What is the penalty for forging documents requesting a practicing lawyer certificate?

Legal Consulting Office of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Point a, Clause 3, Article 82 of Decree 109/2026/ND-CP Regulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of judicial support; judicial administration; marriage and family; civil judgment enforcement; recovery, bankruptcy of enterprises, cooperatives (effective from May 18, 2026), stipulates as follows:

3. A fine of 20 million VND to 30 million VND shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Forging documents of agencies and organizations in dossiers requesting the issuance of lawyer practice certificates, dossiers of joining the Bar Association, lawyer practice registration certificates, lawyer practice licenses in Vietnam; dossiers requesting the issuance of operating registration certificates of lawyer practice organizations, branches of lawyer practice organizations; dossiers requesting the issuance of establishment licenses, dossiers requesting the issuance of operating registration certificates of branches of foreign lawyer practice organizations, foreign law firms, branches of foreign law firms in Vietnam.

Clause 4, Article 82, Chapter VII of Decree 109/2026/ND-CP stipulates remedial measures as follows:

a) Forcing the recovery and cancellation of fake papers, documents, and evidence in accordance with the law for violations specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article;

b) Forcing the return of illegal profits obtained from the act of violating the provisions of Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article;

Clause 4, Article 4 of Decree 109/2026/ND-CP stipulates: The fine level specified in Chapters II, III, IV, V, VI and VII of this Decree is applied to administrative violations of individuals, except for Article 22 and the articles specified in Clause 5 of this Article. In case an organization has administrative violations similar to those of an individual, the fine level is equal to 02 times the fine level for an individual.

Thus, from May 18, 2026, the act of forging documents of agencies and organizations in the dossier requesting a practicing lawyer certificate may be fined from 20 million VND to 30 million VND for individuals and from 40 million VND to 60 million VND for organizations and remedial measures as above.