According to Article 5 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the arbitral proceedings shall commence on the date on which the Centre receives the Request for Arbitration of the Claimant in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the VIAC’s Rules.

The VIAC’s Rules of Arbitration does not prescribe the time the arbitral proceedings finish, but pursuant to Clause 10 of Article 3 of Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010, the arbitral proceedings shall finish when the Arbitration Tribunal issues the arbitral award.

The arbitral proceedings of VIAC shall commence when the Claimant submits the Request for Arbitration to VIAC.

Notices, documents shall be sent directly to VIAC or VIAC's Authorized Branch by delivery against receipt, registered mail, facsimile, email or any other means of communication that provides a record of the sending thereof.

Pursuant to Article 3.1 of VIAC's Rule of Arbitration, any notice or document submitted by any party to the Centre shall be in a sufficient number of copies for the Centre to forward one copy to each member of the Arbitral Tribunal, one copy to the other party, and to file one copy. On the grounds of the practical settlement of disputes, if the Arbitration Tribunal consists of three arbitrators, each party has to deliver 5 copies. If the Arbitration Tribunal consists of a sole arbitrator, each party has to deliver 3 copies. On delivering notices documents to VIAC by facsimile or email, the parties concurrently deliver the aforesaid quantity of those.

Pursuant to Article 23 of VIAC’s Rules of Arbitration:

“Article 23. Language of arbitration

1. For disputes without a foreign element, the language of arbitration shall be Vietnamese.

2. For disputes with a foreign element and disputes to which at least one party is an enterprise with foreign investment capital, the language of arbitration shall be as agreed by the parties. Otherwise, the Arbitral Tribunal shall determine the language or languages to be used in the arbitral proceedings, taking account of the relevant circumstances including the language of the contract.

3. If a document is made in any language other than the language of arbitration, the Arbitral Tribunal or the Centre, where the Arbitral Tribunal has not yet been constituted, may request a party or the parties to provide the translation thereof.”

In case the parties have no agreement on arbitral language, notices and documents within arbitral proceedings are made in the language agreed on by the parties or decided by the Arbitral Tribunal.

The documents attached to State of Claim, Counterclaim, State of Defence and other documents may be original ones, copies or notarized ones. In case of necessity, the Arbitration Tribunal can request the parties to supply documents under the forms decided by the Tribunal.

VIAC can deliver Notice and Request for Arbitration to the Respondent right after the receipt of the Request for Arbitration in case the Claimant has already submitted the Request of Arbitration in accordance with Article 7.2 of the VIAC's Rules and fulfilled arbitral costs in accordance with Article 35 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration.

Pursuant to Article 7.2 of the VIAC's Rules, the Request for Arbitration shall contain the following information:

a) Date, month, year on which the Request for Arbitration is made;

b) Names and addresses of the parties;

c) Summary of the content of the dispute;

d) Grounds for the claims;

e) Monetary valuation of the dispute and other claims of the Claimant;

f) The name of the person selected by the Claimant to act as Arbitrator or a request to the Centre to appoint an Arbitrator in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 12 or Article 13 of these Rules;

g) Signature of the legal representative or the authorized representative where the Claimant is an organization; signature of the individual or the authorized representative where the Claimant is an individual.

Pursuant to Article 7.3 of the VIAC's Rules, the Request for Arbitration shall be accompanied by the arbitration agreement and other relevant documents.

Pursuant to Article 7.2(g) of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the Request for Arbitration must contain the signature of the legal representative or the authorized representative where the Claimant is an organization; signature of the individual or the authorized representative where the Claimant is an individual.

Pursuant to Article 9.1 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the Statement of Defence shall contain the following information:

a) Date, month, year on which the Statement of Defence is made;

b) Name and address of the Respondent;

c) Grounds for the defence;

d) Name of the person selected by the Respondent to act as Arbitrator or a request to the Centre to appoint an Arbitrator in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 12 or Article 13 of the Rules.

e) Signature of the legal representative or the authorized representative where the Respondent is an organization; signature of the individual or the authorized representative where the Respondent is an individual.

Where the Respondent alleges that there is no arbitration agreement or that the arbitration agreement is invalid or incapable of being performed, the Respondent shall state such allegations in the Statement of Defence. If the Respondent fails to do so, it shall be deemed to lose rights to raise objection to above-mentioned matters. In such a case, the Respondent shall still select an Arbitrator or request the Centre to appoint an Arbitrator.

Pursuant to Article 9.1 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, unless otherwise agreed by the parties on the period of time, the Respondent shall, within 30 days from the date of receipt of the Notice, the Request for Arbitration, the arbitration agreement and other relevant documents, submit to the VIAC a Statement of Defence.

Pursuant to Article 9.2 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, at the request of the Respondent, the Centre may extend the period of time for submission of the Statement of Defence. The request for extension must be in writing and delivered to the Centre prior to the expiry date of aforesaid period of 30 days or the extended period of time for submissions of the Statement of Defence.

In such a case, the Respondent shall still select an Arbitrator or request the Centre to appoint an Arbitrator within the aforesaid period of 30 days as prescribed in the Article 9.1 of VIAC’s Rules.

Pursuant to Article 9.4 of the VIAC's Rules, if the Respondent fails to submit the Statement of Defence, the arbitral proceedings shall still proceed.

By virtue of the independence and differences between the Statement of Defence and the Counterclaim, they cannot be merged.

Pursuant to Article 10.1 of the VIAC's Rules, the Respondent shall have the right to file a counterclaim against the Claimant. The counterclaim must be based on the arbitration agreement on which the Claimant has relied to make the Request for Arbitration against the Respondent. The Counterclaim shall be made in a separate doument; and submitted to the Centre at the same time as and with the submission of the Statement of Defence.

Pursuant to Article 10.6 of VIAC’s Rules, the Counterclaim shall be curently resolved by the same Arbitral Tribunal that resolves the Request for Arbitration of the Claimant.

Pursuant to Article 10.2 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the Counterclaim shall contain the following information:

a) Date, month, year on which the Counterclaim is made;

b) Names and addresses of the parties;

c) Summary of the content of the Counterclaim;

d) Grounds for the counterclaims;

e) Monetary value of the Counterclaim and other claims of the Respondent;

f) Signature of the legal representative or the authorized representative where the Respondent is an organization; signature of the individual or the authorized representative where the Respondent is an individual.

Pursuant to Article 14.1 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the parties have the right to withdraw the Request for Arbitration and/or the Counterclaim before the Arbitral Tribunal makes the Arbitral Award.

Pursuant to Article 14.2 of the VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the parties may amend and/or supplement the Request for Arbitration, the Counterclaim, the Statement of Defence and/or the Statement of Defence against the Counterclaim before the final hearing finishes. The amendment and/or the supplement shall be in writing in a sufficient number of copies in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Rules. The Arbitral Tribunal shall have the power to disallow the amendment and/or the supplement if the Arbitral Tribunal considers it an abuse aimed at causing difficulties or delaying the making of the Arbitral Award or if it exceeds the scope of the arbitration agreement applicable to the dispute.

According to Article 30.1 of VIAC's Rules of Arbitration, the resolution of the dispute shall be stayed in the following circumstances:

a) The Claimant or Respondent being an individual dies without anyone inheriting his or her rights and obligations; the Claimant or Respondent being an organization has terminated its operation, become bankrupt, or been dissolved, consolidated, merged, demerged, separated, or has converted its organizational form without any organization taking over its rights and obligations;

b) The Claimant withdraws the Request for Arbitration, except where the Respondent files a Counterclaim;

c) The Claimant is deemed to have withdrawn the Request for Arbitration pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 27 of VIAC’s Rules, except where the Respondent requests to proceed with the dispute resolution;

d) The parties reach an agreement on the termination of the dispute resolution;

e) There is a Decision of the Arbitral Tribunal pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 28 of VIAC’s Rules;

f) There is a Decision of a court pursuant to the law.