Land Law No. 13/2003/QH11

Legal basis and issuance

Law No. 13/2003/QH11 on Land (Land Law) was adopted by the National Assembly (10th tenure) and promulgated on the basis of the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as amended and supplemented by Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10. This Law provides for the management and use of Land. The excerpt supplied contains only the titles of Chapters and articles and does not state the effective date, the date of adoption or promulgation, or the specific earlier instruments replaced. Those details are therefore not summarised here.

Scope and subjects of application

The Law governs the entire regime of land management and use in Vietnam. Chapter I (General Provisions, Articles 1 to 20) defines its scope, applicable subjects, interpretation of terms, land ownership, State management of Land, and the rights and obligations of land users. It establishes principles for land use, incentive policies, land classification (Article 13), grounds for determining land categories, prohibited acts, and the system of boundaries (dia gioi), dossiers on boundaries, administrative maps, cadastral maps and maps of current land use status.

Land administration system

The Law provides a comprehensive administrative framework. It regulates principles, bases, contents, periods and competence for land use planning and plans (Articles 21 to 30) and their publication and implementation; cadastral work and dossiers, registration of land use rights, establishment and management of cadastral records, and the grant of certificates of land use rights (Articles 46 to 53); land statistics and inventory; land finance including Land price, State-determined Land price, consultancy on Land price, auction of land use rights, value of land use rights and exemption or reduction of land-related financial obligations (Articles 54 to 60); and the apparatus for State management of Land, including land management agencies and commune-level cadastral cadres (Articles 63 to 65).

Allocation, lease, repurposing, recovery and financial obligations

The Law sets out regimes for land allocation, land lease and change of land use purpose (Articles 31 to 37), including allocation with and without collection of land use levy and lease with and without rent, and the authority to decide thereon; cases, conditions and competence for land recovery and requisition of Land, and compensation, support and resettlement upon land recovery (Articles 38 to 45); and revenue sources from Land and principles for Land price determination by The State.

Rights and obligations of land users and land categories

Articles 66 to 104 classify and regulate specific land categories: agricultural land, forestry land, land with water surface, coastal alluvial land, land for salt production, residential land in rural and urban areas, land for construction of offices, land for national defence and security, land for industrial parks, land for public purposes, land for religious establishments, land with historical-cultural relics, cemetery land, river and canal land, and unused land, together with quota limits for allocation and time limits for use. Articles 105 to 121 prescribe the general rights and general obligations of land users and the specific rights and obligations attached to each form of use (allocation, lease, recognition of land use rights), including transfer, lease, inheritance, mortgage and other transactions, and settlement of land-related financial obligations to The State.

Effect and transition

The supplied excerpt does not contain the final chapter on implementation provisions, so the effective date, transitional handling and the list of instruments superseded or amended by this Law cannot be identified from the excerpt. The Law serves as the principal comprehensive code on Land until its subsequent amendment and supplementation and replacement by later Land Laws.