Some basic similarities and differences between Vietnamese and Chinese law on contracts

The Civil Code of China was approved on May 28, 2020 at the third session of the 13th National People's Congress of China and the third session of the National Committee of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. This Civil Code has 8 parts and 1,260 articles, including: (1) Basic provisions, (2) Property rights, (3) Contracts, (4) Rights identity, (5) Marriage and family, (6) Inheritance and (7) Intellectual property rights; and (8) The Annexes. It took effect on January 1, 2021.This Civil Code supersedes the general principles and general provisions of the previous Civil Code, Law on Properties, Law on Contracts, Law on Guarantee, Law on Marriage, Law on Inheritance and the Law on Liability for Intellectual Property Infringement of China. This Civil Code consists provisions on general contracts which are used in all areas in China. This paper summarizes the main features of the provisions on contracts in the Civil Code of China and initially compares them with the contract institution under Vietnamese law. Based on the paper’s findings, some suggestions are made to complete the contract institution of Vietnamese law