THE GOVERNMENT

DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Decree prescribes the implementation of the Land Law, which was passed on November 26, 2003 by the XI^th National Assembly at its 4^th session.

2. The prescription of land price-determining methods, price brackets for assorted land categories; land use levy and land rent collection; compensation, support, resettlement when the State recovers land for use for defense or security purposes, for national interests, public interests, economic development; land inspection; sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of land shall comply with the provisions of other decrees of the Government.

3. Subjects of application of this Decree shall include:

a) State agencies, which exercise the powers and perform the responsibilities of representatives of the entire-people owners of land, perform the task of uniform State management over land;

b) Land users, as provided for in Article 9 of the Land Law;

c) Other subjects involved in land management and use.

Article 2.- Persons answerable to the State for the use of land

The persons answerable to the State for the use of land are stipulated as follows:

1. The Heads of Vietnamese organizations, foreign organizations are the persons answerable to the State for the use of land by their respective organizations.

2. The Presidents of the People's Committees of communes, wards, district townships are answerable to the State for the use of agricultural land for public-utility purposes; non-agricultural land assigned to the commune, ward or township People's Committees for use for the purpose of constructing the offices of the People's Committees as well as public works in service of cultural, educational, medical, physical exercise, sport, entertainment or recreation activities, market places, cemeteries, graveyards or other public works of the localities.

3. The representatives of the population communities are the persons answerable to the State for the use of land assigned to such population communities.

4. The Heads of religious establishments are the persons answerable to the State for the use of land assigned to their religious establishments.

5. Household masters are the persons answerable to the State for the use of land by their households.

6. Vietnamese individuals, overseas Vietnamese, foreign individuals are answerable to the State for their land use.

7. The representatives of land users who share the land use rights over their common land plots are the persons answerable to the State for the use of such land.

Article 3.- Persons answerable to the State for land assigned for management

1. The Heads of organizations are answerable to the State for land management in the following cases:

a) Organizations are assigned to manage public works defined in Clause 3, Article 91 of this Decree;

b) Economic organizations are assigned to manage land areas for execution of investment projects in form of build- transfer (BT) under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 87 of this Decree;

c) Organizations are assigned to manage land with surface water of big rivers and land with special-use water surface;

d) Land fund development organizations are assigned to manage funds of land recovered under decisions of competent State bodies.

2. The Presidents of the People's Committees of communes, wards or townships are answerable to the State for the management of assigned land used for public purposes, land recovered in rural areas for cases prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, Article 38 of the Land Law, land not yet assigned and land not yet leased in the localities.

3. The provincial/municipal People's Committee presidents are answerable to the State for the management of unused land in uninhabited islands of the localities.

4. The representatives of population communities are answerable to the State for forestry land assigned to the population communities for forest protection and development according to the provisions of the Law on Forest Protection and Development.

Article 4.- Guarantees for land users

1. The State shall not recognize land reclaim and shall not consider and settle complaints for reclaim of land already assigned by the State to other persons for use under land policies before October 15, 1993 in the following cases:

a) Land was confiscated, requisitioned or compulsorily purchased upon the implementation of land reforms in the North; the policy of completely abolishing the vestiges of land possession and forms of colonial and feudal exploitation in the South;

b) Land was donated or presented to the State, cooperatives or other organizations, to households, individuals;

c) Land was contributed to agricultural cooperatives under the provisions of high-grade agricultural cooperatives' statutes;

d) Inhabited land was assigned by the State to other persons for use as residential land; residential land and garden land was returned to cooperatives before leaving for virgin land reclamation; land was recovered for assignment to other persons or readjusted to other persons upon the settlement of land disputes;

e) Land was divided to other persons in response to the campaign of sharing land to landless people or land-deficient people in the South following the liberation.

2. The settlement of land-related complaints and disputes must be based on the land legislation at the time when the land relations arose, leading to complaints or disputes, which include the following land-related documents:

a) The Land Reform Law promulgated on December 4, 1953 of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam;

b) Circular No. 73/TTg of July 7, 1962 of the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on the management of private land, which was leased, left ownerless, left unused in inner cities, towns;

c) The high-grade agricultural cooperatives' statute promulgated on May 1, 1969;

d) Resolution No. 125/CP of June 28, 1971 of the Government Council of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on enhancement of land management;

e) Decree No. 47/CP of March 15, 1972 of the Government Council of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam promulgating the Provisional Regulation on selection of project locations and management of construction land;

f) Resolution No. 28/CP of December 16, 1973 of the Government Council of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on population relocation for river-bed clearance;

g) Decision No. 129/CP of May 25, 1974 of the Government Council of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam promulgating policies towards cooperatives which expand areas for agricultural or forestry development in midland and mountainous areas;

h) Decree No. 01/ND/75 of March 5, 1975 of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam on land policies;

i) Directive No. 235-CT/TW of August 20, 1976 of the Central Committee of Vietnam Labor Party on the realization of the Political Bureau's Resolution on the issue of land in the South;

j) Decision No. 188/CP of September 25, 1976 of the Government Council of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the policy of absolutely abolishing the vestiges of land possession and forms of colonial and feudal exploitation in the South;

k) Decision No. 318/CP of December 14, 1978 of the Government Council of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on abolishing the forms of capitalist exploitation in terms of land and promoting the land adjustment in rural areas in the South;

l) Decision No. 201/CP of July 1, 1980 of the Government Council of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the uniform management of land and enhancement of land management nationwide;

m) The 1987 Land Law and Decree No. 30/HDBT of March 23, 1989 of the Council of Ministers on the implementation of the 1987 Land Law;

n) Decision No. 13/HDBT of February 1, 1989 of the Council of Ministers of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on settlement of a number of urgent issues on land.

3. The settlement of residential land, non-agricultural production and business land with constructions thereon under the State's management, which have been arranged for use in the process of implementing policies on house and land management and policies on socialist transformation before July 1, 1991 shall comply with the provisions of Resolution No. 23/2003/QH11 of November 26, 2003 of the National Assembly and legal documents guiding the implementation of this Resolution.

Article 5.- Funding for State management over land

1. The State budget ensures funding for activities of State management over land and investment in cadastral non-business activities (including land survey, measurement, cadastral mapping; land evaluation and categorization; land use planning and plan elaboration, appraisal, publicization and adjustment; cadastral dossier compilation, land use right certificate granting; land statistics and inventory and other cadastral non-business activities) under law provisions.

2. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the concerned ministries and agencies in, formulating regimes, standards, techno-economic norms for cadastral non-business activities for use as basis for allocation and management of funding.

3. The central budget shall ensure the spending tasks for land-State management work at the central level. The local budgets shall ensure the spending tasks for land-State management work in localities according to management decentralization regulations.

Article 6.- Land categorization

1. Land categories, land use purposes of each land plot shall be determined on one of the following grounds:

a) Decisions on land assignment, land lease, land use purpose change permission, issued by competent State agencies;

b) Land use right certificates already granted to current land users with their land use rights recognized by the State;

c) Registration of land use purpose changes suitable to land use plannings, plans, for cases requiring no permission for land use purpose change;

d) Land being stably used in conformity with land use plannings already approved by competent State agencies;

e) For cases where the grounds prescribed at Points a, b, c and d of this Clause are not available, the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall base themselves on the stable land use situation to determine land categories and land use purposes.

2. Apart from the principal land use purposes determined under the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article, land users may use land for other combined purposes without affecting the principal use purposes and without contravening the law provisions on land.

3. Land is categorized into the following groups:

a) Agricultural land group;

b) Non-agricultural land group;

c) Unused land group.

4. The agricultural land group is divided into the following subgroups:

a) Agricultural production land, including land under annual crops, land under perennial trees. The land under annual crops includes rice-cultivated land; pasture land for cattle rearing, land for other annual crops;

b) Forestry land, including production forest land, protective forest land, special-use forest land;

c) Aquaculture land;

d) Salt-making land;

e) Other agricultural land.

Other agricultural land means rural land used for construction of greenhouses and houses of other types in service of cultivation, including forms of cultivation not directly on land; construction of sheds, stables and farms for rearing of cattle, poultry and other animals permitted by law; construction of agricultural, forestry, salt-making or aquaculture research or experiment stations or farms, construction of plant nurseries or animal breeding establishments; construction of storehouses, houses of households or individuals to store agricultural products, plant protection drugs, fertilizers, farm machinery and tools.

5. The non-agricultural land group is divided into the following subgroups:

a) Residential land, including rural residential land and urban residential land;

b) Special-use land, including land for construction of working offices, non-business works; land used for defense or security purposes; non-agricultural production, business land; land used for public purposes.

Land used for public purposes means land used for the purposes of building traffic works, bridges, sluices, pavements, waterway ports, ferries, car terminals, car parks, railways stations, airports; water supply system, water drainage system, system of irrigation works, dykes, dams; electricity transmission line system, communication network system; petrol, oil or gas pipe systems; land used for construction of crốches, schools, hospitals, market places, parks, flower gardens, children's playgrounds, public squares, stadiums, sanatoria, elderly and disadvantaged children-homes, physical training-sport establishments, cultural works, commune cultural-postal spots, monuments, memorials, funeral houses, clubs, theatres, museums, exhibition centers, cinemas, circus theatres, functional rehabilitation establishments for the disabled, job-training establishments, drug detoxication establishments, reformatories, dignity rehabilitation camps; land with historical-cultural relics, scenic places, which have been classified or protected under decisions of provincial/municipal People's Committees; waste dumping sites, garbage sites, waste-treating zones;

c) Land with rivers, arroyos, canals, ditches, streams and special-use water surface;

d) Religious, belief land, including land used by religious establishments; land with constructions being communal houses, temples, shrines, small pagodas, worship halls, ancestral worship houses;

e) Land for cemeteries, graveyards;

f) Other non-agricultural land.

Other non-agricultural land means land where exist worshipping works, museums, conservatories, art work display houses, cultural and artistic creation establishments and other private works constructed not for business purposes and not affixed to residential land; land for construction of rest houses, hut, makeshifts for laborers; urban land used for construction of glasshouses and other types of houses in service of cultivation including forms of cultivation not directly on land, construction of sheds, stables and farms for rearing cattle, poultry and other animals permitted by law, construction of agricultural, forestry, aquaculture research and/or experiment stations and/or farms, construction of plant nurseries, animal breeding establishments, construction of warehouses, houses of households, individuals for storage of agricultural products, plant protection drugs, fertilizers, farm machinery and tools.

6. The unused land group is divided into the following categories:

a) Unused delta land;

b) Unused hilly and mountain land;

c) Rock mountains without forests.

Article 7.- Determination of land plots

1. Land plots with a single land use purpose shall be determined in the following cases:

a) The land plots with boundaries determined in the land use process;

b) The land plots with boundaries determined when the State assigns land, leases land, recognizes land use rights;

c) The land plots with boundaries determined when many land plots are consolidated into one (called plot consolidation) or when a land plot is separated into many plots (called plot separation) for management requirements or at requests of land users in accordance with provisions of land legislation.

2. Land plots with many land use purposes shall be determined in the following cases:

a) Where the boundaries can be determined for different land use purposes, the land plots shall be determined according to separate use purposes;

b) Where there exist a principal use purpose and auxiliary use purposes for which land is used according to seasons in the year or used simultaneously, the land plots shall be determined as provided for in Clause 1 of this Article and the principal use purpose and auxiliary use purposes must be determined, except for cases prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 45 of this Decree.

Chapter II

SYSTEM OF LAND MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND LAND MANAGEMENT AND USE SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

Article 8.- Land management agencies

1. The organizational system of land management agencies is set up uniformly from the central to grassroots level in association with natural resource and environment management, with the following specific organizational apparatus:

a) The central land-State management agency shall be the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

b) The provincial/municipal land management agencies shall be the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) The land management agencies in rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall be the district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment.

2. Communes, wards, district townships shall be staffed with cadastral personnel.

3. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs in, guiding in detail the organizational apparatuses of provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment and district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment; guiding the appointment and dismissal of commune, ward or township cadastral personnel; prescribing the tasks and criteria of commune, ward or township cadastral personnel.

4. The People's Committees of provinces or centrally-run cities, the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall have to build the organizational apparatuses for land management in localities and arrange commune, ward, township cadastral personnel to ensure the fulfillment of tasks.

Article 9.- Land use right registration offices

1. Land use right registration offices are public-service agencies functioning to register land use and land use-related evolutions, manage cadastral dossiers and assist the natural resource and environment officies in carrying out the administrative procedures for land management and use.

2. The provincial/municipal People's Committees shall decide on the establishment of land use right registration offices under the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment and the setting up of branches of such offices in necessary localities.

The People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall base themselves on the local demands for land use right registration to decide on the setting up of land use right registration offices under the district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment.

3. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs in, guiding the organization and operation of land use right registration offices.

Article 10.- Land fund development organizations

1. Land fund development organizations shall operate in form of non-business units with revenues or State enterprises performing public-utility tasks, and be established under decisions of provincial/municipal People's Committees to carry out the compensation and ground clearance in case of land recovery after the land use plannings or plans are publicized while investment projects are not yet available; to accept the transfer of the rights to use land in planned areas where land must be recovered but the land users wish to move elsewhere before the State decides to recover the land; to manage the recovered land funds and organize land use right auctions under decisions of competent State agencies for land areas assigned for management.

2. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs in, guiding the organization and operation of land fund development organizations.

Article 11.- Land management and use service organizations

1. Non-business organizations with revenues, enterprises of all economic sectors, which fully satisfy the conditions prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article shall be licensed to provide or entitled to register land management and use services.

2. Domains of land management and use services shall include:

a) Land price consultancy;

b) Land use planning, plan elaboration consultancy;

c) Cadastral measuring and mapping services;

d) Land information services.

3. Responsibilities for prescribing the conditions and procedures for licensing, registering land management and use services are as follows:

a) The Finance Ministry shall prescribe the conditions and procedures for licensing, registering land price consultancy activities;

b) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall prescribe the conditions for activities, registration of activities of providing land use planning and plan elaboration consultancy, land information services; the conditions and procedures for licensing, registering cadastral measurement and mapping services.

Chapter III

LAND USE PLANNINGS, PLANS

Article 12.- Contents of land use plannings

1. Survey, research, analysis, synthesis of natural, economic and social conditions in the geographical areas where the plannings are to be executed.

2. Evaluation of the present land use situation and changes in the preceding planning period based on the use purposes, including land under wet rice, land under other annual crops, land under perennial trees; production forest land, protective forest land, special-use forest land; aquaculture land; salt-making land; other agricultural land; rural residential land, urban residential land; land for construction of working offices and non-business works; land used for defense or security purposes; non-agricultural production and business land; land used for public purposes; land with rivers, canals, ditches, streams and special-use water surface; religious and belief land; cemetery and graveyard land; unused delta land, unused hilly and mountainous land, rock mountains without forests.

3. Evaluation of land potentials and the present land use's suitability to land potentials, to socio-economic, scientific-technological development trends according to the following regulations:

a) For land currently in use, to evaluate the current use's compatibility and incompatibility with land potentials, with socio-economic development strategies, overall plannings and plans, the possibility of the application of scientific and technological advances to land use;

b) For unused land, to evaluate the possibility of putting such land in use for various purposes.

4. Evaluation of the achievement of the land use planning targets already decided and approved in the preceding planning period.

5. Determination of land use orientations and objectives in the planning period and orientations for the subsequent period in conformity with socio-economic development strategies and overall plannings of the whole country, branches and localities.

6. Formulation of plans on distribution of areas of assorted land for socio-economic development, defense and security demands in the planning period, which shall be carried out as follows:

a) Marking off on maps the current land use in agricultural land areas according to land use purposes, land categories for which the use purpose changes must be permitted by competent State agencies; the current land use in non-agricultural land areas according to their functions as urban population quarter, rural population quarter, administrative quarter, industrial zone, hi-tech park, economic zone, service zone, historical-cultural relics zone, scenic places, defense and/or security areas and other works or projects involving large-scale land use; areas of unused land.

The zoning off shall be effected for land areas with acreages reflectible on land use planning
maps;

b) Determination of land areas with unchanged use purposes; land areas with use purposes to be compulsorily changed, including land areas expected to be recovered for execution of works, projects.

7. Analysis of economic, social and environmental efficiency of each land fund-distributing plan according to the following contents:

a) Analysis of economic efficiency, covering the projection of revenue sources from land assignment, land lease and land use purpose change, assorted land-related taxes and expenses for compensations, ground clearance, resettlement;

b) Analysis of social impacts, covering the projection of the number of households to be removed, the number of laborers losing their jobs due to land recovery, the number of jobs to be created from land use restructuring;

c) Evaluation of environmental impacts of land use according to new land use purposes of the land fund-distributing plans.

8. Selection of rational land fund-distributing plans, based on the results of the economic, social and environmental efficiency analysis prescribed in Clause 7 of this Article.

9. Presentation of the selected land use plannings on the land use planning maps.

10. Determination of measures for land use, protection and improvement as well as environmental protection, which must be applied to each land category, suitable to the planned areas.

11. Determination of measures to organize the implementation of land use plannings, suitable to the characteristics of the planned areas.

Article 13.- Contents of land use plans

1. Evaluation and analysis of results of implementation of the land use plan of the preceding period, including:

a) Results of achievement of land use targets for each land category;

b) Results of achievement of targets of conversion between land categories;

c) Results of virgin land reclamation for expansion of land areas for various purposes;

d) The quality of the achievement of targets in the land use plans;

e) The collection of revenues from land assignment, land lease, land use purpose change, assorted land-related taxes and expenses for compensations, supports, resettlement;

f) Causes of shortcomings and weaknesses in the implementation of land use plans.

2. Elaboration of plans for recovery of assorted land for distribution for infrastructure construction demands; industrial and service development; development of urban centers, rural population quarters; defense, security; for works and projects with identified investors, to make their lists enclosed with land use scale, locations, projected implementation schedule and land recovery schedule.

3. Elaboration of plans on conversion of land areas specialized in wet rice farming and forest land into those used for other purposes, determination of areas of agricultural land entitled to land use restructuring according to the following contents:

a) Determination of locations, acreages and schedule for conversion of wet rice land, protective-forest land, special-use forest land, production-forest land into those used for other purposes;

b) Determination of land areas registered for restructuring the use of assorted land within the agricultural land group.

4. Elaboration of plans on putting unused land to use for various purposes, covering the determination of locations, acreages and reclamation schedule to put unused land to use for agricultural or non-agricultural purposes.

5. Detailing of the distribution of assorted land in land use plans by year.

6. Projection of revenue sources from land assignment, land lease, land use purpose change, assorted land-related taxes and expenses for compensations, supports, resettlement.

7. Determination of measures for implementation of land use plans, ensuring the planned schedule.

Article 14.- Contents of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of communes, wards, district townships, hi-tech parks, economic zones

1. A detailed land use planning covers the contents prescribed in Article 12 of this Decree; the selected land use planning must be reflected on cadastral maps; where the detailed urban construction planning, rural population quarter construction planning have been already approved, they must be reflected on the cadastral maps.

2. A detailed land use plan covers the contents prescribed in Article 13 of this Decree and is associated with the land plot.

Article 15.- Responsibilities for elaboration of land use plannings, plans

1. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have the responsibility to assist the Government in organizing the elaboration of land use plannings and plans of the whole country.

The ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies, the provincial/municipal People's Committees shall have the responsibility to coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in determining their respective land use demands.

2. The Ministry of Defense shall elaborate plannings, plans on the use of land for defense purposes.

The Ministry of Defense shall have to coordinate with the provincial/municipal People's Committees in determining the demands for land use for defense purposes in the localities.

3. The Ministry of Public Security shall elaborate plannings and plans on the use of land for security purposes.

The Ministry of Public Security shall have to coordinate with the provincial/municipal People's Committees in determining the demands for land use for security purposes in the localities.

4. The provincial/municipal People's Committees shall organize the elaboration of land use plannings and plans of their respective provinces or centrally run cities. The provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to assist the People's Committees of the same level in performing the task of elaborating land use plannings, plans.

The provincial/municipal Services, Departments, Sectors and the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall have to coordinate with the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment in determining the land use demands of branches, localities.

5. The People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall organize the elaboration of land use plannings and plans of their respective localities, the detailed land use plannings and detailed land use plans of wards, townships and communes in the urban development planning areas. The district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to assist the People's Committees of the same level in performing the task of elaborating land use plannings, plans.

The Sections and Boards of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns and the People's Committees of wards or townships, People's Committees of communes covered by the urban development plannings shall have to coordinate with the district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment in determining the land use demands of branches, localities.

6. The People's Committees of communes not covered by the urban development plannings shall have to organize the elaboration of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of communes.

7. The hi-tech management boards shall have to organize the elaboration of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans for their entire hi-tech parks.

8. The economic zone management boards shall have the responsibility to organize the elaboration of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans for the land areas assigned to the economic zone management boards, which are determined in the land use plannings of provinces or centrally run cities; the elaboration of plannings and plans on the use of the remaining land areas shall be reflected in the land use plannings, plans of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns and the detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of communes, wards, townships.

9. Agencies and organizations tasked to elaborate land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans may hire organizations licensed to operate in the field of land use planning, plan elaboration to provide consultancy on the elaboration of land use plannings, plans.

10. Land use plannings, land use plans of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns as well as detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of communes, wards or townships must not be drawn up if the land use in the subsequent land use planning period sees no change; in case of land use purpose change between land categories in the same land group and the acreages of the land subject to use purpose change being less than ten per cent (10%) as compared with the preceding planning period, only the decisions on adjustment of land areas subject to use purpose change are needed.

The detailed land use plannings of hi-tech parks shall be made once for the entire parks; in case of change in land use demands, the adjustment of the detailed land use plannings should be drawn up.

Article 16.- Elaboration and adjustment of the national land use planning

1. The national land use planning shall be elaborated on the basis of the provisions of Clause 1, Article 22 of the Land Law.

2. Before the end of the 18-month land use planning periods, the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies and the provincial/municipal People’s Committees shall have to send their written proposals on land use demands of their respective branches or localities in the subsequent land use planning period to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

3. Within five (5) months after the receipt of land use demand proposals of branches and localities, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to draw up the national land use planning according to the following regulations:

a) Verifying the land use demands of the branches and localities in the subsequent land use planning period;

b) Drawing up schemes on distribution of land funds for the subsequent land use planning period, ensuring the implementation of the national overall socio-economic development, defense, security strategies and plannings;

c) Sending the drafts report explaining the national land use planning to the ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government-attached agencies for comments.

4. Within thirty (30) working days counting from the date of receiving the draft report, the ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government-attached agencies shall have to send their written comments to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

5. Within two (2) months counting from the date of receiving the written comments, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum up the opinions and finalize the report explaining the national land use planning for submission to the Government.

6. The national land use planning dossier shall comprise:

a) The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's report to the Government on the national land use planning;

b) The report explaining the national land use planning;

c) The current national land use map;

d) The national land use planning map.

7. The national land use planning shall be adjusted in cases where the socio-economic development plannings, the targets of socio-economic development, defense or security programs or projects, the regional construction plannings or urban construction plannings are adjusted, thus altering the land use structure or in cases where natural disasters or wars occur, thus altering the land use structure. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to compile dossiers of adjustment of the national land use planning for submission to the Government. When compiling the dossiers of adjustment of the land use planning, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall gather comments of the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies which are related to the to be-adjusted land categories. The dossier of adjustment of the national land use planning shall include:

a) The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's report to the Government on the adjustment of the national land use planning;

b) The report explaining the adjustment of the national land use planning;

c) The map of the adjustment of the national land use planning.

Article 17.- Elaboration and adjustment of national land use plans

1. The national land use plans shall be formulated on the bases prescribed in Clause 2, Article 22 of the Land Law.

2. The formulation of the national land use plan for the first five (5) years of a land use planning period (called the first-period land use plan) shall be carried out simultaneously with the formulation of the national land use planning prescribed in Article 16 of this Decree. The dossier of the first-period land use plan shall be compiled together with the land use planning dossier. The contents of a land use plan shall be the schedule of materializing the contents of the land use planning for the first five (5) years of the planning period and detailed by year, ensuring the implementation of five-year or annual socio-economic development plans of the State.

3. The formulation of the national land use plan for the last five (5) years of the land use planning period (called the last-period land use plan) is stipulated as follows:

a) Before commencing the twelve-month last-period land use plan, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall base itself on the national land use planning and the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article to formulate the schemes on distribution of land funds to the last-period land use plan, ensuring the implementation of the five-year and annual socio-economic development plans of the State and draft the report explaining the land use plan; send the draft report to the ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government-attached agencies for comments;

b) Within thirty (30) working days counting from the date of receiving the draft report, the ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government-attached agencies shall have to send their written comments to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) Within two (2) months as from the date of receiving the written comments, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum them up and finalize the report explaining the land use plan for submission to the Government.

4. The last-period land use plan dossier shall comprise:

a) The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's report on the national land use plan;

b) The report explaining the national land use plan;

c) The current national land use map.

5. The adjustment of the national land use plan shall be made in cases where appears the adjustment of the national land use planning, the adjustment of the socio-economic development planning or the adjustment of the regional construction planning, urban construction planning or when there appear changes in the possibility of implementation of the land use plan. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to compile dossiers on adjustment of the national land use plan for submission to the Government. When compiling the adjustment dossiers, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall gather comments of the ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government-attached agencies on the to be-adjusted land categories. The national land use plan adjustment dossier shall comprise:

a) The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's report to the Government on the adjustment of the national land use plan;

b) The report explaining the adjustment of the national land use plan.

Article 18.- Organizing the gathering of people's comments on detailed land use plannings

1. The gathering of people's comments in the process of elaborating the detailed land use plannings of communes, wards or townships as provided for in Clause 5, Article 25 of the Land Law shall be effected as follows:

a) The draft detailed land use plannings must be introduced to every urban population group, village, hamlet and other population quarters; and at the same time must be posted up at the offices of the People's Committees of the communes, wards or townships where exists the land;

b) To organize the receipt of opinions contributed directly by people or through representatives of population quarters, Vietnam Fatherland Front and/or local mass organizations; to gather comments of the Standing Offices of the People's Councils of the communes, wards or townships where exists the land.

2. The time limit for gathering people's comments under the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article shall be thirty (30) days.

3. The agencies which elaborate the detailed land use plannings of communes, wards or townships shall have to sum up and accept people's comments for finalization of the draft detailed land use planning.

Article 19.- Consideration and approval of provincial/municipal land use plannings, plans

1. The dossiers for consideration and approval of provincial/municipal land use plannings and plans shall each be made in fifteen (15) sets to be submitted at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The provincial/municipal People's Committee's report to the Government for consideration and approval of the land use planning, plan;

b) The report explaining the land use planning, plan;

c) The current land use map;

d) The land use planning map for case of considering and approving the land use planning.

2. Order of considering and approving land use plannings, plans is prescribed as follows:

a) Within three (3) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to send dossiers for consideration and approval of land use plannings, plans to the concerned ministries and agencies for comments.

Within fifteen (15) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers, the ministries and agencies shall have to send their written comments to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Within ten (10) working days as from the end of the time limit for comments, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum up and send its appraisal to the provincial/municipal People's Committees for finalization of the dossiers;

b) The provincial/municipal People's Committees shall finalize the dossiers and submit them to the People's Councils of the same level for approval of the land use plannings, plans; send five (5) sets of dossiers already approved by the People's Councils together with the People's Councils' resolutions to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) Within ten (10) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers for consideration and approval of the land use plannings, plans as provided for at Point b of this Clause, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to submit them to the Government for consideration and approval.

Article 20.- Consideration and approval of land use plannings, plans of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns

1. The dossiers for consideration and approval of land use plannings, plans of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall each be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The report of the People's Committee of the rural district, urban district, provincial capital or town to the provincial/municipal People's Committee for consideration and approval of the land use planning, plan;

b) The report explaining the land use planning, plan;

c) The current land use map;

d) The land use planning map, for the case of considering and approving the land use planning.

2. The order of considering and approving land use plannings, plans is prescribed as follows:

a) Within three (3) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to send the dossiers of consideration and approval of land use plannings, plans to relevant agencies for their comments.

Within fifteen (15) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the agencies shall have to send their written comments to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environement.

Within ten (10) working days as from the end of the time limit for comments, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum up the comments and send their appraisals to the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns for finalization of the dossiers;

b) The People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall finalize the dossiers and submit them to the People's Councils of the same level for approving the land use plannings, plans; send three (3) sets of dossiers already approved by the People's Councils together with the latter's resolutions to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) Within ten (10) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers of consideration and approval of land use plannings, plans as provided for at Point b of this Clause, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to submit them to the provincial/municipal People's Committees for consideration and approval.

Article 21.- Consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of wards, townships and communes covered by the urban development plannings

1. The dossiers for consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of wards, townships and communes covered by the urban development plannings shall each be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted at the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The report of the People's Committee of the rural district, urban district, provincial capital or town to the provincial/municipal People's Committee for consideration and approval of the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

b) The report explaining the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

c) The current land use map;

d) The detailed land use planning map for the case of considering and approving the detailed land use planning.

2. The order of considering and approving the detailed land use plannings,detailed land use plans is prescribed as follows:

a) Within three (3) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to send the dossiers of consideration and approval of the detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans to relevant agencies for their comments.

Within fifteen (15) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers, the agencies shall have to send their written comments to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment.

Within ten (10) working days as from the end of the time limit for comments, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum up and send their appraisals to the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns for finalization of the dossiers;

b) After finalizing the dossiers, the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall submit them to the People's Councils of the same level for approval of the detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans; send four (4) sets of dossiers already approved by the People's Councils of the same level together with the latter's resolutions to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) Within ten (10) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers of consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans as prescribed at Point b of this Clause, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to submit them to the provincial/municipal People's Committees for consideration and approval.

3. The dossiers for consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of wards, townships or communes covered by the urban development plannings shall be submitted simultaneously together with the dossiers for consideration and approval of land use plannings, land use plans of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns as provided for in Article 20 of this Decree or submitted later but must be considered and approved in the last year of the preceding land use planning, land use plan period.

Article 22.- Consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of communes not covered by the urban development plannings

1. The dossiers for consideration and approval of detailed land use planning, detailed land use plans of communes not covered by the urban development plannings shall each be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted to the district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The commune People's Committee's report to the district/provincial capital or town People's Committee for consideration and approval of the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

b) The general report explaining the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

c) The current land use map;

d) The detailed land use planning map, for the case of considering and approving the detailed land use planning.

2. The order of considering and approving detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans is prescribed as follows:

a) Within three (3) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the district-level Natural Resources and Environment Sections shall have to send the dossiers of consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans to the relevant agencies for their comments.

Within fifteen (15) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers, the agencies shall have to send their written comments to the Natural Resources and Environment Sections.

Within ten (10) days as from the end of the time limit for comments, the Natural Resources and Environment Sections shall have to sum up and send their appraisals to the commune People's Committees for finalization of dossiers;

b) After finalizing the dossiers, the commune People's Committees shall submit them to the commune People's Councils for approval of the detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans; send three (3) sets of dossiers already approved by the commune People's Councils, enclosed with the People's Councils' resolutions to the Natural Resources and Environment Sections;

c) Within ten (10) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers of consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans as prescribed at Point b of this Clause, the Natural Resources and Environment Sections shall have to submit them to the district, provincial capital or town People's Committees for consideration and approval.

Article 23.- Consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of hi-tech parks, economic zones

1. The dossiers for consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of hi-tech parks, economic zones shall each be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment of the localities where the land exists for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The report of the hi-tech park management board, the economic zone management board to the provincial/municipal People's Committee for consideration and approval of the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

b) The general report explaining the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

c) The current land use map;

d) The detailed land use planning map, for the case of considering and approving the detailed land use planning.

2. The order of considering and approving detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of hi-tech parks, economic zones is prescribed as follows:

a) Within three (3) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to send the dossiers for consideration and approval of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of hi-tech parks, economic zones to the relevant agencies for comments.

Within fifteen (15) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers, the said agencies shall have to send their written comments to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment.

Within ten (10) working days as from the end of the time limit for comments, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum them up and send their appraisals to the hi-tech or economic zone management board for finalization of dossiers;

b) After finalizing the dossiers, the hi-tech park or economic zone management boards shall send four (4) sets of dossiers to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) Within ten (10) working days as from the date of receiving the finalized dossiers, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to submit them to the provincial/municipal People's Committees for consideration and approval.

Article 24.- Plannings and plans on use of land for defense, security purposes

1. The period of planning, plan on the use of land for defense or security purposes is prescribed as follows:

a) The period of planning on the use of land for defense or security purposes shall be ten (10) years, corresponding to the local and national land use planning periods;

b) The period of plan on the use of land for defense or security purposes shall be five (5) years, corresponding to the local and national land use plan periods.

2. The contents of plannings on the use of land for defense, security purposes shall include:

a) Assessment of the management and use of land for defense, security purposes;

b) Determination of demands for land used for defense or security purposes in the land use planning period, compatible with the overall planning on socio-economic development, defense as well as security and the socio-economic development plans of the State;

c) Determination of locations and acreages of defense or security land returned to localities for use for socio-economic development purposes;

d) Solutions to organizing the implementation of plannings on the use of land for defense, security purposes.

3. The contents of plans on the use of land for defense, security purposes shall include:

a) Assessment of the management and use of defense, security land of the preceding plan period;

b) Clear determination of locations, acreages of land used for defense or security purposes in the five-year plan and detailed to each year;

c) Specific determination of locations and acreages of defense or security land returned to localities for management in five (5) years;

d) Solutions to organizing the implementation of plans on the use of land for defense, security purposes.

Article 25.- Consideration and approval of plannings, plans on the use of land for defense, security purposes

1. The dossiers for consideration and approval of plannings, plans on use of land for defense or security purposes shall each be made in fifteen (15) sets to be submitted at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The report of the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Public Security, submitted to the Government for consideration and approval of a planning or plan on the use of land for defense or security purposes;

b) The provincial/municipal People's Committee's written opinions on the demand for land used for defense or security purposes in the locality;

c) The general report explaining the planning, plan on the use of land for defense, security purposes.

2. The order of considering and approval of plannings, plans on the use of land for defense or security purposes is as follows:

a) Within three (3) working days as from the date of receiving the complete and valid dossiers, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to send the dossiers for consideration and approval of plannings, plans on the use of land for defense, security purposes to the relevant ministries and branches for their comments.

Within fifteen (15) working days as from the date of receiving the dossiers, the ministries and branches shall have to send their written comments to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Within ten (10) working days as from the date of fully receiving the comments, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum them up and send its appraisal to the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Public Security for finalization of dossiers;

b) After finalizing the dossiers, the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Public Security shall send five (5) dossier sets to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) Within ten (10) working days as from the date of receiving the finalized dossiers, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to submit them to the Government for consideration and approval.

Article 26.- Adjustment of land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans

1. Contents of adjustment of land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans shall include:

a) Addition, adjustment or cancellation of works, projects in the planning, plan periods;

b) Restructuring of assorted land in the agricultural land group; change of locations, acreages of functionally zoned off-land areas in the non-agricultural land group; change of targets of putting unused land to use;

c) Change of the schedule for plan implementation, which is three (3) years faster or slower than the land use plan, the detailed land use plan, which have been already approved;

d) Solutions to organizing the adjustment of land use plannings, plans.

2. The adjustment of land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans shall be made in cases where there appears the adjustment of socio-economic development plannings, the adjustment of objectives of socio-economic development, defense or security programs, projects, the adjustment of regional construction plannings or urban construction plannings and such adjustment alters the land use structure or in cases where natural disasters or wars cause the change in land use structure.

3. The dossiers for consideration and approval of adjustment of land use plannings, plans of provinces or centrally run cities shall each be made in fifteen (15) sets to be submitted at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; or rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns and of wards, district townships or communes in urban development planning regions shall be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted to the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; of communes outside the urban development planning regions shall be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted at the district-level Natural Resources and Environment Sections for appraisal; such a dossier shall include:

a) The report of the People's Committee of the level which formulates the land use planning, land use plan or detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan, submitted to the competent State agency for consideration and approval;

b) The report explaining the adjustment of the land use planning, land use plan or detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

c) The land use planning map of the to be-adjusted area, for the case of adjusting land use plannings or detailed land use plannings.

4. Dossiers for consideration and approval of adjustment of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of hi-tech parks, economic zones shall each be made in ten (10) sets to be submitted at the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The report of the hi-tech park or economic zone management board to be submitted to the provincial/municipal People's Committee for consideration and approval of the adjustment of the detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

b) The report explaining the adjustment of detailed land use planning, detailed land use plan;

c) The detailed land use planning map of the to be-adjusted area, for the case of adjusting detailed land use planning.

5. The dossiers for consideration and approval of plannings, plans on the use of land for defense or security purposes shall each be made in fifteen (15) sets to be submitted at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for appraisal; such a dossier shall comprise:

a) The report of the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Public Security to be submitted to the Government for consideration and approval of planning or plan on the use of land for defense or security purposes;

b) The provincial/municipal People's Committee's written opinions on the adjustment of demands for land used for defense or security purposes in the locality;

c) The report explaining the adjustment of the planning, plan on the use of land for defense or security purpose.

6. The order of considering and approving the adjustment of land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans is as follows:

a) The order of considering and approving the adjustment of land use plannings, plans of provinces or centrally-run cities shall be the same as that prescribed in Clause 2, Article 19 of this Decree;

b) The order of considering and approving the adjustment of land use plannings, plans of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall be the same as that prescribed in Clause 2, Article 20 of this Decree;

c) The order of considering and approving the adjustment of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of wards, townships and communes in the urban development planning regions shall be the same as that prescribed in Clause 2, Article 21 of this Decree;

d) The order of considering and approving the adjustment of detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of communes outside the urban development planning regions shall be the same as that prescribed in Clause 2, Article 22 of this Decree;

e) The order of considering and approving the detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans of hi-tech parks or economic zones shall be the same as that prescribed in Clause 2, Article 23 of this Decree;

f) The order of considering and approving the plannings, plans on the use of land for defense or security purposes shall be the same as that prescribed in Clause 2, Article 25 of this Decree;

g) The gathering of comments when appraising the adjustment of land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans shall be conducted only with agencies related to areas of assorted land to be adjusted.

Article 27.- Announcement of land use plannings, plans

1. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to publicize all documents on national land use plannings and plans, which have been decided by the National Assembly, at its office throughout the land use planning or plan period; to publish on the Official Gazette; to publicize on the Government's State management information network and publish their excerpts on a central daily.

2. The provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment and the district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to publicize all documents on their respective local land use plannings and plans, which have already been approved, at their respective offices throughout the land use planning or plan periods; to publicize them on State management information networks of the provinces or centrally-run cities and publish their excerpts on local newspapers.

3. The commune, ward, township People's Committees shall have to publicize all documents on detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans and investment projects as well as works, which have been already approved, at their offices throughout the land use planning, plan periods.

4. The hi-tech park management boards, the economic zone management boards shall have to publicize all documents on detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans, which have been already approved, at their headquarters throughout the land use planning, plan periods; publicize on the electronic information networks of the hi-tech parks or economic zones and publish their excerpts on branch newspapers or local newspapers in localities where exist such plannings.

5. All the documents on adjustment of land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans, which have been already approved, must be publicized like the land use plannings, land use plans, detailed land use plannings, detailed land use plans prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article.

6. The dossiers of plannings, plans on the use of land and the dossiers of adjustment of plannings, plans on the use of land for defense and security purposes shall be managed according to the confidentiality regime.

Article 28.- Management of land use plannings, plans

1. The People's Committees of the provinces or centrally-run cities, the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns, which decide on land assignment, land lease, land recovery or land use purpose changes must strictly comply with the approved land use plannings, plans.

The presidents of the People's Committees of provinces or centrally-run cities, the presidents of the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall have to detect and handle in time cases of violating land use plannings, plans in their respective localities.

2. The People's Committees of communes, wards, townships shall have to monitor the implementation of land use plannings, plans in their localities. Upon the detection of cases of using land in contravention of the publicized plannings or plans, they shall handle such cases according to their competence or request competent State agencies to handle them.

The presidents of the commune, ward or district township People's Committees shall bear the prime responsibility for failure to prevent and handle in time cases of using land in contravention of the approved land use plannings or plans in the localities.

3. The provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment, the district-level Sections of Natural Resources and Environment and the commune, ward or township cadastral personnel shall organize the examination and inspection of the implementation of land use plannings, plans in the localities; detect and handle according to their competence or request competent State bodies to handle violations of land use plannings, plans; in case of detecting violations in the implementation of plannings or plans on the use of land for defense or security purposes, the provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall send reports to the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Public Security for consideration and handling.

In case of discovering the practical demands for adjustment of land use plannings or plans, they shall report to the People's Committees of the same levels on such demands.

4. Annually, the People's Committees of all levels shall have to report on results of implementation of their local land use plans up to December 31; the time limits for submission of their reports are prescribed as follows:

a) The commune, ward or township People's Committees shall submit their reports to the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns before January 15 of the following year;

b) The People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall submit their reports to the provincial/municipal People's Committees before January 31 of the following year;

c) The provincial/municipal People's Committees shall submit their reports to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment before February 15 of the following year.

5. The Minister of Defense and the Minister of Public Security shall have to direct the implementation and examine, inspect the implementation of plannings and plans on the use of land for defense or security purposes throughout the country.

Annually, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall have to report to the Government on the results of implementation of plans on the use of land for defense, security purposes by December 31 and at the same time send one copy to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for synthesis; the deadline for submitting reports shall be before January 31 of the following year.

6. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall have to sum up the results of implementation of annual land use plans of the whole country for report thereon to the Government; the deadline for report submission shall be before March 15 of the following year.

7. The report on results of implementation of annual land use plans for the last year of the first-period land use plan must be enclosed with the general report on the implementation of the whole land use plan period.

The report on results of implementation of annual land use plans for the last year of the land use planning period must be enclosed with a general report on the implementation of the last-period land use plan and a general report on the implementation of the whole land use planning period.

Article 29.- Handling of land areas determined to be recovered or subject to use purpose change in the approved land use plans, which, however, after three (3) years, have not been materialized

1. State agencies competent to consider and approve land use plannings, plans may adjust the land use plannings or plans of the current period or the next period with regard to the land areas already determined to be recovered or subject to use purpose change in the publicized land use plans which, however, after three (3) years have not yet been materialized in the following cases:

a) The land areas for execution of works, investment projects in service of defense, security, national interests or public interests but there are not enough fundings for the execution thereof;

b) The land areas for execution of works, investment projects in service of economic development with investors being identified in the last year of the three-year time limit, which require the announcement of adjustment or cancellation of land use plans under the provisions of Clause 3, Article 29 of the Land Law.

2. For cases not prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the State agencies competent to consider and approve land use plannings, plans must publicize the cancellation of land use plans regarding the land areas already determined as being recovered or subject to use purpose change.

Chapter IV

LAND ASSIGNMENT, LAND LEASE, LAND USE PURPOSE CHANGE, LAND RECOVERY, LAND REQUISITION

Article 30.- Grounds for land assignment, land lease, land use purpose change

Grounds for deciding on land assignment, land lease, permission for land use purpose change shall include:

1. The land use demands reflected in the following documents:

a) Investment projects of organizations using investment capital sources from the State budget, which have been approved by competent State agencies, or foreign-invested projects already granted investment licenses by competent State agencies;

b) Documents appraising the demands for land use for execution of investment projects of economic organizations which do not use State budget capital sources or which are not foreign-invested projects. The provincial/municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the concerned Services, departments and branches in, appraising the land use demands on the basis of examining the investment project dossiers according to law provisions on investment;

c) The projects on construction of religious establishments, already approved by the provincial/municipal People's Committees;

d) The applications of households or individuals for land assignment, land use purpose change with certifications by the People's Committees of the communes, wards or townships where exists the land demanded for use, for case of applying for assignment of agricultural land within the land assignment limits or assignment of land for construction of dwelling houses;

e) The population communities' applications for land assignment with certifications by the People's Committees of the communes, wards or townships where exists the land demanded for use.

2. The good observance of the land legislation by applicants for land assignment or land lease for cases where the land assignment or land lease applicants have been previously assigned or leased land by the State for execution of production, business or service investment projects. On the basis of the self-declarations by the land assignment or land lease applicants about the entire acreages, the use of land previously assigned or leased by the State and their self-remarks on their observance of the land legislation, the provincial/ municipal Services of Natural Resources and Environment of the localities where exists the land, for which the land assignment or land lease procedures are being carried out, shall have to contact the provincial/municipal Services
of Natural Resources and Environment of the localities where exists the land which was previously assigned or leased in order to verify the land users' observance of the land legislation in the course of execution of projects to which the State assigned or leased land.

3. The detailed land use plannings or detailed land use plans, the urban construction plannings or rural population quarter construction plannings, which have been already approved by competent State agencies.

In cases where the detailed land use plannings or the detailed land use plans are not yet available, the land use plannings or land use plans already approved by competent State agencies shall serve as bases therefor.

Article 31.- Competence to assign land, lease land, permit land use purpose change and recover land

1. The competence to assign land, to lease land, to permit land use purpose change shall comply with the provisions of Article 37 of the Land Law.

The provincial/ municipal People's Committees shall assign land to the land fund development organizations for management.

2. The competence to recover land shall comply with the provisions of Article 44 of the Land Law.

Where land is recovered for assignment or lease to religious organizations or establishments, overseas Vietnamese, foreign organizations or foreign individuals and the to be-recovered land is being used by households, individuals or jointly by organizations, households and individuals, the provincial/ municipal People's Committees shall decide to recover the entire land areas. Basing themselves on the provincial/municipal People's Committees' decisions on recovery of the entire land areas, the People's Committees of rural districts, urban districts, provincial capitals or towns shall decide on the recovery of specific land area from each household, individual.

3. Where overseas Vietnamese, foreign organizations and/or foreigners use land for execution of investment projects but have to change the land use purposes due to the adjustment of the investment projects already approved by competent State agencies, the provincial/ municipal People's Committees shall permit the land use purpose change.

Article 32.- Competence to adjust land assignment, land lease decisions with regard to the land assigned or leased before the Land Law took implementation effect

The State agencies competent to assign land, lease land, defined in Article 37 of the Land Law, shall be the agencies competent to decide on adjustment for cases where the land users had been given land assignment or land lease decisions before the Land Law took implementation effect (July 1, 2004).

Article 33.- The durations of using the land assigned or leased by the State

1. The durations of using the land assigned or leased by the State shall be calculated from the dates of issuance of the land assignment or lease decisions by competent state agencies.

Where the land had been assigned or leased before October 15, 1993 but the land assignment decisions or the land lease contracts failed to clearly state the land assignment or lease duration, the land assignment or land lease duration shall comply with the provisions of Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 68, Article 71, Article 78, Clause 5 of Article 84, Clause 3 of Article 86, Clause 1 of Article 87, of this Decree and be calculated from October 15, 1993.

2. The land users may continue using the land for the remaining duration of the time limits stated in the land assignment decisions or land lease contracts.

Article 34.- Continuing to assign land, lease agricultural land; extending the land use duration or recovering land upon the expiry of land use time limits

1. Upon the expiry of land use durations, the households and individuals directly involved in agricultural production, forestry, aquaculture or salt making, that have used the agricultural land assigned or leased by the State, have their use rights recognized by the State or have been transferred the land use rights, may continue using the land with the land use durations prescribed in Clause 1, Article 67 of the Land Law, except for cases where the State issues land recovery decisions as provided for in Clauses 1, 4, 7, 8 and 11 of Article 38 of the Land Law.

2. The extension of the use duration for land categories with definite use durations not falling within the cases prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article shall comply with the following regulations:

a) Within six (6) months before the expiry of the use duration, if having demand to continue using the land, the land users shall file their applications to the State agencies competent to assign or lease land for consideration and settlement under the provisions of Clauses 1, 3 and 4, Article 67 of the Land Law;

b) The extension duration for cases where households, individuals lease agricultural land shall be determined in accordance with the provisions in Clause 1, Article 67 of the Land Law;

c) The extension duration for cases where economic organizations use land for the purposes of agricultural production, forestry, aquaculture, salt making; economic organizations, households, individuals use land as ground for construction of production and/or business establishments; economic organizations use land for execution of investment projects; overseas Vietnamese, foreign organizations and/or individuals use land for execution of investment projects in Vietnam shall be determined according to the supplementary projects already approved by competent State agencies, but must not exceed the duration of land assignment or land lease by the State.

3. Where the land users do not wish to continue using the land or apply for use duration extension as provided for in Clause 2 of this Article or are not permitted by competent State agencies for land use extension, the State shall recover the land under the provisions of Clause 10, Article 38 of the Land Law.

4. Annually, the People's Committees of the level competent to recover land shall direct the natural resource and environment agencies to review the land use duration in order to decide on land recovery applicable to cases prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 35.- Handling of land use levies, land rents, assets already invested in land, for cases of land recovery prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11 and 12, Article 38 of the Land Law

1. The People's Committees of the level competent to recover land shall set up Valuation Councils to determine the remaining values of the land use levies, land rents, assets already invested in the land, for cases where the land use levies, land rents, asset money invested in the land have not originated from the State budget; the remaining values belong to the ownership of the persons with their land recovered.

Where the land is assigned by the State without the collection of land use levies or the land is leased by the State with land rents being paid annually, or the land is assigned by the State with the collection of land use levies or leased by the State with land rents paid for the whole lease term or the land is leased by the State with land rents being paid for many years and the paid land use levies and/or land rents have originated from the State budget, only the remaining value portions invested in the land and not originating from the State budget shall belong to the ownership of the persons with their land recovered.

2. The remaining values of land use levies, land rents, assets already invested in land, which belong to the ownership of the persons with their land recovered shall be handled according to the following regulations:

a) Where the recovered land lies in urban areas or urban development planning regions, which is assigned to the land fund development organizations, the land fund development organizations shall have to pay the remaining values to the persons with their land recovered; in places where the land fund development organizations are not available, the payment to the persons with their land recovered shall be made by the budget of the level managing the recovered land;

b) Where the recovered land lies in rural areas and is assigned to the commune, district township People's Committees for management or for addition to the public land funds, such commune or district township People's Committees shall have to make payment to the persons with their land recovered;

c) Where the recovered land is assigned or leased to other persons by the State, the land assignees or lessees shall have to make payment to the persons with land recovered.

3. Where the recovered land belongs to the non-agricultural land group eligible for participation in the real estates market, the People's Committees of the level competent to recover the land shall apply form of auctioning the land use right and assets already invested in the land and handle the remaining values of the land use levies, land rents, assets already invested in the land, which belong to the ownership of the persons with land recovered according to the following regulations:

a) If the proceeds from auctions, after subtracting expenses for organization of the auctions, are lower than the remaining values belonging to the ownership of the persons with land recovered, such persons shall be entitled to receive the whole sums of such money;

b) If the proceeds from auctions, after subtracting the expenses for organization of the auctions, are higher than or equal to the remaining values belonging to the ownership of the persons with land recovered, such persons shall be entitled to receive the remaining values belonging to their ownership; the differences shall be remitted into the State budget.

4. Where the land is recovered due to acceptance of the land use right transfer, the transfer money, the remaining value of the assets already invested in land shall be settled like in the case of recovering land assigned by the State with the collection of land use levies as provided for in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.

5. Where the to be-recovered land has been leased, mortgaged, guaranteed or contributed as capital with the land use right by the persons with land to be recovered, the interests of the land lessees, mortgagees, guarantees or receivers of capital contributed with the land use right shall be settled under the provisions of Article 65 of this Decree.

Article 36.- Recovery of land and management of recovered land funds

1. The State shall recover land for use for defense, security purposes, for national interests, public interests in the following cases:

a) Using the land for defense or security purposes;

b) Using the land for construction of working offices, non-business works with land assigned by the State without the collection of land use levies;

c) Using the land for construction of offices of foreign organizations with diplomatic functions;

d) Using the land for construction of public works not for business purposes;

e) Using the land for renovation, development of urban centers and rural population quarters;

f) Using the land for development of protective forests, special-use forests;

g) Using the land for religious establishments;

h) Using the land for construction of cemeteries, graveyards.

2. The State shall recover land for use for economic development purposes in the following cases:

a) Using the land for investment in construction of industrial parks defined in Article 90 of the Land Law, hi-tech parks defined in Article 91 of the Land Law, economic zones defined in Article 92 of the Land Law;

b) Using the land for execution of investment production, business, service or tourist projects of Group A under the provisions of the legislation on investment, which have been approved or permitted for investment by competent State agencies but cannot be invested in industrial parks, hi-tech parks or economic zones;

c) Using the land for execution of investment projects with sources of official development assistance (ODA) capital;

d) Using the land for execution of projects with 100% foreign investment capital, which have already been approved or permitted for investment by competent State agencies but cannot be invested in industrial parks, hi-tech parks or economic zones.

3. All cases of land recovery prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article must be included in detailed land use plannings, plans; detailed urban construction plannings or rural population quarter construction plannings, which have been already approved by competent State agencies.

4. The recovered land areas prescribed at Points d and e of Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article shall be assigned to the land fund development organizations for management, for cases where the land use plannings or plans have been publicized but the investment projects are not available yet; assigned or leased to investors, for cases where the investment projects are available, but the investors must use the land for the right assignment or lease purposes.

5. The State shall recover land in the cases prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Article 38 of the Land Law and assign the land to the commune People's Committees for management if the recovered land lies in rural areas, or to the land fund development organizations for management if the recovered land lies in urban areas and regions with urban development planning.

6. The State shall not recover land for use for economic development purposes for projects not prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article or in cases where investors are transferred or leased the land use rights, or receive capital contributed with the land use rights of the current land users.

In case of receiving the land use right transfer or capital contributed with the land use rights for use of land for production and/or business purposes, which entails the land use purpose change, the land use right transferees must be allowed to change the land use purposes under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 36 of the Land Law or to register the land use purpose changes under the provisions of Clause 2, Article 36 of the Land Law.

In cases of renting land of the current land users, the l