This case is the first VN case handled by The Vietnam International Arbitration Centre undre UNICTRAL rules since 2017. Below is a report of the case in 2017. We (CVDVN) don’t have access to the current documents in the case.

Vietnamese centre hosts first case under UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission On International Trade Law)

rules

 10/30/2019

The Vietnam International Arbitration Centre has handled its first ad hoc international commercial arbitration under the UNCITRAL rules – a case over architecture design services that raised issues regarding the appointment of a sole arbitrator and the interplay between the rules and the law of the seat. This incident has been published in the Global Arbitration Review under the name of two authors, Mr. Chau Viet Bac and Mr. Nguyen The Duc Tam.

Chau Viet Bac, who is vice secretary general of the centre and Nguyen The Đuc Tam, a Vietnamese LLM at the University of Paris II, tell GAR the DP v VD case “sheds light on Vietnamese law concerning ad hoc arbitration by demonstrating how it operates in practice. Details of this first experience may be helpful for other Vietnamese arbitral institutions and for parties intending to use the UNCITRAL arbitration rules in Vietnam”.

The case arose from a 2014 agreement for architecture design services. The letter of appointment said the parties agreed that in the event of a dispute they would use their best efforts to settle their differences by negotiating with each other in good faith. If no solution was reached within 30 days, then either could refer the matter to arbitration in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese version of the agreement explicitly made reference to the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre, which was founded in Ha Noi in 1993 and, like the Vienna International Arbitration Centre, goes by the acronym VIAC.

The agreement continued that the parties would mutually appoint an arbitrator. In the event that they failed to reach an agreement on the appointment, an arbitrator could be “court-appointed according to the relevant regulations”. 

It was agreed that all arbitration proceedings would be conducted in Vietnam and the UNCITRAL rules would be applied. The decision of the arbitrator would be final and costs and expenses would be apportioned as directed by the arbitrator or divided equally by the parties.

A dispute arose and the parties could not agree on the selection of the sole arbitrator. In September 2015, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City appointed a sole arbitrator who is a well-known VIAC arbitrator and professor of arbitration law.