Proposal to use Vietnamese judges at the International Finance Center

DNVN - Commenting on the draft Law on Specialized Courts at the International Financial Center, VCCI supports the option of appointing only Vietnamese citizens as judges, and at the same time proposes allowing disputing parties to freely choose to apply foreign laws and build a transparent litigation fee schedule.

In a document sent to the Supreme People's Court, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) provided detailed analysis and recommendations on six core issues of the Draft Law on Specialized Courts at the International Financial Center to build an effective, modern and reliable dispute resolution mechanism.

First, the parties should be allowed to choose to apply foreign law.

Regarding the application of law (Article 4), the draft provides two options: allowing the parties to choose foreign law, case law, international customs (option 1) or limiting it to the common law system (option 2).

VCCI believes that option 1 is more reasonable because the scope of applicable law is wide, unlimited, reflects the parties' freedom of agreement and is suitable for the diversity of international transactions.

However, VCCI pointed out an unclear point in the draft: in case the foreign law chosen is contrary to the basic principles of Vietnamese law, which law will be applied instead. VCCI proposed to add this provision to ensure clarity.

Second, propose that the judge be a Vietnamese citizen, combined with a panel of experts.

Regarding the standards for judges (Article 8), VCCI supports the option of having judges who are Vietnamese citizens (option 2) instead of including foreigners (option 1).

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Explaining this proposal, VCCI said that the People's Court is the agency that exercises the judicial power of the Vietnamese State, so the appointment of foreign judges may not be suitable for this nature. Vietnam has a high-quality human resource, good understanding of economics , investment and foreign languages. If there is an open recruitment mechanism, this team can completely meet the requirements.

Instead of appointing foreign judges, VCCI proposed to learn from the model of international courts and arbitration by establishing an Expert Council for consultation. This mechanism will help Vietnamese judges improve the quality of adjudication, ensure accuracy and efficiency, and promote the training of domestic judges.

Third, clarify the jurisdiction related to international arbitration

Regarding the jurisdiction of the Specialized Court (Article 12), VCCI supports the narrowing option (option 1) because this is a new model, requiring caution in the initial stage.

However, VCCI noted a risk of jurisdictional conflicts regarding arbitration. Current regulations may empower the Special Court to deal with disputes where the parties have agreed to choose a foreign arbitration venue.

To avoid this situation, VCCI proposes to amend in the direction: Specialized courts only have jurisdiction over arbitration-related requests when the parties choose Vietnam as the arbitration venue.

Fourth, flexibility in procedural language is needed.

The draft stipulates that English is the language used in court (Article 13). VCCI considers this to be too rigid. To respect the parties' right to self-determination, VCCI proposes to allow the parties to freely agree on the appropriate language of the proceedings, which can be English, Vietnamese or bilingual English-Vietnamese.

Fifth, no need for prosecutorial involvement

Regarding the composition of the trial (Article 14), VCCI supports the option of not regulating the prosecution activities of the Procuracy. According to VCCI, this is consistent with the court model in international financial centers around the world .

6. Build a transparent and public litigation fee schedule.

Regarding court fees and charges (Article 21), VCCI commented that both options in the draft have limitations, are not transparent and do not accurately reflect the complexity of international disputes.

VCCI proposed to develop a clear, public and periodically updated schedule of litigation fees, referring to the model of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC). This schedule of fees should accurately reflect actual costs to ensure the quality of judicial services, avoiding the situation of fees being too low, affecting the operation of the court.

Minh Thu

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/de-xuat-dung-tham-phan-viet-tai-trung-tam-tai-chinh-quoc-te/20251110092256804