Procedures for Civil Judgment Enforcement against the Debtor under the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement 2025

In debt recovery activities, the issuance by a Court/Arbitration of a legally effective decision, judgment or arbitral award (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “judgment or decision”) merely constitutes legal recognition of the creditor’s right to demand payment. In many cases, if the debtor fails to voluntarily perform its obligations, debt recovery can only be pursued through civil judgment enforcement procedures. In this article, TNTP will provide readers with a detailed analysis of the procedures and process for civil judgment enforcement against the debtor under the applicable laws.

1. Checking the conditions for requesting judgment enforcement

Under the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement 2025 (the “LCJE 2025”), to request judgment enforcement, the judgment creditor must meet the following conditions:

1.1. There must be a judgment or decision eligible for enforcement

The prerequisite for requesting judgment enforcement is that there must be a judgment or decision falling within the cases eligible for enforcement under Article 2 of the LCJE 2025. In debt recovery activities, the most common grounds are decisions and judgments of the Court or arbitral awards that have taken legal effect.

In other words, where a dispute has only just arisen or is still in the process of being resolved by a Court or Arbitral Tribunal, the creditor cannot yet request the civil judgment enforcement authority to organize enforcement. Only after the rights and obligations of the parties have been determined by a legally effective judgment or decision may the judgment enforcement procedures be initiated.

1.2. The request for judgment enforcement must be made within the statutory time limit

Clause 2, Article 34 of the LCJE 2025 provides that the time limit for requesting judgment enforcement is 05 years from the date on which the judgment or decision takes legal effect or from the date on which the obligation becomes due. If the judgment creditor fails to exercise its right to request judgment enforcement within the statutory time limit, the civil judgment enforcement authority may refuse to accept the request in accordance with Point d, Clause 4, Article 34 of the LCJE 2025.

However, where the requesting party can prove that it was unable to request enforcement on time due to an emergency, an objective obstacle or a force majeure event, such period shall not be included in the time limit for requesting judgment enforcement.

1.3. The judgment debtor does not voluntarily comply with the judgment

In practice, civil judgment enforcement procedures generally arise only when the judgment debtor fails to voluntarily perform or fails to fully perform its obligations under a legally effective judgment or decision. In such cases, the judgment creditor may request the civil judgment enforcement authority to organize enforcement in accordance with the law.

2. Submitting the request for judgment enforcement

2.1. Contents of the request for judgment enforcement

Under Clause 2, Article 9 of Decree No. 152/2026/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures for the implementation of the LCJE (the “Decree No. 152/2026/ND-CP”), a request for judgment enforcement must contain the following principal contents:

• Information on the requesting party, the judgment creditor and the judgment debtor, including: full name; address; personal identification number or identification number of the agency or organisation; enterprise or cooperative code; and telephone number (if any);
• Date of the request for judgment enforcement and name of the requested civil judgment enforcement authority;
• The number and date of the judgment or decision, the authority that issued it; the obligations requested to be enforced;
• Information on the assets and judgment enforcement conditions of the judgment debtor (if any);
• Where the requesting party is the judgment creditor, the bank account number for receiving payment (if any);
• Signature or fingerprint of the requesting party; for a legal entity, the signature of its lawful representative and the seal of the legal entity are required; and
• The judgment or decision and relevant documents (if any).

2.2. Forms of the request for judgment enforcement

Under Clause 1, Article 34 of the LCJE 2025 and Article 9 of Decree No. 152/2026/ND-CP, the judgment creditor may submit a request for judgment enforcement in one of the following forms:

1. Submitting the request through the digital environment via the National Public Service Portal, the centralized Information System for Administrative Procedure Resolution of the Ministry of Justice, the VNeID application, or other electronic means as prescribed by law;
2. Submitting the request directly or making an oral request. In the case of an oral request, the civil judgment enforcement authority must make a written record containing the contents prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, bearing the signature of the record maker and the signature or fingerprint of the requesting party; such record shall have the same validity as a written request;
3. Submitting the request by postal service;
4. Other forms as prescribed by law.

After receiving a valid request together with the judgment or decision and relevant documents, the Head of the civil judgment enforcement authority shall consider and issue a decision on judgment enforcement within 05 working days, unless there are grounds for refusal as prescribed by law. The decision on judgment enforcement shall then be sent to the parties within 03 working days from the date of issuance of the decision, serving as the basis for implementing the subsequent steps in the judgment enforcement process.

3. Verification of the judgment debtor’s judgment enforcement conditions

Under Clause 1, Article 36 of the LCJE 2025, the period for the judgment debtor to voluntarily comply with the judgment is 10 days from the date on which the decision on judgment enforcement is duly notified. Upon expiry of this period, if the judgment debtor fails to voluntarily perform or fails to fully perform its obligations, the Enforcement Officer shall verify the judgment enforcement conditions as a basis for organizing enforcement in accordance with the law.

3.1. Verification of judgment enforcement conditions

Under Clause 1, Article 37 of the LCJE 2025, within 09 days from the expiry of the period for voluntary judgment enforcement, the Enforcement Officer is responsible for verifying the judgment enforcement conditions of the judgment debtor. The verification includes clarifying the assets, property rights, sources of income, place of residence, place of work and other information relevant to the judgment debtor’s ability to perform its obligations.

In addition to the verification conducted by the Enforcement Officer, the judgment creditor is also entitled to verify the judgment enforcement conditions on its own or through its lawful representative and provide the results to the civil judgment enforcement authority. In practice, proactively providing information on the judgment debtor’s assets or sources of income often helps shorten the debt recovery period and provides a basis for the Enforcement Officer to promptly apply security or coercive measures.

3.2. Cases where the judgment debtor has no conditions for judgment enforcement

If the verification results show that the judgment debtor has no assets or income to perform its obligations, or falls into other cases specified in Article 38 of the LCJE 2025, the Head of the civil judgment enforcement authority shall issue a decision determining that the judgment debtor has no conditions for judgment enforcement. It should be noted that such decision does not terminate the judgment debtor’s obligations but merely reflects that, at the time of verification, the civil judgment enforcement authority has insufficient grounds to continue organizing judgment enforcement. The Enforcement Officer remains responsible for periodically re-verifying the judgment enforcement conditions at least once every 06 months or conducting verification when new information on the judgment debtor’s assets or income becomes available. Once it is determined that the judgment debtor has the conditions to perform its obligations, the civil judgment enforcement authority shall continue organizing judgment enforcement in accordance with the law.

4. Application of measures to secure judgment enforcement

Where there are grounds to determine that the judgment debtor has assets but shows signs of dispersing or destroying such assets or evading judgment enforcement, the application of measures to secure judgment enforcement is necessary to preserve the assets and improve the judgment debtor’s ability to perform its obligations.

Under Article 66 of the LCJE 2025, the Enforcement Officer may, on his/her own initiative or upon a written request of a party, immediately apply the following measures: (i) freezing accounts and assets held in custody; (ii) suspending transactions, registration, transfer of ownership or use rights, or changes to the current status of assets; and (iii) temporarily seizing assets and documents. The Head of the civil judgment enforcement authority may, on his/her own initiative or upon a written request of a party, immediately apply the measure of temporary postponement of exit. When applying measures to secure judgment enforcement, the Enforcement Officer and the Head of the civil judgment enforcement authority are not required to give prior notice to the parties.

5. Application of coercive measures for judgment enforcement

Where the 10-day period for voluntary judgment enforcement has expired and the judgment debtor has sufficient conditions to perform its obligations but fails to do so voluntarily, or after a decision on the application of security measures has been issued and there are sufficient grounds for applying coercive measures, the Enforcement Officer may apply coercive measures for judgment enforcement. Under Article 71 of the LCJE 2025, one or more of the following coercive measures for judgment enforcement may be applied to the judgment debtor:

1. Deducting money from accounts, money orders, and disposing of negotiable instruments;
2. Deducting from income;
3. Exploiting assets;
4. Distraining and disposing of assets, including assets held by a third party;
5. Compelling the delivery of assets, objects and documents;
6. Compelling the performance or non-performance of certain acts.

6. Payment of the judgment enforcement proceeds

Within 10 days from the date on which the judgment enforcement proceeds are collected or from the date on which the assets are handed over to the purchaser of the assets or the recipient of the assets to offset the amount payable under the judgment, the Enforcement Officer shall make payment of the judgment enforcement proceeds to the judgment creditor. Payment shall be made by bank transfer; where payment by bank transfer is not possible, payment shall be made directly or in another form as prescribed by law.

In certain cases, the time limit for payment of the judgment enforcement proceeds may be extended in accordance with the law, including:

• The judgment enforcement involves a large number of judgment creditors, the amount collected is small, and the civil judgment enforcement authority is continuing to handle other assets for judgment enforcement;
• There is a decision of a competent authority requiring that the judgment enforcement proceeds not yet be paid in accordance with the law;
• There is a complaint, denunciation, protest or recommendation relating to the handling of such money or assets;
• An emergency, force majeure event or objective obstacle occurs, resulting in the payment being unable to be made within the prescribed time limit.

In the above cases, the Enforcement Officer must make the payment within no more than 10 days from the date on which the grounds for extending the payment time limit cease to exist or from the date of receipt of the decision of the competent authority.

7. Frequently asked questions

7.1. Can judgment enforcement be requested where there is no legally effective judgment or decision?

One of the conditions for requesting judgment enforcement is that there must be a judgment or decision eligible for enforcement as prescribed by law. Therefore, if the dispute is still in the process of being resolved, or the judgment or decision has not yet taken legal effect, the civil judgment enforcement authority has no basis to organize enforcement.

7.2. May a judgment debtor who fails to comply with a judgment be subject to criminal prosecution?

• Where the judgment debtor has sufficient conditions for judgment enforcement but intentionally fails to comply with a legally effective judgment or decision, despite having been subject to coercive measures or having been administratively sanctioned for such violation, and continues to violate, the judgment debtor may be criminally prosecuted for the crime of failing to comply with a judgment under Article 380 of the 2015 Criminal Code (as amended and supplemented in 2017).
• Where the judgment debtor does not yet have conditions for judgment enforcement as prescribed by law, this does not constitute a basis for criminal prosecution.

7.3. May the judgment creditor request the freezing of the judgment debtor’s account?

Under Clause 2, Article 66 of the LCJE 2025, a party has the right to submit a written request to the Head of the civil judgment enforcement authority or the Enforcement Officer to apply measures to freeze the judgment debtor’s accounts or assets held in custody. However, the requesting party shall be legally responsible for its request; if security measures are requested improperly and cause damage, the requesting party must pay compensation.

The above is our article entitled “Procedures for Civil Judgment Enforcement against the Debtor under the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement 2025” presented by TNTP. Should you require any further clarification, please contact TNTP for further assistance.

Best regards,