Socialist Republic of Vietnam

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

No. 25-2001-QH10 Hanoi, 29 June 2001


LAW ON AMENDMENT OF AND ADDITION TO A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE LAW ON LAND


Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

This Law amends and adds to a number of the articles of the Law on Land passed by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 14 July 1993, which was amended by the Law on Amendment of and Addition to a Number of Articles of the Law on Land passed by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 2 December 1998.


Article 1

A number of the articles of the Law on Land shall be amended as follows:

1. Article 12 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 12

1. The Government shall provide a price list for each category of land for each different area and for each period of time and the principles and methods of determining prices for categories of land.

2. On the basis of Government regulations on the price list and the principles and methods of determining prices for categories of land, people’s committees of cities and provinces under central authority shall determine land prices as appropriate to the prevailing local conditions for the purpose of calculation of tax levied on the transfer of land use rights, payments upon land allocation, change in purposes of using land, land rentals, registration fees, calculation of value of assets upon land allocation and compensation upon land recovery by the State."

2. Article 16 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 16

1. The Government shall be in charge of national zoning and land use planning and shall make submissions thereon to the National Assembly for determination.

2. People's committees at all levels shall be responsible for zoning and planning the use of land within their respective local areas, and shall make submissions thereon to people's councils at the same level for approval, prior to submission to an authorized State body for approval.

3. The Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Police shall, on the basis of their respective duties and powers, be responsible for zoning and planning the use of land within their jurisdiction, and shall make submissions thereon to the Government for approval.

4. Land administration bodies at central and local levels shall, in conjunction with relevant bodies, assist the Government and people's committees at all levels in zoning and land use planning."

3. Article 18 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 18

Authority to examine and approve zoning and land use planning:

1. The National Assembly shall approve long-term land use zoning and national land use planning every five years in accordance with the five-year State plan submitted by the Government.

2. The Government shall examine and approve the zoning and land use planning by people’s committees of cities and provinces under central authority, five-year land use plans and annual plans for adjustment and addition by people’s committees of cities and provinces under central authority; and the zoning and land use planning for purposes of security and national defence.

3. People's committees at each level shall examine and approve the annual zoning and land use planning by the immediately subordinate people's committees.

4. An authorized State body shall be permitted to amend any zoning or planning approved by it."

4. Article 19 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 19

All decisions regarding allocation or lease of land shall be based on the following:

1. The zoning or land use planning as approved by the authorized State body;

2. The demand for land use stated in the investment project and in the design approved or accepted in writing by the authorized State body with respect to land location and area, or in the application for allocation or lease of land."

5. Article 23 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 23

The authority to allocate and lease land for use other than in agriculture, forestry and salt-mining shall be stipulated as follows:

1. The Government shall decide on land allocation in the following cases:

(a) Where land use fees are collected for the use of land allocated for the purpose of raising capital for infrastructure construction under projects;

(b) Where land is allocated for purposes of security and national defence.

2. People’s committees of cities and provinces under central authority shall make decisions on allocation and lease of land with respect to the following entities:

(a) Organizations using land;

(b) Households and individuals using land within the inner city or township.

3. People’s committees of districts, towns and provincial cities shall make decisions on allocation and lease of land to households and individuals, except those stipulated in clause 2(b) of this article."

6. Article 24 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 24

The authority to allocate and lease land for use in agriculture, forestry and salt-mining shall be as follows:

1. People's committees of provinces and cities under central authority shall make decisions on allocation or lease of land to economic organizations using land;

2. People's committees of districts, towns and provincial cities shall make decisions on allocation or lease of land to households and individuals;

3. People’s committees of communes, wards and townships shall lease land which is part of the common land of communes, wards and townships."

7. Article 24a shall be added as follows:

"Article 24a

1. The decision permitting people using land to change the purpose of use of agricultural land, forestry land, salt-mining land, residential land and specialized land to another purpose must be consistent with the zoning and land use planning approved by the authorized State body.

2. The authority to make decisions permitting people currently using land to change the purpose of the use of agricultural land, forestry land, salt-mining land, residential land and specialized land to another purpose shall be as follows:

(a) People's committees of provinces and cities under central authority shall make decisions on change in the purpose of land use with respect to economic organizations, households, and individuals using land within a city or a town;

(b) People's committees of districts, towns and provincial cities shall make decisions on change in the purpose of land use with respect to households and individuals, except those stipulated in sub-clause (a) of this clause."

8. Article 24b shall be added as follows:

"Article 24b

1. The decision permitting people currently using agricultural land for wet rice cultivation to change to aquaculture or perennial crops, or for people using agricultural land for perennial crops to change to annual crops, must be consistent with the zoning and land use planning approved by the authorized State body.

2. The authority to make decisions permitting people currently using agricultural land for wet rice cultivation to change to aquaculture or perennial crops, or for people using agricultural land for perennial crops to change to planting annual crops, shall be as follows:

(a) People's committees of provinces and cities under central authority shall make decisions with respect to economic organizations using land;

(b) People's committees of districts, towns and provincial cities shall make decisions with respect to households and individuals using land."

9. Article 27 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 27

1. Where necessary, the State shall, for the purposes of national defence, security, or national or public interest, recover possession of land which is currently being used. In such cases, the land user shall be entitled to payment of compensation or support in respect of the recovery of possession by the State. Such compensation or support shall be in accordance with Government regulations.

2. The State shall formulate policies to stabilize the life of land users whose land is repossessed. In the case where land users whose land is repossessed have to change their places of residence, they shall be entitled to purchase residential houses of the State or to allocation of land for residential purposes, in which case land use fees shall be collected.

In the case where a compensation plan has been approved by the authorized State body, been publicly announced and become effective as stipulated by law, if the land user subject to recovery of possession of land refuses to comply with the decision on land recovery, the body making such decision shall have the right to issue an enforcement decision. In the case of a decision on land recovery of the Government, the people’s committees of provinces and cities under central authority shall issue an enforcement decision.

3. In the case where a community of people constructs works for the public interest of the community as planned with funding from the people’s contributions or financial assistance of the State, the compensation or support provided to land users having land to be used for construction of works shall be as agreed by the community of people and such land users."

10. Article 31 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 31

1. Procedures for the change of the right to use land shall, in the case of rural areas, be completed at the people's committee of the relevant commune and, in the case of urban areas, at the people's committee of the district, town or provincial city.

2. Procedures for the transfer of the right to use land shall be completed at the people's committee of the district, town or provincial city.

3. The Government shall make detailed provisions on procedures for lease, sub-lease, and inheritance of land use rights and for mortgage of, and capital contribution in the form of, the value of land use rights."

11. Article 36 shall be amended and added to as follows:

"Article 36

The issuance of certificates of the right to use land shall be as follows:

1. Certificates of the right to use land shall be issued by a land administration body under central authority.

2. People's committees of provinces and cities under central authority shall issue certificates of the right to use land to organizations using land and to those to which the Government decides to allocate land. People’s committees of districts, towns and provincial cities shall issue certificates of the right to use land to households and individuals.

3. Where a parcel of land is used by individuals who are not from the same household or organization, a certificate of the right to use land shall be issued to each organization, household and individual."

12. Article 78g shall be inserted as follows:

"Article 78g

Economic organizations, households and individuals using land and having rights to mortgage the value of land use rights in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Land shall be entitled to mortgage or provide a guarantee with the value of land use rights and their assets attached to such land to a credit institution permitted to operate in Vietnam."

13. Article 80 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 80

1. People’s committees of cities and provinces under central authority shall determine the lease of land in the following cases:

(a) Representative diplomatic offices, foreign consulates, other foreign representative offices with diplomatic functions in Vietnam;

(b) Representative offices of international organizations under the United Nations or inter-governmental offices and organizations, or representative offices of inter-governmental organizations located in Vietnam.

2. The authority to lease land to foreign individuals and organizations and Vietnamese residing overseas investing in Vietnam shall be in accordance with Government regulations.

3. The rights and obligations of foreign individuals and organizations, international organizations, and Vietnamese residing overseas leasing land as permitted by the State shall be in accordance with regulations of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

Vietnamese residing overseas who make long-term investment in Vietnam and have a need for residential housing during the period of investment in Vietnam, people with merit in making contributions to Vietnam, culturists and scientists who need to work regularly in Vietnam for the cause of construction of the country; and people who wish to settle in Vietnam shall be entitled to purchase residential houses with the right to use land attached in accordance with Government regulations."

14. The term "feasibility study" used in article 63 and article 81.2 of the Law on Land shall be replaced by the term "investment project"; the terms "indemnity for losses" in article 73, "compensation for losses" in article 28 and "indemnity" in article 79 of the Law on Land shall be replaced by the term "compensation".

Article 2

1. This Law shall be of full force and effect as of 1 October 2001.

2. The Government shall be responsible for amending legal instruments making detailed provisions and providing guidelines for implementation of the Law on Land in accordance with this Law.


This Law was passed by Legislature X of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 9th Session on 29 June 2001.

Chairman of the National Assembly


NGUYEN VAN AN