Law on the Capital, No. 39/2024/QH15

LAW ON THE CAPITAL^[1]

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

The National Assembly promulgates the Law on the Capital.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Law prescribes the position and role of the Capital; and policies and responsibilities for building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital.

Article 2. Position and role of the Capital

1. The Capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is Hanoi.

2. The Capital is the national political-administrative center where the head offices of the central agencies of the Party, the State and socio-political organizations, diplomatic missions, and international organizations are located; is a centrally run city, a special-grade urban center, a major center for economic development, culture, education-training, science and technology and international integration of the whole country.

3. The head offices of agencies of the Party Central Committee, National Assembly, President, and Government are located in Ba Dinh area, Hanoi city.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

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

1. Central urban area means the urban area that undertakes the main functions of the Capital, embracing the historical inner-city area and other adjacent areas determined in the General Master Plan of the Capital.

2. Historical inner-city area means the area for conserving the cultural heritage of Thang Long-Hanoi and traditional values ​​of Hanoians, that is determined in the General Master Plan of the Capital.

3. Capital region means the socio-economic development linkage region, embracing Hanoi City and a number of neighboring provinces and centrally run cities as decided by the Government.

4. Intermediary organizations supporting innovative startups means business promotion organizations, innovative startup-supporting organizations, concentrated service areas for innovative startups, technical facilities for small- and medium-sized enterprises, enterprise incubators, co-working spaces for innovative startups, technology transfer promotion and support centers, innovation support centers, and shared-use equipment-supplying organizations.

5. High-quality education institutions means early childhood education institutions and general education institutions meeting national standards prescribed by the law on education and meeting criteria on physical foundations, education administrators and teachers, curriculum, teaching methods and high-quality education services prescribed by the People’s Committee of Hanoi City.

6. Low-emission zone means an area determined for the purpose of restricting polluting vehicles so as to improve air quality.

Article 4. Application of the Law on the Capital

1. In case the Law on the Capital and another law or resolution of the National Assembly contain different provisions on the same issue, the provisions of the Law on the Capital shall prevail, except the case specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. In case a law or resolution of the National Assembly that is promulgated after the effective date of the Law on the Capital contains provisions different from those of the Law on the Capital on the same issue, if it is necessary to apply the provisions of such law or resolution, the application of law must be accompanied by specific provisions in such law or resolution; in case such law or resolution does not contain specific provisions on the application of law and the application of the provisions of such law or resolution is necessary for the building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital, the National Assembly Standing Committee shall decide on the application of law at the proposal of the Government and report thereon to the National Assembly at the latter’s nearest session.

3. In case there exist many legal documents containing different provisions on the same issue, the legal documents detailing the Law on the Capital, and legal documents promulgated for the exercise of the powers assigned in the Law on the Capital shall prevail.

Article 5. Responsibility for building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital

1. Building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital constitute a regular, direct and continuous task of administrations at all levels and people of Hanoi City; and the responsibility of agencies, organizations, armed forces and people nationwide.

2. The Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations shall be responsible for mobilizing people at home and overseas Vietnamese to participate in building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital.

3. The State shall prioritize investment and attract resources to promote the potential and strengths of the Capital for the purposes of building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital.

Article 6. Symbol of the Capital

The symbol of the Capital is the image of Khue Van Cac (Pavilion of the Constellation of Literature) in Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature).

Article 7. “Honorary Citizen of the Capital” title

1. The title “Honorary Citizen of the Capital” shall be awarded to foreigners who have made special contributions to the building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital or to the establishment, expansion and strengthening of solidarity, friendship and international cooperation of the Capital.

2. The People’s Council of Hanoi City shall specify the conditions and procedures for awarding and withdrawal of the title “Honorary Citizen of the Capital” specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

Chapter II

ORGANIZATION OF THE URBAN ADMINISTRATION

Article 8. Organization of the urban administration

1. The local administration in Hanoi City (below referred to as the City), a rural district, rural district, town, city under the City, commune or township is the local administration consisting of the People’s Council and People’s Committee.

The organizational structure, tasks and powers of the People’s Council and People’s Committee of the City, rural districts, urban districts, towns, cities under the City, communes and townships must comply with this Law, the Law on Organization of Local Administration and relevant legal provisions.

2. The local administration in a ward in the City is the People’s Committee of the ward.

People’s Committees of wards are state administrative agencies organized and performing the tasks and exercising powers as prescribed in this Law.

Article 9. People’s Council of the City

1. The City may elect 125 deputies to the People’s Council. Full-time People’s Council deputies must account for at least 25% of the total number of People’s Council deputies.

2. The Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City shall operate on a full-time basis, be composed of the Chairperson of the People’s Council, at most 3 Vice Chairpersons of the People’s Council, and members. The number of members of the Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City shall be decided by the People’s Council of the City but must not exceed 11.

3. The People’s Council of the City may establish at most 6 advisory boards in specific fields. A Board of the People’s Council of the City shall be composed of a head who shall be elected by the People’s Council; deputy heads and members who shall be approved by the Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City. The Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City shall decide on the number of deputy heads of Boards, ensuring that each Board has at most 2 deputy heads on average. Each Board shall have a division operating on a full-time basis to handle regular affairs when the Board is in recess.

4. The People’s Council of the City has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To decide on the number of full-time deputies of the People’s Council of the City; to decide on the number, name, and scope of responsibility of Boards of the People’s Council of the City; and specify criteria for the establishment and organization of Boards of People’s Councils of urban districts, towns and cities under the City;

b/ To issue Working Regulations of the People’s Council of the City, the Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City, Boards of the People’s Council of the City, groups of deputies the People’s Council of the City and deputies to the People’s Council of the City;

c/ To decide on the establishment, reorganization and dissolution of specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City that have not been prescribed or differ from those prescribed in documents of superior state agencies; to decide to change the names and adjust the functions of existing specialized agencies and administrative organizations.

The establishment, reorganization and dissolution of specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City must satisfy requirements on objectives and tasks of sector-based state management; avoid overlaps with the functions, tasks and powers of specialized agencies and other administrative organizations; ensure the goals of state administrative reform and streamlining of the apparatus toward rationality, smoothness, effectiveness and efficiency. In case of establishing new agencies, the number of specialized agencies under the People’s Committee of the City must not exceed 15% of the frame number prescribed by the Government;

d/ To prescribe the establishment, reorganization and dissolution of specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committees of rural districts, urban districts, towns and cities under the City that have not been prescribed or differ from those prescribed in documents of superior state agencies on the basis of adjusting the functions of existing specialized agencies and administrative organizations, avoiding overlaps with the functions, tasks and powers of specialized agencies and other administrative organizations and ensuring the goals of state administrative reform and streamlining of the apparatus toward rationality, smoothness, effectiveness and efficiency. In case of establishing new agencies, the total number of specialized agencies under the People’s Committees of rural districts, urban districts, towns, and cities under the City must not exceed 10% of the frame number prescribed by the Government;

dd/ To determine, and submit to competent authorities for decision, payrolls of state budget-salaried cadres, civil servants, and public employees under the management of the City based on the list of job positions; population size; current workload; local characteristics in terms of security, politics and social safety; and the City’s budget-balancing capacity, ensuring that the ratio between the total payroll and the total population does not exceed the national average ratio;

e/ Other tasks and powers prescribed in this Law.

5. When the People’s Council of the City is in recess, the Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City may decide on the following issues and report thereon to the People’s Council of the City at the latter’s nearest session:

a/ Measures for resolving urgent and unexpected tasks in preventing, controlling, and overcoming the consequences of, disasters and epidemics and tasks concerning national defense, security, and social order and safety in the locality;

b/ Adjustments to investment policy when necessary for group-B and group-C projects using public investment capital as prescribed in the Law on Public Investment;

c/ Specific supports as specified at Point d, Clause 1, Article 35 of this Law based on the annual budget estimates approved by the People’s Council of the City.

Article 10. People’s Committee of the City

The People’s Committee of the City has the following tasks and powers:

1. To formulate, and submit to the People’s Council of the City for decision, the contents specified at Points c, d, dd and e, Clause 4, Article 9 of this Law; to submit to the Standing Body of the People’s Council of the City for decision the contents specified in Clause 5, Article 9 of this Law;

2. To prescribe the adjustment of job positions, civil servant rank structure and public employee structure based on job titles in conformity with the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structures of agencies, organizations, and units under its management;

3. Based on the law-prescribed principles, conditions and criteria for establishing public non-business units, to decide to establish new public non-business units under its management according to the order and procedures prescribed by the People’s Council of the City;

4. Other tasks and powers prescribed in this Law.

Article 11. People’s Councils of urban districts, towns and cities under the City

1. The People’s Council of an urban district, a town or a city under the City has 2 vice chairpersons; the total number of full-time deputies to the People’s Council must not exceed 9 and shall be decided by the People’s Council.

2. The People’s Council of an urban district, a town or a city under the City may establish at most 3 advisory boards in specific fields. The establishment of such boards must comply with regulations of the People’s Council of the City. Boards may have full-time members which shall be decided by the People’s Council.

3. The People’s Council of an urban district, a town or a city under the City has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To decide on full-time deputies to the People’s Council; to decide on the number, name, scope of responsibility, establishment and number of members of Boards of the People’s Council;

b/ To issue its Working Regulation and working regulations of its Standing Body and Boards, and groups of deputies to the People’s Council, and deputies to the People’s Council;

c/ To decide, allocate and adjust budget revenue and expenditure estimates; to approve account finalization of budget revenues and expenditures of the urban district, town or city under the City, covering the budgets of wards in the urban district, town or city, in accordance with the Law on the State Budget. To include in the budget expenditure estimates of the People’s Committee of each ward in the urban district, town or city an unallocated amount of 2%-4% of the total budget expenditure of the ward for spending on prevention, control and remediation of consequences of disasters, epidemics, incidents or catastrophes and for relief, performance of important tasks concerning national defense and security, and other necessary tasks that have not yet included in the expenditure estimates;

d/ To decide on the investment policy for programs and group-B and group-C projects using public investment capital in wards in the urban district, town or city in accordance with the Law on Public Investment;

dd/ To oversee the compliance with the Constitution and law and the implementation of its resolutions in wards in the urban district, town or city; to supervise activities of People’s Committees and Chairpersons of People’s Committee of wards in the urban district, town or city.

Article 12. People’s Committees and Chairpersons of People’s Committees of urban districts, towns and cities under the City

1. The People’s Committee of an urban district or a town or a city under the City has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To formulate and submit to the same-level People’s Council for decision the contents specified at Points c and d, Clause 3, Article 11 of this Law;

b/ Based on the resolution of the same-level People’s Council, to decide to assign and adjust budget collection and expenditure tasks to wards in the urban district, town or city; to decide on budget execution policies and measures;

c/ To organize the implementation of tasks concerning national defense and security, measures for ensuring social order and safety, and fight against crimes and violations of the law in wards in the urban district, town or city.

2. The Chairperson of the People’s Committee of an urban district or a town or a city under the City has the competence to appoint, re-appoint, relieve from duty, transfer, rotate, second, commend, discipline, and suspend the work of, Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons of People’s Committees of wards; and to delegate powers to Chairpersons of the People’s Committees of wards in accordance with law.

Article 13. People’s Committees and Chairpersons of People’s Committees of wards

1. The People’s Committee of a ward has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To perform the tasks and exercise the powers of a budget-estimating unit under the People’s Committee of an urban district or a town or a city under the City in accordance with the Law on the State Budget.

The Chairperson of the People’s Committee of the ward shall decide on the spending from the unallocated amount specified at Point c, Clause 3, Article 11 of this Law, and quarterly report thereon to the People’s Committee of the urban district, town or city under the City for subsequent reporting to the People’s Council of the same level at the nearest session;

b/ To propose investment policy for public investment programs and projects funded by the state budget to the People’s Committee of the urban district, town or city under the City; to give its opinions on investment policy for projects subject to decision by competent agencies and persons which require opinions of commune-level People’s Councils as prescribed in the Law on Public Investment; to organize the implementation of public investment programs and projects according to regulations on decentralization for management;

c/ To propose and coordinate with competent agencies in performing tasks concerning national defense and security and measures for ensuring social order and safety in the locality according to regulations on decentralization for management; to direct the Public Security agency of the ward to perform tasks of safeguarding security and social order and safety in the ward;

d/ To coordinate with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the same level to establish organizations to take charge of election and organize election in accordance with the law on the election of National Assembly deputies and People’s Council deputies;

dd/ To organize and ensure the implementation of the Constitution, law, and documents of superior state agencies in the ward; to perform other tasks and exercise other powers of People’s Committees and Chairpersons of People’s Committees of wards in accordance with law;

e/ To decide on issues that, as prescribed in other legal documents, must be decided by commune-level People’s Councils or submitted to commune-level People’s Councils for approval before the People’s Committee of the ward makes decision thereon; to submit to the People’s Committee of the urban district, town, or city under the City the issues that, as prescribed in other legal documents, must be approved by commune-level People’s Councils before being submitted to the superior state agencies for consideration and decision.

2. The People’s Committee of the ward does not have the competence to issue legal documents.

3. The organizational structure and working regime of People’s Committees of wards are specified as follows:

a/ The People’s Committee of a ward shall be composed of a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson(s), and other civil servants. A class-I or class-II ward has at most 2 Vice Chairpersons of the People’s Committee, and a class-III ward has 1 Vice Chairperson of the People’s Committee.

Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons of People’s Committees of wards are civil servants holding leading and managerial positions of People’s Committees of wards;

b/ People’s Committees of wards shall operate under the headship regime, adhering to the principle of democratic centralism.

4. The Chairperson of the People’s Committee of a ward shall be the head of the People’s Committee of the ward, held responsible before the People’s Council, People’s Committee, and the Chairperson of the People’s Committee of the urban district, town or city under the City and before law for the performance of the tasks and exercise of the powers of the People’s Committee of the ward; directly manage and employ civil servants of the ward according to regulations; perform tasks and exercise powers according to decentralization and authorization; manage all activities of the People’s Committee of the ward; sign, and be held responsible for, documents of the People’s Committee of the ward with the title of Chairperson, head of the state administrative agency in the ward.

5. The Government shall provide in detail the organization and operation of People’s Committees of wards.

Article 14. Decentralization and authorization by People’s Committees, People’s Committee Chairpersons and specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under People’s Committees

People’s Committees, People’s Committee Chairpersons and specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under People’s Committees may delegate or authorize others to perform tasks and exercise powers as prescribed by law, except cases in which the decentralization or authorization is not allowed as prescribed by law. The decentralization and authorization must comply with the following provisions:

1. The People’s Committee of the City and the Chairperson of the People’s Committee of the City shall conduct decentralization and authorization according to the following provisions:

a/ Based on work requirements, implementation capacity and specific conditions and situation of the locality, the People’s Committee of the City is entitled to decentralize specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City or district-level People’s Committees and commune-level People’s Committees to continuously and regularly perform one or several of the tasks and powers falling under its competence; and decentralize public non-business units under its management to perform one or several of the tasks falling under its competence so as to increase the autonomy of public non-business units in self-administration and provision of public non-business services;

b/ When necessary, the People’s Committee of the City may authorize specialized agencies, other administrative organizations or public non-business units under the People’s Committee of the City or district-level People’s Committees; the Chairperson of the People’s Committee of the City may authorize Vice Chairpersons of the People’s Committee of the City, heads of specialized agencies or other administrative organizations and public non-business units under the People’s Committee of the City or Chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees to perform one or several of the tasks and powers falling under its/his/her competence within a specified period of time under specific conditions;

2. District-level People’s Committees and Chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees shall conduct decentralization and authorization according to the following provisions:

a/ Based on work requirements, implementation capacity and specific conditions and situation of the localities, district-level People’s Committees are entitled to decentralize specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the district-level People’s Committees or commune-level People’s Committees to continuously and regularly perform one or several of the tasks and powers falling under their competence; and decentralize public non-business units under their management to perform one or several of the tasks falling under their competence so as to increase the autonomy of public non-business units in self-administration and provision of public non-business services;

b/ When necessary, district-level People’s Committees may authorize specialized agencies, other administrative organizations, and public non-business units under district-level People’s Committees or commune-level People’s Committees; Chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees may authorize Vice Chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees, heads of specialized agencies, other administrative organizations, and public non-business units under district-level People’s Committees or Chairpersons of commune-level People’s Committees to perform one or several of the tasks and powers falling under their competence within a specified period of time under specific conditions;

3. Specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City may authorize district-level People’s Committees or specialized agencies under district-level People’s Committees to settle a number of administrative procedures falling under their competence.

Specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under district-level People’s Committees may authorize commune-level People’s Committees to settle a number of administrative procedures falling under their competence;

4. Commune-level People’s Committees and Chairpersons of commune-level People’s Committees may authorize civil servants of commune-level People’s Committees to settle a number of administrative procedures falling under the competence of commune-level People’s Committees and Chairpersons of commune-level People’s Committees;

5. Agencies, organizations and individuals conducting the decentralization or authorization under this Article shall ensure financial conditions, human resources and other necessary conditions for the performance of the tasks and powers they have decentralized or authorized; guide and inspect the performance of these tasks and powers and be held responsible for the results of performance of these tasks and powers.

The decentralized agencies and organizations shall be held responsible before law and before the decentralizing state agencies for the performance of the tasks and powers decentralized or authorized to them. Based on the specific situation in their localities, district-level People’s Committees may further delegate specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under district-level People’s Committees or commune-level People’s Committees to perform the tasks and powers delegated by the People’s Committee of the City, but shall obtain the consent of the People’s Committee of the City.

The authorized agencies, organizations and individuals shall be held responsible before law and the authorizing agencies, organizations and individuals for the performance of the tasks and powers authorized to them. The authorized agency, organization or individual may not further authorize other agencies, organizations and individuals to perform the tasks and powers authorized to it/him/her.

The authorized agencies and organizations and heads of authorized agencies and organizations may use their document forms and own seals to perform the authorized tasks;

6. The People’s Council of the City shall specify the scope of tasks and powers that may be authorized to civil servants of commune-level People’s Committees or delegated or authorized to public non-business units, and heads of public non-business units as prescribed in this Article;

7. The People’s Committee of the City shall issue documents regulating the adjustment of the order of, procedures for, and competence of related agencies in, settling affairs in conformity with the performance of tasks and powers delegated and authorized to these agencies under this Article, meeting requirements for administrative procedure reform, refraining from requiring more dossier components, imposing more requirements and conditions, and increasing time for settling procedures compared to those currently applied.

Article 15. Recruitment, management and employment of cadres, civil servants and public employees

1. Cadres and civil servants working in communes, wards and townships are cadres and civil servants defined in the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and included in the administrative payroll assigned annually to the district-level authorities and shall be elected, recruited, managed and employed in accordance with the law on cadres and civil servants.

2. Heads of specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City and Chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees are entitled to sign definite-term contracts with professionally qualified persons to take on a number of job positions in the group of common specialized and technical jobs serving multiple specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City and district-level People’s Committees.

3. Cadres, civil servants and public employees working in state agencies, political organizations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, socio-political organizations and public non-business units with recurrent expenditures wholly covered by the state budget who are managed by the City are entitled to additional income based on their capacity and work performance.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall detail Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

Article 16. Attraction and promotion of talented people and development of high-quality human resources

1. Attraction and promotion of talented people must comply with the following regulations:

a/ Vietnamese citizens who possess outstanding moral qualities, qualifications and capacity, and practical experience, are working at home or abroad, and have special works, products, achievements, merits or contributions to the development of a sector or field of the Capital shall be considered for recruitment and admission to work as civil servants or public employees;

b/ It is permitted to sign contracts with Vietnamese citizens who fully meet the criteria specified at Point a of this Clause for them to perform professional or technical jobs or to hold managerial and executive positions at public non-business units under the management of the City;

c/ It is permitted to sign contracts with foreigners who possess high professional qualifications and extensive practical experience and whose works or products have gone through acceptance testing, been recognized and applied, bringing about high efficiency, for them to perform the tasks of building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital;

d/ Those who are recruited and admitted or sign employment contracts specified at Points a, b and c of this Clause are entitled to the regimes and policies prescribed by the People’s Council of the City.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on the following policies on development of high-quality human resources in the Capital:

a/ Prioritizing the development of high-quality human resources up to regional and international levels in sectors and fields, thus meeting the requirements and tasks of building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital in each period;

b/ Using the City’s budget to support investment in physical facilities and equipment of key national training institutions in the City;

c/ Using the City’s budget as part of funds for training and further training for improvement of occupational qualifications and skills at foreign training institutions for cadres, civil servants, and public employees working at agencies, organizations, and units under the City’s management, and students of education and training institutions in the City;

d/ Supporting the formation of national and regional centers for high-quality vocational training and practice in the City; providing tuition fee supports for vocational students at high-quality vocational training institutions of the City.

Chapter III

BUILDING, DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT AND SAFEGUARDING OF THE CAPITAL

Article 17. Planning on building and development of the Capital

1. The building and development of the Capital must comply with the Master Plan of the Capital and the General Master Plan of the Capital.

The Master Plan of the Capital and the General Master Plan of the Capital must adhere to the principle of constructing a civilized and modern Capital along the line of sustainable development, ensuring a clean living environment and water security with the Red River being the green axis and central landscape for harmonious urban development in the City on both sides of the river; ensuring national defense and security, and connecting the technical infrastructure and social infrastructure systems of the Capital with those of localities that have regional linkage and development activities with the Capital and the whole country.

2. To concentrate resources for, and prioritize, the implementation of the Red River and Duong river zoning plans in conformity with the Master Plan of the Capital and the General Master Plan of the Capital

To permit the construction of new dikes in conformity with the master plans on flood prevention and control for rivers with dikes, the master plan on the dike system and other relevant master plans so as to effectively exploit land areas.

It is permitted to maintain a number of existing residential areas and build new construction works and houses on floodplains and alluvial plains at an appropriate rate according to the master plans on flood prevention and control for rivers with dikes and other relevant master plans; in the remaining floodplains and alluvial plains, it is permitted to build works serving as public spaces and works serving public purposes but it is not permitted to raise the floodplains and alluvial plains to ensure that such works do not obstruct the flow.

3. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide to adjust the determination of environmental zoning in the Master Plan of the Capital and partially adjust the general urban master plan, general construction master plan for functional areas, and specialized master plan on technical infrastructure of the City already approved by the Prime Minister and report the implementation results to the Prime Minister.

The People’s Council of the City shall specify the order and procedures for adjusting the determination of environmental zoning and partially adjusting the master plans mentioned in this Clause.

4. For areas with general master plans or zoning master plans, and district-region construction master plans approved in accordance with the law on planning, construction, or urban planning, it is not required to formulate district-level land-use master plans and but it is required to formulate annual district-level land use plans based on the general master plans or zoning master plans and district-region construction master plans and land use norms allocated under the General Master Plan of the Capital and land use norms of localities.

Article 18. Measures for ensuring the implementation of master plans

1. In the historical inner-city area, not to expand ​​existing hospitals; not to expand or build industrial parks, cottage industry zones, industrial production establishments, higher education institutions, and vocational education institutions.

Higher education institutions and vocational education institutions that do not have headquarters or training campuses in the historical inner-city area before the effective date of this Law are not allowed to locate training campuses in the historical inner-city area.

2. Industrial production establishments, medical establishments, higher education institutions, vocational education institutions and headquarters of agencies and units in the central urban area that do not conform with the General Master Plan of the Capital shall be relocated.

3. The competence to decide on the relocation of the establishments and headquarters specified in Clause 2 of this Article is prescribed as follows:

a/ The Prime Minister may decide on the list of industrial production establishments, medical establishments, higher education institutions, vocational education institutions and headquarters of agencies and units under the management of central agencies and organizations that are subject to relocation, and measures and roadmap for the relocation thereof;

b/ The People’s Council of the City may decide on the list of establishments and headquarters subject to relocation other than those specified at Point a of this Clause, and the measures and roadmap for the relocation thereof.

4. The People’s Committee of the City shall arrange land areas conformable with master plans for agencies, units and establishments on the list of those subject to relocation specified in Clause 3 of this Article to build their new establishments and headquarters if needed.

5. The land areas left after relocation of the establishments and headquarters as specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall be handed over to the People’s Committee of the City for management and use according to the following provisions:

a/ In the historical inner-city area, to build public spaces, increase the proportion of public-use greenery land and preserve and promote cultural values ​​and develop tourism, refraining from using such land areas for residential and accommodation purposes;

b/ In other areas in the central urban area, to prioritize the construction of public works and social welfare works so as to meet social infrastructure and technical infrastructure standards according to urban classification.

6. When investing in the construction of new roads and urban railways or expanding existing roads in the City according to relevant master plans, agencies formulating such master plans shall determine the location, boundaries, and area of ​​land plots adjacent to roads and urban railways that are to be recovered for the purposes of urban renovation and embellishment, on-site resettlement, and housing, trade and service development.

The People’s Committee of the City shall report to the People’s Council of the City for consideration and decision the location, boundaries, and area of ​​land plots adjacent to roads and urban railways that are to be recovered for the purposes of urban renovation and embellishment, on-site resettlement, and housing, trade and service development before the detailed master plans are approved.

When implementing projects on development of roads and urban railways according to approved master plans, competent agencies of the City shall simultaneously organize the recovery of adjacent land plots for use according to the master plans. The recovery of land in this case shall be applied as in the case of land recovery in the same projects on road and urban railway development.

7. The People’s Committee of the City shall approve investment projects on construction of works at floodplains and alluvial plains of rivers with dike systems in the City according to the Master Plan of the Capital, the General Master Plan of the Capital and other relevant master plans.

The People’s Council of the City shall specify the order and procedures for investment in the construction of works at floodplains and alluvial plains.

Article 19. Management and use of underground space

1. The management and use of underground space must adhere to the following principles:

a/ To be based on full assessment of natural, geological, geomorphological and hydrological conditions;

b/ To conform with relevant strategies, master plans and plans;

c/ To ensure national defense and security; to prioritize dual-use works ready to be shifted for use for national defense and security purposes; to conserve cultural space and environmental landscape, historical-cultural relics, and scenic spots; to ensure synchronous connection with above-ground space and relevant spaces for underground construction;

d/ To carry out construction of underground works, including also foundations, piles and underground parts of above-ground works, under construction investment projects, construction investment project items or construction permits in accordance with the construction law.

2. Underground space must be divided into functional zones for management, exploitation and use. Land users in the City are allowed to use the underground space vertically measured from the ground surface to the depth limit prescribed by the Government within the boundaries of their land plots in accordance with relevant master plans. The use of underground space beyond the depth limit prescribed by the Government shall be licensed in conformity with the approved master plans.

Organizations and individuals permitted by the State to use underground space beyond the depth limit prescribed by the Government to construct underground works shall pay underground space use levy, except cases in which they are eligible for exemption from or reduction of underground space use levy for non-commercial underground works, or works on the list of underground works encouraged for investment construction, or other cases prescribed by the Government.

The Government shall detail this Clause.

3. The People’s Council of the City shall issue a list of underground works encouraged for investment construction.

Article 20. Urban renovation and embellishment

1. Urban renovation and embellishment in the City must comply with relevant master plans, and regulations on management of urban architecture and designs; protect cultural, historical, natural, architectural and landscape heritage of the Capital; meet technical regulations and standards on construction and fire prevention and fighting; increase urban amenities, and improve the living environment for residents in the renovated and embellished areas.

2. Urban renovation and embellishment in the City shall be carried out under the following projects:

a/ Project on reconstruction of a specific urban area, except urban development projects based on public transport orientations;

b/ Project on embellishment of a construction work or a group of construction works in a specific area;

c/ Project on protection and embellishment of a construction work or a group of construction works or areas with cultural, historical, natural, architectural, and urban landscape values;

d/ Mixed renovation and embellishment project, that is a construction investment project that might cover new construction and renovation, embellishment, reconstruction, protection, and renovation.

3. Urban renovation and embellishment in the City shall be carried out in:

a/ Urban areas where the structures of, and distances between, construction works do not meet the technical regulations prescribed by the construction law and the law on fire prevention and fighting;

b/ Urban areas where exist construction works that are dangerous, degraded, or at risk of collapse and subject to demolition as prescribed by the construction law and the housing law; areas with traffic infrastructure failing meet traffic safety requirements as prescribed by the law on traffic;

c/ Urban areas that do not meet the standards and technical regulations on technical infrastructure and social infrastructure of residential units but do not have enough land areas to additionally develop technical infrastructure and social infrastructure;

d/ Urban areas that do not conform with master plans or regulations on management of urban architecture and designs; urban areas with population sizes exceeding the standards and technical regulations of residential units that need to be relocated to reduce population density according to master plans;

dd/ Urban areas where exist valuable architectural works, historical-cultural relics or scenic spots that need to be protected and renovated but are surrounded by construction works that are not suitable for protection;

e/ Urban areas where exist headquarters of agencies, units, and establishments that are subject to relocation as prescribed by law or where exist production, business, and service establishments that are at risk of causing, or have caused, incidents that endanger the health and life of people.

4. Homeowners and land users in urban areas have the right to propose urban renovation and embellishment projects, provided that all homeowners and land users in the areas under proposed urban renovation and embellishment projects agree to contribute land use rights and readjust land boundaries as prescribed by the land law.

In this case, urban renovation and embellishment projects shall be formulated with project owners being enterprises unanimously selected by related homeowners and land users. Project owners shall formulate detailed master plans and urban renovation and embellishment projects and submit them to the People’s Committee of the City for approval and implement the urban renovation and embellishment projects, ensuring conformity with the approved master plans.

In case homeowners and land users contribute land use rights to expand land areas for use for non-commercial public purposes serving urban renovation and embellishment and do not choose project owners, competent state agencies shall act as project owners.

5. For areas falling into the cases specified in Clause 3 of this Article, if urban renovation or embellishment projects have yet to be implemented under Clause 4 of this Article, the People’s Committee of the City shall determine areas subject to urban renovation or embellishment; publicize information on areas subject to urban renovation or embellishment, together with information on the location, boundaries and architectural planning indicators according to the approved zoning master plan, to call for investment. In case there is only 1 investor meeting the conditions stated in the dossier of invitation for expression of interest, such investor shall be approved to act as the project owner in accordance with the law on investment; in case there are 2 or more investors expressing interest in the projects, bidding shall be conducted to select investors in accordance with the bidding law.

The selected investor shall formulate detailed master plans and urban renovation and embellishment projects, covering contents on compensation, resettlement, handling of public assets, and sharing of benefits from urban renovation and embellishment.

The detailed plan and information on a proposed urban renovation and embellishment project shall be publicly announced in the renovation and embellishment project areas and in the mass media and shall only be approved if it is agreed by 75% or more of the homeowners and land users, equivalent to at least 75% of the area subject to renovation and embellishment.

6. In urgent cases in which it is necessary to conduct urban renovation and embellishment but impossible to select investors according to Clauses 4 and 5 of this Article, the People’s Committee of the City shall recover land, carry out compensation, support and resettlement work and organize land use rights auction. The positive difference between the proceeds from the land use rights auction and the expenses for compensation, support and resettlement shall be further divided and paid to the homeowners and land users subject to land recovery. The use of the auctioned land must be consistent with relevant master plans and urban renovation and embellishment goals.

7. The renovation and reconstruction of old apartment buildings in apartment complexes or urban areas prescribed in the housing law shall be carried out only when they conform with urban master plans and meet requirements for urban renovation and embellishment for the entire apartment complexes.

8. For valuable architectural works with multiple owners, the People’s Committee of the City shall allocate funds according to the order and procedures prescribed in the law on the state budget to support the inspection of construction quality; and support individuals and organizations to carry out urban renovation and embellishment.

9. The People’s Council of the City has the following responsibilities:

a/ To detail Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Article;

b/ To define responsibilities of project owners and owners in inspecting the quality of apartment buildings to implement urban renovation and embellishment projects;

c/ To decide on the mechanisms on support for inspection, relocation, compensation, resettlement, career shifting, and implementation of urban renovation and embellishment projects;

d/ To provide measures for supporting and encouraging the implementation of urban renovation and embellishment.

10. The People’s Committee of the City has the following responsibilities:

a/ To organize the formulation, appraisal and approval of urban renovation and embellishment projects;

b/ To issue regulations on the management of valuable architectural works, specifying the requirements, conditions, and measures for protection, renovation, management, exploitation, and use of valuable architectural works;

c/ To decide on the auction of the right to rent old villas and houses as public assets that are not used for residential purposes in order to carry out tourism development and service and cuisine business, and promote culture and arts, associated with commitments to preserve, repair, and maintain the works.

11. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide to establish, and provide the organization and operation of, the Capital’s Historic Inner-City Area Conservation Fund.

The Capital’s Historic Inner-City Area Conservation Fund is an off-budget state financial fund with its charter capital partly covered by the state budget. The Fund’s revenues come from donations, voluntary contributions, and entrusted capital of domestic and foreign organizations and individuals; and other lawful financial sources other than the state budget.

The Capital’s Historic Inner-City Area Conservation Fund shall be used to support programs, projects, and non-project activities of urban renovation and embellishment in association with preservation, repair, restoration, and promotion of cultural and historical values ​​of the historic inner-city area; and repair and restoration of valuable architectural works in the City that are not covered by state budget expenditures.

Article 21. Development of culture, sports and tourism

1. The protection and development of the Capital’s culture must be on par with the thousand-year tradition of Thang Long-Hanoi; ensure building Hanoi into a cultural convergence and crystallization center of the whole country; and building the culture of chivalrous, elegant, loyal and civilized Hanoians, representing the culture, conscience and dignity of the Vietnamese people.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall specify measures for prioritizing resources for protection and development of the Capital’s culture; making investment of resources so as to ensure efficient management, exploitation and use to meet the requirements of protection and development of the Capital’s culture and international integration; making investment of resources to develop high-performance sports, and build modern sports facilities that meet regional and world standards; training and further training athletes and coaches to reach national and international standards; and encouraging organizations and individuals to participate in developing high-performance sports and professional sports.

3. To concentrate resources for protecting and promoting cultural values of the following areas, relics, heritage and works:

a/ Ba Dinh area;

b/ The historical relic of President Ho Chi Minh Memorial Site at the Presidential Palace; President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and Ho Chi Minh Museum;

c/ The relics of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam and other cultural heritage recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as world cultural and natural heritage, intangible cultural heritage of humanity, intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding, and documentary heritage under the Memory of the World;

d/ Co Loa relic site and other special national relics, national relics, national treasures, intangible cultural heritage on the list of national intangible cultural heritage in the City; City-level relics; and cultural heritage in the inventory list;

dd/ Hoan Kiem Lake area and West Lake area;

e/ The old street quarter, ancient villages, craft villages, and villages with typical traditional crafts;

g/ Valuable architectural works.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall issue a list of areas, relics, heritage, and works requiring concentration of resources for the purposes of protecting and promoting cultural values ​​as specified in Clause 3 of this Article; a list of typical street blocks and streets with cultural and historical values, and a list of valuable architectural works for restoration, protection, and promotion of values; regulations on the making of records for management of valuable architectural works and on provision of support for individuals and organizations to renovate and protect areas and valuable architectural works with multiple owners.

5. The People’s Council of the City shall specify the subjects, contents, and levels of support that are higher than the set levels or prescribe supports not yet provided in documents of superior state agencies in conformity with the fund-balancing capacity of the City’s budget in the following cases:

a/ People working in the fields of culture and arts, artisans, and practitioners of intangible cultural heritage;

b/ Teaching, practicing, and promoting the value of, intangible cultural heritage;

c/ Athletes and coaches of high-performance sports who participate in training and coaching activities, and training members of the City’s high-performance sports teams, and national high-performance sports teams;

d/ Training and further training athletes to become national and international coaches and referees;

dd/ Athletes, coaches, and artists who suffer accidents or health decline due to training, coaching, competition, and art performance; athletes, coaches, and professional artists who learn a new occupation or change careers when they no longer meet the requirements for competition, training, and artistic activities.

6. The People’s Council of the City shall specify additional rewards for coaches and athletes who record achievements in high-performance sports competitions, and people working in the fields of culture and arts who are awarded high regional and international awards.

7. The City may build cultural industry centers on the floodplains and alluvial plains of the Red River and other areas with advantages in terms of cultural space location in conformity with relevant master plans.

The People’s Council of the City shall specify the competence, order and procedures for establishment of cultural industry centers; the organization and operation of, measures for managing, cultural industry centers and preferential policies for cultural industry centers using the City’s resources.

8. The City may establish trade and cultural development zones on the basis of existing street quarters, streets, craft villages, and rural settlements so as to mobilize social resources for investment in developing service, trade, and cultural activities in areas with advantages in terms of commercial location and cultural space, on the basis of meeting standards and conditions on business culture, security and order, and environmental protection that are higher than those specified in general regulations to attract and develop tourism, bring into play cultural values, promote trade activities in the areas, improve people’s living conditions, and preserve traditional trades and occupations.

The establishment, organization, operation, and management of trade and cultural development zones shall comply with the following provisions:

a/ Trade and cultural development zones shall be established and organized in adherence to the principles of voluntariness and self-management. The management and administration of each trade and cultural development zone shall be conducted by a Management Council, consisting of representatives of the local administration and socio-political organization at the grassroots level, representatives of production, business and service establishments and the residential community in the area;

b/ Trade and cultural development zones shall be entitled to decide on to-be-collected fees on the basis of the schemes approved by the People’s Committee of the City to cover their management and operation expenses; expenses for landscape renovation, embellishment and protection, environmental protection, and security and order maintenance; expenses for services and utilities for production, business and service establishments, residents in the areas and customers; expenses for promoting products and services of production, business and service establishments, cultural activities and other relevant activities; and expenses for payment of compensation for households affected by operation of trade and cultural development zones;

c/ The establishment, scope, scale, and development objectives of trade and cultural development zones; the establishment of Management Councils; to-be-collected fees and fee rates, subjects liable to pay, entitled to exemption from or reduction of fees, management mechanisms, and financial expenditures; and the operation regulations of trade and cultural development zones shall be agreed upon by the majority of representatives of production, business and service establishments, and households residing in the affected areas;

d/ Trade and cultural development zones must make a commitment with related state agencies and local residential communities on satisfaction of standards and conditions on business culture, security, social order and safety, environmental protection, promotion of cultural values, promotion of trade activities in the areas, improvement of people’s living conditions, and preservation of traditional trades and crafts;

dd/ The People’s Committee of the City shall approve schemes on establishment of trade and cultural development zones; to-be-collected fees and fee rates, subjects liable to, or entitled to exemption from or reduction of, fees, management mechanisms, financial expenditures, and operation regulations of trade and cultural development zones; issue decisions permitting the establishment of trade and cultural development zones; and approve members of Management Councils of trade and cultural development zones.

The People’s Committee of the City and district- and commune-level People’s Committees of the localities where exist trade and cultural development zones shall guide and inspect the operation of trade and cultural development zones according to regulations of the People’s Council of the City;

e/ The People’s Council of the City shall detail this Clause and issue the Model Regulation of trade and cultural development zone.

Article 22. Development of education and training

1. To develop education and training for the Capital to become a large, typical center of the country in high-quality education and training, adapting to the process of national digital transformation, innovation and international integration.

2. To invest in and build a system of public schools, high-quality education institutions, and multi-level education institutions to ensure pedagogical space and landscape inside and outside the schools, and teaching staff to best serve the learning needs of students; to arrange land areas for construction of schools in convenient locations; not to arrange schools near cemeteries or production facilities that cause noise and air pollution.

3. The City’s public early childhood education institutions and general education institutions are allowed to carry out joint education activities with foreign education institutions.

The Government shall provide in detail the conditions and procedures for, educational programs of, and grant of diplomas and certificates applicable to, joint education activities and teaching of integrated educational programs.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall prescribe:

a/ Financial mechanisms applicable to high-quality public education institutions, multi-level public education institutions, and public education institutions implementing joint education activities with foreign education institutions;

b/ Tuition fee support levels and roadmap for implementing tuition fee support for students of general education joint education and early childhood education institutions in the City, regardless of whether they are public, private or non-public schools; and tuition fee support levels for vocational training at intermediate and college levels for learners permanently residing in Hanoi.

5. The People’s Committee of the City shall prescribe:

a/ Criteria on physical foundations, contingent of education administrators and teachers, curriculum, teaching methods and educational services of high-quality education institutions and multi-level education institutions;

b/ Order and procedures for recognition and revocation of recognition decisions of high-quality education institutions; and assessment, inspection and maintenance of quality of high-quality education institutions;

c/ Adjustment and supplementation of early childhood education and general education programs for a number of subjects and supplementary educational activities at high-quality public education institutions to suit the economic, cultural and social conditions of the Capital in the direction of approaching regional and international education systems.

6. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide on recognition and revocation of recognition decisions of high-quality education institutions.

Article 23. Development of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation

1. To synchronously develop science and technology spheres; to prioritize investment resources to build the Capital into a leading center of innovation, digital transformation, research and development, and technology transfer in the country and the region.

The Capital’s key spheres of science and technology include digital technology, information and communication technology, biotechnology, new materials technology, manufacturing and automation technology, environmental technology, carbon emissions reduction, and climate change response, and other spheres as decided by the People’s Council of the City.

The People’s Committee of the City shall issue a list of key science and technology tasks of the Capital and regulations on management of science and technology tasks of the Capital.

2. Policies for organizations and individuals performing key science and technology tasks of the Capital:

a/ Organizations and individuals in charge of the tasks are entitled to decide on the form of selecting contractors supplying services and goods;

b/ Enterprises and science and technology organizations are entitled to receive support from the City’s budget to procure and operate machinery and equipment to perform the tasks;

c/ Incomes earned from performance of key science and technology tasks of the Capital are not subject to personal income tax;

d/ Enterprises are entitled to similar incentives as hi-tech enterprises as prescribed in the law on high technology during the period of performing key science and technology tasks of the Capital.

3. Policies for scientific research and scientific and technological advance application and transfer:

a/ Key science and technology tasks of the Capital, and the City-level trial production projects may apply the method of selection or direct assignment according to regulations of the People’s Council of the City;

b/ Organizations and individuals in charge of science and technology tasks funded by the City’s budget are entitled to apply the form of package funding allocation based on the results and products of the science and technology tasks;

c/ Enterprises, science and technology organizations, state management agencies, and public non-business units are entitled to acquire without receiving compensation the assets and outcomes of, and products turned out from, science and technology tasks funded by the City’s budget when fully meeting the conditions on capacity to apply and develop such outcomes and products to serve management and socio-economic development of the Capital;

d/ Enterprises and science and technology organizations operating in the City are entitled to partial support from the City’s budget to form research and development centers and laboratories, and acquire technology in key spheres of science and technology in the Capital.

4. Public higher education institutions, public vocational education institutions, and other public science and technology organizations in the City may establish, jointly establish, and contribute capital to, enterprises to commercialize scientific research and technological development outcomes under their own intellectual property rights. Public employees working at public higher education institutions, public vocational education institutions, and other public science and technology organizations in the City are allowed to contribute capital to, participate in the management and operation of, enterprises established or jointly established by such institutions or organizations, provided the heads of such institutions or organizations so agree.

The Government shall detail this Clause.

5. Innovative startups operating in the City in key science and technology spheres of the Capital shall be provided with supports in terms of incubation expenses, including expenses for organizing project selection activities, expenses for hiring experts, direct labor costs, innovative startup service expenses, and costs of using technical facilities, incubation facilities, and co-working space.

6. The People’s Council of the City shall detail Clauses 2, 3 and 5 of this Article.

Article 24. Development of hi-tech parks

1. The construction and development of hi-tech parks, information technology parks and hi-tech agricultural zones in the City (below collectively referred to as hi-tech parks) must comply with the following provisions:

a/ The People Committee of the City shall decide on the establishment, adjustment and expansion of boundaries of hi-tech parks in the City; promulgate operation regulations of hi-tech parks established by the People’s Committee of the City;

b/ The People’s Committee of the City shall delegate powers to and authorize hi-tech park management boards to allocate, lease and manage land in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park;

c/ Projects investing and operating in hi-tech parks may enjoy the highest incentive mechanisms and policies and investment support in accordance with this Law, the high technology law, and other relevant laws.

2. The Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is the country’s and the City’s strategic zone for hi-tech research, development, testing and application, hi-tech human resource training, hi-tech product manufacturing and innovation; and a testing and pilot point for mechanisms and policies for the development of high technologies and hi-tech parks nationwide.

The Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is subject to the following provisions:

a/ The City’s budget shall allocate funds for the construction and development of the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park with priority given to the system of technical infrastructure facilities; hi-tech technical infrastructure and infrastructure facilities for the scientific and technological development in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park; compensation, support and resettlement; and construction of houses for lease to workers in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park during their working period in conformity with the master plan;

b/ For functional areas requiring investment in technical infrastructure construction, the State shall, through the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park Management Board, invest in, or permit investors to carry out construction and commercial operation of, infrastructure facilities on leased land for land areas for construction of technical infrastructure systems and land areas used for public purposes under approved sectional construction master plans.

The State shall lease land not through auction of land use rights for land-using projects involving various hi-tech activities;

c/ Investors implementing hi-tech product manufacturing projects in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park may convert some or all of their projects’ objectives into hi-tech research and development, hi-tech incubation, hi-tech enterprise incubation, innovation or hi-tech service provision, and continue using assigned or leased investment locations and land areas to implement their projects according to converted objectives;

d/ Management councils of public non-business units or heads of public non-business units for units without management councils having a division in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park may decide to use public assets for commercial, lease, joint venture or association purpose in accordance with the functions and tasks of such units in case public assets are used to provide services for hi-tech activities, shared-use equipment and  workspace or for technology research, incubation, testing and demonstration in order to support hi-tech activities, develop innovation ecosystems and start-ups or in cases specified by the public asset management and use law.

The use of public assets of public non-business units under the City’s management for commercial, lease, joint venture or association purpose must comply with regulations of the People’s Council of the City.

The use of public assets of public non-business units under the management of ministries and ministerial-level agencies for commercial, lease, joint venture or association purpose must comply with regulations of the related line minister or head of the managing ministerial-level agency;

d/ Assets donated, contributed, aided or sponsored or otherwise subject to ownership transfer by domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park Management Board or public non-business units operating in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park shall be treated as lawful public assets of units that directly receive, manage and use such assets without having to carry out procedures for establishment of the all-people ownership thereof.

3. A hi-tech park management board is an administrative organization under the People’s Committee of the City that performs the function of direct state management of hi-tech parks in the City. Hi-tech park management boards have the following tasks and powers:

a/ To appraise and approve sectional construction master plans and construction plans in hi-tech parks;

b/ To approve investment policy and approve modified investment policy for projects subject to the investment policy approval of the People’s Committee of the City; to grant, modify or revoke investment registration certificates for investment projects in hi-tech parks;

c/ To approve the demand for employment of foreign workers for different working positions that Vietnamese people are unable to meet requirements of enterprises having head offices located in hi-tech parks or agencies, organizations and units that have working positions requiring foreign workers to work only in hi-tech parks; to approve the employment of foreign workers by contractors operating in hi-tech parks; to grant, re-grant, extend or revoke work permits for foreigners working in hi-tech parks; to certify foreigners working in hi-tech parks for whom work permits are not required;

d/ To grant, re-grant, modify, extend, revoke or invalidate construction permits for construction, repair, renovation or relocation of works in hi-tech parks;

dd/ To allocate, lease and manage land in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park when empowered or authorized by the People’s Committee of the City;

e/ To perform other tasks and exercise other powers provided by relevant laws.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall specify:

a/ The order and procedures for exercising the competence provided at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article, and Points a, b, c and d, Clause 3 of this Article; and the implementation of Point d, Clause 2 of this Article for public non-business units under the City’s management;

b/ Incentive and support mechanisms, policies and measures to attract hi-tech human resources to work in hi-tech parks and promote innovations in hi-tech parks;

c/ Determination of rates and collection, remittance and use of compensations for ground clearance refunded by land users in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park; incentive and support policies on refunded compensations for ground clearance for a number of specific cases;

d/ Determination of rates and collection, remittance and use of charges for use of infrastructure facilities and wastewater treatment and incentive and support policies for state agencies and public non-business units operating in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park.

5. Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies shall specify procedures for formulating, and collecting opinions and deciding on, schemes on use of public asset for commercial, lease, joint venture or association purpose, and public asset lease methods and prices as specified at Point d, Clause 2 of this Article and the implementation of Point dd, Clause 2 of this Article for public non-business units under their management.

Article 25. Regulatory sandbox

1. Regulatory sandbox means testing of innovative technologies, products, services or business models under practical conditions on limited scales and under special control of competent state agencies in a number of fields that are likely to bring about high socio-economic value and efficiency in case law neither specifies nor permits the application or current regulations are no longer suitable to new characteristics and features of such technologies, products, services or business models in order to promote innovation and lay grounds for state agencies to consider and assess risks that are likely to arise before they may be officially applied, thereby determining appropriate management and adjustment mechanisms.

Regulatory sandbox may be limited in terms of geographical space for implementation; testing scale; subjects permitted to use tested technologies, products and services or take part in tested business models (below collectively referred to as users); the number of users or other necessary limitations.

The regulatory sandbox period must not exceed 3 years and may be extended only once for no more than 3 years.

2. Regulatory sandbox shall be implemented in the form of time-limited permission, for technologies, products, services and business models that are not yet specified or permitted to be applied by law, or the form of time-limited permission and exemption from certain regulations within the limited scope of testing, for technologies, products, services and business models that are provided by law but are not specific enough or are no longer applicable.

3. Organizations and enterprises may implement regulatory sandbox if satisfying the following conditions:

a/ Technologies, products, services or business models proposed for testing must be innovative and have a scope of application and implementation in the City with priority given to those implemented in hi-tech parks, the Vietnam National Innovation Center and the Innovation Center of the City;

b/ Technologies, products, services or business models proposed for testing must have potential of bringing about high socio-economic value and efficiency with priority given to the City’s hi-tech industries and key scientific and technological fields other than national defense and security, human genome editing and not infringing upon national security, social order and safety;

c/ Organizations or enterprises that propose testing must have testing plans, including evaluation of benefits and risks to test participants, users, other related parties and national security, social order and safety and market competitiveness; commitments to take responsibility for safety of users and relevant parties; risk control measures; mechanisms for settling users’ complaints; and damage compensation scope and measures; and provide information and documents proving their capabilities conformable with to proposed testing plans;

d/ The proposed testing scope must be conformable with the control capacity of the City’s administration.

4. The grant of permission and implementation of regulatory sandbox must adhere to the following principles:

a/ To ensure equality among organizations and enterprises in proposing, registering, participating and exercising rights and performing obligations during the testing process;

b/ To ensure publicity and transparency during the testing process; to fully provide users with information on testing status, possible risks and damage compensation measures (if any); to formulate mechanisms for receipt, evaluation and public and prompt handling of feedback from testing organizations or enterprises and users during the testing process;

c/ To satisfy requirements of national defense and security, social order and safety and ensure users’ interests and public interests during the testing process;

d/ Organizations, enterprises and individuals performing tests are exempted from civil liability for damage caused to the State and are excluded from administrative and penal liability provided that they have properly and fully complied with regulatory sandbox and guidance of competent state agencies specified in Clause 7 of this Article, except where they have known or are required to know about potential risks during the testing process but still fail to promptly inform or report them to competent state agencies and fully apply appropriate measures to prevent or mitigate possible damage.

5. Organizations and enterprises implementing regulatory sandbox may refuse to apply provisions on standards and technical regulations applicable to technologies, products, services, business conditions, order and procedures for granting permits, assurance of business conditions and other provisions that are no longer suitable to new characteristics and features of technologies, products, services and business models proposed for testing.

The People’s Council of the City shall decide on the scope of exemption from the application of provisions to specific testing projects as conformable with testing requirements and purposes at the request of the People’s Committee of the City based on the assessment of risk level and control capacity.

6. The People’s Committee of the City has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To decide on and announce the list of priority fields that are encouraged for registration for regulatory sandbox;

b/ To permit testing and promulgate separate testing regulations for different new technologies, products, services and business models that are permitted for testing; to decide on adjustment of scope, extension of testing period, or termination of testing;

c/ To provide guidance and control the testing process;

d/ To consult ministries and ministerial-level agencies in charge of state management of testing-related industries and fields about subjects and scope proposed for regulatory sandbox and issues that may arise during the testing process if deeming it necessary.

Ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall give their opinions on contents proposed by the People’s Committee of the City for consultation;

dd/ To report to the People’s Council of the City for approval the exemption from the application of a number of provisions regarding testing requirements as specified in Clause 5 of this Article before giving testing permission; to report on contents, scope and subjects to be exempted from the application of such provisions to competent agencies that have issued such provisions for monitoring and serving the state management;

e/ Annually, to report to the Government and the People’s Council of the City on the implementation of regulatory sandbox that they have permitted and results thereof.

To report to the Government on results of each testing project upon the end of such project or when it has full capacity to officially apply such results, clearly stating benefits, risks and management requirements on tested technologies, products, services and business models which have been clarified during the testing process; to recommend solutions to improve the regulations on relevant fields and contents.

7. Agencies in charge of guiding and controlling the testing process have the following powers and responsibilities:

a/ To advise on the formulation, supplementation and adjustment of guidance on the implementation of regulations on testing activities;

b/ To receive, consider and solve legal problems arising during the testing process according to their competence or propose the People’s Committee of the City to consider and settle them;

c/ To regularly or irregularly inspect the testing; to evaluate the application of risk control measures by testing organizations and enterprises during the testing process; to promptly detect and prevent risks of abuse and control loss during the testing process;

d/ To receive, consider and settle according to their competence or propose competent agencies to settle recommendations and feedback of users or third parties concerning the testing;

dd/ To request testing organizations and enterprises to report and give explanations about arising issues;

e/ To request testing organizations and enterprises to add risk control measures; to decide on testing suspension; to propose the People’s Committee of the City to decide on adjustment of the testing scope, extension of testing period, and testing termination;

g/ To annually report to the People’s Committee of the City on the implementation of regulatory sandbox that they are assigned to guide and control and results thereof or extraordinarily report thereon upon requests; to report on testing results at the end of every test, clearly stating benefits, risks and management requirements for tested technologies, products, services and business models that have been clarified during the testing period;

h/ Agencies in charge of guiding and controlling the testing process and officials and civil servants directly guiding and controlling tests who have, within the ambit of their assigned responsibilities, properly and fully implemented regulations on order, procedures and mechanisms for guidance and control with pure motives and for the common interest shall be excluded from the responsibility examination or in accordance with relevant regulations, except cases in which they have known or are required to know about potential risks during the testing process but still fail to fully apply appropriate measures to prevent or mitigate possible damage.

8. The testing regulation applicable to each specific technology, product, service or business model shall be decided by the People’s Committee of the City under Point b, Clause 6 of this Article and must include the following principal contents:

a/ Name and contents of the new technology, product, service or business model permitted for regulatory sandbox;

b/ Organization or enterprise permitted to perform the test;

c/ The testing period;

d/ Limits on testing geographical space and scale, number and range of users or other necessary limitations on testing contents;

dd/ Regulations from which the testing organization or enterprise is not required to implement (if any);

e/ The agency in charge of guiding and controlling the testing process;

g/ Powers and responsibilities of the agency in charge of guiding and controlling the testing process;

h/ Rights, obligations and responsibility-taking commitments of the testing organization or enterprise;

i/ Other requirements and guidance that must be followed during the testing process.

9. The People’s Council of the City shall specify criteria and conditions for selection and the order and procedures for permission, adjustment, extension and termination of regulatory sandbox; mechanisms for guiding and controlling the testing process; rights, obligations and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals during the regulatory sandbox process.

10. Based on reports of the People’s Committee of the City, the Government shall organize the review and assessment of results and effectiveness of the implementation of regulatory sandbox contents in order to decide according to its competence or propose a competent authority to decide on the promulgation, amendment or supplementation of regulations on relevant fields and contents for use as a basis for official application of tested technologies, products, services and business models.

Article 26. Development of the health sector and public healthcare

1. To build an advanced and modern medical system in the City that matches the population structure and size and implementation areas, thereby fully meeting the people’s demand for healthcare and makes the City become a major medical center in the country and the region; to focus on the development of a number of fields approaching the world’s technology level; to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment and the capacity of preventive health, grassroots health systems and family medicine network; to develop public and private pre-hospital emergency systems.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall specify the following contents:

a/ Use of the City’s budget to support the payment for a number of home-based medical examination and treatment services not yet covered by the health insurance fund to a number of home-based medical examination and treatment establishments in the City;

b/ Use of the City’s budget to support the payment of pre-hospital emergency service charges;

c/ Home-based medical examination and treatment service charge rates, pre-hospital emergency service charge rates not yet set by competent state agencies in accordance with the medical examination and treatment law and the co-payment rate of patients for the use of pre-hospital emergency services which serve as a basis for providing payment support under Points a and b of this Clause;

d/ Provision of support for training, further training and development of medical human resources for home-based medical examination and treatment, grassroots health care, preventive medicine and people’s healthcare; provision of support for the City’s public medical establishments in payment of overseas training and further training expenses, updating and transfer of modern technologies and advanced techniques in medicine, pharmacy, food safety, epidemic prevention and control, and public healthcare.

3. The People’s Committee of the City has the following responsibilities:

a/ To set out criteria for high-quality modern medical examination and treatment establishments in the health sector under the City’s management to enjoy investment incentives provided in Article 43 of this Law;

b/ To determine the development roadmap and organization and operation of the City’s pre-hospital emergency system, including Hospital 115, Emergency Coordination Center, Emergency Training Center and Emergency Network, Emergency Stations 115 and pre-hospital emergency teams of medical examination and treatment establishments under the City’s management;

c/ To provide the registration for provision of home-based medical examination and treatment services, the management of operation of home-based medical examination and treatment establishments or other medical examination and treatment establishments in the City specialized in family medicine.

Article 27. Social, social security and social welfare policies

1. To build the City’s diverse, comprehensive, modern and sustainable system of social, social security and social welfare policies that covers the entire population; to facilitate the people’s maximum access to essential social services in the fields of healthcare, education, culture, physical training, sports, social assistance, legal aid, clean water, social housing, and information access.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on the following social policies:

a/ Allocation of budget funds to support the poverty reduction, job creation and borrowing of social housing loans, and provision of loans to industrial park workers and laborers for purchase of social houses;

b/ Provision of support for poor ethnic minority households engaged in agriculture and forestry in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous communes to change their occupations or find jobs in case they are not provided with production land areas.

3. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on the following social security and social welfare policies:

a/ Provision of support for payment of 100% of voluntary social insurance premiums for members of poor households; at least 60% of voluntary social insurance premiums for members of near-poor households; at least 20% of voluntary social insurance premiums for other subjects;

b/ Provision of support for payment of 100% of health insurance premiums for people with disabilities, members of near-poor households and the elderly aged full 70 years and older; provision of support at levels higher than the specified level for other subjects or to subjects not yet specified in documents of superior state agencies;

c/ Provision of support for the implementation of the program on annual free health check-up for the elderly in the City. Funds for health check-ups shall be guaranteed by the City’s budget and socially mobilized sources according to an appropriate roadmap.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall specify support subjects, contents and levels, and order and procedures for implementation of the City’s social, social security and social welfare policies in order to gradually expand the range of beneficiaries and allocate budget funds in conformity with practical conditions and the City’s budget-balancing capacity to perform the tasks specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

Article 28. Environmental protection

1. The Capital’s environmental management and protection must adhere to the principles of sustainable development, circular economy development and proactive response to climate change in association with the maintenance of the City’s natural elements, biodiversity, culture and history; and ensure the proportion of green spaces as stated in master plans.

2. The People’s Council of the City has the following responsibilities:

a/ To set out criteria, conditions, order and procedures for determining low emission zones; to decide on the scope of low emission zones and measures to be applied in such zones under an appropriate roadmap;

b/ To decide on policies to support organizations and individuals in switching from fossil fuel-powered vehicles to vehicles using clean energy; to provide measures to limit the use of polluting vehicles; to provide investment support for developing transport infrastructure facilities using clean energy;

c/ To provide measures to support the relocation of production establishments in residential areas and production establishments in industries and sectors that are not eligible for development promotion in rural craft villages;

d/ To provide measures to reduce plastic emissions in production, business, service and household activities in the City; to provide supporting measures and incentives for waste treatment and production, business, service and consumption activities related to waste recycling using state-of-the-art techniques.

Article 29. Housing development

1. Housing development programs and plans in the City must be conformable with the Capital’s master plans and general master plans; prioritize investment in building modern and convenient urban centers, houses and independent social housing areas in sync with the construction of urban technical infrastructure and social infrastructure.

2. Social housing development in the City must comply with the following provisions:

a/ Detailed planning tasks shall be formulated simultaneously with the formulation of detailed plans and the collection of related residential communities’ opinions; the appraisal and approval of detailed planning tasks shall be carried out in advance in order to lay a foundation for the appraisal and approval of detailed plans;

b/ The People’s Council of the City shall decide to use the City’s budget to construct framework technical infrastructure and essential social infrastructure for independent social housing projects.

3. In case the project owner of a project on renovation or reconstruction of a condominium cannot be selected in accordance with the housing law, the People’s Committee of the City shall decide on recovery of the condominium land, compensation, support and resettlement, and organize the auction of land use rights after obtaining consent of at least two-thirds of total house owners and users of land within the project boundaries. The remainder of the proceeds from the auction of land use rights left after deducting expenses for compensation, support and resettlement shall be divided to house owners and land users.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall provide incentive and support mechanisms, policies and measures for projects on development of houses and lodging houses for hi-tech park and industrial park workers in the City.

5. The People’s Council of the City shall detail this Article.

Article 30. Technical and transport infrastructure development

The People’s Council of the City shall provide:

1. Policies on investment and mobilization of resources for investment in construction, development and maintenance of technical infrastructure facilities, works for traffic safety assurance and traffic congestion reduction, and public underground works in the City;

2. Policies on development of the mass transit system; promotion of investment in the construction and exploitation of urban railways, buses, railway stations, bus terminals, parking lots and the use of low-emission vehicles; limiting of personal vehicles to enter the city center to reduce traffic congestion and emissions; and application of traffic congestion mitigation charge;

3. Policies on development of ring roads, logistics centers and mass transit system in the City and connectivity with provinces and centrally run cities that have regional development linkages with the Capital;

4. Promotion of the application of high technologies in the management and regulation of the transport system;

5. Policies on management and exploitation of urban roads and railways, ensuring urban traffic order and safety and urban civilization.

Article 31. Transit-oriented development

1. Transit-oriented development (below referred to as the TOD model) is an uban planning, renovation, embellishment and development solution under which an urban railway connection point or traffic connection point using other public transport modes is taken as a population, commercial service provision and office concentration spot within walking distance to mass transit stops in order to raise the efficiency of land use, public works, community health and reduce personal motor vehicles and emissions that cause environmental pollution in association with the preservation and promotion of cultural values.

TOD area is an area that accommodates stations, urban railway depots, pick-up and drop-off points of other types of mass transit and adjacent areas determined under sectional master plans or related detailed plans in order to build traffic routes and urban railways in association with urban renovation and embellishment and investment in urban development.

2. The formulation, decision and management of master plans on the urban railway system and traffic routes that use other types of mass transit and TOD area must comply with the following provisions:

a/ Based on the Capital’s master plans and general master plan, The People’s Committee of the City may adjust land use functions in the TOD area in order to exploit the land fund and added value from land, develop urban railways, other mass transit modes and urban centers in the TOD area;

b/ In the TOD area, The People’s Committee of the City may decide on the application of the architectural planning and technical and social infrastructure norms, spatial and land use requirements different from those specified in national technical regulations on construction planning in conformity with the Capital’s general master plan;

c/ For areas with the approved sectional master plans or equivalent for which there are new proposals different from approved planning contents upon the formulation of plans on urban railways or traffic routes that use other mass transit modes or the formulation of the TOD area master plan, agencies or organizations that are assigned to carry out the formulation shall submit such plans or master plans to The People’s Committee of the City for consideration and decision. The decision to approve an urban railway plan or the detailed TOD area plan shall replace  sectional adjustments to master plans on related areas in approved sectional master plans or equivalent, and procedures for sectional adjustment of the previously approved planning blueprints are not required to be carried out.

3. Investment in urban railway development in the City shall be prioritized to apply the TOD model to ensure modernity, synchronicity and sustainability and must comply with the following provisions:

a/ The People’s Council of the City shall decide on investment policy for urban railway projects applying the TOD model as stated in investment phasing; and decide to separate compensation, support and resettlement work into independent projects;

b/ The People’s Committee of the City shall decide on investment in urban railway projects applying the TOD model, investment or approval of investment policy for component projects, and investment in land recovery and compensation, support and resettlement projects;

c/ Contents of, and order, procedures and competence for, appraising projects specified at Points a and b of this Clause shall be implemented as for Group-A projects under the competence of provincial-level People’s Councils as provided in the public investment law;

d/ The People’s Committee of the City may choose to apply regulations and standards for the City’s urban railways.

4. In the TOD area, the City may collect and use all following amounts for the development of the urban railway system, mass transit system and technical infrastructure connected with the mass transit system:

a/ Amounts charged on increased flooring areas of ​​projects on construction of civil works due to an increase in the land use coefficient and other planning norms of the TOD area;

b/ Amounts charged on the exploitation of added value from land in the TOD area;

c/ Infrastructure improvement charge amounts.

5. The People’s Council of the City shall specify the management, operation and exploitation of urban railways and the TOD area; methods of determining levels of, and competence, order and procedures for collecting, amounts specified in Clause 4 of this Article so as to avoid the duplication with other taxes and charges.

Article 32. Agricultural and rural development

1. To develop the Capital’s agriculture into ecological and sustainable one with the focus on the interaction between environmental and socio-economic factors in order to conserve and promote cultural and historical values ​​in agriculture and rural areas; to prevent and control disasters, protect the environment and ecosystem, create high-quality products, and ensure food safety and high economic efficiency.

To sustainably develop concentrated agricultural production zones. In such zones, land shall be used for multiple purposes, agricultural land shall be allocated for the construction of works directly serving agricultural production and processing, preservation, display and introduction of agricultural products, experiential education and ecotourism.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall specify support scope, eligible subjects, contents and levels higher than those specified or not yet specified in documents of superior state agencies in the following fields:

a/ Plant varieties, and technology transfer in the production of plant varieties;

b/ Agricultural product preservation and processing technologies;

c/ Application of high technologies in agricultural production;

d/ Developing ecological agriculture, agriculture associated with tourism, experiential education, agriculture associated with trade and services;

dd/ Environmental protection activities in agricultural production, preliminary processing and processing;

e/ Developing linkage chains, value chains and product consumption markets;

g/ Developing collective economy and craft villages;

h/ Training of human resources for hi-tech agriculture, innovative startups in agriculture and rural areas.

3. The People’s Council of the City shall specify the following contents:

a/ Forms of using and exploting agricultural land funds on floodplains and alluvial plains of diked river sections for agricultural production, ecological agricultural production, agriculture associated with tourism and experiential education, adhering to the principle that construction activities on agricultural land on floodplains and alluvial plains of diked river sections shall be carried out in conformity with flood prevention and control master plans on dike river sections, dike master plans, construction master plans and other relevant master plans;

b/ Conditions, order and procedures for granting construction permits, types of works and the proportion of agricultural land areas used to construct works on agricultural land that directly serve agricultural production and processing, preservation, display and introduction of agricultural products, tourist landscapes and experiential education in concentrated agricultural production zones.

4. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide to permit the use of agricultural land areas on floodplains and alluvial plains of diked river sections and grant construction permits to works in concentrated agricultural production zones specified in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 33. Measures to ensure social order and safety

1. The sanctioning of administrative violations in the City must comply with the following provisions:

a/ The People’s Council of the City shall specify fine levels which are higher than but must not exceed twice the Government-specified fine levels or the maximum fine levels specified by the law on handling of administrative violations for a number of administrative violations in the fields of culture, advertising, land, construction, fire prevention and fighting, food safety, road traffic, environmental protection, security and social order and safety in the City;

b/ Persons competent to impose fines for the Government-specified administrative violations in the fields specified at Point a of this Clause may impose fines for violations in such fields that are higher than those specified by the City People’s Council.

2. In case of absolute necessity to ensure security, social order and safety in the City, chairpersons of People’s Committees at all levels may apply measures to request the suspension of provision of electricity and water services for the following works and production and business establishments:

a/ Works that are constructed not under construction master plans or without construction permits and those requiring permits under regulations or constructed at variance with contents in construction permits; works that are constructed at variance with approved designs, for those free from construction permits;

b/ Works that are constructed on encroached or occupied land as specified in the land law;

c/ Works subject to the approval of fire prevention and fighting designs but constructed without the competent agency’s fire prevention and fighting certificates or written approval of fire prevention and fighting designs;

d/ Works that are constructed at variance with approved fire preventing and fighting designs;

dd/ Construction works, and production, business and service establishments that have not had their fire prevention and fighting plans tested for acceptance before being put into operation;

e/ Dancing hall and karaoke service providers that fail to satisfy the fire prevention and fighting conditions;

g/ Works that are subject to demolition and have obtained emergency relocation decisions of competent agencies.

3. Electricity and water service providers shall suspend the provision of such services at the request of competent person specified in Clause 2 of this Article, ensuring the specified scope, subjects and duration. The right to suspend the provision of electricity and water services by electricity and water service providers in the cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall be notified to service users and stated in electricity and water service contracts.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall specify cases subject to the application, competence to apply and the application of measures to request the suspension of the provision of electricity and water services specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

Chapter IV

FINANCE, BUDGET FUNDS AND MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES FOR THE CAPITAL’S DEVELOPMENT

Article 34. Mobilization of financial and budgetary resources for the Capital’s development

1. In case the central budget records an increase in revenues shared between the central budget and the City’s budget as compared with the budget estimates, the central budget shall set aside up to 30% of increased revenues as a reward for the City’s budget which must not exceed the increased revenues as compared with the implementation level of the preceding year.

2. The central budget shall provide target transfers for the City’s budget with the central budget revenue increase from revenue amounts shared between the central budget and the City’s budget as compared to the estimates allocated by the Prime Minister after payment of reward for surplus revenues as specified in Clause 1 of this Article and the central budget revenue increase wholly retained at the locality as compared to the estimates allocated by the Prime Minister, except the following amounts:

a/ Revenues from value-added tax on imports;

b/ Royalties, corporate income tax, profits shared to the host country and other revenues from oil and gas exploration and exploitation;

c/ Grants of foreign governments, international organizations and other organizations and overseas individuals to the Vietnamese Government;

d/ Proceeds from the sale of public assets, including collected levies for use of land associated with land-attached assets managed by central agencies, organizations and units;

dd/ Proceeds from the handling of assets under the all-people ownership by central agencies, organizations and units;

e/ Proceeds from the retrieval of central budget capital invested in economic organizations; dividends and profits received from state-invested joint-stock companies and limited liability companies with two or more members in which ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies or other central agencies act as the owner’s representatives; after-tax profits left after setting aside funds of state enterprises in which ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies or other central agencies act as the owner’s representatives; positive difference between revenues and expenditures of the State Bank of Vietnam;

g/ Revenues from the central financial reserve fund;

h/ Central budget remainder;

i/ Central budget revenues brought forward from preceding years;

k/ Revenue amounts that are neither assigned to the City for collection nor arisen in the City but only accounted for remittance in the City;

l/ Revenue amounts that have been permitted to be used for specific spending tasks by competent authorities;

m/ Accounting entries for revenues and expenditures and imbalanced revenues left in accordance with law.

3. Target transfers from the central budget to the City’s budget specified in Clause 2 of this Article must neither exceed the total central budget revenue increase in the locality as compared with the previous year’s collected revenues nor reduce the estimated central budget revenues. Target transfers shall be determined on the basis of total revenue amounts but not be calculated separately for each revenue.

4. The People’s Council of the City may decide the application in the locality of charges and fees other than those on the lists of charges and fees promulgated together with the Law on Charges and Fees; may adjust charge and fee rates or collection percentages decided by competent authorities with regard to charges and fees on the lists of charges and fees promulgated together with the Law on Charges and Fees, excluding court charges and fees and charges and fees to be wholly remitted into the central budget.

The collection of fees and charges in the City specified in this Clause shall be carried out according to set roadmaps and aligned with the City’s capability and development requirements; must create a favorable production and business environment for enterprises, particularly small- and medium-sized  enterprises, industries and trades eligible for investment incentives; must neither cause negative impacts on nor affect security, social order and safety; ensure the market uniformity without obstructing the circulation of goods and services; rationally regulate commodities, services and lawful revenue sources of organizations and individuals in the City; and ensure publicity, transparency and state administrative reform.

5. The City’s budget may enjoy all revenue amounts additionally collected as a result of the adjustment of charge and fee policies specified in Item 4 of this Clause for investment in development of socio-economic infrastructure and payment of expenditures on economic activities, science and technology, environmental protection, education, healthcare, culture, sports, social security and social welfare under other spending tasks of the City’s budget; these revenue amounts may not be accounted as revenues divided between the central budget and the City’s budget.

6. The People’s Committee of the City may borrow loans through the issuance of municipal bonds or from domestic financial institutions, other domestic organizations and the Government’s onlent foreign loans and Government bonds, provided that the total outstanding loans do not exceed 120% of the budget revenues enjoyed by the City.

The People’s Committee of the City shall perform fully and on time onlent loan-related obligations.

Annually, in the course of the central budget execution, the People’s Council of the Citymay decide on specific loan amounts and sources of domestic loans, the Government’s foreign loans for onlending to the City and Government bonds within the total loan amount and budget deficit decided by the National Assembly and assigned by the Prime Minister.

In case it is necessary to bollow loans for the implementation of the City’s key projects exceeding 120% of budget revenues enjoyed by the City, The People’s Committee of the City shall report thereon to the Government for consideration and submission to the National Assembly for decision.

7. The City’s budget may wholly retain the central budget revenues according to the percentages of division of revenues being collected land use levy and land rental amounts managed by the City so as to focus on generating resources for supporting the relocation of agencies, units and establishments on the list of those subject to relocation specified in Clause 3, Article 18 of this Law and support the implementation of the Capital’s key projects.

8. Revenues from the trading of carbon credits under programs and projects under mechanisms for carbon credit exchange and offset funded with the City’s budget are the City’s budget revenues to be wholly enjoyed by the City; these revenue amounts may not be used for determining the percentage of revenue amounts divided between the central budget and the City’s budget.

Article 35. Use of financial and budgetary resources for the Capital’s development

1. The People’s Council of the City has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To decide to use amounts remaining after ensuring funding sources for the implementation of the salary reform for the entire period of budget stabilization as decided by competent authorities and ensuring social, social security and social welfare policies issued by central agencies for payment of increased income for cadres, civil servants and public employees under Clause 3, Article 15 of this Law; the total payment must not exceed 0.8 time of the basic salary fund for cadres, civil servants and public employees under the management of the City;

b/ To decide to use amounts remaining after ensuring funding sources for the implementation of the salary reform for the entire period of budget stabilization of the City’s budget and allow the lower-level budgets to use such amounts for investment in the development of socio-economic infrastructure under the spending tasks of the budget and for payment of increased income for cadres, civil servants and public employees under the City’s management specified at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article and social, social security and social welfare policies .

c/ To decide to use the City’s budget to support the relocation, construction and allocation of land to subjects on the list of to-be-relocated subjects specified in Clause 3, Article 18 of this Law who have relocation decisions or voluntarily relocated;

d/ To decide to use the City’s budget to support central agencies in performing tasks of socio-economic development, national defense and security, social order and safety in the City, support other localities in the country or support foreign countries in case of necessity; to allow district-level administrative units to use their budgets to support other district-level administrative units of the City and district-level administrative units of other provinces and centrally run cities in the prevention, control and remediation of consequences of disasters and epidemics, and the implementation of national target programs and social security and social welfare tasks;

dd/ To decide to use the City’s budget to implement investment projects, works and projects of regional linkage and development nature between the Capital and other localities, national highway and expressway projects running through the City in accordance with master plans;

e/ To provide spending regimes, criteria and norms for spending tasks using the City’s budget that are higher than the level specified or not yet specified in documents of superior state agencies to perform socio-economic development tasks and ensure the implementation of social, social security and social welfare policies and national defense and security, social order and safety of the Capital in conformity with the balancing capacity of the City’s budget.

2. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide to make advance payments from the City’s Financial Reserve Fund to implement investment projects included in medium-term public investment plans, having obtained project approval decisions and falling within spending tasks of the City’s budget in case of necessity to step up the implementation progress; submit to the People’s Council of the City for decision the allocation of estimated public investment capital from the annual City’s budget sources for such projects so as to recover and refund advanced capital amounts to the Financial Reserve Fund in accordance with law.

The maximum advance period for each amount from the Financial Reserve Fund is 36 months; the total advance amount at a time must not exceed 50% of the balance of the Financial Reserve Fund as of December 31 of the previous year.

3. State budget-using agencies, organizations and units under the management of the administration of the City may use recurrent expenditures according to order and procedures for recurrent expenditures specified in the state budget law to implement projects to upgrade, renovate or expand existing items and build new items in existing establishments, works and public assets; shall formulate, appraise and approve urban master plans, construction master plans and architecture management regulations under the responsibility of The People’s Committee of the City and district-level People’s Committees of the City.

4. Public non-business units under the management of the City may use the fund for development of non-business activities for purchase and repair to maintain regular operation of public non-business units according to the process and procedures applicable to recurrent expenditures specified in the state budget law.

5. The People’s Committee of the City shall detail the use of funds specified in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article.

Article 36. Venture investment using the state budget

1. The City is allowed to establish on a pilot basis a Venture Capital Fund covered by the state budget to invest capital in hi-tech enterprises, science and technology enterprises, and innovative startups operating in the key science and technology fields of the Capital to support and promote innovation and commercialization of scientific and technological products.

The Venture Capital Fund has its charter capital allocated from the City’s budget, and is allowed to receive donations and mobilize other lawful capital sources in accordance with law. The management and use of funding sources of the Venture Capital Fund shall be carried out according to market principles, accepting risks, ensuring publicity, transparency and efficiency, and preventing loss and waste of capital.

2. The People’s Committee of the City shall formulate a scheme on establishment of the Venture Capital Fund and submit it to the People’s Council of the City for approval, specifying the form of organization and operation of the Fund; operation period of the Fund; charter capital support level from the City’s budget; investment method,  cooperation partners entitled to receive investment capital; risk assessment and control mechanism, and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in managing and operating the Venture Investment Fund of the City.

3. The People’s Council of the City shall approve the scheme and provide the mechanism on organization and operation of the Venture Capital Fund and define responsibilities for inspecting, supervising and reporting on implementation results. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide on establishment of the Venture Capital Fund and issue the charter and investment regulations of the Fund.

Article 37. Competence concerning investment activities

1. Key projects of the Capital are large-scale projects that create driving forces, spillover effects and connectivity serving the implementation of socio-economic development and environmental protection goals, tasks, and solutions of the Capital; and are of great significance to socio-economic development of the Capital, localities engaged in linkage and development activities with the Capital, and the whole country. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on the list of key projects of the Capital.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on investment policy for public investment projects, investment projects in the form of public-private partnership (below referred to as PPP projects) falling under its competence as specified in the law on public investment and the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership and the following public investment projects and PPP projects in the City that are not funded by the central budget:

a/ Urban railway projects, urban railway projects under the TOD model, regardless of total investment amount, including also cases requiring repurposing of 500 hectares or more of paddy land with 2 crops or more per year or resettlement of 50,000 people or more;

b/ Public investment projects and PPP projects, regardless of total investment amount, except those specified at Point a of this Clause; projects having great impacts on the environment or likely to seriously impact the environment that are subject to investment policy decision by the National Assembly; projects in the field of national defense and security that are classified as top secret, and projects on production of hazardous substances and explosives that are subject to investment policy decision by the Prime Minister.

3. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on investment policy for public investment projects and PPP projects in the City funded by the central budget, ODA capital and foreign concessional loans that are subject to investment policy decision by the National Assembly or Prime Minister, when assigned by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister; decide to adjust investment policy for public investment projects and PPP projects for which the National Assembly or Prime Minister has made investment policy decision and assigns the People’s Committee of the City to take charge of managing the implementation of projects but such adjustment must not lead to an increase in investment capital from the source of central budget, ODA capital, and foreign concessional loans.

4. The People’s Committee of the City shall approve investment policy for projects in accordance with the Investment Law and the Law on High Technology and the following projects:

a/ Investment projects on construction of houses for sale, lease or lease-purchase, investment projects on construction of urban centers covering a land area of between 300 hectares and under 500 hectares or having population of 50,000 people or more, except those subject to investment policy approval by the National Assembly;

b/ Investment projects on construction and commercial operation of infrastructure of industrial parks, export processing zones and hi-tech parks.

5. The People’s Committee of the City shall decide on investment in public investment projects, and approve PPP projects for which investment policy has been decided by the People’s Council of the City as specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article; decide on the selection and application of domestic and foreign standards and technical regulations; prescribe standards, technical regulations, techno-economic norms, cost norms, unit prices, prices of public non-business services covered by the state budget, implementation methods, payment methods other than those prescribed or not yet prescribed in documents of superior state agencies in conformity with the actual situation, characteristics and needs of construction and development of the Capital; organize appraisal and approval of appraisal results of environmental impact assessment reports of, and grant environmental licenses to, projects subject to investment decision or investment policy approval by the People’s Committee of the City.

6. The People’s Council of the City shall specify the order and procedures for deciding and approving investment policy for the projects specified in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article; and the order and procedures for implementing the tasks specified in Clause 5 of this Article.

Article 38. Separation of compensation, support and resettlement work into independent projects

1. Competent state agencies of the City, when deciding on investment policy for a project specified in Clause 2 or 3, Article 37 of this Law, or an overall project with the scale of a group-B or group-C project in accordance with the law on public investment, have the right to decide to separate compensation, support and resettlement work into an independent project; decide on the objectives, scale, total investment amount, capital structure, and investment location of the compensation, support and resettlement project.

2. Based on investment policy of the overall project, competent state agencies of the City shall decide on investment in the compensation, support and resettlement project.

Investment decision shall serve as a basis for arrangement of capital under annual public investment plans and at the same time serve as a ground for competent state agencies of the City to issue land recovery notices or decisions.

If the adjustment of the compensation, support and resettlement project gives rise to a factor requiring adjustment of the investment policy for the overall project, competent agencies of the City shall adjust the investment policy for the overall project before the chairperson of the competent People’s Committee adjusts the compensation, support and resettlement project. The adjustment of investment policy for the overall project and adjustment of the compensation, support and resettlement project must comply with this Law, the law on public investment and other relevant laws.

3. The order and procedures for implementing the compensation, support and resettlement projects specified in Clause 1 of this Article must comply with the criteria, order and procedures for public investment projects under the law on public investment.

Article 39. Implementation of PPP projects

1. To apply the mode of public-private partnership investment to projects in the fields of culture and sports in the City. The total investment amount of PPP projects in the fields of culture and sports must comply with the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership in the fields of health and education and training.

The order and procedures for implementation of the projects specified in this Clause must comply with the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership and other relevant laws. The Government shall detail this Clause.

2. The People’s Council of the City may consider and decide to increase the ratio of state capital amount in a PPP project up to 70% of the project’s total investment amount in case the expense for compensation for ground clearance accounts for more than 50% of the project’s total investment amount and the preliminary financial plan of the project does not guarantee the return on capital.

Article 40. Implementation of build-transfer contracts

1. A build-transfer contract (below referred to as BT contract) is a contract signed between a competent agency and an investor or a project enterprise (if any) to build an infrastructure work and transfer such work to the competent agency after completion; the investor shall receive payment from the state budget or receive land as payment.

2. The People’s Council of the City shall decide on investment policy for PPP projects under BT contracts in the fields of transport, irrigation, water drainage, and wastewater treatment with the total investment amount of at least VND 200 billion, ensuring publicity, transparency, socio-economic efficiency, project quality, and prevention of loss of state capital and assets.

3. The competence, order and procedures related to BT contracts are provided as follows:

a/ The competence, order and procedures for implementation, payment, and account finalization and inspection, examination and audit of projects implemented under BT contracts and paid by the state budget must comply with this Law, the law on public investment and the construction law. The selection of investors to implement projects under BT contracts paid by the state budget shall be carried out after the technical design (for works with 3-step design) or the basic design (for works with 2-step design) is approved;

b/ The competence, order and procedures for implementation, payment and account finalization, and inspection, examination and audit of projects implemented under BT contracts for which payment for investment is made in land must comply with this Law, the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership and the law on construction; the selection of investors in this case shall be carried out after the feasibility study report is approved;

c/ The competence, order and procedures for selecting investors specified at Points a and b of this Clause shall be the same as those applicable to PPP projects in accordance with the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership.

4. BT contracts paid by the state budget must comply with the following regulations:

a/ The form of BT contract paid by the state budget shall be applied to hi-tech projects on the list of high technologies prioritized for development investment in accordance with the law on high technology, projects applying advanced technology, new technology, or clean technology on the list of technologies encouraged for transfer or projects with implementation duration shorter than that of public investment projects of similar scale and technical nature;

b/ Selected investors must have the capacity and experience meeting technical requirements, and propose the lowest total payment value;

c/ The People’s Council of the City shall decide on the use of the City’s budget, arrange capital for investment preparation, annual budget estimates and arrange public investment capital in the City’s medium-term and annual public investment plans to make payment for investors after works or independent work items are completed and accepted, ensuring the progress specified in BT contracts.

Competent agencies and agencies signing project contracts shall be held responsible for supervising the quality of works under BT contracts during the course of implementation by investors;

d/ The investment policy for a project shall be made only after the capital source and the ability to balance the capital are determined. The total investment amount of investment projects under BT contracts shall be determined as for projects using public investment capital according to the construction law. It is permitted to include interest costs after the construction period and reasonable profits in the total investment amount of projects.

5. BT contracts with payment for investors paid in land must comply with the following regulations:

a/ Land areas used for making payment for investors are land areas managed by state agencies and organizations or those recovered according to the land law, with priority given to land areas adjacent to works built under BT contracts, thus promoting value of the land areas, avoiding loss or waste, ensuring the harmony of interests between the State and investors;

b/ Investors who have capacity and experience, meet technical, financial and commercial requirements, and have the highest total score may be selected in the same bidding organized by the People’s Committee of the City to build works under BT contracts and land-using counterpart projects;

c/ Investors shall be allocated land to implement counterpart projects after commencing and completing construction of at least 50% of the value of works under the BT contracts and fulfilling the responsibility to advance capital to carry out compensation, support and resettlement (if applicable) under BT contracts. Land-using counterpart projects shall be put into commercial operation after works built under BT contracts have been completed and transferred to competent agencies for exploitation.

6. The Government shall detail this Article.

Article 41. Management and use of public assets and exploitation of infrastructure works

1. Agencies and organizations that are assigned to manage and use works or work items being public assets in the City as specified in Clause 2 of this Article are allowed to sign contracts on concession for exploitation and management of such works or work items with investors and enterprises to exploit such works and work items for a certain period of time.

2. Infrastructure works and work items eligible for concession for exploitation and management include:

a/ Cultural and sports infrastructure works and work items;

b/ Valuable architectural works.

3. Management Councils of public non-business units under the management of the City, the Vietnam National Innovation Center or heads of public non-business units without Management Councils may decide to use public assets under their management in the City for commercial purposes or for lease or contribution to joint ventures or business affiliations, provided that such public assets are used to provide services for hi-tech activities, shared-use equipment, co-working space, research, incubation, testing and demonstration of technology to support hi-tech activities and develop innovation and startup ecosystems or in the cases specified by the law on management and use of public assets in conformity with their functions and tasks.

4. The People’s Council of the City has the following responsibilities:

a/ To decide on the list of works and work items specified in Clause 2 of this Article under the management of the City which are eligible for concession for exploitation and management; provide principles, conditions, contents, financial mechanisms, order and procedures for concession for exploitation and management of works and work items under the management of the City; principles, conditions, contents, financial mechanisms, order and procedures for formulating, seeking opinions and deciding on, schemes on the use of public assets under the management of the City for commercial purposes or for lease or contribution to joint venture or business affiliations;

b/ To provide measures for protecting, preserving, and renovating works and work items under the management of the City in the course of concession for exploitation and management and use for commercial purposes or for lease or contribution to joint ventures or business affiliations.

5. Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies and other central agencies shall decide on the list of works and work items under the management of their agencies that are eligible for concession for exploitation and management; and provide the principles, conditions, contents, financial mechanisms, order, procedures and measures for protection, management, use and exploitation of works and work items subject to concession for exploitation and management specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

6. The Minister of Planning and Investment shall provide the principles, conditions, contents, financial mechanisms, order and procedures for formulating, and seeking opinions and deciding on, schemes on use of public assets for commercial purposes or for lease or contribution to joint ventures or business affiliations as specified in Clause 3 of this Article for the Vietnam National Innovation Center.

Article 42. Attraction of strategic investors

1. The Capital’s list of sectors and trades prioritized for attraction of strategic investors includes:

a/ Investment in the construction of satellite urban centers; development of urban railways, intra- and inter-area mass public transport; development of hi-tech parks, and environmental pollution treatment;

b/ Manufacturing, production of semiconductor integrated circuits, manufacturing of integrated circuit (IC) and flexible electronic (PE) components and microchips, semiconductor chips, new-technology batteries, new materials, new energy, clean energy, and renewable energy; development and manufacturing of locomotive systems, carriages, signal information, railway control, urban traffic control, smart cities, and hi-tech agriculture;

c/ Development of innovation centers, research and development (R&D) centers; research and support of the transfer of high technology in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, automation technology, new-material technology, and clean energy.

2. Strategic investors are investors that fully meet the following conditions:

a/ Implementing investment projects on the list specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

b/ Being able to prove their financial capacity, technology, and experience in investing in projects in similar fields and with capital scale equivalent to the scale of projects calling for strategic investors;

c/ Having made written commitments on training and development of human resources, localization, and implementation of investment projects in accordance with the Capital’s list of sectors and trades prioritized for attracting strategic investors; meeting requirements on national defense, security, and environmental protection in accordance with Vietnam’s law.

3. Based on the projects on the list of sectors and trades specified in Clause 1 of this Article, investors or competent state agencies shall propose investment projects. The competence, order and procedures for making investment decision and approving investment policy must comply with this Law, the law on investment, the law on public investment, and the law on investment in the form of public-private partnership.

4. For investment projects that are not subject to procedures for investor selection as specified by the Law on Investment, investment projects subject to approval of investment policy for which competent agencies approve investment policy and investor simultaneously without having to organize auctions of land use rights, and projects subject to bidding for investor selection as specified by the Law on Investment, the bidding for selection of the strategic investor to implement a project specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall be carried out according to the following order and procedures:

a/ Based on the decision approving the project investment policy as specified in Clause 3 of this Article, the City’s competent investment registration agency shall publicize information about the project, preliminary requirements on the capacity and experience of investor and conditions for identification as strategic investor on the Vietnam National E-Procurement System;

b/ Based on the information publicized under Point a of this Clause, investors shall prepare and submit dossiers of registration for project implementation. A dossier of registration for project implementation must comprise a registration form for project implementation; documents about the investor’s legal status, capacity and experience; documents proving the satisfaction of the conditions specified in Clause 2 of this Article and other relevant documents (if any);

c/ Past the deadline for registration of project implementation, the City’s competent investment registration agency shall organize a preliminary assessment of the capacity and experience of investors that have submitted dossiers of registration for project implementation. Based on results of the preliminary assessment of capacity and experience, the People’s Committee of the City shall proceed with one of the cases specified at Point d, dd and e of this Clause;

d/ In case only 1 investor registers and meets the preliminary requirements on capacity and experience or many investors register but only 1 investor meets the preliminary requirements on capacity and experience, such investor shall be approved in accordance with the law on investment;

dd/ In case there are 2 or more investors meeting the preliminary requirements on capacity and experience, of whom only 1 investor meets the conditions for strategic investors as specified at Point a of this Clause, such investor shall be approved in accordance with the law on investment;

e/ In case there are 2 or more investors meeting the preliminary requirements on capacity and experience, of whom 2 or more investors meet the conditions for strategic investors specified at Point a of this Clause, the bidding law shall be applied to organize investor selection among the investors determined as meeting the conditions for strategic investors;

g/ The People’s Committee of the City shall specify forms of papers used for publicization of information on projects calling for strategic investors, including the document stating preliminary requirements on capacity and experience of investors and dossier of registration for project implementation.

5. Strategic investors that are selected according to the order and procedures specified in Clause 4 of this Article to implement investment projects on the list of sectors and trades prioritized for attraction of strategic investors specified in Clause 1 of this Article are entitled to the investment incentives specified in Clause 5, Article 43 of this Law.

6. In the process of implementation, if strategic investors fail to meet the conditions on capital, disbursement progress and other conditions for strategic investors, and fail to properly fulfill their commitments to the City, they shall not be entitled to the incentives specified in this Law. Strategic investors, individuals or economic organizations implementing investment projects shall jointly take responsibility for compensating the City for the received incentives higher than the incentives for other investors, and simultaneously take responsibility for the consequences arising from the failure to properly fulfill their commitments in accordance with law.

7. The People’s Council of the City shall detail Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article in conformity with the Capital’s development requirements.

Article 43. Investment incentives

1. Investment projects in the City eligible for incentives include:

a/ Investment projects in the fields of sports and cultural industries, including advertising, architecture, software and entertainment games, handicrafts, design, cinema, publishing, fashion, performing arts, fine arts, photography and exhibitions, television and radio, cultural tourism, and culinary culture according to the detailed list decided by the People’s Committee of the City;

b/ Investment projects on establishment of early childhood education institutions, high-quality education institutions, multi-level education institutions; early childhood education institutions and general education institutions in areas with socio-economic difficulties; training institutions for people with disabilities and disadvantaged children;

c/ Investment projects on establishment of high-quality and modern medical examination and treatment establishments; medical examination and treatment establishments in areas with socio-economic difficulties;

d/ Investment projects in non-public social assistance establishments, voluntary drug rehabilitation establishments, voluntary family- and community-based drug rehabilitation establishments;

dd/ Projects applying high technology or information technology, innovation projects and innovative startup projects in key areas of science and technology in the Capital;

e/ Projects using high and advanced technology in the fields of environment, climate change response, waste and wastewater treatment; projects on construction of hi-tech agricultural zones, hi-tech agricultural projects, and traditional craft village development projects.

2. Investors of the projects specified at Points a, b, c, dd and e, Clause 1 of this Article are entitled to the following incentives:

a/ Exemption from land and water surface rental for 10 years and 50% reduction of land and water surface rental for the remaining period.

Startup enterprises, science and technology organizations, and intermediary organizations supporting innovative startups are entitled to 50% reduction of land rental for production and business premises at the City’s innovation centers;

b/ Enterprise income tax rate of 5%, including exemption from enterprise income tax for 4 years and a 50% reduction of payable income tax amount for the subsequent 9 years.

The period of exemption from, and reduction of, tax on income of enterprises implementing the investment projects specified in this Clause shall be counted from the first year of generation of taxable income from the investment projects.

3. Enterprises conducting innovation activities and innovative startups in key science and technology fields of the Capital are entitled to the following incentives:

a/ Exemption from enterprise income tax for 5 years from the time of arising payable income tax, for income from innovation activities of innovative startups, science and technology organizations, innovation centers and intermediary organizations supporting innovative startups in the City;

b/ Exemption from personal income tax and enterprise income tax for individuals and organizations earning income from transfer of capital contributions or transfer of the right to contribute capital to innovative startups in the City;

c/ Exemption from some criteria for evaluating pre-qualification dossiers, bid dossiers, and proposal dossiers of contractor capacity and experience when participating in bidding of the City’s bidding packages, including requirements on revenues, financial resources and similar contracts and other requirements to conform with particularities of innovative startups.

When evaluating and ranking bid dossiers and proposal dossiers, contractors that are innovative startups operating in the City will be entitled to preferential treatment like contractors supplying goods with domestic production cost accounting for 25% or more of the total cost in accordance with the bidding law; the method of calculating incentives must comply with law;

d/ Exemption from personal income tax for 5 years for income from salaries and wages of experts, scientists, people with special talents, startup people working in innovative startups, science and technology organizations, innovation centers and intermediary organizations supporting innovative startups in the City.

4. Organizations and individuals investing in the projects specified at Point d, Clause 1 of this Article are entitled to the following incentives:

a/ Exemption from land use levy upon establishment, or exemption from enterprise income tax for income from activities of non-public social assistance establishments, voluntary drug rehabilitation establishments, and voluntary family- and community-based drug rehabilitation service establishments;

b/ Loan interest-rate support for the first 5 years of establishment according to regulations of the People’s Council of the City;

c/ Accounting as enterprise’s lawful expenses the donations and monetary supports from organizations and enterprises for the consultancy on, and organization of public communication about drug prevention and control, drug rehabilitation, development of new models of drug rehabilitation, post-rehabilitation management, and incentives and motivations for enterprises, organizations and individuals with achievements in drug prevention and control.

Donations and monetary supports from individuals for the consultancy on, and organization of public communication about drug prevention and control, drug rehabilitation, development of new models of drug rehabilitation, post-rehabilitation management, and incentives and motivations for enterprises, organizations and individuals with achievements in drug prevention and control are deducted from income before tax calculation for individuals residing in the City.

5. Strategic investors that are selected under Article 42 of this Law are entitled to the following incentives:

a/ Exemption from land rental and water surface rental for 10 years and 50% reduction of land rental and water surface rental for the remaining period for individuals and economic organizations implementing investment projects in the cases specified at Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 42 of this Law;

b/ Preferential treatment on customs procedures in accordance with the customs law and tax procedures in accordance with the tax law for exported and imported goods of investment projects implemented by strategic investors in the City when meeting the conditions for applying preferential treatment in accordance with the customs and tax laws, except the conditions on export and import turnover;

c/ Support for human resource development; infrastructure and social infrastructure works; support expenses for hi-tech products; research and development;

d/ Other incentives and supports decided by the People’s Council of the City to meet urgent requirements in attracting strategic investors.

6. Organizations and individuals investing in the construction of underground parking lots and high-rise parking lots are entitled to the following incentives:

a/ Exemption from land rental and charge for use of underground space in the entire period of project implementation;

b/ Support equaling 100% of the payable import duty amounts for hi-tech equipment and lines directly serving projects of building underground parking lots and high-rise parking lots;

c/ Up to 25% of the total construction floor areas of ​​projects as planned for provision of services in support of vehicle safeguarding services;

d/ Loan interest-rate supports for the first 5 years according to regulations of the People’s Council of the City.

Chapter V

REGIONAL LINKAGE AND DEVELOPMENT

Article 44. Objectives and principles of regional linkage and development

1. The City and provinces and centrally run cities in the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, and northern dynamic region shall carry out linkage and development according to programs and projects conformable with the country’s socio-economic development strategies and the national system of master plans.

Hanoi Capital is the center and driving force boosting linkage and development, and the growth pole of the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, northern dynamic region, and the whole country.

2. The regional linkage and development between the City and provinces and centrally run cities in the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, and northern dynamic region must adhere to the following principles:

a/ Complying with the Constitution, the Law on the Capital and laws and resolutions of the National Assembly that have provisions related to mechanisms and policies on the region’s socio-economic development and national defense and security assurance;

b/ Ensuring consensus, equality, publicity and transparency;

c/ Conducting coordination and linkage for development through plans, programs and projects on regional linkage and development approved by competent agencies;

d/ Assigning localities with tasks and powers related to, or most affected by, the fields and tasks requiring coordination and linkage to assume the prime responsibility for organizing the implementation of coordination and linkage plans, programs and projects.

Article 45. Regional linkage and development programs and projects

1. A regional linkage and development program or project is a program or project implemented in 2 or more provinces or centrally run cities, including Hanoi, which is on the list of projects in the National Overall Master Plan and national sectoral master plans, having a large scale and playing a role in creating the momentum and spillover effects for and connecting socio-economic development of the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, and northern dynamic region.

2. The proposal of a regional linkage and development program or project shall be implemented as follows:

a/ Related provincial-level People’s Committees shall report to the same-level People’s Councils for making consideration and consensus on implementation of the regional linkage and development program or project and propose assigning 1 provincial-level People’s Committee to act as the agency in charge of managing the program or project and the focal point in the implementation of the program or project;

b/ Based on the written consensus of the People’s Council of the City and the People’s Council(s) of the related locality(ies), the People’s Committee of the City shall, on behalf of the related localities, report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision on assigning 1 provincial-level People’s Committee to act as the agency in charge of managing the program or project.

Article 46. Investment capital for regional linkage and development programs and projects

1. To prioritize the allocation of funds from the central budget and local budgets for implementation of regional linkage and development programs and projects using the state budget, in which:

a/ Capital for regional linkage and development programs and projects shall be wholly for partially allocated from the central budget but the capital amount from the central budget must not be lower than that from local budgets;

b/ To prioritize the allocation of capital from the source of increased central budget revenues for the provinces and centrally run cities in the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, and northern dynamic region to ensure that regional linkage and development programs and projects shall be invested before other programs, tasks and projects.

In case the central budget capital is available for allocation to a regional linkage and development program or project of which the project owner is a locality, the competent agency shall allocate such amount as a target transfer to the provincial-level People’s Committee assigned to act as the agency in charge of managing the program or project for implementation.

2. To prioritize the mobilization of ODA capital and concessional loans from foreign donors to implement regional linkage and development programs and projects.

3. When necessary, People’s Councils of provinces and centrally run cities having regional linkage and development programs and projects shall reach consensus on the use of their local budgets to support other localities in implementing the programs and projects, depending on their budget balance capacity.

4. To prioritize the inclusion of regional linkage and development programs and projects in the list of projects calling for investment under national investment promotion programs.

5. Regional linkage and development programs and projects wholly invested from non-state budget sources shall be eligible to the incentives specified in Clause 2, Article 43 of this Law.

6. The Prime Minister shall decide on the list of regional linkage and development programs and projects supported by the central budget specified in Clause 1 of this Article at the proposal of the People’s Committee of the City.

Article 47. Responsibilities of ministries, sectors and localities participating in regional linkage and development programs and projects

1. The administration of the City and administrations of provinces and centrally run cities participating in regional linkage and development programs and projects in the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region and northern dynamic region have the following responsibilities:

a/ To coordinate and mobilize resources to implement the regional linkage and development programs and projects, ensuring compliance with the approved schedules of capital allocation and implementation of the regional linkage and development programs and projects; to manage, maintain and repair works built under the programs and projects after they are completed and put into use in their localities;

b/ To prioritize the allocation of local budgets together with the central budget to implement the regional linkage and development programs and projects in their localities.

2. The administration of the City shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with provinces and centrally run cities in the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, and northern dynamic region in proposing and implementing regional linkage and development programs and projects in each field.

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with localities in, reporting to the Government for submission to the National Assembly for ensuring budget balance for implementation of regional linkage and development programs and projects between the City and provinces and centrally run cities in the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, and northern dynamic region.

Chapter VI

OVERSIGHT, EXAMINATION AND INSPECTION, AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR BUILDING, DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT AND SAFEGUARDING OF THE CAPITAL

Article 48. Responsibilities of the National Assembly, National Assembly agencies, National Assembly deputies’ delegations and National Assembly deputies

1. The National Assembly shall decide on the particular budget for the Capital as specified in Clause 6, Article 34 of this Law; perform the supreme oversight of the implementation thereof and, every 3 years, carry out periodical reviews of the Government’s reports on the implementation of the Law on the Capital.

2. The Ethnic Council and Committees of the National Assembly shall, in the process of verifying draft laws and draft resolutions of the National Assembly, review and give opinions on determination of the specific contents to be implemented or not to be implemented in accordance with the Law on the Capital, and the contents to be implemented in accordance with such draft laws and draft resolutions.

3. The National Assembly Standing Committee, the Ethnic Council and Committees of the National Assembly, National Assembly deputies’ delegations and National Assembly deputies shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, oversee the implementation of the Law on the Capital.

4. The National Assembly and National Assembly Standing Committee shall, when necessary, request the People’s Committee of the City to report on the implementation of the Law on the Capital.

Article 49. Responsibilities of the Government and Prime Minister

1. The Government has the following responsibilities:

a/ To promulgate, amend and supplement mechanisms and policies falling under its competence to solve shortcomings arising in the building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital; consider and decide on the delegation and authorization of powers to the People’s Council and People’s Committee of the City to perform the tasks and powers falling under the Government’s competence in addition to the tasks and powers specified in this Law;

b/ To guide, examine and inspect the implementation of the law on the Capital; and handle violations in accordance with law;

c/ To direct ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, and provincial-level People’s Committees to coordinate with the People’s Committees of the City and provinces and centrally run cities having regional linkage and development activities with the Capital in complying with the law on the Capital; and review and promote the delegation and authorization of tasks and powers in conformity with the City’s management capacity;

d/ Every 3 years, to send reports on the results of implementation of the Law on the Capital to the National Assembly.

2. The Prime Minister has the following responsibilities:

a/ To consider and decide on the delegation and authorization of powers to the People’s Committee of the City for performing the tasks and powers falling under his/her competence in conformity with the City’s management capacity;

b/ To direct ministries and ministerial-level agencies to coordinate with the People’s Committee of the City in simplifying and shortening internal inter-agency order and procedures and administrative procedures, and handling issues in the enforcement of the law on the Capital;

c/ Annually, to work with the People’s Committees of the City and provinces and centrally run cities that have regional linkage and development activities with the Capital and relevant ministries and sectors to evaluate the results of enforcement of the law on the Capital.

Article 50. Responsibilities of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government-attached agencies

1. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the administration of the City in, formulating sectoral development strategies and sectoral master plans, and formulating legal documents having the contents related to the building, development, management, and safeguarding of the Capital; to consider and decide on delegation and authorization of powers to the People’s Committee of the City and specialized agencies and other administrative organizations under the People’s Committee of the City to perform the tasks and exercise the powers falling under their competence, in addition to the tasks and powers specified in this Law.

2. When drafting bills and resolutions of the National Assembly, ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall review and collate them against the Law on the Capital, and determining specific contents to be implemented in accordance with the Law on the Capital or contents to be implemented in accordance with such bills or draft resolutions. The agencies in charge of appraising and examining legal documents shall check and give opinions on these contents in the bills and draft resolutions.

3. To direct, guide, examine and inspect the contents falling under their state management functions; to solve according to their competence, or report to competent agencies for solving, issues arising in the organization of implementation and monitoring of the implementation of laws related to their sectors and fields.

4. To proactively coordinate with the People’s Committee of the City when formulating and implementing investment programs and projects in the City to ensure the uniform management according to relevant master plans.

5. To strictly comply with the responsibilities for relocating their headquarters according to the Prime Minister’s decisions.

Article 51. Responsibilities of provinces and centrally run cities having regional linkage and development activities with the Capital

1. To formulate programs and plans for coordinating with relevant ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies and provinces and cities having regional linkage and development activities with the Capital in accordance with this Law.

2. To coordinate with relevant ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies and provinces and cities having regional linkage and development activities with the Capital in studying and proposing key programs and projects of the Capital, and key regional linkage and development programs and projects.

3. To balance local budget capital sources to implement key socio-economic infrastructure works and regional linkage and development projects in the localities.

4. To develop, provide and update information and data on the results of implementation of socio-economic development tasks in accordance with this Law and announce information on their key sectors and fields having regional linkage and development activities with the Capital; to coordinate in formulating cooperation plans among localities in each regional linkage and development program or project as specified in Article 45 of this Law.

5. To promulgate mechanisms and policies to improve the investment and business environment, and measures to encourage and support economic sectors and attract enterprises to invest in key programs and projects of the Capital, and key regional linkage and development programs and projects.

6. To coordinate in supervising, examining and inspecting the implementation of regulations on regional linkage and development.

Article 52. Responsibilities of agencies, organizations and people of the Capital

1. To build and develop a cultured, civilized and modern Capital, representing the whole country.

2. To proactively and actively expand relations and friendly cooperation with capitals of other countries, mobilizing external resources to build and develop the Capital; to strengthen people-to-people diplomacy, creating favorable conditions for agencies, organizations and people of the Capital to participate in international exchange and cooperation activities in economic and socio-cultural fields, education, and science and technology.

3. People’s Councils, People’s Committees, and Chairpersons of People’s Committees at all levels of the City shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, perform the following responsibilities:

a/ To promptly promulgate documents detailing articles, clauses and points as assigned in the Law on the Capital, and provide measures for organizing the implementation of the Law on the Capital according to their competence;

b/ To urge, inspect, examine and supervise the implementation of the Law on the Capital within the ambit of their management and take responsibility for violations and weaknesses occurring in the work of building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital;

c/ To publicize, transparentize, and increase accountability in the implementation of this Law, ensuring the rights of citizens, cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers to know, give opinions, decide, examine and supervise the implementation of this Law;

d/ To organize and ensure the implementation of the law on the Capital; to decide on issues of the City as delegated, decentralized and authorized in accordance with this Law and other relevant laws;

dd/ To strengthen the inspection, examination and supervision of the performance of tasks and exercise of powers of the People’s Committees and the Chairpersons of the People’s Committees of wards to ensure satisfaction of the requirements of power control.

4. The People’s Council of the City shall, within the ambit of its tasks and powers, implement Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article, and has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To supervise the implementation of the Law on the Capital;

b/ To periodically review reports on implementation of the Law on the Capital of the People’s Committee of the City.

5. The People’s Committee of the City shall, within the ambit of its tasks and powers, implement Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article, and has the following tasks and powers:

a/ To ensure safety and convenience for the operation of central agencies of the Party, the State, socio-political organizations, diplomatic missions and international organizations and for the organization of national and international programs and events in the City; to coordinate with related agencies and organizations in ensuring the operation of central agencies and important internal and external activities of the Party and the State;

b/ To proactively coordinate with, and support provinces and centrally run cities in, the Capital region, Red River Delta region, northern key economic region, northern dynamic region and whole country through expanding forms of linkage and cooperation for mutual development;

c/ To create conditions for agencies, organizations and individuals to effectively participate in the building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital;

d/ To give opinions on bills and draft resolutions of the National Assembly which have provisions related to particular policies and mechanisms provided in this Law;

dd/ To propose the application of laws and resolutions of the National Assembly promulgated after the effective date of the Law on the Capital that have contents different from those of the Law on the Capital as the application of such provisions will create more favorable conditions for the building, development, management and safeguarding of the Capital, and report thereon to the People’s Council of the City for opinion before reporting to the Government for submission to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision under Clause 2, Article 4 of this Law;

e/ Once every 3 years, to organize preliminary reviews and report the implementation of the Law on the Capital to the Government; to report the implementation of the Law on the Capital to the National Assembly Standing Committee when so requested.

6. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Committees at all levels of the City and member organizations of the Vietnam Fatherland Front have the following responsibilities:

a/ To supervise the implementation of policies and laws on the Capital; and supervise the implementation of the contents decentralized and authorized in accordance with this Law;

b/ To carry out social criticism of draft legal documents assigned by this Law to the People’s Council and People’s Committee of the City for promulgation;

c/ To closely coordinate with administrations at all levels and mobilize the participation of agencies, organizations and individuals in the City in building, developing, managing and safeguarding the Capital.

7. Cadres, civil servants and public employees of the Capital shall constantly study, practice, and improve their qualifications and capacity to meet working requirements; be exemplary in performing assigned tasks and powers; and guide and create conditions for people to comply with law.

8. People of the Capital shall strictly comply with law, actively participate in building the administration, and a civilized and elegant lifestyle, and maintain public security and social order and safety of the Capital.

Chapter VII

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 53. Effect

1. This Law takes effect on January 1, 2025, except the cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. The following provisions of the Law on the Capital shall take effect on July 1, 2025:

a/ Provisions on management and use of underground space in Article 19 of this Law;

b/ Provisions on establishment of trade and cultural development zones in Clause 7, Article 21 of this Law;

c/ Provisions on development of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation in Article 23 of this Law;

d/ Provisions on regulatory sandbox in Article 25 of this Law;

dd/ Provisions on the performance of build-transfer contracts in Article 40 of this Law.

 3. Law No. 25/2012/QH13 on the Capital, the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 97/2019/QH14 of November 27, 2019, on the pilot application of the urban administration model in Hanoi City, the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 160/2021/QH14 on April 8, 2021, on the pilot arrangement of full-time deputies of People’s Council of Hanoi City,  and the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 115/2020/QH14 of June 19, 2020, on the pilot application of a number of particular financial-budgetary mechanisms and policies to Hanoi City, cease to be effective on January 1, 2025.

Article 54. Transitional provisions

1. Commune-level cadres and civil servants who are elected or recruited before the effective date of this Law shall be regarded as cadres and civil servants in accordance with the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants under administrative payrolls annually allocated to the district-level administration for them to continue working at their current positions; those who are transferred to new positions must meet the standards and conditions prescribed by law and conform to the job positions approved by competent agencies.

2. Documents issued by People’s Councils or People’s Committees of wards before July 1, 2021, shall be further applied if having yet to be replaced or annulled by competent agencies.

In case documents issued by People’s Councils of wards or legal documents issued by People’s Committees of wards before July 1, 2021, are no longer appropriate, the People’s Councils of urban districts, towns, or cities under the City shall annul documents issued by People’s Councils of wards; the People’s Committees of urban districts, towns, or cities under the City shall annul legal documents issued by People’s Committees of wards at the proposal of People’s Committees of wards.

3. From the effective date of this Law, it is not required to classify urban areas and review urban classification criteria for special-class urban areas when carrying out procedures for adjusting boundaries of administrative units or expanding inner-city areas to establish urban districts and wards of the City.

4. Agencies, units, and establishments subject to relocation under Clause 1, Article 9; and Point b, Clause 3, Article 15, of Law No. 25/2012/QH13 on the Capital, which have completed construction at the new locations but not yet handed over the land areas under the current headquarters to the People’s Committee of the City, shall complete the handover by December 31, 2025, for management and use in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Agencies, units, and establishments subject to relocation under Clause 1, Article 9; and Point b, Clause 3, Article 15, of Law No. 25/2012/QH13 on the Capital, which have had their relocation plans and post-relocation land use plans approved by competent agencies before the passage of this Law, shall continue to implement those approved plans.

From the date of passage of this Law, agencies, units, and establishments subject to relocation under Clause 1, Article 9, and Point b, Clause 3, Article 15, of Law No. 25/2012/QH13 on the Capital, which have not had their relocation plans and post-relocation land use plans approved by competent agencies, shall comply with the provisions of this Law.

5. Underground works or underground parts of above-ground works that are built or have construction permits issued before the effective date of this Law shall not be required to carry out licensing procedures and pay underground space use levy as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 19 of this Law.

In case the renovation or reconstruction of existing underground works and underground parts of above-ground works and adjustment of construction permits result in changes to the use of underground space after the effective date of this Law, it is required to apply for a license and pay underground space use levy as prescribed by this Law.

6. For science and technology tasks using the City’s budget, and key science and technology tasks of the Capital, key programs and projects on regional linkage and development, which are approved or contracted before the effective date of this Law but have yet to go through acceptance testing or have yet to complete, the provisions of this Law shall apply.

7.  Enterprises, contractors, agencies, organizations, and units that need to employ foreign workers specified at Point c, Clause 3, Article 24 of this Law, and have obtained competent agencies’ approval of the employment of foreign workers or have been granted work permits for foreign workers to work at the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park before the effective date of this Law, may either report changes in the demand for foreign workers or carry out procedures for re-issuance or extension of work permits for foreign workers at the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park Management Board or the competent agencies that have approved or issued the work permits.

8. For contracts on provision of electricity and water supply services in the City concluded before the effective date of this Law, contracting parties shall supplement the contracts or contract appendices to state the suspension of electricity and water supply services at the request of competent agencies as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 33 of this Law.

9. The adjustment of investment policy decisions or approvals for projects falling into the cases specified in Clauses 2, 3, and 4, Article 37 of this Law, which have been decided or approved before the effective date of this Law, shall be decided by the competent agency specified in Article 37 of this Law.

10. For investment projects subject to investment decision or investment policy approval by People’s Committee of the City as prescribed in this Law, if the projects fall into cases subject to environmental impact assessment and the projects’ environmental impact assessment reports have been submitted to competent agencies for appraisal before the effective date of this Law, the appraisal and approval of the results of appraisal of the environmental impact assessment reports shall continue to be conducted according to the provisions in effect at the time of submission of dossiers of request for appraisal; if the projects are required to apply for environmental permits and the dossiers of application for environmental permits have been submitted to competent agencies before the effective date of this Law, the consideration, appraisal, and issuance of environmental permits shall continue to be carried out in accordance with the competence, order, and procedures prescribed by the law in effect at the time of submission of the dossiers.

This Law was passed on June 28, 2024, by the 15^th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 7^th session.-

Chairman of the National Assembly
TRAN THANH MAN