Overhaul To Vietnam Court System From 1 July 2025

In 2024, the National Assembly of Vietnam enacted the new Law on Organization of the People’s Court (Law on Courts), which implemented significant reforms to the structure of the People’s Court system in comparison to the 2014 Law on Courts. Shortly after the promulgation of the 2024 Law on Courts, Vietnam initiated a substantial reorganisation of its administrative divisions, transitioning from a three-tier (province, district, commune) model to a two-tier (province, commune) model. Consequently, in 2025, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the 2024 Law on Courts to align the court system with the updated two-tier administrative division model (2024-2025 Law on Courts). Below are our discussions on the key changes under the 2024-2025 Law on Courts when compared to the 2014 Law on Courts.

1)           Complete Restructuring of the Court Hierarchy

The court system is majorly reformed with the removal of the High People's Courts (Tòa án nhân dân cấp cao) and replacement of District Courts with Regional Court (Tòa án nhân dân khu vực).

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

Further Discussions On The New Provisions On Beneficial Owners

In this post, we continue to discuss certain aspects of the new provisions on beneficial owners (BOs or commonly called as “UBOs”) under the new amendments to the Enterprise Law 2020 passed in June 2025 (2025 Enterprise Law Amendment) and the new Decree 168/2025 on enterprise registration. We have discussed some of the issues in our earlier post.

UBOs with joint controls

Under the 2025 Enterprise Law Amendment and Decree 168/2025, the criteria to determine whether an individual is an UBO seem to apply to a single individual only. As such, it is not clear if the information about related persons of such individual (e.g., his/her relatives) should be taken into account when determining an UBO. For example, it is not clear if an individual together with his/her spouse hold more than 25% voting rights of an enterprise should be declared as an UBO. A literal reading of Decree 168/2025 suggests that declaration of UBOs is not required in case of joint control. However, such an approach is likely not consistent with the purpose of the provisions on UBOs.

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Key Changes to the Enterprise Law 2020

The law amending the Enterprise Law 2020 (Amended Enterprise Law 2020), effective 1 July 2025, introduces the following key changes:

1.         The New Beneficial Owner Regime

1.1.      The Amended Enterprise Law 2020's most significant change is the introduction of a Beneficial Owner (BO) regime, designed to enhance transparency and align Vietnam with international anti-money laundering standards.

Who are BOs?

1.2.      The Amended Enterprise Law 2020 defines a BO as the individual who ultimately owns or controls an enterprise. The recently issued Decree 168/2025 on enterprise registration (Decree 168/2025) further clarifies the specific criteria for identifying a BO. In particular, an individual is considered a BO if they meet one of the following conditions:

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The Nature of Contract for Subleasing Land in Industrial Parks in Vietnam

In Vietnam, industrial parks are usually developed by private investors (IP Developer), rather than the State. The IP Developer will directly lease a large land parcel from the State, build necessary infrastructure, and then sublease land with ready-built infrastructure to the ultimate tenants (IP Tenant) for their investment projects.

From a legal standpoint, the nature of these land sublease agreements (sublease contract) between the IP Developer and the IP Tenant is an interesting issue. Should the sublease contract be treated as a property sale or a traditional lease? The answer has significant implications for the rights and obligations of both parties.

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