Launching Ceremony of Vietnam Mediation Centre and the Official Release of VMC Mediation Rules 2018

On 29 May 2018, the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre ran the Launching Ceremony of Vietnam Mediation Centre (“VMC”), a division of Vietnam International Arbitration Centre in Hanoi. VMC is the first unit in Vietnam to provide professional service of commercial mediation under the Decree No. 22/2017/ND-CP dated 24 February 2017 on commercial mediation.

The Board of Director of VMC includes leading experts who have earned credibility in business community as well as in the society:

Mr. Nguyen Si Dzung holds the position of Director of VMC. Mr. Director Dzung used to be the former Deputy Director of the Office of the National Assembly (2003-2016) and is recognized as one of leading experts in political science in Vietnam.

The Deputy Director of VMC is Mr. Nguyen Manh Dzung who currently is the Senior International Mediation Expert of the Mainland – Hongkong Joint Mediation Centre and also listed Mediator at Japan International Mediation Centre. Mr. Deputy Director Dzung will oversee one of core VMC’s functions - administering mediation processes at VMC.

In charge of supervising day-to-day operation of VMC is the Permanent Deputy Director of VMC - Mr. Phan Trong Dat. Dat concurrently is the Vice Secretaty General of VIAC and is the accredited mediator of Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.

In the ceremony, VMC proudly introduced its first 11 Mediators who are also reputable experts in many fields of commercial activities to be listed in the VMC’s List of Mediators. The List is expected to be good recommendations for disputing parties for their selection of mediator(s) and shall be expanded with more brilliant faces in near future. One of the most important part of the ceremony is the announcement of the official release of the Mediation Rules of the Vietnam Mediation Centre 2018 (“VMC Mediation Rules 2018”). The VMC Mediation Rules 2018 are available on the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) website from 29^th May 2018, and will come into force on 1^st July 2018.

The VMC Mediation Rules 2018 were drafted by the VIAC’s Editorial Board working closely with the international mediation experts from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group, who help to assure that the VMC mediation process meet the principles of an international mediation process. The Rules have also been thoroughly commented by experts on legal proceedings in Vietnam to ensure that VMC's mediation process comply with the legal framework under the Decree No. 22 / ND-CP on Commercial Mediation and shall operate efficiently in practice.

Some of the key highlights of the VMC Rules 2018 include: (i) the party autonomy is always respected(the disputing parties jointly decide on almost all matters of procedures: the appointment of mediator, steps of the mediation process as well as the outcome of the mediation process) – this is a basic distinction between a mediation process and any other litigation and arbitration) – Articles 3, 4 and 13 of VMC Rules; (ii) the standards for the independence, impartiality, objectivity and honesty of a mediator are set at a very high bar (there is not a procedure for challenging a mediator, if there is any fact that might cause any doubt about the independence, impartiality, objectivity and honesty of the mediator being disclosed, the step of new appointment will be triggered unless the parties expressly agree on that mediator still conducting the mediation) – Articles 5 and 7 VMC Rules; (iii) principle of two-tier confidentiality (all the information in mediation shall be kept confidential among parties and the mediator; the information in a private mediation session with a party shall be kept confidential between that party and the mediator) – Articles 8 and 11 of the VMC Rules.

In addition, the role of VMC in coordinating, supporting and facilitating mediation procedures is expressly set out at Articles 4 and 8 of VMC Rules, which ensures that the mediation process will be administered in a legitimate, flexible, friendly and efficient manner and will satisfy the businesses mediated at VMC.

Together with the Mediation Rules and the List of Mediators, the Fee Schedule, VMC shall soon issues document forms and templates for users’ convenience.

After the congratulations speeches and messages from the Department of Judicial Support of Ministry of Justice; Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the IFC – member of Worldbank Group and business associations, to wrap up the ceremony, both Mr. President Huynh and Mr. Director Dzung expressed their gratitude to all distinguished guests and reporters and their confidence on the development of VMC in the time to come.