On 8 November 2023, in the Seminar “Alternative Dispute Resolutions – Comparative Perspectives and Practices between Vietnam and France” hosted by Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice of France, Mr. Phan Trong Dat, Acting Director of Vietnam Mediation Centre (VMC) – a division of Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC), and Mr. Nguyen Manh Dzung, VMC Listed Mediator, shared and discussed matters on mediation. The seminar also had the presence of attorneys, law practitioners, particularly in ADR sector, and other representatives of justice authorities in Vietnam and France.
The workshop was held amid the status quo that in Vietnam, there are many regulations on commercial arbitration and commercial mediation, such as the Investment Law, Construction Law, Securities Law, and the Law on Commercial Arbitration in 2010. In particular, Decree No. 22/2017/ND-CP dated February 24, 2017, on commercial mediation was issued to contribute to perfecting the legal framework on out-of-court dispute settlement, promoting the development of commercial mediation – an effective alternative dispute resolution. Consequently, the number of commercial mediation cases tends to increase, commercial mediation is considered interesting and welcomed by people and the business community. This is a positive signal towards the goal of improving the competitiveness of enterprises and national competitiveness in further international integration of Vietnam.
Experts discussed at the seminar
Also, at the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Manh Dzung – VMC Listed Mediator – proposed questions about lawyers' ethics when advising clients to choose alternative dispute resolutions before deciding to litigate in court. Mr. Dzung also asked representatives from the Ministry of Justice of France to share about the mechanism of the French court in cases when there is a dispute in which one party does not have good faith during mediation. In addition, he also expected to receive comments from experts on France’s decision to ratify the UNCITRAL Model Law on Arbitration but not the UNCITRAL Model Law on Mediation. The last question posed by Mr. Dzung related to the practice in France of alternative dispute resolutions other than mediation, such as the Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) in construction disputes, expert examination, etc. The above questions provoked multi-dimensional discussions among experts and attorneys at the seminar and provided a lot of information and practical experiences on commercial mediation.
VMC representative presented and proposed questions in the seminar
After a working day, the seminar was successfully concluded and continued to strengthen the basis for judicial cooperation between Vietnam and France in the future and commercial mediation and commercial arbitration in Vietnam and France in particular. VMC representatives expressed their hope that more seminars and conferences on international commercial mediation will be organized to further promote these dispute settlement methods in Vietnam.
