Commercial relationships and transactions nowadays are often structured in a sophisticated manner. In practice, a single commercial relationship or transaction may comprise of several interrelated agreements between all or some of the parties. When a dispute between the parties arises, one party may have multiple claims against others based on different interrelated contracts. It is reasonable to conjecture that the number of multi-contract arbitrations in Vietnam, including at Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (“VIAC”), commonly regarded as the leading arbitral institution in Vietnam, will continue to increase as commercial transactions in Vietnam are becoming increasingly complex.
In this article, Partner Linh Nguyen and Associate Hoang Nguyen discuss and analyze the Vietnamese legal framework and the relevant rules under the 2017 VIAC Rules of Arbitration on the procedural treatment of an arbitration where multiple claims arising out of different contracts are made by either or both of the claimant(s) and the respondent(s), who are all parties to all the instruments invoked. The authors will also introduce the relevant provisions on multi-contract claims under certain selected arbitration rules of leading institutions, consisting of the (i) 2021 Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, (ii) the 2016 Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, and (iii) 2018 Administered Arbitration Rules of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. This will help highlight the similarity in the approach of these institutional rules, which may serve as a paradigm of good practice for future improvements to VIAC Rules.
Download the full legal guide here.