Circular No. 03/2016/TT-BXD dated March 10, 2016 of the Ministry of Construction prescribing the grading of construction works and guiding the application of construction work grades in the management of construction investment activities

CIRCULAR

Prescribing the grading of construction works and guiding the application of construction work grades in the management of construction investment activities[1]

Pursuant to June 18, 2014 Construction Law No. 50/2014/QH13;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 46/2015/ND-CP of May 12, 2015, on quality management and maintenance of construction works (below referred to as Decree No. 46/2015/ND-CP);

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 59/2015/ND-CP of June 18, 2015, on management of construction investment projects (below referred to as Decree No. 59/2015/ND-CP);

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 62/2013/ND-CP of June 25, 2013, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

At the proposal of the director of the Department for State Inspection of Construction Quality;

The Minister of Construction promulgates the Circular prescribing the grading of construction works and guiding the application of construction work grades in the management of construction investment activities.

Article 1.Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. Scope of regulation:

This Circular prescribes in detail the grading of construction works and guides the application of construction work grades in the management of work construction investment activities specified in Clause 3, Article 8 of Decree No. 46/2015/ND-CP.

2. Subjects of application:

This Circular applies to investment deciders, project owners, owners, managers and users of construction works, domestic contractors, foreign contractors, state management agencies in charge of construction and other organizations and individuals involved in work construction investment activities in the Vietnamese territory.

Article 2.Principles for determination of construction work grades

1. Construction work grades specified in this Circular are determined according to the following criteria:

a/ Capacity and importance: To be applicable to construction works, technological lines or work complexes specified in Clause 3 of this Article and listed in Appendix 1 to this Circular on a case-by-case basis. For construction works not listed in Appendix 1 to this Circular, their grades shall be determined according to their structure size specified at Point b of this Clause;

b/ Type and structure size: To be applicable to construction works of construction investment projects listed in Appendix 2 to this Circular on a case-by-case basis.

2. An independent construction work’s grade is the highest grade determined according to the criteria specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. A construction investment project may have one or more than one independent main construction work, main technological line or work complex which havs a correlation to constitute the project’s size and general utility.

4. Grades of national defense or security construction works are determined under this Circular. In case a national defense or security work has a particular characteristics, its grade shall be specified by the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Public Security.

Article 3.Application of construction work grades in the management of construction activities

1. Construction work grades shall be applied to determine the competence of specialized agencies in charge of appraisal of construction designs, and examine the pre-acceptance test in the course of construction and upon the completion of construction works as follows:

a/ To apply construction work grades specified in Clause 2, Article 2 of this Circular in case a construction investment project has only one main independent work;

b/ To apply the grade of the main construction work of the highest grade specified in Clause 2, Article 2 of this Circular in case a construction investment project has several main independent construction works;

c/ To apply the construction work grades specified at Point a, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular in case a construction investment project has a main technological line or work complex;

d/ Other cases are specified in other relevant legal documents.

2. Construction work grades, in addition to being applied to determining the competence of specialized agencies in charge of construction specified in Clause 1 of this Article, may be applied as a basis for the management of the following activities under Clause 3 of this Article:

a/ Ranking construction operation capacity of organizations and individuals for grant of capacity certificates and practice certificates, and disclosing information on their construction operation capacity;

b/ Decentralizing competence to grant construction licenses;

c/ Identifying construction works for which a contest or selection of architectural designs specified at Points a and d, Clause 1, Article 15 of Decree No. 59/2015/ND-CP is required;

d/ Identifying construction works subject to provision of technical instructions;

dd/ Identifying construction works likely to affect community safety;

e/ Identifying construction works subject to professional liability insurance;

g/ Identifying construction works subject to safety assessment during their operation;

h/ Classifying construction work incidents and defining the competence to handle construction work incidents;

i/ Managing construction investment expenses;

k/ Determining time limits and work warranty amounts;

l/ Identifying construction works subject to formulation of a maintenance process.

3. Principles for application of construction work grades for the management of construction activities specified in Clause 2 of this Article:

a/ In case the scope of construction activities covers the whole construction work, the construction work grade shall be determined under Clause 2, Article 2 of this Circular;

b/ In case the scope of construction activities covers the whole main technological line or work complex of a construction work, the construction work grade shall be determined under Point a, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular;

c/ Other cases are specified in other relevant legal documents.

Article 4.Transitional provisions

1. Grades of construction works of construction investment projects for which investment is decided before the effective date of this Circular shall be determined in accordance with law at the time of approval of such projects.

2. In case a construction work specified in Clause 1 of this Article has its construction design adjusted after the effective date of this Circular:

a/ If the adjustment does not change the construction work’s capacity and structure size specified in this Circular, its grade shall be determined under Clause 1 of this Article;

b/ If the adjustment leads to a change in the construction work’s capacity and structure size specified in this Circular, its grade shall be determined under this Circular.

Article 5.Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on May 15, 2016, and replaces Article 7, Appendix 1 to the Ministry of Construction’s Circular No. 10/2013/TT-BXD of July 25, 2013, detailing a number of contents on the quality management of construction works; and Clauses 4 and 6, Article 1 of Circular No. 09/2014/TT-BXD of July 10, 2014, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circulars guiding Decree No. 15/2013/ND-CP, on the quality management of construction works.

2. Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be reported by organizations and individuals to the Ministry of Construction for consideration and settlement.-

For the Minister of Construction
Deputy Minister
LE QUANG HUNG