Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Land Law No. 10/1998/QH10

LAW

Amending and supplementing certain Articles of the Land Law

Based on the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1992;

This Law amends and supplements certain Articles of the Land Law adopted by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 14, 1993,

Article 1

Amending and supplementing certain Articles of the Land Law.

1. Economic organizations conducting foreign exchange trading agency activities; economic organizations conducting foreign currency receipt and payment service provision activities; economic organizations conducting border country currency exchange agency activities.

"Land belongs to the entire people and is uniformly managed by the State.

The State grants land to economic organizations, people's armed units, state agencies, political and social organizations (collectively referred to as organizations), households, and individuals for long-term stable use under the form of granting land without payment of land use fees and granting land with payment of land use fees. The State also leases land to organizations, households, and individuals. Organizations, households, and individuals granted land by the State, leased land, or received land use rights from others are collectively referred to as land users in this Law.

The State leases land to foreign organizations and individuals."

2. Article 3 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"1. The State protects the rights and legitimate interests of land users.

2. Organizations, households, and individuals granted land by the State, leased land, or received land use rights from others have the rights and obligations of land users as stipulated in this Law and other relevant laws.

3. Households and individuals granted land by the State have the right to convert, transfer, lease, inherit, and mortgage land use rights.

4. The rights and obligations of land users can only be exercised within the term of land grant or lease and in accordance with the intended purpose of the land grant or lease as stipulated in this Law and other relevant laws."

"Article 19. Reporting Responsibilities of the State Bank Branches at Provincial and Municipal Levels

"Bases for deciding to grant land and lease land:

1. Land use planning and plans that have been reviewed and approved by competent state authorities;

2. Requirements for land use recorded in economic and technical feasibility studies and designs that have been reviewed and approved by competent state authorities or in applications for land grant or lease."

4. Article 20 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"The State grants land to organizations, households, and individuals for long-term stable use.

The term for granting land for long-term stable use for annual crop cultivation, aquaculture is 20 years, for perennial crops is 50 years. When the term expires, if the land user has a need to continue using the land and has complied with the laws on land during the use period, the State will grant the land for continued use.

The State grants land for long-term use to households and individuals for housing purposes and only collects fees in cases specified in Article 26 and Article 27 of the Land Law.

The term for granting land for long-term stable use for other types of land is prescribed by the Government.

The term for leasing land is determined according to the project approved by competent state authorities but shall not exceed 50 years; for projects requiring a longer lease term, the time limit for leasing is decided by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and the Government for each project, but shall not exceed 70 years."

5. Article 22 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"The State grants land without payment of land use fees in the following cases:

1. Households and individuals directly engaged in agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, salt-making activities, whose main source of income is derived from these production activities, confirmed by the People's Committee of communes, wards, towns, and using the land for agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, and salt-making purposes within the land quota allocated by the State.

Households currently using agricultural land exceeding the quota before this Law takes effect may continue to use the excess land area for half the term of the land grant and must pay additional taxes on that land area according to the law; after this term, they must switch to leasing the land. For excess land areas acquired after this Law takes effect, the land users must lease the land.

2. Organizations using land for planting and protecting protective forests and special-use forests;

3. State agencies, political organizations, political-social organizations, and people's armed units using land for constructing office buildings and for national defense and security purposes;

4. State agencies, political organizations, political-social organizations, and people's armed units using land for constructing facilities in economic, cultural, social, scientific, technological, and diplomatic sectors;

5. Organizations using land for public purposes to construct roads, bridges, culverts, sidewalks, water supply and drainage systems, rivers, lakes, dikes, dams, schools, hospitals, markets, parks, flower gardens, children's playgrounds, squares, sports fields, airports, ports, and other public works as prescribed by the Government."

6. Supplementing Article 22a as follows:

"1. The State grants land with payment of land use fees in the following cases:

a) Households and individuals needing land for housing;

b) Economic organizations investing in constructing houses for sale or lease;

c) Economic organizations investing in constructing infrastructure for transfer or lease of land use rights attached to such infrastructure;

d) Granting land with payment of land use fees for some cases to create capital for infrastructure construction according to projects decided by the Government.

2. The granting of land with payment of land use fees as stipulated in point d, Clause 1 of this Article must meet the following conditions:

a) The land user must have a feasible project approved by competent state authorities;

b) The land must be used in accordance with the plan;

c) The land user must have financial and technical conditions.

Revenue from the granting of land and construction costs corresponding to the value of the granted land use rights must be fully accounted for in the State budget according to the law."

7. Supplementing Article 22b as follows:

"The State leases land in the following cases:

1. Economic organizations using land for production and business operations according to projects approved by competent state authorities, except for state-owned enterprises currently using land for agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, and salt-making purposes granted by the State before this Law takes effect, which do not need to switch to leasing land.

The State recovers land previously granted to state-owned enterprises for agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, and salt-making purposes, but not used, used incorrectly, or used inefficiently, to grant or lease to others according to this Law;

2. Households and individuals needing land for production and business operations;

3. Households and individuals who have a need to use land from the public welfare land fund of 5% at commune, ward, town level; for cases of land lease before this Law comes into effect, the lease term shall be carried out according to the land lease contract; after this Law comes into effect, the lease term shall not exceed five years.

8. Supplement Article 22c as follows:

"1. Organizations, households, and individuals granted land by the State with payment for land use or leased land shall be exempted or reduced from land use fees or land lease fees in the following cases:

a) Implementing investment projects in preferential fields;

b) Implementing investment projects in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, extremely difficult socio-economic conditions;

c) Implementing housing and residential land policies;

d) Other cases as prescribed by law.

2. The Government shall specify the details of exemptions and reductions of land use fees and land lease fees."

9. Supplement Article 78a as follows:

"1. Households and individuals granted land leases by the State and paying annual land lease fees have the right:

a) To mortgage assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land at Vietnamese credit institutions to borrow capital for production and business activities in accordance with the provisions of law;

b) To transfer assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land; the transferee has the right to continue to be granted land lease by the State and enjoys the rights stipulated in this clause.

2. Households and individuals granted land leases by the State and having paid land lease fees for the entire lease period have the right:

a) To mortgage the value of the land use right and assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land within the lease period at Vietnamese credit institutions to borrow capital for production and business activities in accordance with the provisions of law;

b) To transfer the land use right together with assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land, to inherit the land use right within the lease period in accordance with the provisions of law. The transferee and heir of the land use right enjoy the rights stipulated in this clause;

c) To contribute capital by the value of the land use right together with assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land within the lease period to cooperate in production and business activities with domestic organizations and individuals in accordance with the provisions of law;

d) To sublease the land use right within the lease period. Subleasing can only be carried out when the land has been developed according to a project or application for land lease and the sublessee must use the land for its intended purpose.

3. Households and individuals granted land leases by the State and having prepaid land lease fees for several years, if the remaining lease period is at least five years, they enjoy the rights stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article."

10. Supplement Article 78b as follows:

"1. Domestic organizations granted land by the State without payment for land use have the right to use the land for the assigned purposes, without the right to convert, transfer, lease, mortgage, or contribute capital by the value of the land use right, except for cases prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. Economic organizations granted land by the State without payment for land use for agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, salt-making purposes may mortgage assets owned by themselves attached to the land use right at Vietnamese credit institutions to borrow capital for production and business activities; they may contribute capital by the value of the land use right to cooperate in production and business activities with domestic organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals to continue using the land for agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, salt-making purposes, expanding processing industry, services to develop production in accordance with the Government's regulations."

11. Supplement Article 78c as follows:

"Economic organizations granted land by the State with payment for land use have the right:

1. To transfer the land use right attached to architectural works and infrastructure structures already built on the land;

2. To lease the land use right attached to architectural works and infrastructure structures already built on the land;

3. To mortgage the value of the land use right at Vietnamese credit institutions to borrow capital for production and business activities in accordance with the provisions of law;

4. To contribute capital by the value of the land use right together with assets owned by themselves attached to the land to cooperate in production and business activities with domestic organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals in accordance with the provisions of law."

12. Supplement Article 78d as follows:

"1. Economic organizations granted land leases by the State and paying annual land lease fees have the right:

a) To mortgage assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land at Vietnamese credit institutions to borrow capital for production and business activities in accordance with the provisions of law;

b) To transfer assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land; the transferee has the right to continue to be granted land lease by the State and enjoys the rights stipulated in this clause;

c) For state-owned enterprises, they have the right to contribute capital by the value of the leased land use right to cooperate in production and business activities with domestic organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals in accordance with the Government's regulations.

2. Economic organizations granted land leases by the State and having paid land lease fees for the entire lease period have the right:

a) To mortgage the value of the land use right and assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land within the lease period at Vietnamese credit institutions to borrow capital for production and business activities in accordance with the provisions of law;

b) To transfer the land use right together with assets owned by themselves attached to the leased land within the lease period in accordance with the provisions of law. The transferee of the land use right enjoys the rights stipulated in this clause;

c) To contribute capital by the value of the leased land use right within the lease period together with assets owned by themselves attached to the land to cooperate in production and business activities with domestic organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals in accordance with the provisions of law;

d) To sublease the land use right within the lease period. Subleasing can only be carried out when the land has been developed according to a project and the sublessee must use the land for its intended purpose.

3. Economic organizations granted land leases by the State and having prepaid land lease fees for several years, if the remaining lease period is at least five years, they enjoy the rights stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article."

13. Supplement Article 78đ as follows:

"The implementation of the rights of organizations, households, and individuals prescribed in Articles 78a, 78b, 78c, and 78d of this Law must be processed at competent state agencies in accordance with the provisions of law."

14. Supplement Article 78e as follows:

"WITH respect to economic organizations that have legally acquired the right to use land from others through transfer or have been granted land by the State with payment, where such payment does not originate from the State budget, they are not required to convert to leasehold. Such organizations shall enjoy the rights stipulated in Article 78c of this Law.

IN the case of acquiring the right to use agricultural or forestry land together with a change in land use purpose approved by competent state authorities, the duration of land use shall be calculated according to the project's term approved by competent state authorities but shall not exceed 50 years".

Article 2

1.The Ordinance on the Rights and Obligations of Domestic Organizations Granted Land or Leased Land by the State, adopted by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on October 14, 1994, and the Ordinance Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of the Ordinance on the Rights and Obligations of Domestic Organizations Granted Land or Leased Land by the State, adopted by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on August 27, 1996, shall cease to be effective from the date this Law comes into force.

2.This Law shall take effect from January 1, 1999.

3.The Government shall amend and supplement the detailed implementing regulations for the Land Law to be consistent with this Law.

This Law was adopted by the Fourth Session of the Tenth National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on December 2, 1998.