Civil Litigation In Vietnam

As in many jurisdictions, litigation in Vietnam is often considered a last resort for resolving disputes. Parties typically seek to avoid the court process, fearing potential disruptions to business relationships, increased legal costs, and delays in reaching a resolution. However, litigation can sometimes be the only option for obtaining relief. A party may also find itself a defendant in a lawsuit. When faced with these situations, knowledge of the Vietnamese court system and litigation practice is essential.

Civil Litigation in Vietnam introduces the fundamentals of Vietnamese civil court procedures and practice. While it is not an in-depth study, this brief guide covers the main issues concerning civil litigation in Vietnam as either a plaintiff or a defendant.

Overview of Court Litigation in Vietnam

In deciding whether to litigate, parties need to consider factors such as the timing and expected duration of litigation, the costs, ability to enforce any judgment, and other circumstances.

Vietnamese legal system. Vietnam is a civil law country influenced by French civil law and socialist law. Laws are enacted by the National Assembly, the state's legislative body.

Courts in Vietnam. After a nationwide administrative restructuring that took effect on July 1, 2025, the court system in Vietnam has seen significant changes. The system has a three-tiered judicial hierarchy (Supreme, Provincial, and Regional People's Courts) with a two-tiered trial structure, along with specialized courts in certain fields.

• Supreme People's Court. The highest court of the state, among its other tasks, reviews cassation or retrial proceedings over judgments and decisions of lower courts. The Supreme People's Court also submits to the National Assembly draft laws and resolutions; and submits to the National Assembly Standing Committee draft ordinances and resolutions.
• Appellate Courts of the Supreme People's Court. The three Appellate Courts in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City (the major cities in the North, Central, and South regions of Vietnam) are judicial bodies under the Supreme People's Court that have territorial jurisdiction over, among other things, appeals of first-instance judgments or decisions of the Provincial People's Courts, depending on time of acceptance and the case nature. The Appellate Courts replace the Superior People's Courts, which were dissolved in the 2025 restructuring.
• Provincial People's Courts. The 34 People's Courts of provinces and centrally governed cities (collectively referred to as "Provincial People's Courts")—reduced from 63 before the restructuring—have first-instance and appellate jurisdiction over Regional People's Courts' judgements/decisions within their territorial areas. They have jurisdiction over certain criminal, civil, administrative, commercial, bankruptcy, domestic arbitration, and other cases as provided by law, and perform other judicial duties assigned by the higher courts.
• Regional People's Courts. The 355 Regional People's Courts play the role of local first-instance courts, and conduct trials for cases arising within their regional jurisdiction. These courts replace the previous district-level People's Courts (the district level was abolished in the restructuring) and their jurisdiction covers a "region" within a province, which typically is a group of ward-level administrative units. The Regional People's Courts organize first-instance trials of criminal, administrative, and civil cases, and settle other matters prescribed by law. They also have firstinstance jurisdiction over civil cases involving foreign elements.
• Specialized Courts. Specialized courts were introduced in 2025 for intellectual property/technology transfer and bankruptcy. These disputes are heard by particular regional courts in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang (for bankruptcy only). The courts are staffed by personnel with specialized expertise in these fields. This new structure is aimed at improving the resolution of complex disputes.
• Specialized Court in International Financial Centers. Vietnam is currently expeditiously studying the establishment of a specialized court within its soon-to-be-established international financial centers, in accordance with the spirit of Law No. 81/2025/QH15 on the Organization of People's Courts and Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly of Vietnam on International Financial Centers. The structure and organizational framework of this court are expected to be reviewed by the National Assembly in October 2025, with a view to enabling the court to commence operation in 2026.

Details on the jurisdictions of Vietnamese courts are stipulated under Resolution No. 01/2025/NQ-HDTP dated June 27, 2025.

Length of trials. Unless settled, civil litigation typically lasts between 12 and 18 months, counting from initiation of an action until a judgment by the court of first instance. Cases in the Appellate Courts usually take an additional 10–14 months, with a similar period for appeals to the Supreme People's Court.

Amount of claims. Under Vietnamese law, there are no restrictions on the amount of claims, allowing any claim to be presented in court. However, because of the time and cost involved, it is usually not worthwhile to pursue a civil suit in Vietnam for claims under VND 100 million (approx. USD 4,000).

Court costs. A plaintiff must pay a court filing fee when submitting a case. The court fee is calculated on a pro rata basis based on the value in dispute, or the so-called amount of claims. The plaintiff must advance part of the estimated court fee after the filing of its lawsuit, and the total court fee will be allocated in the final judgment.

Appeals. In civil cases, appeals must be filed within 15 days after the judgment is read. At the appellate instance, the appealing party must also deposit additional court costs of VND 300,000 (approx. USD 12) for civil disputes, and VND 2,000,000 (approx. USD 80) for commercial disputes.

Power of attorney. If any party to the dispute wishes to hire a lawyer, they must execute a power of attorney to authorize one or more attorneys to act on their behalf in a suit.

Plaintiff/defendant. If the plaintiff or defendant is a legal entity, all submissions must be executed (signed in wet ink) by the company's legal representative (e.g., chief executive officer, director) and affixed with the company seal. The company may authorize other personnel or counsel, other than the company's legal representative, to execute and submit documents on its behalf. However, it is important to note that the statement of claims should be executed personally by the company's legal representative, rather than by other authorized representatives.

Language of documents. All documents submitted to a Vietnamese court must be in Vietnamese. Foreign documents must be originals or certified copies and need to be notarized and authenticated/legalized by a Vietnamese consular authority. A certified translation of the documents must be translated into Vietnamese for submission. Tilleke & Gibbins has a dedicated team of certified translators and can prepare all necessary translations and assist with notarization or consular authentication/legalization.

Evidence disclosure. In Vietnamese civil litigation, the process of disclosing evidence is not as formalized or broad as it is in common-law systems. There is no recognized concept of "privilege". Parties are generally not required to disclose all relevant documents unless specifically requested by the court. If the court requests evidence, parties are theoretically obligated to comply. However, if a party fails to provide any evidence, the law does not specify a penalty, and the court tends to proceed with the case resolution based on the readily available documents.

Statute of limitations. The general statute of limitations for civil contract disputes and non-contractual civil disputes (e.g., property disputes, family disputes) is three years, starting from the date the aggrieved party becomes aware of the infringement of their rights and interests. Meanwhile, the statute of limitations for commercial contract disputes is two years from when a party's legitimate rights and interests are infringed upon. Additionally, there are specific provisions regarding the statute of limitations for certain types of disputes, such as construction and insurance disputes.

Litigation Process and Procedures

Litigation begins when an aggrieved party, the plaintiff, files a lawsuit dossier, which pleads the facts and allegations constituting the basis of the claim, with the competent court. Below are the main steps of the litigation process.

Filing of petition. Agencies, organizations, and individuals filing lawsuits must file a petition and submit it directly to the competent court or send it via postal service. The petition must be accompanied by documents and evidence proving that the plaintiff's legitimate rights and interests have been violated. The plaintiff must supplement or submit additional documents and evidence as requested by the court during the process of resolving the case.

Acceptance of the lawsuit petition. Within three working days from the date of receipt of the petition, the chief justice of the court will assign a judge to review the petition. Within five working days from the date of assignment, the judge must review the petition and decide to do one of the following:

• Request amendment or supplementation of the petition;
• Conduct the procedure for accepting the case according to the normal procedure or the simplified procedure, if applicable;
• Transfer the petition to a competent court and notify the plaintiff if the case falls under the jurisdiction of another court; or
• Return the petition to the plaintiff if the case does not fall within the jurisdiction of the court.

If the court accepts the case, it will issue a request for payment of the advance court fee. The plaintiff must pay the advance court fee to the Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency (CJEA) at the same level of the court, then submit the payment receipt issued by the CJEA back to the court. The court must then issue a notice of acceptance of the case for handling after the plaintiff's submission of the payment receipt.

In practice, it may take the courts one month or more to process the paperwork, decide on the acceptance of the petition, and issue the request for payment of advance court fee.

Notice of lawsuit to defendant. The Civil Procedure Code (CPC) stipulates that the plaintiff is obligated to serve a copy of the lawsuit petition to the defendant. However, there is no penalty imposed if the plaintiff fails to fulfill this obligation. As a result, in practice, the defendant is often notified of the lawsuit only when it receives the court's notice of acceptance of the case for handling.

Court-annexed mediation. Under the CPC and the 2020 Law on Mediation and Dialogue at Court, the courts are required to encourage mediation as a preliminary step before proceeding with litigation. Mediation is conducted by court-appointed mediators who are either judges or trained professionals. The parties have the option to opt out of court mediation and proceed directly with litigation. In practice, the parties frequently opt to proceed directly with litigation, as the mediation stage is often perceived as formalistic, preferring to continue negotiations during the litigation proceedings. Any settlement reached during litigation can still be recognized by the judge.

Meeting to review the submission, access, and disclosure of evidence and conciliation. The judge is required to hold meetings to examine the submission, access, and disclosure of evidence and conciliation between the parties. In this meeting, the judge hears the parties' opinions regarding the dispute, encourages the parties to negotiate, and allows the parties to access and inspect each other's submissions.

Preliminary injunctions. This legal mechanism is theoretically available at any time from the filing of the petition to the entry of judgment. Accordingly, upon filing the lawsuit petition and during the process of resolving a case, the parties can request a preliminary injunction from the court. As a matter of practice, however, Vietnamese courts are unlikely to grant such relief unless the petition is wellfounded and the injunctions address urgent requests from the involved parties, aimed at protecting life, health, and property, preserving evidence, maintaining current conditions to prevent irreparable harm, and ensuring the proper resolution of the lawsuit or execution of the judgment. The likelihood of Vietnamese courts granting preliminary injunctions is generally not high.

If deemed necessary, the court may request that the applicant provide security for the application of the preliminary injunction as indemnification for a wrongfully ordered injunction.

Trials. The trial must be oral and conducted in a courtroom. During the trial, the court must directly determine the circumstances of the case by asking and listening to the statements of the plaintiff, defendant, and persons with rights and obligations related to the case; examining collected documents and evidence; conducting and listening to debates between the parties; and listening to the procuracy's opinion (when applicable).

Judgment. A trial panel reads the judgment in the presence of the parties after deliberation. In some complex cases, the trial panel may announce that it will take a longer deliberation period of 5-10 days to render the judgment. The official written judgment is issued to the parties afterward.

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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.