Decree No. 01/2017/ND-CP Amending and Supplementing Several Decrees Detailing the Implementation of the Land Law

Instrument and legal basis

Decree No. 01/2017/ND-CP is issued by The Government, on the proposal of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, to amend and supplement a series of decrees that provide detailed implementation of the Land Law. It rests principally on the Law on Organisation of The Government dated 19 June 2015 and the Land Law dated 29 November 2013.

The Decree is an omnibus amending instrument: rather than establishing a stand-alone regime, it inserts new articles into and revises existing articles of the three core implementing decrees of the 2013 Land Law.

Documents amended

The Decree amends and supplements Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP (detailing implementation of a number of articles of the Land Law, covering land administration, cadastral records and issuance of certificates), Decree No. 44/2014/ND-CP (land prices), and Decree No. 47/2014/ND-CP (compensation, support and resettlement upon land recovery by the State). It works by replacing or adding numbered articles within each of those decrees.

Land administration and certificates

The largest body of amendments applies to Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP. New provisions govern the determination of land type (Articles 3 and 3a) and confirmation of agricultural land use, and set capacity and eligibility conditions for organisations providing cadastral survey, land valuation and land-use-right auction services (Articles 5a and 5b).

Detailed rules are added for issuance and re-issuance of the Certificate of land use rights, ownership of housing and other assets attached to land (Article 24a and related procedures), including the order and procedures for registration and grant of certificates and the responsibilities of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Land Registration Office.

Land recovery, use and disposition

The Decree inserts provisions on land recovery in cases of violation of land law and on land recovery where use is terminated or land is voluntarily returned (Articles 15a and 15b). It adds rules on lease of assets attached to leased land (Article 38a), conditions for transfer of land use rights of investment projects (Article 42a), and the handling and use of land use rights in specified situations (Articles 43a to 43dd), together with rules for production forest land (Article 45a) and contribution of land use rights (Article 49a).

Sector-specific regimes are revised for industrial-zone, industrial-cluster and export-processing-zone land (Article 51) and for land with a water surface (Article 57a).

Procedures and timeframes

A central thrust of the Decree is administrative simplification. It revises the time for carrying out land administrative procedures (Article 61) and adds new sequences and procedures for numerous transactions (Articles 69a, 72a, 74a, 79a, 83a and others), shortening and standardising the steps for registration, recovery, valuation and certificate issuance. It also adds a statute of limitations for the resolution of certain land matters (Article 90a) and clarifies competence to adjust and handle land use.

Land prices and compensation

Amendments to Decree No. 44/2014/ND-CP add responsibilities for organising the determination of specific land prices and revise provisions connected to Article 114 of the Land Law on land pricing. Amendments to Decree No. 47/2014/ND-CP revise the rules on compensation for land upon land recovery by the State.

Effect

The amendments take effect on the enforcement date fixed in the Decree and operate by integrating into and superseding the corresponding provisions of Decrees No. 43/2014/ND-CP, No. 44/2014/ND-CP and No. 47/2014/ND-CP.