue a summons requiring the witness’s attendance. There is no general discovery or disclosure process compara - ble to that in common law jurisdictions; evidence pro - duction is generally limited to documents relied upon by the parties or specifically requested by the tribunal. The LCA does not prescribe detailed rules on witness statements, cross-examination or legal professional privilege. In practice, parties may submit written wit - ness statements and witnesses may be questioned by the parties and the tribunal during the hearing. The manner in which witnesses are examined is generally determined by the parties’ agreement and the tribu - nal’s procedural directions. Although electronic data is recognised as a source of evidence under the Civil Procedure Code 2015 and the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023, the LCA does not expressly regulate the use or admissibility of electronic evidence. In practice, electronic evidence is generally admissible, subject to the tribunal’s assess - ment of its authenticity, relevance and probative value. 8.2 Rules of Evidence Unlike domestic court litigation, arbitration under the LCA is not bound by any equivalent codified eviden - tiary regime. The LCA does not prescribe a compre - hensive or codified set of rules of evidence. Instead, Article 46 grants arbitral tribunals broad discretion to take and evaluate evidence. In particular, the tribunal has discretion to determine:
• accepting or refusing an appointment to act as an arbitrator; • refusing to provide information relating to the dis - pute, except where disclosure is required by law; • receiving remuneration for their services; and • exercising the powers conferred upon members of the arbitral tribunal under the LCA in the conduct of the proceedings. Their principal duties include: • remaining independent, impartial and objective throughout the proceedings; • maintaining the confidentiality of the dispute, except where disclosure is required by competent state authorities in accordance with the law; • resolving the dispute promptly and in accordance with the procedural timetable; and • complying with applicable professional ethical standards. In addition, arbitrators who fail to comply with their statutory obligations may be subject to administrative sanctions under Decree No 82/2020/ND-CP. 7.4 Legal Representatives For the purpose of this discussion, “legal representa - tives” refers to individuals authorised to represent disputing parties in arbitration proceedings. The LCA prescribes no specific professional qualification for that role. In particular and unlike court litigation, there is no requirement that a party’s representative be a Vietnamese-qualified lawyer or hold a Vietnamese practising certificate. Parties are therefore free to be represented by coun - sel of their choice, whether Vietnamese lawyers, for - eign-qualified lawyers or in-house counsel, provided the individual holds proper authority to act, typically evidenced by a power of attorney or written authori - sation. The same position applies equally to purely domestic and to foreign-related arbitrations seated in Vietnam, so foreign-qualified lawyers may appear without seeking admission to the Vietnamese Bar for that purpose.
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