Vietnams legal service commitments in wto theory and practice experience from singapore and japan

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF LAW MANAGING BOARD OF SPECIAL TRAINING PROGRAMS  - BACHELOR’S THESIS FORMAL EDUCATION TRAINING COURSE 34 (2009 – 2013) VIETNAM’S LEGAL SERVICE COMMITMENTS IN WTO THEORY AND PRACTICE EXPERIENCE FROM SINGAPORE AND JAPAN STUDENT: LƯƠNG THỊ NGỌC MỸ STUDENT CODE: 0955020283 ADVANCED CLASS- COURSE 34 SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HƯƠNG, LL.M HO CHI MINH CITY 2013 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ COMMITMENT I hereby commit the thesis “Vietnam’s Legal Service Commitments in WTOTheory and practice Experience from Singapore and Japan” is my work for research under Lecturer LL.M Nguyễn Thị Lan Hương’s supervision Sources of information referred in this thesis are cited fully according to regulations of Faulty of International Law Ho Chi Minh City University of Law The author Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER I- REGULATIONS OF WTO IN SERVICE TRADING 1.1 Overview Trade in Services 1.1.1 World Trade in Service 1.2.1 Definition of “Services” and “International Trade in Services” 1.2 Overview on the General Agreement on Trade in Services 1.2.1 GATS – a result of Uruguay Round Negotiation 1.2.2 Purposes 1.2.3 Scope and Objects 1.2.4 Trade Barriers in Trading Services 10 1.2.5 The General Obligations and Rules 11 1.3 Model of Trade Liberalization in Services Sector of WTO 13 1.3.1 Modes of service 13 1.3.2 Schedule of Specific Commitments 14 1.4 Overview of Legal Services Sector 16 1.4.1 Definition Legal services 16 1.4.2 Status of the legal service industry in the World Economy 18 CHAPTER – COMMITMENTS OF VIETNAM IN LEGAL SERVICES 21 2.1 Status of the legal service industry in Vietnam 21 2.1.1 History of legal services in Vietnam 21 2.1.2 Status of legal services in Vietnam 23 2.2 Vietnam’s Commitments on Legal Services Sector 24 2.2.1 Horizontal Commitments 24 Bachelor’thesis 2.2.2 Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ Sectoral Commitments 26 2.3 Implementation GATS in practice 28 2.3.1 Market Access Provisions 29 2.3.1 Scopes of practice 29 2.3.1 Forms of practice 37 2.3.2 National Treatment Provisions 42 2.3.2.1 Rights and obligations 42 2.3.2.2 Management 44 CHAPTER 3- LEARNED LESSONS FOR VIETNAM THROUGH EXPERIENCE OF SINGAPORE AND JAPAN IN THE LEGAL SERVICE SECTOR 49 3.1 Vietnam’s current status in the legal services sector and look forward for Vietnam’s legal market 49 3.1.1 Current status of Vietnam’s legal service market 49 3.1.2 Comparing to Japan’s and Singapore’s reforms for forecasting the future of the legal service sector in Vietnam 52 3.1.2.1 Japan 52 3.1.2.2 Singapore 54 3.2 Lessons learned for Vietnam through the experience of Japan and Singapore in their legal services reforms 61 3.2.1 Having comprehensive assessment Vietnam’s status in legal services sector 61 3.2.2 Upgrading effectiveness of managing agency 62 3.2.3 Reforming in legal education 62 3.2.4 Enhancing monitoring activities of FLs and FLOs 64 CONCLUSION 67 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ INTRODUCTION Economic globalization has been rapidly evolving from the early twentieth century Nations are gradually opening its economies to integrate the pace of the global economy and to become an emerging economic power in region Vietnam is no exception, with its integration leading to significant changes By steadily strengthening its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) index in the face of recession and in light of the overwhelmingly widespread presence of cross-border transactions, the demand for local legal practices and multinational legal practices has become necessary Given its commitment in the Schedule of Specific Commitments of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and its ease of market access in Asia, the legal services sector in Vietnam has become an attractive arena for foreign law firms, especially for top-tiered international law firms such as Baker& Mackenzie, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Domestic legal services have also seen remarkable achievements through the presence of local Vietnamese law firms that have the capacity to compete with its international competitors However, in the nearly seven years of implementing its commitments, there have been no formal discussion (whether in Vietnamese or English) over Vietnam’s implementation of its commitments in the legal services industry, despite numerous problems presenting as an obstacle to legal practice in both Vietnamese and foreign legal services suppliers Therefore, this paper comprises the first of its kind to research and analyse Vietnam’s implementation commitments in GATS Having been faced with the imperative role of the legal service industry in Vietnam’s national economy, “Vietnam’s Legal Service Commitments in WTOTheory and Practice Experience from Singapore and Japan” has been chosen as a Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ topic of the thesis In this thesis, I will seek to analyse Vietnam’s undertaken commitments in market access and national treatment conditions to determine the problems that impact both local and foreign entities and provide plausible solutions based on the learning experience of Singapore and Japan Value of the Research: This paper is the first of its kind to review the Vietnam’s undertaken commitments in legal services under WTO’s regulations This paper will analyze the measures used by Vietnam to commit to the WTO’ rules particularly GATS, determine the problems with the model and finally evaluate its effectiveness The research will also review Vietnam’s progression in its legal services industry after entering WTO for more than five years Finally, this paper analyzes reforms in the legal services industry of Singapore and Japan to forecast a potential liberalized orientation of Vietnam in the future and subsequently, determining the country’s failing sand achievements to which it can draw experience from Singapore and Japan Methodology: This thesis is written based on general knowledge of international trade law to review Vietnam’s implementation commitments under the GATS’ regulations To analyse Singapore’s and Japan’s relevant reforms, a comparison of the countries’ orientation and solutions for legal services were used Others methods used include an enumerative method, analytical method, synthetic method, and statistical method Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ Outline Chapter I provides an overview on trade in services in the world by giving definition of services and trade in services The paper first introduces GATS, the legal framework for trading services in the WTO This section shall supply the logical basis for the next chapters Finally, the research focuses on legal services by giving a definition of legal services and analyzing the global legal services industry Chapter II gives an overview of legal services sector of Vietnam, taken from and modern viewpoint The next part focuses on Vietnam’s implementation commitments in legal services through market access and national treatment conditions Finally, the chapter evaluates Vietnam’s implementation, concluding on the present problems with its model Chapter III shifts the focus of analysis to the reform in legal services in Japan and Singapore The paper addresses the methods of these countries to find out relationships between legal services and the growth of the economy This chapter will also analyze Vietnam’s overall status with respect to legal services The research will draw a conclusion over whether Vietnam may apply the methods of Japan and Singapore, and propose possible solutions Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS WTO World Trade Organization SLs Singaporean Lawyers FLOs Foreign Lawyers Organizations FLs Foreign Lawyers MFN Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment NT National treatment GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services VLs Vietnamese Lawyers SSC Schedule of Specific Commitments VBF Vietnamese Bar Federation Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ CHAPTER I- REGULATIONS OF WTO IN SERVICE TRADING 1.1 Overview Trade in Services 1.1.1 World Trade in Service From the 1980s to 1990s, developed countries saw services constitute approximately 50% to 60% of their Gross National Product, but with trade in services only accounting for 20% to 25% of world commerce Particularly, as a result of the shifting of manufactured goods to industrializing countries, developed nations took advantage of trade in services, especially in areas such as financial services, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, computing, and professional services (e.g., architecture, engineering, law) Services remained a key focus because of numerous reasons, the most influential being: (i) The advancement of technology in areas such as telecommunications and transportation, which had created large trend in transactions in services as there was no longer a need for physical proximity between suppliers and consumer; (ii) Following the post-war period, many countries applied a monopoly for some important industries such as telecommunications and transportation; however, reforms had progressively changed competition in nations and paved a new path towards freedom of trade by the renewed nations’ regulatory framework (iii) The existence of services as an essential part of manufactured goods had created an explicit market;1 and (iv) Environmental issues Michael J Trebilcock and Robert Howse, “The Regulation of International Trade 3rd Edition” (Những quy định thương mạiquốc tế tái lần 3), by Routledge (2005), page 349 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ 1.2.1 Definition of “Services” and “International Trade in Services” In the world, there is no an official and sufficient definition of services 2However, most scholars define services by making a distinction between goods and services Trebilcock and Howse, authors of The Regulation of International Trade3rd Edition (2005), believed that it was more important to look to the purpose of creating rules surrounding trade on services to reduce and eliminate trade barriers This is also the view taken by the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in the WTO Other scholars have attempted to give multiple definitions of services such as that being intangible, not storable, and the fact that simultaneity of production and consumption would make it more challenging to obtain the essential meaning for the purpose of services, especially the GATS GATS defines services based on the classification of modes of supply corresponding to its purpose under Article I.2 (GATS) Furthermore, “negotiators …opted for an open-ended classification of services proposed by what was then GATT Secretariat”4 Ho Chi Minh University of Law, “International Commercial Law- Part I Lecture” (Trường ĐạiHọc Luật Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh, Giáo Trình Luật Thương Mại Quốc Tế- Phần I), Hong Duc Establisher- Vietnam Bar Associtation (2012), page 233 Edited by AadityaMattoo, Robert M Stern, and Gianni Zanini, “A Handbook of International Trade in Services” (Tài liệu hướng dẫn thương mại quốc tế lĩnh vực dịch vụ), Oxford University Press (2008), page 49 Edited by AadityaMattoo, Robert M Stern, and Gianni Zanini (2008), Footnote 3, page 49 Box 2.1.Classification of Services Proposed by the then GATT Secretariat Business services Financial services Communication services Health-related and social services Construction services Tourism and travel-related services Distribution services 10 Recreational, cultural and sporting Educational services services Environmental services 11 Transport services 12 Other services not elsewhere included Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ major sector like Singapore Hence, now may not be a suitable time for Vietnam to undertake the liberalization process in its legal services industry As an experience from Japan, there was an urgent demand from legal expertise lawyers to protect and ensure the development of Japanese corporations, but local entities were unable to meet that demand Therefore, the Japanese government had to open the market for foreign law firms to practice in Japan Accordingly, Vietnam should not apply Japan’s strategy because the local and foreign legal services in Vietnam are able to meet market demand As a result, Singapore’s method is more aligned with Vietnam’s situation As Singapore was able to balance the development of both local and foreign law firms, they had an explicit strategy for liberalization SUMMARY: From those findings, it can be understood that a critical factor that impacts on the liberalization in legal services is economic advancement Vietnam is a country with a dynamic economy which is expected to continue developing in the future The legal services market in Vietnam is also flourishing thanks to the increasing presence of FLOs/FLs and steady brand assertion of local law firms steadily in the market However, the quality of local lawyers is still poor and is unable to compete with foreign competitors Moreover, the legal services sector of Vietnam has a lot of shortcomings and lacks long-term strategy For that reason, the development of the legal services market in Vietnam is uneven and disjointed Therefore, Vietnam should resolve these problems before undertaking liberalization Hence, from this point forward, Vietnam should review its current mechanisms to detect problems, resolve amendable problems, and finally plan a strategy for the legal services sector Despite being unable to undertake liberalization at this time, Vietnam 60 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ may manipulate some methods that Singapore and Japan’s reform in legal services These methods will be discussed in the next section 3.2 Lessons learned for Vietnam through the experience of Japan and Singapore in their legal services reforms 3.2.1 Having comprehensive assessment Vietnam’s status in legal services sector In preparing for the future of liberalization, Vietnam should be ready to integrate the global economy First, the Vietnamese government needs to realize the importance of legal services to the national economy Then, the government should review all domestic regulations which conflict with international regulations, then, revise these conflictions to appropriate In order to have a comprehensive and insightful assessment in this industry, the government may learn the way of Singapore reviewed their legal services At the beginning, Singapore established a Legal Services Review Committee to review legal needs in the financial sector and to ensure their competitiveness in financial services Later, this committee undertook a comprehensive review of the entire legal services sector and gave suggestions to improve activities of stakeholders in legal services As stated before, the legal services sector connected with other economic sectors relating to international transactions like finance, banking Hence, besides having review on the legal services sector, Vietnamese government should conduct an overall assessment on all economic sectors to determine the leading key sectors that may prove to be an opportunity for legal services Therefore, the first step that the Vietnamese government should is establish an agency or a committee to regularly assess, discover potential problems, and then look for solution in the legal services sector 61 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ 3.2.2 Upgrading effectiveness of managing agency VBF is a socio-professional organization of lawyers whose main tasks are supervising and coordinating with bar associations in other localities in supervising the observance of the law, rules of professional ethics, conduct of member lawyers, lawyers practicing law in law-practicing organizations and locally based branches of law-practicing organizations and to discipline lawyers However, as FLs not belong under the governing scope of VBF, they cannot be supervised, monitored or handled by VBF FLOs/FLs belong under the scope of the Ministry of Justice, which is too “far” to supervise them This is a reason why FLs/FLOs adopt contravening practices Therefore, VLs suggest that FLOs be governed by VBF In contrast, Singapore has numerous agencies to manage the legal profession, including the Attorney-General’s Chamber of Singapore and Law Society The AttorneyGeneral’s Chamber of Singapore is the regulatory authority for all foreign lawyers and foreign law practices Later, Singapore established the “Legal Profession International Services Secretariat” to register, license and regulate foreign lawyers and foreign law practices in the country In addition, the power of this agency is large enough to supervise the practice of FLOs/FLs For example, in granting licenses for foreign law practices, FLOs shall register with the Attorney-General109 or the Law Society of Singapore may intervene in the FLs’ practice.110 This method easy to manage and is able to supervise FLs/FLOs practice Hence, VBF may establish an agency that regulates the practice of FLs to quickly determine problems and reach a solution to reduce the FLs’ contravening practices 3.2.3 Reforming in legal education 109 110 Section 130 E- Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161) Section 74- Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161) 62 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ The human resources of Vietnam in legal services market is insufficient in respect of qualifications As assessed by specialists, VLs lack capacity to integrate the globallegal services market in areas such as skill, languague and practical knowledge The reason stems from theoretical method which dominants in education system of Vietnam The facilities of law school does not meet the need of learner, thus, t is common to have classes with hundreds of students In addition, one-way lectures in a huge class lead to passivity in students’ attitudes towards studying Like Vietnam, Japan used to face with these problems Justice System Reform Council conducted legal education reform by offering courses with smaller class sizes, combining the lecture methods with discussion methods, problem methods, or any other practical teaching methods and requiring “practical instructors” The outcomes of this reform are appearing top-tier law schools in the world and in Asia like Waseda University, University of Tokyo.111 Vietnam government may apply these methods to the specific legal education reform Since, Vietnam’s orientation to reform legal education in Decision No 549/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister is the same with Japan’s orientation Having realized the imperative role of reforming legal education, the Vietnamese government has just issued a long-term development strategy to 2020 for legal education under the Prime Minister’s Decision No 549/QD-TTg In light of this scheme, Vietnam will concentrate on developing two law universities, the Ho Chi Minh University of Law and Ha Noi Law University, by improving the quality of legal education 111 Hisashi Aizawa,“Japanese Legal Education in Transition” (Đào tạo pháp luật Nhật Bản trình chuyển đổi) [http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/wilj/files/2012/02/aizawa.pdf.][Accessed on14/06/2013] 63 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ This is a positive direction for the Vietnamese legal services sector in the future However, there is a phenonema under which law students lack of orientation in future career that they would not know what they need to have gain for workplace It is for this reason that many law firms believe that it takes a lot of time to re-educate the students In Singapore, the government has a particular view in regard to legal education The country endeavours to become a legal education hub and therefore, they invest a lot in this area The country has set up an agency, the Institute Legal Education, that is entrusted with maintaining and improving the standards of legal education in Singapore, has powers to review the implementation of initiatives, programmes and curricula relating to legal education (including diplomas, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes) and continuing professional development.112In order to improve the quality of legal education, Vietnam should establish an agency similar toSingapore’s, whose reponsibilities are to assess and report problems, suggest solutions and overall ensure the quality of traning inlaw schools 3.2.4 Enhancing monitoring activities of FLs and FLOs One of the greatest concerns of VLs is the widespread granting of licenses to FLOs and FLs without strict requirements, thereby rendering the presence of unqualified FLOs and FLs practice This also leaves Vietnam unable to transfer knowledge and experience to cater for the current demand of VLs For this reason, VLs have suggested that government should manage FLOs’ activities by creating a mechanism to encourage cooperation between Vietnam law practice and foreign law practice.113 This suggestion is reasonable, but it is still general Noted, the government should balance 112 113 [http://www.sile.org.sg/introduction][Accessed on 19/6/2013] Vietnamese Bar Association – Training, Building and Disseminating Law Committee (2012), Footnote 43, page 36-37 64 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ the interest between domestic and foreign entities, thus, the government need to assess whether the suggestions from one side would affect the other’s interest To manage the activities of FLOs, the Singaporean government allows only determined forms of practice to provide legal services in Singaporean law in certain legal fields – namely, they require joint Singaporean law practices This method not only attracts foreign investors in to the legal service industry by liberalization, but also supervises and monitors FLOs’ activities and increases the quality of Singapore lawyers In relation to Singapore’s regulations, FLOs may practice Singaporean law under the following practice vehicles: Joint Law Ventures ("JLV") 114 , Formal Law Alliances ("FLA"),115Qualifying Foreign Law Practices (“QFLP”)116 and Licensed Foreign Law Practices (“LFL”) 117 Most of these forms see cooperation between foreign law practices and Singapore law practices, except LFLs which operate in restricted legal fields 118 In light of this approach, the Singaporean government may manage the activities of foreign law practices while also requesting strict requirements to transfer experience and train Singaporean lawyers119 For FLs who would like to practice Singaporean law, they will work for a JLV, FLA, QFLP, and LFL120 with limited areas of legal practice such as banking law, finance law 114 Section 5- Part II Joint Law Venture- Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008 Section 9- Part III Formal Law Alliance- Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008 116 Section 11- Part IV Qualifying Foreign Law Practice- Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008 117 Section14- Part V Licensed Foreign Law Practice- Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008 118 Banking law; Finance law; Corporate law; Arbitration; Intellectual Property law; Maritime law; any other areas of legal practice that facilitate or assist in the growth and development of the Singapore economy 119 Section 2- 2.1 Guidance Note For Applicants – Formal Law Alliances (LPS/FLA/1/2012) and Section B7b Guidance Note For Applicants – Joint Law Ventures (LPS/JLV/1/2012): “must have relevant legal expertise and experience”- “refers to legal work in the aforementioned areas in any jurisdiction and includes expertise and experience acquired as a legal practitioner, university lecturer, in-house counsel or regulator.” 120 Article 20- Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008 115 65 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ and corporate law121 if they satisfy conditions in Article 20 of the Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008, such as age, experience and passing of an examination To be aware that the method used by Singapore has the nature of the increasingly liberalization and it is an indispensable point of this course However, for Vietnam, at present, most of the local lawyers and law firms currently not have adequate and developed abilities to compete with foreign firms Therefore, if Vietnam widens the scope of practice for foreign entities, domestic entities would be trapped in unfair competition However, allowing FLs/FLOs to practice Vietnamese law would reduce and eliminate contravening practices of these entities To apply this method, Vietnam will need to establish strict and detailed conditions on granting license for FLs/FLOs who are interested in practicing Vietnamese law – similar to Singapore Those suggestions will be necessary before the Vietnamese government can open market access to the legal services industry Whileliberalization is a stage that Members of WTO will have to undergo, Vietnam should soon realize the importance of legal services and should closely monitor this industry; else they will fall victim to the situation of “Japanese” Singpore is a good model for Vietnam However, each country has very different common grounds such as culture, politics and economy Hence, Vietnam should assess whether those methods would apply to their current context 121 Section 2-2.3 Guidance Note For Applicants To Practise Singapore law –Registration of foreign lawyers in (a) joint law ventures or Qualifying foreign law practices and (b) qualifying Singapore Law firms 66 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ CONCLUSION Vietnam is a developing country which has initially demonstrated positive steps Despite the global recession, Vietnam has not been affected significantlyand is now recovering with optimistic signs of flourishing in the near future Furthermore, the legal services sector is an important industry that not only enables other economic sectors to grow, but has the potential to become an independent sector that contributes to the growth of the national economy The legal services industry in Vietnam is gradually progressing from the day that it entered into the competitive arena – WTO As a Member of the WTO, Vietnam must always be aware of itsresponsibity to commit to all regulations of the WTO.This not only involves opening market access in legal services, but also being proactive to resolve a number of problems arising from the undertaking of the GATS’ rules A review of the implementation commitments under the GATS has revealed problems in market access and national treatment conditions In relation to market access conditions, the problems exist in domestic regulations A number of regulations governing the scope of practice of FLOs violate Article XVI.2 of Market Access because they insufficiently specify the “subsidiaries” forms of practice for this entity Other regulations not violate market access principle but lack of clarity such as the ability for FLs to consult on Vietnamese law On the contrary, Vietnam commits national treatment obligations However, during implementation of the GATS’s regulations, Vietnam does not have effective mechanisms for supervising FLs and FLOs Consequently, in practice, these entities contravene the Law on Lawyers without being detected and handled As a result, local law practices cannot fairly compete with foreign law practice Moreover, the Vietnamese government does not have a specific strategy to develop domestic legal services before the demand for legal 67 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ services is really booming Given the forecast that the national economy will continue to develop in the following years and with the potential to become one of largest economies in the region, the demand for legal services will highly intensify Therefore, the Vietnamese government should realize the importance of legal services, which plays as an enabler for other economic sectors and has the potential to become an independent sector contributing to national income From the experience of Japan and Singapore, Vietnam should self-evaluate its current legal sevices sector As assessed, Vietnam’s legal service sector currently has a high degree of market access but does not have the optimal environment to further open the market With the trend of an open more legal market in Asia becoming more apparent, Vietnam should prepare to integrate completely with the global market From the observation of Singapore’s reforms, which have seen great success, Vietnam should consider the following four suggestions:  Having a comprehensive assessment of Vietnam’s status in the legal services sector  Upgrading the effectiveness of managing agency  Reforming legal education  Enhancing the monitoring activities of FLs and FLOs Through this comprehensive review of Vietnam’s implementation commitments under the GATS, this paper assesses the general undertaking of Vietnam and determines existing problems in light of Japan’s and Singapore’s reforms in order to have gain insight into Vietnam’s path of development for legal services This paper also determines solutions for these problems by learning from Singapore’s and Japan’s experience It is hoped that these suggestions will contribute to the longterm plan of Vietnam’s legal service industry 68 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ BIBLIOGRAPHY (i) INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS General Agreement on Trade in Services Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization 1995 (ii) NATIONAL LEGISLATIONS Vietnam Decision on National Council of Lawyers No 68/QD-HDLSTQ dated 20 July 2011 Decree Administrative Sanction in the Judicial Field No.60/2009/NĐ-CP Decree No 87/2003/ NĐCP on Practice Foreign Lawyers Organization and Foreign Lawyers in Vietnam dated 22 July 2003 Decree No 92/1998/ NĐ-CP on the Legal Consultancy Practice by Foreign Lawyers’ Organizations in Vietnam Decree No 42/CP 08/07/1995 Promulgating the Regulation on Legal Consultancy of Foreign Lawyers' Organizations in Vietnam Decree Specifying and Guiding the Implementation a Number of Articles of the Law on Lawyers No.28/2007/NĐ-CP Labor Code No.10/2012/QH13 10 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Lawyers in 2006 No 20/2012/QH13 11 Law on Enterprises No 60-2005-QH11 12 Law on Lawyers 2006 No 65/2006/QH11 13 Law on Promulgation Legal Documents No.17/2008/QH12 14 Ordinance on LawyersNo.37/2001/PL-UBTVQH10 Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ Singapore 15 Guidance Note For Applicants – Formal Law Alliances (LPS/FLA/1/2012) 16 Guidance Note For Applicants – Joint Law Ventures (LPS/JLV/1/2012) 17 Guidance Note For Applicants to Practise Singapore law 18 Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2008 19 Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161) Japan 20 Adopted on January 24, 1987: Rules of the Federation No 26 21 Adopted on January 24, 1987: Rules of the Federation No 29 22 Act on Special Measures concerning the Handling of Legal Services by Foreign Lawyers (Act No 66 of 1986) 23 Rules Concerning Denoting of Foreign Special Members 24 Rules Concerning Registration Screening Procedures for Gaikokuho-jimubengoshi (iii) BOOKS AND JOURNALS In Vietnamese 25 Ho Chi Minh University of Law, “International Commercial Law- Part I Lecture” (Trường Đại Học Luật Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh,Giáo Trình Luật Thương Mại Quốc Tế- Phần I), Hong Duc Establisher- Vietnam Bar Associtation (2012) 26 National Assembly Standing Committee- Legislative Institutions, “Research Subject: Law On Foreign Lawyers and Lawyers Organizations In VietnamStatus and Recommendations” (Chuyên đề nghiên cứu: Pháp Luật Về Luật Sư Nước Ngoài Tổ Chức Luật Sư Nước Ngoài Tại Việt Nam- Thực Trạng Kiến Nghị) (2012) Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ 27 Phan Trung Hoài, “Gradually Building Concepts Legal Services International Appropriating Integration Process” (Từng Bước Xây Dựng Quan Niệm Dịch Vụ Pháp Lý Phù Hợp Tiến Trình Hội Nhập Quốc Tế), Government and Law Magazine -Number 02/2007 (2007) 28 Vietnamese Bar Association – Training, Building and Disseminating Law Committee, “Internal Legal Information Number 11-12” (Thông tin pháp luật nội bộ), (2012) In English 29 Alison Hook, “Sectoral Study on the Impact of Domestic Regulation on Trade in Legal Services” (Nghiên cứu theo chiều dọc tác động quy định nước Thương Mại Dịch Vụ), Sixth Services Experts Meeting Domestic Regulation and Trade in Professional Services (OECD- The World Bank 30 Attorney-General Chambers, “Liberalisation Of Legal Services Freeing The Legal Landscape: Is South-East Asia Ready?” (Liệu Đông Nam Á sẵn sàng cho việc tự hóa thương mại lĩnh vực dịch vụ pháp lý trở thành khu vực tư pháp lý?), International Bar Association 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Forum Conference (2012) 31 Council for Trade in Services- World Trade Organization, “Legal Services Background Note By The Secretariat” (S/C/W/318) (Nền tảng ngành dịch vụ pháp lý doạn thảo Ban thư ký WTO) (2010) 32 Edited by Aaditya Mattoo, Robert M Stern, and Gianni Zanini, “A Handbook of International Trade in Services” (Tài liệu hướng dẫn thương mại quốc tế lĩnh vực dịch vụ), Oxford University Press (2008) 33 Hisashi Aizawa, “Japanese Legal Education in Transition”(Giáo dục pháp luật nhật trình chuyển đổi) [http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/wilj/files/2012/02/aizawa.pdf.] Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ 34 Jeanne John, “The KOR-US FT A on Foreign Law Firms and Attorneys in South Korea—a Contemporary Analysis on Expansion into East Asia” ( Hiệp định thương mại song phương Hàn- Mỹ cơng ty luật nước ngồi- Phân tích đương thời diện rộng khu vực Đông Á), Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, (2012) 35 Laurel S Terry, “But What Will the WTO Disciplines Apply To? Distinguishing Among Market Access, National Treatment and Article VI.4 - Measures When Applying the GATS to Legal Service” (Những điều mà nguyên tắc WTO áp dụng? Phân biệt tiếp cận thị trường, đối xử quốc gia Điều VI: biện pháp áp dụng GATS đến Dịch Vụ Pháp Lý), [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=591964] 36 Michael J Trebilcock and Robert Howse, “The Regulation Of International Trade3rd Edition” (Những quy định thương mại quốc tế), by Routledge (2005) 37 Panagiotis Delimatsis and Martin Molinuevo, “Article XVI - Market Access”( Điều XVI – Tiếp cận thị trường) [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1280219] 38 Pricewaterhouse Cooper, “The ever changing global service- provider industryKey findings for 2010” (Sự thay đổi qua thời kỳ nhà cung cấp dịch vụ toàn cầu - phát kiến 2010) [http://www.pwc.com/us/en/increasing-it-effectiveness/assets/the-everchanging-global-service-provider-industry.pdf] 39 Robert Stumberg, “Plain Language Guide: GATS Negotiations on Domestic Regulation” (Hướng dẫn Ngôn ngữ: GATS đàm phán Quy định nước) Harrison Institute for Public Law Georgetown Law, Forum on democracy and trade & Heinrich Boll Stiftung North America (2010) Bachelor’thesis Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ 40 Swiss Business Hub ASEAN- Vietnam Office, “Vietnam Major Business Sectors”(2008) [http://businesstimes.com.vn/wpcontent/documents/Reports/Vietnam%20Major %20Business%20Sectors.pdf] 41 Trade Policy Division, Department of Commerce- Government of India, “A Consultation Paper On Legal Services Under GATS In Preparation For The On-Going Services Negotiations At The WTO”(Tư vấn lĩnh vực dịch vụ pháp lý theo GATS bước chuẩn bị đàm phán WTO) [http://commerce.nic.in/trade/Consultation_paper_on_Education_GATS.pdf.] (iv) INTERNET 40 http://app.agc.gov.sg 41 http://businesstimes.com.vn 42 http://duthaoonline.quochoi.vn 43 http://kinhdoanh.vnexpress.net 44 http://papers.ssrn.com 45 http://petrotimes.vn 46 http://phapluatvn.vn 47 http://statutes.agc.gov.sg 48 http://www.fdiintelligence.com 49 http://www.jetro.go.jp 50 http://www.jseinc.org 51 http://www.lawsociety.org.sg/ 52 http://www.mlaw.gov.sg 53 http://www.ncseif.gov.vn 54 http://www.nichibenren.or.jp 55 http://www.reportlinker.com Bachelor’thesis 56 http://www.sile.org.sg/ 57 http://www.singaporelegalhistory.org 58 http://www.wto.org 59 www.luatVietnam.vn Lương Thị Ngọc Mỹ ... “Vietnam’s Legal Service Commitments in WTOTheory and practice Experience from Singapore and Japan? ?? is my work for research under Lecturer LL.M Nguyễn Thị Lan Hương’s supervision Sources of information... consultancy or giving legal opinions in the law of host countries Vietnam has attempted to integrate world trade into its legal services industry By combining the demand of legal services in Vietnam... Outline Chapter I provides an overview on trade in services in the world by giving definition of services and trade in services The paper first introduces GATS, the legal framework for trading services