What personal rights are there in Vietnam?

There are certain personal rights prescribed by law in Vietnam. Let’s find out this issue with Lawyer X through the following situations: “Dear Lawyer! I want to ask how many personal rights are there in Viet Nam? Can personal rights be transferred to other persons? Thanks for answering me!”

Legal grounds

• 2015 Vietnam Civil Code

What are personal rights?

– Personal rights specified in Civil Code are civil rights inherent to each natural person, which cannot be transferred to other persons, unless otherwise provided for by other laws.

– All civil relations relating to personal rights of a minor, a legally incapacitated persons, or a person with limited cognition or behavior control shall be established and performed with the consent of his/her legal representative as prescribed in Civil Code, other relevant laws or decisions of a court.

All civil relations relating to personal rights of a person declared missing or dead shall be established and performed with the consent of his/her spouse or adult children; or his/her parents if he/she has no spouse or child, unless otherwise provided for by Civil Code or other relevant laws.

Right to have family and given names

– Each natural person has right to have a family name and a given name (including a middle name, if any). The family and given names of a person shall be the family and given names in the birth certificate of such person.

– The family name of a person shall be passed from his/her biological father’s or mother’s as mutually agreed between the parents; if the parents fails to agree, the person’s family name shall be determined according to customary practices. If the father of such person is undetermined, his/her family name shall be passed from his/her natural mother’s.

If an abandoned child whose natural parents are unidentified is adopted, his/her family name shall be passed from his/her adoptive father’s or mother’s as mutually agreed between the parents. If the child has either an adoptive father or an adoptive mother, his/her family name shall be passed from such person’s.

If an abandoned child whose natural parents are unidentified and he/she has not been adopted but has been fostered by a foster establishment or a , his/her family name shall be determined at the request of the head of such foster family or at the request of the person registering the birth of the child.

Biological father and mother specified in Civil Code means a father and mother determined at the event of parturition; intended father and mother and the resulting child as prescribed in the Law on marriage and families.

– The naming is restricted in case it violates lawful rights and interests of other people and contravenes basic principles of civil law prescribed in Article 3 of Civil Code.

The name of each Vietnamese citizen must be in Vietnamese or other ethnic minority languages of Vietnam and not include any figure or any symbol other than a letter.

– Each natural person shall enter in and perform his/her civil rights and obligations following his/her family and given name.

– A person may not use his/her code name or pen name to cause damage to the lawful rights and interests of other people.

*Right to change family names

– An individual has the right to request a competent authority to recognize a change of a family name in any of the following cases:

• Changing the family name of a natural child from biological father’s to biological mother’s or vice versa;
• Changing the family name of an adopted child from biological father’s or mother’s to adoptive father’s or mother’s at the request of the adoptive parents;
• If a person ceases to be an adopted child and such person or his/her biological father or mother request to reclaim the family name which is given by the biological father or mother;
• Changing the family name of a person whose biological parents have been identified upon the request on that father or mother or such person;
• Changing the family name of a lost person who has discovered the origin of his/her bloodline;
• Changing the family name of a person to his/her spouse’s in the marriage and family relations involving foreign elements in accordance with law of the country in which the foreign spouse is a citizen or retrieves his/her family name before the change;
• Changing the family names of children upon the change of family names of their father’s or mother’s;
• Other cases prescribed in by law on civil status affairs.

– The changing of the family name of a person who is nine years of age or older shall be subject to the consent of such person.

– The changing of a family name shall not change or terminate the civil rights and obligations which were established in the former family name.

*Right to change given names

– An individual has the right to request a competent authority to recognize the change of a given name in any of the following cases:

• Where it is so requested by the person who has a given name which causes confusion or has an adverse effect on his/her feelings or on his/her honor, legitimate rights and interests;
• Where the adoptive father or mother of the person wishes to change the given name of their adopted child; of if a person ceases to be an adopted child and such person or his/her biological father or mother request to reclaim the given name which is given by the biological father or mother;
• Changing the given name of a person whose biological parents have been identified upon the request on that father or mother or such person;
• Changing the given name of a lost person who has discovered the origin of his/her bloodline;
• Change the given name of a person to his/her spouse’s in the marriage and family relations involving foreign elements in accordance with law of the country in which the foreign spouse is a citizen retrieves his/her family name before the change;
• Changing of given name of a person whose gender identity is re-determined or a transgender person;
• Other cases prescribed in by law on civil status affairs.

– The changing of the given name of a person who is nine years of age or older shall be subject to the consent of such person.

– The changing of a given name shall not change or terminate the civil rights and obligations which were established in the former given name.

Right to indentify and re-identify ethnicity

– Each individual has the right to identify and re-identify his/her ethnicity.

– Each individual shall have his/her ethnicity identified at birth in accordance with the ethnicity of his/her biological father and mother. Where the biological father and mother belong to two different ethnic groups, the ethnicity of the child shall be passed from the father’s or mother’s as mutually agreed between the parents; if the parents fail to agree, the ethnicity of the child shall be identified in accordance with relevant customary practices; if the customary practices are different, the ethnicity of the child shall be identified in accordance with the customary practice of smaller ethnic minority.

If an abandoned child whose natural parents are unidentified is adopted, his/her ethnicity shall be passed from his/her adoptive father’s or mother’s as mutually agreed between the parents. If the child has either an adoptive father or an adoptive mother, his/her ethnicity shall be passed from such person’s.

If an abandoned child whose natural parents are unidentified and he/she has not been adopted but has been fostered by a foster establishment, his/her ethnicity shall be identified at the request of the head of such foster family or at the request of the person temporarily fostering the child at the time when the birth of the child is registered.

– An individual has the right to request a competent authority to identify or re-identify the ethnicity in any of the following cases:

• Re-identification of the ethnicity of the biological father or mother where they belong to two different ethnic groups;
• Re-identification of the ethnicity of the biological father or mother where the adoptive child have their biological parents identified.

– The re-identification of the ethnicity of a person who is from fifteen to eighteen years of age shall be subject to the consent of such person.

– It is forbidden to abuse the ethnicity re-identification intended to profiteering or divisive, prejudicial to the unity of the ethnic groups of Vietnam.

Right to declaration of birth and death

– When an individual is born, he/she has the right to have his/her birth declared.

– When an individual dies, he/she has the right to have his/her death declared.

– If a newborn dies after 24 hours or later from the time of birth, his/her birth and death must be declared; if he/she dies under 24 hours from the time of birth, his/her birth and death are not required to be declared, unless his/her biological father or mother request.

– The declaration of birth and death shall be prescribed in by law on civil status affairs.

Right to nationality

– Each individual has the right to nationality.

– The identification, change, acquirement, renouncement, or assume of Vietnamese nationality shall be stipulated in the Law on Vietnamese nationality.

– Rights of each non-nationality resident within Vietnam’s territory shall be guaranteed as prescribed by law.

Rights of an individual with respect to his/her image

– Each individual has rights with respect to his/her own image.

The use of an image of an individual must have his/her consent.

When an image of an individual is used for commercial purposes, that person is eligible for a remuneration, unless otherwise agreed.

– The use of image for any of the following purposes needs not the consent of the image’s owner or his/her legal representative:

• For national and public benefits;
• For public activities, including conventions, seminars, sports activities, art shows and other public activities that do not infringe the honor, dignity or prestige of the image’s owner.

– If the use of an image violates the regulation prescribed in Article 32, the image’s owner has the right to request a court to issue a decision that compel the violator or relevant entities to revoke, destroy or terminate the use of the image, compensate for damage and adopt other measures as prescribed in law.

Right to life, right to safety of life, health and body

– Each individual has the right to life, the inviolable right to life and body, the right to health protection by law. No one shall be killed illegally.

– When any person has a life threatening accident or illness, a person who discovers such situation must take such person or require suitable entities to a nearest health facility; the health facility must provide medical examination and treatment in accordance with law on medical examination and treatment.

– The consent of a person is required for the anesthesia, surgery, amputation, transplant of his/her tissues or bodily organs; the application of new medical cures to that person; medical, pharmacy or scientific testing or any method of testing on a human body.

If the person is a minor, a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition or behavior control or an unconscious patient, the consent of his/her father, mother, spouse, grown child or legal guardian is required; in cases where there is a threat to the life of the patient which cannot wait for the consent of the aforesaid persons, a decision of the head of the health facility is required.

– A post-mortem operation shall be performed in any of the following cases:

• The deceased person expressed consent prior to death;
• In the absence of such consent, the consent of a parent, spouse, grown child or legal guardian of the deceased was obtained;
• In necessary cases, pursuant to a decision of the head of the health facility or a competent authority as prescribed in law.

Right to protection of honor, dignity and prestige

– Honor, dignity and prestige of an individual is inviolable and protected by law.

– Each individual has the right to request a court to reject any piece of information adversely affecting to his/her honor, dignity and/or prestige.

The honor, dignity and prestige of a deceased person shall be protected at the request of his/her spouse or grown children; or his/her parent if he/she has no spouse or child, unless otherwise prescribed by law.

– If a piece of information adversely affecting to the honor, dignity and prestige of a person is posted on a mean of mass media, that piece of information shall be removed or rectified by that kind of mean. If that piece of information is kept by an agency, organization or individual, such entity is required to cancel it.

– In case it is impossible to identify the person informing the information adversely affecting the honor, dignity and/or prestige of a person, the latter person has the right to request a court to declare that such piece of information is incorrect.

– The person receiving the information adversely affected his/her honor, dignity and/or prestige both has the right to request rejection of such piece of information and has the right to require to informing person gives a public apology and rectification and compensation.

Right to donate or receive human tissues and body organs and donate corpses

– Each individual has the right to donate his/her tissues or body organs when he/she is alive or donate his/her tissues, body organs or corpse after his/her death for the purpose of medical treatment of other persons or medical, pharmacy or other scientific researches.

– Each individual has the right to receive tissues and/or body organs of other persons for his/her medical treatment. Health facilities and juridical persons competent to scientific research have the right to receive human body organs and/or corpses for the purpose of medical treatment or medical, pharmacy or other scientific researches.

– The donation or removal of human tissues and body organs and donation or removal of corpses must comply with statutory requirements and regulations of Civil Code, the Law on donation, removal and transplantation of human tissues and organs, and donation or removal of corpses and other relevant laws.

Right to re-determine gender identity

– An individual has the right to re-determine his/her gender identity.

The re-determination of the gender identity of a person is implemented where the gender of such person is subject to a congenital defect or has not yet been accurately formed and requires medical intervention in order to identify clearly the gender.

– The re-determination of the gender identity of a person shall comply with regulations of law.

– Each individual undergone re-determination of gender identity has the right and obligation to apply for change of civil status affairs as prescribed in law on civil status affairs and has the personal rights in conformity with the re-determined gender identity as prescribed in Civil Code and relevant laws.

Sex reassignment

The sex reassignment shall comply with regulations of law. Each surged transgender has the right and obligation to apply for change of civil status affairs as prescribed in law on civil status affairs and has the personal rights in conformity with the transformed gender as prescribed in Civil Code and relevant laws.

Right to private life, personal secrets and family secrets

– The private life, personal secrets and family secrets of a person are inviolable and protected by law.

– The collection, preservation, use and publication of information about the private life of an individual must have the consent of that person; the collection, preservation, use and publication of information about the secrets of family must have the consent of all family’s members, unless otherwise prescribed by law.

– The safety of mails, telephones, telegrams, other forms of electronic information of an individual shall be ensured and kept confidential.

The opening, control and keeping of mails, telephones, telegrams, other forms of electronic information of an individual may only be conducted in cases provided by law.

– Contracting parties of a contract may not disclose information about each other’s private life, personal secrets or family secrets that they know during the establishment and performance of the contract, unless otherwise agreed.

Personal rights in marriage and families

– Each individual has the right to marry or divorce, the right to equality between husband and wife, the right to acknowledge father, mother or child, the right to adopt children and be adopted in marriage relation, parent-children relation and relations between family’s members.

All children, of the same parents, regardless of their parents’ marriage status, have the same rights and obligations to their parents.

– Each individual exercises his/her personal rights in marriage and families as prescribed in Civil Code, the Law on marriage and families and relevant laws.

Please see more:

• Instructions for exclusive registration of company logos in Vietnam
• Service of changing the legal representative of Vietnamese enterprises

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