A Power of Attorney - How to be accepted in Vietnam?

According to the current IP Regulations in Vietnam, foreign individuals not permanently residing in Vietnam and foreign organizations and individuals without production or business establishments in Vietnam shall file applications for registration of establishment of industrial property rights through their lawful representatives in Vietnam, a Power of Attorney is acceptable.

A Power of Attorney (PoA) in Vietnam is not required to be legalized or notarized, only signature (if the Applicant is an individual) OR signature & position of the lawful person on behalf of the Applicant (if the Applicant is an organization) is sufficient & acceptable.

Regarding the lawful person on behalf of the Applicant, it is noted that the one who sign in the PoA should be the Applicant’s legally authorized person i.e. Director/Vice Director, President/Vice President, Head/Vice Head of Legal Department, Head/Vice Head of IP Maintenance & Enforcement, etc. The position such as Legal Representative or Secretary or some similar positions will be requested to be clarified or rejected because those are considered unclear positions by the IPVN. It has been a long story on such practice by the IPVN. In the previous cases, the position "Legal Representative" is acceptable but recently, it has been rejected. Base on such fact, the Applicant may consider not to mention this position or some similar one such as Joint Company Secretary or Secretary, etc. in the PoA to prevent any possible rejection.

Of note, the IPVN also accepts the PoA and a substitution PoA also.

Additionally, it is requested to file with the National Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) an original one. To save time and prevent the filing with delay, a scanned copy of the PoA is accepted at filing provided that the original one shall be followed within 01 month from the filing date (practically, within the formality examination of the application). This may be the most unsuitable issue for the Applicant because it takes so much cost to courier a PoA to their Representative in Vietnam, for example it takes about US$100-200 to courier a document from the US to Vietnam by DHL. Although the IPVN keeps trying to simplify the administration procedure, the original POA is compulsory as required by regulations. The Applicant may also choose another option to send the original PoA by registered airmail. However, as long as we have experienced many cases so far, by sending the original PoA to Vietnam by registered airmail, the documents has often been lost or not reached the recipient and it is nearly impossible to track the airmail status.

Although the PoA is just for formality examination, it will take time and cost if the PoA does not meet the requirements. Just take a minute reading & make it right from the beginning to save time & cost.