Mr. Hoa Huu Long, the Head of International Law Department (Ministry of Justice), said that many Vietnam’s corporations were still unaffected by international law when trading with foreign partners. These corporations agree with their partners to choose law of a foreign country in spite of having too little knowledge of it.


Mr. Long gave an obvious example of Vietnam Airlines. This corporation had to compensate its partner in Italy for a recent lawsuit. So did Vinafood Corporation No. 1 and No. 2, etc.

“It is amazing that receiving summons, Vietnam Airlines thought that they could not be judged if they did not come to the court, which caused serious damages such as blockade of assets in foreign countries, inability to appeal to sentence as the appealing duration is up. “This is a valuable lesson for Vietnamese corporations,” Mr. Hoa said.

Related to the matter of obeying law in corporations, Deputy Head of Civil and Economic Law Department Nguyen Thanh Tinh said the most difficult is that Vietnam’s corporations lack their own initiative. Many of them do not take care of studying and being advised law and risks in business.

Only when problems arise, do corporations urgently go to lawyers. At that time, solving problems has become complicated. According to Mr. Tinh, many of Vietnam’s corporations have not known how to use the tools of law to protect their own adequate rights and benefits.

Moreover, their sense of obeying law is poor. Mr. Tinh was displeased to tell that when he provides legal advice to corporations, he has to present the ABC of law.

He gave an example that one year ago, as a member of Corporate Law Club, he popularized Civil Code 2005 (valid from January 1st, 2006) in several corporations and regions. More than a half of corporations he met said that they still applied regulation on economic contracts although this was repealed in the new code.

Although Corporate Law Club, a bridge between State Management Agency and corporations in building up and implementing law, follows closely every work in corporation but it can not understanding all needs and wants of thousands of domestic corporations. Thus, how to help corporations minimize risks, especially when increasingly fierce competition in integration is the major target of the next term from 2007 to 2011 of the Club.

Mr. Tinh said the most important was to help corporations not lose in home playground because our corporations do not usually obey Vietnamese law as strictly as foreign ones.

Deputy Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung told in recent time, seminars and training courses on law appeal more than 5,000 organizations and corporations to attend. Now, the Club has about 1,000 members. In last term, the Club held many series of asking corporations for comments on drafts and held Seminar on Anti-Criminalization in Economic Relations. When lawyers nearly give up in difficult lawsuit, the Club also helps corporations.

On next April 13th, Corporate Law Club will hold Congress of Term II with the target of “Innovation – Development – Integration”.
Ha Yen