Phần thứ năm Bộ luật Dân sự 2015: Pháp luật áp dụng đối với quan hệ dân sự có yếu tố nước ngoài

PART FIVE

CIVIL RELATIONS INVOLVING FOREIGN ELEMENTS

Chapter XXV

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 663. Scope

1. This Part provides for applied law to civil relations involving foreign elements.

If any regulation of law providing for applied law to civil relations involving foreign elements complies with Article 664 through Article 671 of this Code, it shall prevail; if it does not comply with those Articles, Part Five of this Code shall prevail.

2. Civil relation involving a foreign element means any of the following civil relations:

a) There is at least one of the participating parties is a foreign natural person or juridical person;

b) The participating parties are Vietnamese natural persons or juridical persons but the basis for the establishment, modification or termination of such relation arose in a foreign country;

c) The participating parties are Vietnamese natural persons or juridical persons but the subject matter of such civil relation is located in a foreign country.

Article 664. Determination of law applying to civil relations involving foreign elements

1. The international agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory or Vietnamese law shall apply to civil relations involving foreign elements.

2. In case the international agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory or a Vietnamese law stipulates that contracting parties have the right to select applied law, the law applied to civil relations involving foreign elements shall be determined according to the selection of the contracting parties.

3. If it fails to determine the applied law as prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article, the applied law is the law of the country that closely associates with the civil relations involving foreign elements.

Article 665. Application of international treaty in terms of civil relations involving foreign elements

1. In case an international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory contains regulations on rights and obligations of contracting participants in the civil relations involving foreign elements, such international treaty shall prevail.

2. In case an international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory contains provisions different from those in this Code and other laws in terms of applied law on civil relations involving foreign elements, such international treaty shall prevail.

Article 666. Application of international customary practices

Contracting parties may select international customary practices in the case prescribed in Clause 2 Article 664 of this Code. If the application of such international customary practices is contrary to the basic principles of the laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnamese laws shall prevail.

Article 667. Application of foreign laws

Where foreign law applies to a civil relation with different interpretations, the application must follow the interpretation of the competent authority in that country.

Article 668. Scope of the law to be referred to

1. The law to be referred to include regulations on determination of applied law and regulations on rights and obligations of participants in civil relations, other than the case prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article.

2. Where the Vietnamese law is referred to, regulations of Vietnamese law on rights and obligations of participants of a civil relation shall apply.

3. Where law of a third country is referred to, regulations of that law on rights and obligations of participants of a civil relation shall apply.

4. With respect to regulations on Clause 2 Article 664 of this Code, the law selected by the contracting parties shall include rights and obligations of participants of the civil relation, and not include regulations on applied law.

Article 669. Application of law of countries having multiple legal systems

If the law of a country having multiple legal systems is referred to, the applied law shall be determined according to the rules prescribed by such country's law.

Article 670. Non-application of foreign laws

1. The foreign law, notwithstanding being referred to, shall not apply in any of the following cases:

a) The consequences of its application are not inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the law of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

b) The contents of foreign law are not identifiable regardless of the adoption of necessary measures prescribed by procedural law.

2. In case the foreign law is not applied as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, Vietnamese law shall apply.

Article 671. Prescriptive periods

Prescriptive periods for civil relations involving foreign elements shall be determined according to the law applying to such civil relations.

Chapter XXVI

THE LAW APPLIED TO NATURAL PERSONS AND JURIDICAL PERSONS

Article 672. Bases for choice of law applicable to stateless persons and to foreigners with multiple foreign nationalities

1. Where the law referred to is the law of a country of which a foreigner is a citizen but he/she is a stateless person, the applied law shall be the law of the country of residence of such person at the time when the civil relations involving foreign elements were established. If that person has multiple residences or his residence is unidentifiable at the time of establishing the civil relation involving foreign elements, the applied law shall be the law of the country with which such person closely associates.

2. Where the law referred to is the law of a country of which a foreigner is a citizen but he/she has multiple foreign nationalities, the applied law shall be the law of which he/she holds nationality and where he/she resided at the time when the civil relations involving foreign elements were established. If that person has multiple residences or his residence is unidentifiable or his/her residence is different from the country of which he/she holds nationality at the time when the civil relations involving foreign elements were established, the applied law shall be the law of the country with which such person closely associates.

Where the law referred to is the law of a country of which a foreigner is a citizen but he/she has multiple foreign nationalities, including Vietnamese nationality, the applied law shall be Vietnamese law.

Article 673. Legal personality of natural persons

1. Legal personality of a natural person shall be determined according to the law of the country of which he/she holds nationality.

2. A foreigner in Vietnam shall have legal personality in the same manner as a Vietnamese citizen, unless otherwise provided by the law of Vietnam.

Article 674. Legal capacity of natural persons

1. Legal capacity of a natural person shall be determined according to the law of the country of which he/she holds nationality, other than the case prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. Where a foreigner establishes or performs civil transactions in Vietnam, his/her legal capacity shall be determined in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

3. The determination of a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition or behavior control or a person with limited legal capacity in Vietnam shall be in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

Article 675. Determination of persons disappeared or died

1. A determination that a person has disappeared or died must comply with the law of the country of which such person held nationality at the point of time prior to the last information about such disappearance or death, except for the case prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. The determination of a disappeared or dead person in Vietnam shall be in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

Article 676. Juridical persons

1. The nationality of a juridical person shall be determined according to the law of the country in which such juridical person was established.

2. Legal personality, name, legal representatives, organization, restructuring, dissolution of a juridical person; relations between a juridical person and its members; responsibilities of a juridical person and its members pertaining to its obligations shall be determined in accordance with the law of the country of which such juridical person holds nationality, other than the case prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article.

3. Where a foreign juridical person establishes or performs civil transactions in Vietnam, its legal personality shall be determined in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

Chapter XXVII

THE LAW APPLIED TO PROPERTY RELATIONS AND PERSONAL RELATIONS

Article 677. Classification of property

The classification between moveable and immoveable property shall be made in accordance with the laws of the country in which such property is located.

Article 678. Ownership rights and other property-related rights

1. The establishment, exercise, operation and termination of ownership rights and other property-related rights shall be determined in accordance with the laws of the country in which the property is located, except in the cases provided in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. Ownership rights with respect to moveable property in transit shall be determined in accordance with the law of the country of destination, unless otherwise agreed.

Article 679. Intellectual property rights

The intellectual property rights shall be determined in accordance with the laws of the country in which the objects of the intellectual property rights are required to be protected.

Article 680. Inheritance

1. Inheritance must comply with the law of the country of which the person who bequeathed the assets held nationality prior to his or her death.

2. The right to inherit immoveable property must comply with the law of the country where such immoveable property is located.

Article 681. Wills

1. The capacity to create a will, and to alter or rescind a will, must comply with the law of the country of which the testator is a citizen.

2. The form of a will must comply with the law of the country in the place where the will is created. The form of a will shall be also recognized in Vietnam if it complies with the laws of any of the following countries:

a) The country in which the testator resides at the time when the will is created or the testator dies;

b) The country of which the testator holds nationality at the time when the will is created or the testator dies;

c) The country where the inheritance being immovable property is located.

Article 682. Guardianship

The guardianship shall be determined in accordance with the law of the country where the ward resides.

Article 683. Contracts

1. Contracting parties in a contract may agree to select the applied law for the contract, other than regulations of Clauses 4, 5 and 6 of this Article. In case the contracting parties fail to agree the applied law, the law of the country with which such contract closely associates shall apply.

2. The laws of any of the following countries shall be treated as the law of the country with which such contract closely associates:

a) The law of the country where the seller being natural person resides or the seller being juridical person is established in terms of sale contracts;

b) The law of the country where the provider being natural person resides or the provider being juridical person is established in terms of service contracts;

c) The law of the country where the transferee being natural person resides or the seller being juridical person is established in terms of contracts of transferring rights to use or intellectual property rights;

d) The law of the country where employees frequently perform do jobs in terms of labor contracts. If an employee frequently does jobs in multiple countries or the country in which the employee frequently does his/her job is unidentifiable, the law of the country with which his/her labor contract closely associates shall be the law of the country where the employer being natural person resides or the employer being juridical person is established.

dd) The law of the country where consumers resides in terms of consume contract.

3. If there is evident that the law of a country other than the country prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article associates with the contract more closely than the latter, the law of the former country shall prevail.

4. If the object of a contract is an immovable property, the law applied to transfer of its ownership rights and/or other property-related rights, lease of immovable property or using the immovable property as the guarantee for performance of obligations shall be the law of the country where the immovable property is located.

5. If the applied law selected by contracting parties in a labor contract or a consume contract affects adversely minimum interests of employees or consumers as prescribed in the law of Vietnam, the law of Vietnam shall prevail.

6. Contracting parties in a contract may agree to change the applied law provided that such change does not affect adversely lawful rights and interests of a third party before changing, otherwise agreed by the third party.

7. Form of a contract shall be determined in accordance with the law applied to such type of contract. In case where the form of a contract does not comply with the form of the law applied to such contract but it comply with the form of the law of the country where the contract is entered into or the law of Vietnam, such form of contract shall be recognized in Vietnam.

Article 684. Unilateral acts

The law applied to unilateral acts of a person shall be determined in accordance with the law of the country of residence with regard to natural person or the law of the country of establishment with regard to juridical person.

Article 685. Obligation to refund property possessed, used or derived unlawfully

The obligation to refund property possessed, used or derived unlawfully shall be determined according to the law of the country where the property is possessed, used or derived unlawfully.

Article 686. Performance of acts without authorization

Contracting parties may agree to select the law applied to the performance of acts without authorization. If the contracting parties fail to agree to select the applied law, the law of the country where the acts without authorization are performed shall prevail.

Article 687. Compensation for non-contractual damage

1. Contracting parties may agree to select the law applied to the compensation for non-contractual damage, except for the case prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article. If the contracting parties fail to agree to select the applied law, the law of the country where the consequences of such acts arise shall prevail.

2. Where the party causing damage and the aggrieved party being natural persons have residence or being juridical person place of establishment in the same country, the law of such country shall prevail.