Decree No. 35/2008/ND-CP dated March 25, 2008 of the Government on construction, management and use of cemeteries

DECREE

ON CONSTRUCTION, MANAGEMENT AND USE OF CEMETERIES

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;
Pursuant to the November 26, 2003 Land Law;
Pursuant to the November 26, 2003 Construction Law;
Pursuant to the November 29, 2005 Law on Environmental Protection;
At the proposal of the Minister of Construction,

DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Governing scope and subjects of application

1. This Decree provides for the construction, management and use of cemeteries in the Vietnamese territory.

The construction, management and use of fallen heroes' cemeteries and national cemeteries are not governed by this Decree.

2. This Decree applies to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals involved in the construction, management and use of cemeteries in the Vietnamese territory.

3. Where a treaty which Vietnam has signed or acceded to contains provisions different from those of this Decree, the provisions of that treaty prevails.

Article 2.- Interpretation of terms

In this Decree, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Cemeteries are places where dead persons are classified and concentratedly interred in various forms, which are managed and constructed under plannings.

2. Fallen heroes' cemeteries are places where fallen heroes are buried, commemorated and accredited for their merits and sacrifices while performing the tasks of national defense and construction.

3. National cemeteries are places where dead high-ranking Party and State leaders, cultural figures, scientists... with great services to the country are buried, commemorated and accredited.

4. Individual graves are places where corpses or remains of individuals are interred.

5. Forms of interment include burial, cremation and others.

6. Interment means the keeping of corpses or -remains of dead persons.

7. Burial means the keeping of dead persons' corpses or remains at underground places.

8. One-time burial means a form of burying corpses indefinitely underground.

9. First burial means the burial of corpses for a given period of time before exhumation.

10. Exhumation means the transfer of dead persons' bones from the first-burial form into other interment form.

11. Second burial means the burial of bones after exhumation.

12. Cremation means the burning of dead persons' corpses or remains at high temperatures.

13. Cemetery construction activities cover elaboration of construction planning, construction investment projects, construction surveys, structural design, construction, construction supervision, cemetery construction investment project management, selection of construction contractors, and other activities related to cemetery construction.

14. Cemetery management means the realization of contents prescribed in the approved management regulations.

15. Cemetery construction planning means the organization of architectural space, functional zones and technical infrastructures in cemeteries in order to efficiently use the land and meet the requirements of landscape, environmental protection, which serves as a legal ground for investment in the construction, renovation, use and management of cemeteries.

16. Renovation and expansion of cemeteries mean the embellishment and upgrading of existing facilities in cemeteries and the construction under current standards and technical regulations in the expanded areas in order to ensure landscape and environmental requirements.

17. Cemetery closure means the disallowance of continued interment activities in the cemeteries.

18. Cemetery relocation means the removal of corpses and remains in cemeteries to new ones built under plannings.

19. Cemetery services cover organization of funerals, burial or cremation of corpses or remains; grave building, second burial, grave tending, repair, ash tending, preservation and storage at ash storehouses at requests, and provision of services of visit and commemoration.

20. Cemetery service users are living persons who have relations with persons interred in cemeteries or who come for visits or commemoration.

21. Local administrations mean People's Committees at various levels with administrative management decentralization.

Article 3.- Principles for construction, management and use of cemeteries

1. All cemeteries must be planned and constructed under plannings approved by competent authorities.

2. The interment of dead persons must be carried out in cemeteries. If it is conducted in premises of churches, pagodas or religious shrines, environmental hygiene must be ensured and approval of local administrations under decentralization by People's Committees of provinces or centrally run cities (below referred to as provincial-level People's Committees for short) is required.

3. The interment must comply with fine beliefs, customs, practices, cultural traditions and modem and civilized lifestyle.

4. The land is used for proper purposes, with efficiency and satisfaction of landscape and environmental protection requirements

Article 4.- Provision on maximum land area for an individual grave

1. The land area used for each first-burial grave or one-time burial grave must not exceed 5 m2.

2. The land area used for each second-time burial grave must not exceed 3 m2.

Article 5.- Cemetery construction regulations and standards

1. The construction of cemeteries must comply with the law on standards and technical regulations.

2. The Minister of Construction shall promulgate technical regulations on construction of cemeteries.

Article 6.- Support and investment incentives for construction of cemeteries

1. The State encourages organizations and individuals to invest in the construction of cemeteries according to law.

2. Organizations and individuals investing in cemetery construction are given by the State:

a/ Land for long-term use for cemetery construction without collection of land use levy;

b/ Supports in the construction of infrastructures outside the fences;

c/ Partial or full supports in funds for compensation and ground clearance, depending on the scale, investment form, applied technologies and environmental impacts of their projects;

d/ Investment supports and incentives as provided for by the investment law.

3. It is encouraged to socialize investment in cemetery construction and to use modern and civilized interment forms, contributing to the change of old habits, land fund saving and environmental protection; depending on the practical situation and their capabilities, local administrations shall adopt policies to provide supports in internment costs for users of this service.

Article 7.- Social policies towards special subjects

1. When homeless persons without relatives or with relatives who have no conditions to take care of the internment die in any localities, administrations of such localities shall pay all interment costs according to local conditions.

2. When sans-relative persons living in any localities die, the administrations of such localities shall organize the interment at local cemeteries with costs taken from the deceased's property (if any) or local budget.

3. Foreigners living in Vietnam and overseas Vietnamese, who wish to be interred in Vietnam after their death, will be considered and permitted for interment at cemeteries in Vietnam.

4. For those who die of natural calamities or epidemics, local administrations of all levels shall support and organize interment for the dead, meeting safety and anti-epidemic hygiene requirements without causing environmental pollution according to the Health Ministry's regulations.

5. For graves without owners or relatives to look after, which are beyond the prescribed interment lime limits, the cemetery management units may remove them to other locations in their cemeteries or to other cemeteries under plannings.

6. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with concerned ministries and branches in, elaborating regulations, social policies, order, handling procedures and competence applicable to special subjects in the interment thereof and submit them to the Prime Minister for promulgation.

Article 8.- Prohibited acts

1. Building cemeteries not under plannings or not in line with plannings approved by competent authorities.

2. Building cemeteries without permits or in contravention of permits as provided for by the construction law.

3. Building graves, gravestones or works, in cemeteries in contravention of regulations on architectural management and cemetery management

4. Destroying constructions in cemeteries.

5. Supplying untruthful information, thus harming lawful rights and interests of organizations or individuals in the provision and use of cemetery services.

6. Abusing positions or powers to seek personal benefits or illegally intervening in activities of cemetery management and use.

7. Taking advantage of the State's incentive policies to illegally conduct cemetery service business.

8. Illegally collecting charges, fees and amounts related to cemetery service activities.

9. Interring dead persons outside cemeteries constructed and managed under plannings.

10. Failing to abide by competent bodies' decisions on closure of cemeteries, relocation of cemeteries and individual graves.

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