VIETNAM Trends and Developments Contributed by: Thang Nguyen, Minh Nguyen and Nguyet Le, ACSV Legal
Arbitration reform: enhancing Vietnam’s alignment with international standards Due to the rapid growth of international arbitra - tion and Vietnam’s deeper integration into the global economy, the 2010 Law on Commercial Arbitration has revealed gaps and inconsisten - cies with international practices. To modernise the domestic legal framework and enhance foreign investors’ confidence, the Vietnamese government has released a draft amendment to the 2010 Law on Commercial Arbitration (“Draft Amended LCA”) for public consultation. Key proposed changes include the following. • Expansion of arbitration jurisdiction – the Draft Amended LCA removes the word “com - mercial”, thereby allowing arbitration of any dispute permitted by the laws of Vietnam to be settled via arbitration. This change broadens the scope of arbitrable matters and promotes a more welcoming environment for foreign investors. • Introduction of emergency arbitrators – the Draft Amended LCA introduces a new con - cept of emergency arbitrators who have the power to issue interim measures before an arbitral tribunal is officially constituted. This is a welcome move to boost the efficiency and expeditiousness of arbitration proceedings. • Presumption of notice delivery – according to the Draft Amended LCA, services of notices are deemed successful if the notices were sent to the party’s last known address. This amendment is to ensure that the arbitration proceedings are not obstructed by guerilla tactics. • Court fee for annulment requests – the Draft Amended LCA introduces a court fee tied to an award annulment process in order to dis - courage groundless attempts to annul arbitral awards and preserve the finality of arbitration.
who ultimately control or benefit from corporate entities. As part of this reform effort, the amended Law on Enterprises, issued on 17 June 2025 and entering into force on 1 July 2025, introduces for the first time provisions that recognise the concept of a “beneficial owner” in the corporate governance framework. While the amended Law refers to the general concept, the detailed crite - ria for identifying beneficial owners are set out in the implementing guidance, namely Decree No. 168/2025/ND-CP dated 30 June 2025. Under this Decree, a ”beneficial owner” is defined as an individual who: • holds, directly or indirectly, at least 25% of charter capital of an enterprise; or • has control over key corporate decisions such as appointments, charter amendments, or company restructuring. These provisions also impose several compli - ance obligations on businesses. • Information collection – identify and verify beneficial ownership. • Record-keeping – maintain updated records and promptly reflect any changes. • Disclosure – report beneficial ownership infor - mation to competent authorities. While the reform strengthens corporate trans - parency and helps align Vietnam with interna - tional practices, it also creates new compliance burdens, especially for companies with multiple- layer ownership structure or cross-border share - holders. Businesses should proactively review current ownership arrangements and prepare systems for ongoing disclosure and monitoring as early as possible.
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