Chapter III

NOTARIAL PRACTICE ORGANIZATIONS

Article 18. Principles of establishment of notarial practice organizations

1. The establishment of a notarial practice organization must comply with this Law and the master plan on development of notarial practice organizations approved by the Prime Minister.

2. Notary bureaus may be established only in geographical areas where conditions for development of notary offices are not available.

3. Notary offices established in geographical areas with difficult or extremely difficult socio-economic conditions are entitled to preferential policies prescribed by the Government.

Article 19. Notary bureaus

1. Notary bureaus shall be established under decisions of provincial-level People’s Committees.

2. Notary bureaus are public non-business units attached to provincial-level Justice Departments, and have their own offices, seals and accounts.

The at-law representative of a notary bureau is the head of such notary bureau. Heads of notary bureaus must be notaries and shall be appointed, relieved from duty and dismissed by chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees.

3. The name of a notary bureau must contain the words “notary bureau” followed by the ordinal number of its establishment and the name of the province or centrally run city where it is established.

4. Notary bureaus shall use seals bearing no national emblem. Notary bureaus may have their seals carved and use them after obtaining establishment decisions. Procedures and dossiers of request for seal carving and management and use of seals by notary bureaus must comply with the law on seals.

Article 20. Establishment of notary bureaus

1. Based on the notarization demand in its locality, a provincial-level Justice Department shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment; Finance; and Home Affairs in, preparing a scheme on establishment of a notary bureau and submit it to the provincial-level People’s Committee for consideration and decision. The scheme must state the necessity to establish a notary bureau, its expected organizational apparatus, name, personnel, location and physical conditions, and implementation plan.

2. Within 30 days after the provincial-level People’s Committee issues a decision on establishment of a notary bureau, the provincial-level Justice Department shall publish the following information on three consecutive issues of a central or local newspaper:

a/ Name and address of the notary bureau;

b/ Serial number and date of issuance of the establishment decision and the date of commencement of operation of the notary bureau.

3. In case the provincial-level People’s Committee decides to change the name or address of a notary bureau, the provincial-level Justice Department shall publish information on such changes in accordance with Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 21. Transformation and dissolution of notary bureaus

1. When it is no longer necessary to maintain a notary bureau, the provincial-level Justice Department shall prepare a scheme on transformation of the notary bureau into a notary office and submit it to the provincial-level People’s Committee for consideration and decision.

The Government shall stipulate in detail the transformation of notary bureaus into notary offices.

2. In case a notary bureau cannot be transformed into a notary office, the provincial- level Justice Department shall prepare a scheme on dissolution of the notary bureau and submit it to the provincial-level People’s Committee for consideration and decision.

The notary bureau may be dissolved only after it fully pays its debts, completes procedures for termination of labor contracts signed with its employees, and settles all notarization requests already received.

Within 15 days after the provincial-level People’s Committee issues a decision on dissolution of the notary bureau, the provincial-level Justice Department shall publish information on the dissolution of the notary bureau on 3 consecutive issues of a central or local newspaper.

Article 22. Notary offices

1. Notary offices shall be organized and operate in accordance with this Law and other relevant legal documents concerning partnerships.

A notary office must have at least 2 notaries being its partners. Notary offices have no capital contributors.

2. The at-law representative of a notary office shall act as its head. The head of a notary office must be a notary who is its partner and has practiced notarization for at least 2 years.

3. The name of a notary office must contain the words “notary office” followed by the full name of its head or another notary being its partner as agreed by all notaries who are partners, and must not be identical to or cause confusion with those of other notarial practice organizations and violate national historical and cultural traditions, ethics and fine customs.

4. Notary offices must have head offices satisfying the conditions prescribed by the Government.

Notary offices may have their own seals and accounts and shall operate on the principle of financial autonomy with their revenues coming from notarization charges, notarization remuneration and other lawful sources.

5. Notary offices shall use seals bearing no national emblem. Notary offices may have their seals carved and use them after obtaining establishment permission decisions. Procedures and dossiers of request for permission for seal carving and management and use of seals of notary offices must comply with the law on seals.

Article 23. Establishment and operation registration of notary offices

1. Notaries who jointly establish a notary office shall compile a dossier of request for establishment of a notary office and submit it to the provincial-level People’s Committee for consideration and decision. A dossier of request for establishment of a notary office must comprise a written request and a scheme on establishment of the notary office, clearly stating the necessity to establish the notary office, its expected organizational structure, name, personnel, location, physical conditions and implementation plan; and copies of appointment decisions of notaries jointly establishing the notary office.

2. Within 20 days after receiving a complete and valid dossier of request for establishment of a notary office, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall consider and decide to permit the establishment of the notary office; in case of refusal, it shall issue a written reply clearly stating the reason.

3. Within 90 days after receiving the decision permitting its establishment, the notary office shall register its operation with the provincial-level Justice Department of the locality where the establishment decision is issued.

The contents of operation registration of a notary office include the name of the notary office, full name of its head, address of its head office, list of notaries being partners and list of contractual notaries of the notary office (if any).

4. A dossier of operation registration for a notary office must comprise a written operation registration request, papers proving the suitability of the notary office’s location with the contents stated in its establishment scheme and professional practice registration dossiers of notaries being its partners and contractual notaries (if any).

Within 10 working days after receiving a complete operation registration dossier, the provincial-level Justice Department shall issue a written operation registration to the notary office; in case of refusal, it shall issue a written reply clearly stating the reason.

5. A notary office may conduct notarial activities on the date it is granted a written operation registration by the provincial-level Justice Department.

Article 24. Changes of contents of operation registration of notary offices

1. Upon occurrence of a change in any of the contents prescribed in Clause 3, Article 23 of this Law, a notary office shall register the changed content with the provincial-level Justice Department with which it has registered its operation.

The relocation of a notary office to another rural district, urban district, provincial town or city within the province or centrally run city which has issued the decision permitting its establishment shall be considered and decided by the provincial-level People’s Committee and conform with the master plan on development of notarial practice organizations.

2. Within 7 working days after receiving a complete dossier of request, the provincial- level Justice Department shall re-grant the written operation registration to a notary office which changes its name, address or head; in case of refusal, it shall issue a written reply clearly stating the reason.

Article 25. Provision of information on contents of operation registration of notary offices

Within 10 working days after granting or re-granting the written operation registration to a notary office, a provincial-level People’s Committee shall notify such in writing to the tax agency, statistics agency, provincial-level Public Security Department, and the People’s Committee of the rural district, urban district, town or provincial city and the People’s Committee of the commune, ward or township where the notary office is located.

Article 26. Publishing of information on operation registration of notary offices

1. Within 30 days after receiving a written operation registration, a notary office shall publish the following information on three consecutive issues of a central newspaper or a newspaper of the locality where it has registered its operation:

a/ Its name and address;

b/ Full names and serial numbers of the appointment decisions of notaries practicing at the notary office;

c/ Serial number and date of issuance of the written operation registration, place of operation registration and date of commencement of operation.

2. A notary office which is re-granted the written operation registration shall publish information on its operation registration in accordance with Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 27. Change of partners of notary offices

1. A notary being a partner of a notary office may terminate his/her partnership status at his/her own will or in other cases prescribed by law.

A notary office may admit new notaries as partners, provided that such notaries are accepted by remaining notaries being its partners.

The termination of the partnership status of notaries and admission of new notaries as partners must comply with this Law and the law on enterprises.

2. In case a notary being the partner of a notary office dies or is declared to be dead by a court, his/her heir is entitled to enjoy the value of his/her assets at the notary office left after paying his/her debts. The heir may become a partner of such notary office if he/she is a notary and accepted by other notaries who are partners of such notary office.

Article 28. Consolidation and merger of notary offices

1. Two or more notary offices located in the same province or centrally run city may be consolidated into a new notary office by transferring all their assets and lawful rights, obligations and interests to the consolidating notary office and, at the same time, terminating their operation.

2. One or more than one notary office may be merged into another notary office located in the same province or centrally run city by transferring all its/their assets and lawful rights, obligations and interests in the merging notary office and, at the same time, terminating its/ their operation.

3. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall consider and decide to permit the consolidation and merger of notary offices.

4. The Government shall stipulate in detail procedures for consolidation and merger of notary offices.

Article 29. Transfer of notary offices

1. A notary office may be transferred to other notaries who fully meet the conditions prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article. A notary office may be transferred only after it has conducted notarial activities for at least 2 years.

Notaries who have transferred their notary offices may not participate in the establishment of new notary offices within 5 years from the date of transfer.

2. A notary who receives a notary office must meet the following conditions:

a/ Having practiced notarization for at least 2 years, for persons expected to take over the position of head of the notary office;

b/ Undertaking to practice at the notary office transferred to him/her;

c/ Undertaking to inherit the rights and obligations of the transferred notary office.

3. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall consider and decide to permit the transfer of notary offices.

4. The Government shall stipulate in detail the order and procedures for transfer of notary offices.

Article 30. Revocation of establishment permission decisions

1. A notary office may have its establishment permission decision revoked in the following cases:

a/ The notary office fails to register its operation as prescribed in Article 23 of this Law;

b/ Past the 6-month period from the date of receiving the written operation registration, the notary office still fails to commence its operation;

c/ The notary office fails to operate continuously for 3 months or more, except cases in which all notaries being its partners are suspended from notarial practice;

d/ The notary office has only one notary being its partner and no new partner added within 6 months from the date when the number of notaries being its partners becomes insufficient;

dd/ All notaries being partners of the notary office are relieved from duty, die or are declared by a court to be dead;

e/ The notary office no longer satisfies the operation conditions prescribed in this Law and other relevant legal documents.

2. Provincial-level Justice Departments shall examine, review and make dossiers to propose provincial-level People’s Committees to issue decisions to revoke decisions permitting the establishment of notary offices.

Article 31. Termination of operation of notary offices

1. A notary office shall terminate its operation in the following cases:

a/ The notary office terminates its operation at its own will;

b/ The notary office has its establishment decision revoked under Article 30 of this Law;

c/ The notary office is consolidated or merged.

2. In case of terminating its operation under Point a, Clause 1 of this Article, at least 30 days before the expected time of operation termination, a notary office shall send a report to the provincial-level Justice Department with which it has registered its operation. Before the time of operation termination, the notary office shall fully pay its tax and other liabilities, complete procedures to terminate labor contracts signed with notaries and other staff members and settle notarization requests already received. If unable to settle notarization requests it has received, the notary office shall reach agreement with notarization requesters on the performance of such requests.

In case a notary office terminates its operation under Point c, Clause 1 of this Article, its rights and obligations shall be further exercised and performed by the consolidating or merging notary office.

A notary office shall publish information on the expected time of its operation termination on three consecutive issues of a central newspaper or a newspaper of the locality where it has registered its operation.

The provincial-level Justice Department shall revoke the written operation registration of the notary office and report such to the provincial-level People’s Committee for the latter to revoke its establishment permission decision and notify in writing the operation termination of the notary office to the agencies prescribed in Article 25 of this Law.

3. In case a notary office terminates its operation under Point b, Clause 1 of this Article, within 7 working days after a decision on revocation of the notary office’s establishment permission decision is issued, the provincial-level Justice Department shall revoke the notary office’s written operation registration, notify in writing its operation termination to the agencies prescribed in Article 25 of this Law and, at the same time, publish information on the operation termination of the notary office on three consecutive issues of a central newspaper or a newspaper of the locality where the notary office has registered its operation.

Within 60 days after having its establishment permission decision revoked, a notary office shall fully pay its tax and other liabilities, complete procedures to terminate labor contracts signed with notaries and other employees; for notarization requests it has received but not yet settled, the notary office shall return notarization request dossiers to notarization requesters. Past this time limit, if the notary office still fails to fulfill its asset-related liabilities or the notary office has its establishment permission decision revoked because all of its partners die or are declared by a court to be dead, assets of the notary office and its partners shall be used to pay its liabilities in accordance with the civil law.

Article 32. Rights of notarial practice organizations

1. To sign employment contracts or labor contracts with notaries prescribed at Points a and c, Clause 1, Article 34 of this Law and other employees.

2. To collect notarization charges, notarization remuneration and other expenses.

3. To provide notarization services beyond the working hours applicable to state administrative agencies to meet people’s notarization demands.

4. To exploit and use information from the notarization database prescribed in Article 62 of this Law.

5. To exercise other rights as prescribed by this Law and other relevant legal documents.

Article 33. Obligations of notarial practice organizations

1. To manage notaries practicing at their organizations in observing law and rules on notarial practice ethics;

2. To comply with the laws on labor, tax, finance and statistics.

3. To apply the working hours applicable to state administrative agencies.

4. To post up working timetables, notarization procedures, rules on receipt of notarization requesters, and rates of notarization charges and notarization remuneration and other expenses at their head offices.

5. To purchase professional liability insurance for their notaries in accordance with Article 37 of this Law and pay compensation for damage in accordance with Article 38 of this Law.

6. To receive, create favorable conditions for and manage notarial practice probationers during their probationary period at their organizations.

7. To create conditions for their notaries to participate in annual professional re-training.

8. To comply with competent state agencies’ requests concerning reporting, examination, inspection and provision of information on notarized contracts, transactions and translations.

9. To keep notarization registers and preserve notarization dossiers.

10. To share information on the origin of assets and actual state of asset transactions and other information on deterrent measures applied to assets related to contracts and transactions notarized by their notaries to be included in the notarization database prescribed in Article 62 of this Law.

11. To perform other obligations as prescribed by this Law and other relevant legal documents.