Decree No. 91/2019/ND-CP penalties for administrative violations against regulations on land

DECREE
On penalties for administrative violations against regulations on land

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations dated June 20, 2012;

Pursuant to the Law on Land dated November 29, 2013;

Pursuant to the Law on Housing dated November 25, 2014;

Pursuant to the Law on Real Estate Business dated November 25, 2014;

At the request of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment;

The Government promulgates a Decree on penalties for administrative violations against regulations on land.

Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Decree regulates administrative violations, penalty measures, penalty rates, consequence improvement measures, decentralized competence on making records and imposing penalties on administrative violations against regulations on land, including violations against regulations on land use and provision of land-related services.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Entities subject to administrative penalties as prescribed in this Decree include the following entities, who commit administrative violations hereof in the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, unless otherwise prescribed in international treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party:

a) Households, communities, domestic individuals, foreign individuals, overseas Vietnamese (hereinafter referred collectively to as individuals);

b) Domestic organizations, foreign organizations, foreign-invested enterprises, religious establishments (hereinafter referred collectively to as organizations).

2. Agencies and/or persons with competence on imposing penalties and organizations and/or individuals involved in imposing penalties on administrative violations as prescribed in this Decree.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

1. Land encroachment refers to the act of a land user who moves the landmarks of his/her land lot or trespass on the boundary of other’s land lot in order to expand the area of his/her land lot without the permission of the State agencies in charge of land governance or the lawful user of such encroached land.

2. Land appropriation is the use of land in any of the following cases:

a) Using land without permission of the State agencies in charge of land governance;

b) Arbitrarily using land under the lawful use right of other organizations or individuals without permission of such organizations or individuals;

c) Using land allocated or leased by the State but the land use term expires and is not allowed to get extended by the State (except for households and individuals directly engaged in agricultural production using agricultural land);

d) Using land lots without completing procedures for land allocation or lease as prescribed by related laws.

3. Land destruction refers to the act of deforming the topography, degrading soil quality or causing soil pollution, which causes the loss or reduction of the ability to use land for the determined purposes, including:

a) Deforming the topography in the following cases: changing in slope of the land surface; lowering the land surface for other purposes or making the land surface lower than those of the adjacent land lots; filling special-use waters, canals, ditches, drainage or uplifting agricultural land surface compared with those of the adjacent land lots; except for cases of converting agricultural land into terraced fields and other land improvement methods suitable to the usage purposes of allocated or leased land or in line with investment projects approved by competent People's Committees in charge of land allocation and lease;