Circular No. 03/2026/TT-BXD guiding certain provisions of the Decree on the development of smart cities

CIRCULAR

Guidance on certain provisions of the Decree on smart city development

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Pursuant to Decree No. 33/2025/NĐ-CP dated February 25, 2025 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

Pursuant to Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP dated October 14, 2025 of the Government on smart city development;

WHEREAS the proposal of the Director of the Urban Development Department;

The Minister of Construction promulgates this Circular guiding certain provisions of the Decree on smart city development.

Article 1. Scope of regulation, applicable subjects

1. This Circular guides the provisions at Clause 4, Article 21 regarding central-level urban development databases serving smart city development; the provisions at Point d, Clause 2, Article 30 regarding the framework process for evaluating smart urban areas, the capacity framework of organizations and units conducting evaluations, certification, and publicizing evaluation results; the provisions at Clause 2, Article 34 regarding sets of indicators and criteria for evaluating smart cities according to maturity levels, criteria, and bases for selecting organizations and units meeting conditions to conduct evaluations and recognize maturity levels of smart cities; the provision of information and data for the National Smart City Information Portal as stipulated at Clause 3, Article 43 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP dated October 14, 2025 of the Government on smart city development.

2. This Circular applies to cities, provinces, urban areas within cities and provinces, agencies, organizations, and individuals related to smart city development.

Article 2. Evaluation of smart city maturity level

1. General requirements

a) Evaluations of smart city maturity levels must ensure transparency, objectivity, and fairness;

b) Uniformly apply the evaluation criteria and indicators, recognition provisions stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article;

c) Ensure responsibility and honesty in evaluations and recognitions; evaluations must be based on data, information, files, and actual implementation results up to the time of evaluation. Do not evaluate based on orientation, plans, or projects that have not been implemented with specific results.

2. Recognition criteria for smart city maturity levels

a) The evaluation criteria and indicators, recognition criteria for smart city maturity levels according to increasing levels include the foundation-building level, system-linking level, and governance-reform level, detailed in Appendix I attached to this Circular.

Provincial People's Committees base on specific local conditions to integrate evaluation criteria and indicators, recognition criteria for smart city maturity levels to serve local smart city development goals or to evaluate smart city maturity levels according to international organization standards, criteria, and evaluation indicators; determine tasks and solutions for developing smart cities towards sustainable city levels, ensuring common sustainability goals after completing criteria and indicators for the governance-reform level;

b) Criteria and indicators are evaluated in two forms: pass or fail; criteria and indicators without appropriate evidence are evaluated as fail;

c) Provincial cities implement evaluations based on 19 basic indicators (B1, B2) and select other advanced indicators prioritized according to relevant fields, conditions, levels, and stages of development;

Cities and new cities within provinces implement evaluations based on 09 basic indicators (B2) and select other advanced indicators prioritized according to relevant fields, conditions, levels, and stages of development; simultaneously evaluate 10 basic indicators (B1) conducted by the province;

3. Recognition of smart city maturity levels

a) Cities and new cities are recognized according to achieved maturity levels or by field;

b) Cities and new cities are recognized according to maturity levels when they meet the basic criteria (B1, B2) of that level and adjacent levels; and achieve all advanced criteria across fields during evaluation and recognition;

c) Cities and new cities are recognized by field when they meet the basic criteria (B1, B2) of that level and adjacent levels; and achieve advanced criteria in one or more prioritized fields during evaluation and recognition.

4. Organizations and units meeting conditions to conduct evaluations and recognize smart city maturity levels shall be responsible for implementing the provisions at Clause 3, Article 34 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP, publicly announcing their implementation in accordance with current laws and meeting the following requirements:

a) Commitment in writing to comply with the provisions at Point a, Clause 3, Article 34 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP;

b) Possess human resources capability, establish internal regulations, and issue them for managing evaluation and recognition activities of smart city maturity levels;

c) Prioritize linking with reputable international organizations to carry out evaluation and recognition activities of smart city maturity levels in cases of evaluating and recognizing maturity levels of centrally-administered cities. Linked international organizations must ensure they have carried out one of the following activities: evaluating and recognizing smart cities, issuing standards, criteria, and indicators for evaluating smart cities, and independently implementing or through collaboration with other organizations and units to evaluate and recognize smart city maturity levels.

5. Methods of evaluating and recognizing smart city maturity levels

a) Provincial People's Committees organize the selection of organizations and units meeting conditions to conduct evaluations and recognize smart city maturity levels in accordance with the requirements stipulated in Clause 4 of this Article; organize the preparation of applications for evaluation and recognition of smart city maturity levels for provincial cities or new cities with boundaries exceeding one commune administrative unit;

b) Commune People's Committees organize the selection of organizations and units meeting conditions to conduct evaluations and recognize smart city maturity levels in accordance with the requirements stipulated in Clause 4 of this Article; organize the preparation of applications for evaluation and recognition of smart city maturity levels for new cities or cities with boundaries within one commune administrative unit;

c) Organizations and units stipulated in Clause 4 of this Article implement evaluation and recognition steps according to the published procedures;

d) In cases where cities and new cities meet the provisions at Clause 3 of this Article, organizations and units evaluating smart city maturity levels issue recognition certificates in writing sent to the relevant Provincial People's Committees, Commune People's Committees, the Ministry of Construction, and the National Smart City Information Portal.

In cases where cities and new cities do not meet the provisions at Clause 3 of this Article, organizations and units evaluating smart city maturity levels send evaluation results to the requesting agency.

6. Building urban development databases to manage development according to criteria, standards, indicators, and smart city maturity level evaluations:

a) Urban development databases are established and operated at the central level by the Ministry of Construction, uniformly from the central to local levels, including data created, updated, and managed within provinces and centrally-administered cities and approved and updated on the urban development database system by the province. Localities are responsible for creating, updating data into the system and using data within their management scope;

b) The connection, division of roles and responsibilities between the central and local levels in establishing, operating, managing, exploiting, and using urban development database systems are carried out according to the system's regulations and technical guidelines and data laws;

c) The scope, fields, scale, solutions, and timeline for building urban development databases to serve smart city development are determined according to smart city development plans, consistent with the needs of managing smart city maturity level criteria and other urban development management requirements; specifically detailed in plans for building and operating smart city development management information systems.

7. Responsibilities of Provincial People's Committees

a) Direct specialized agencies, Commune People's Committees, and related units to implement smart city maturity level evaluations in accordance with this Circular, suitable to local characteristics and circumstances;

b) Allocate funds to ensure inspection, evaluation, and recognition of smart city maturity levels in accordance with the law.

Article 3. Evaluation and Certification of Smart Urban Areas

1. General Requirements

a) The evaluation and certification of smart urban areas must ensure transparency, objectivity, and fairness;

b) Ensure responsibility and honesty in the evaluation and certification process; the evaluation must be based on data, information, files, and actual implementation results up to the time of evaluation.

2. The framework for evaluating and certifying smart urban areas is detailed in Appendix III attached hereto, including the following basic steps:

a) The project investor proposes that the organization or entity responsible for evaluating and certifying smart urban areas implement the evaluation and certification process after completing the entire urban area or each investment phase (if applicable);

b) The organization or entity responsible for evaluating and certifying smart urban areas conducts the evaluation according to the following basic steps: receiving and reviewing application files; conducting on-site surveys and inspections; consulting relevant parties; evaluating according to specific criteria that concretize the smart urban area criteria set forth in Appendix II attached hereto; compiling the evaluation results and issuing a report; issuing a certificate if requirements are met.

3. Organizations or entities implementing the evaluation and certification of smart urban areas must meet the basic requirements of the capability framework as follows, which shall be committed in writing:

a) Possess human resources, software, equipment, procedures, processes, and other tools necessary to assess compliance with the requirements specified in points a, b, c, and d of Clause 2, Article 30 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP through specific criteria and indicators;

b) Clearly define the procedures and processes for evaluating and certifying smart urban areas; receive and handle opinions from related organizations and individuals;

c) Have the ability to establish internal operating regulations and issue them for managing the evaluation and certification activities of smart urban areas;

d) Maintain complete records of the evaluation process, personnel, review, and certification of smart urban areas;

e) Establish links with reputable international organizations to carry out evaluation and recognition activities for the maturity level of smart cities when evaluating and certifying smart urban areas through projects with land use areas of 50 hectares or more, or less than 50 hectares but with a population of 15,000 people or more. The linked international organizations must have conducted at least one of the following activities: evaluating and recognizing smart cities; issuing standards, criteria, and indicators for evaluating smart cities.

4. Announcing and Publicizing the Results of Evaluating and Certifying Smart Urban Areas:

a) The announcement and publicizing shall be carried out in accordance with forms prescribed by current laws;

b) The certification document for smart urban areas clearly states the degree of compliance with the requirements specified in Clause 2, Article 30 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP and the corresponding level as stipulated in Appendix II attached hereto;

c) The organization or entity responsible for evaluating and certifying sends the certification results in writing to the project investor as specified in point a of Clause 2 of this Article and sends it to the Provincial People's Committee for consolidation and submission to the Ministry of Construction.

5. The evaluation and certification of smart urban areas may be carried out by one or more different organizations or entities, but they must fully comply with the requirements specified in points a, b, c, and d of Clause 2, Article 30 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP.

Article 4. Providing Information and Data for the National Smart City Portal

1. Ministries, sectors, and provincial People's Committees provide the National Smart City Portal with:

a) Information and data to connect with the National Smart City Portal regarding online services and other information systems, including: registering for controlled trial programs; providing information and submitting applications for financial support programs related to science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation in smart cities;

b) Registration and publicly announced information about projects as specified in Clause 2, Article 43 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP and the certification results of smart urban areas within the province as specified in point c of Clause 4, Article 3 of this Circular;

c) Other information and data serving state management of smart cities.

2. People's Committees of centrally governed cities and provinces with a development orientation towards smart cities provide the National Smart City Portal with information as specified in point d, Clause 1, Article 43 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP.

3. Developers provide the National Smart City Portal with information as specified in point b, Clause 1, Article 43 of Decree No. 269/2025/NĐ-CP.

4. Organizations and entities evaluating and recognizing the maturity level of smart cities, evaluating and certifying smart urban areas provide the National Smart City Portal with information and data on their capability to evaluate and recognize the maturity level of smart cities, evaluate and certify smart urban areas, and the content specified in point c, Clause 4, Article 3 of this Circular.

Article 5. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from the date of issuance./.