What are cases of administrative sanctions when arbitrarily changing the purpose of land use in Vietnam?
Please ask: What are cases of administrative sanctions when arbitrarily changing the purpose of land use in Vietnam? Please advise.
What are cases of administrative sanctions when arbitrarily changing the purpose of land use in Vietnam?
(1) Penalties for administrative violations when illegally changing the use purpose of paddy land
Pursuant to Article 9 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP stipulating the penalty for illegally changing the use purpose of paddy land as follows:
|
Violation |
Area of land illegally repurposed (hectare) |
Fines (million dong) |
|
Conversion of paddy land to land for perennial plants, land for forests |
Below 0.5 |
From 02 - 05 |
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 05 - 10 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 10 - 20 |
|
|
Above 03 |
From over 20 - 50 |
|
|
Conversion of paddy land to land for aquaculture or salt production |
Below 0.1 |
From 03 - 05 |
|
From 0.1 to less than 0.5 |
From 05 -10 |
|
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 10 - 20 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 20 - 30 |
|
|
Above 03 |
From 30 - 70 |
|
|
Conversion of paddy land to non-agricultural land in rural area |
Below 0.01 |
From 03 - 05 |
|
From 0.01 to less than 0.02 |
From 05 - 10 |
|
|
From 0.02 to less than 0.05 |
From 10 - 15 |
|
|
From 0.05 to less than 0.1 |
From 15 - 30 |
|
|
From 0.1 to less than 0.5 |
From 30 - 50 |
|
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 50 - 80 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 80 - 120 |
|
|
From 03 and up |
From 120 - 250 |
Note: In case of converting rice cultivation land to non-agricultural land in urban areas, the form and level of penalty is 2 times the fine level mentioned above (according to Clause 4, Article 9 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP)
(2) Penalties for administrative violations when illegally changing the purpose of using forest land
According to Article 10 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP regulating penalties for illegally changing the purpose of using forest land, specifically:
|
Violation |
Area of land illegally repurposed (hectare) |
Fine (million VND) |
|
Conversion of land for cultivated reserve forests, cultivated protection forests or cultivated production forests to other purposes mentioned in agricultural land category |
Below 0.5 |
From 03 - 05 |
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 05 - 10 |
|
|
From 01 to under 05 |
From 10 - 20 |
|
|
From 05 and up |
From 20 - 50 |
|
|
Convert to non-agricultural land. |
Below 0.02 |
From 03 - 05 |
|
From 0.02 to less than 0.05 |
From 05 - 10 |
|
|
From 0.05 to less than 0.1 |
From 10 - 15 |
|
|
From 0.1 to less than 0.5 |
From 15 - 30 |
|
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 30 - 50 |
|
|
From 01 to under 05 |
From 50 - 100 |
|
|
From 05 and up |
From 100 - 250 |
Note: In case of converting special-use forest land to natural forests, protective forest land to natural forests, or production forest land to natural forests to other purposes, the form and level of punishment shall be equal to 02 times the penalties. The above penalty level (according to Clause 3, Article 10 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP)
(3) Penalties for administrative violations when illegally changing the use purpose of agricultural land
Pursuant to Article 11 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP, the act of arbitrarily changing the use purpose of agricultural land other than paddy land, protection forests, reserve forests or production forest to other purposes will be punished as follows:
|
Violation |
Area of land illegally repurposed (hectare) |
Fine (million VND) |
|
Conversion of land for other annual crops to land for saltwater aquaculture, salt production or aquaculture in forms of ponds, lakes or lagoons. |
Below 0.5 |
From 02 - 05 |
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 05 - 10 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 10 - 20 |
|
|
From 03 and up |
From 20 - 50 |
|
|
Conversion of land for other annual crops, perennial plants, aquaculture, salt production or other agriculture to non-agricultural land. |
Below 0.02 |
From 03 - 05 |
|
From 0.02 to less than 0.05 |
From 05 - 08 |
|
|
From 0.05 to less than 0.1 |
From 08 - 15 |
|
|
From 0.1 to less than 0.5 |
From 15 - 30 |
|
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 30 - 50 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 50 - 100 |
|
|
From 03 and up |
From 100 - 200 |
Note : In case of converting land for growing other annual crops, land for growing perennial crops, land for aquaculture, land for salt production, or other agricultural land to non-agricultural land in urban areas, the form and level of penalties will apply. equal to 02 times the level mentioned above (according to Clause 3, Article 11 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP).
(4) Penalties for administrative violations when illegally converting non-agricultural land to other purposes
According to Article 12 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP, the penalty for illegally converting non-agricultural land to another purpose will be handled as follows:
|
Violation |
Area of land illegally repurposed (hectare) |
Fine (million VND) |
|
Conversion of non-agricultural land other than residential land allocated and collected by the State for land lease or leased for lump-sum payment to residential land in rural areas |
Below 0.05 |
From 03 - 05 |
|
From 0.05 to less than 0.1 |
From 05 - 10 |
|
|
From 0.1 to less than 0.5 |
From 10 - 20 |
|
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 20 - 40 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 40 - 80 |
|
|
From 03 and up |
From 80 - 160 |
|
|
Conversion of non-agricultural land other than residential land allocated without being collected by the State for land levy or leased by the State for annual payment to residential land; conversion of non-agricultural land other than residential land allocated without being collected by the State for land levy to agricultural land which will be allocated with levy or leased by the State in rural areas |
Below 0.1 |
From 10 - 20 |
|
From 0.1 to less than 0.5 |
From 20 - 40 |
|
|
From 0.5 to less than 01 |
From 40 - 80 |
|
|
From 01 to under 03 |
From 80 - 160 |
|
|
From 03 and up |
From 160 - 300 |
The above fines apply to individuals, the fine for organizations will be 2 times the fine for individuals (according to point a, clause 1, Article 6 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP)
Who is allowed by the District People's Committee to change land use purposes in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 59 of the 2013 Land Law, regulations on competence to allocate, lease land and approve change of land use purpose are as follows:
Competence to allocate, lease land and approve change of land use purpose
1. Provincial-level People’s Committees may decide on the allocation or lease of land, and permit change of land use purpose in the following cases:
a/ Allocation or lease of land to, and permission for change of land use purpose for, organizations;
b/ Allocation of land to religious institutions;
c/ Allocation of land to overseas Vietnamese or foreign-invested enterprises under Clause 3, Article 55 of this Law;
d/ Lease of land to overseas Vietnamese or foreign-invested enterprises under Points e and f, Clause 3, Article 56 of this Law;
2. District-level People’s Committees may decide on the allocation or lease of land, and permit change of land use purpose in the following cases:
a/ Allocation or lease of land to, and permission of change of land use purpose for, households and individuals. If these subjects wish to lease or use agricultural land with an area of 0.5 ha or more for trading and service purposes, written approval from the provincial-level People’s Committee is required before the district-level People’s Committee makes decision;
b/ Allocation of land to communities.
3. Commune-level People’s Committees may lease land from the agricultural land fund for public purposes in their communes, wards or townships.
4. Agencies having the competence to decide on land allocation or lease and permit change of land use purpose as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article may not delegate their competence.
According to this Article, the district-level People's Committee has authority to allow land use purpose change for households and individuals.
However, if households or individuals change the purpose of using agricultural land for commercial or service purposes with an area of 0.5 hectares or more, written approval from the Provincial People's Committee before making a decision is required.
What are cases of administrative sanctions when arbitrarily changing the purpose of land use in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
In what cases does district People's Committee decide to recover land?
According to Article 66 of the Land Law 2013, regulations on competence to recover land are specifically as follows:
Competence to recover land
1. Provincial-level People’s Committee may decide on land expropriation in the following cases:
a/ Recovery of land from organizations, religious institutions, overseas Vietnamese, foreign organizations with diplomatic functions, and foreign-invested enterprises, excluding the case prescribed at Point b, Clause 2 of this Article;
b/ Recovery of agricultural land which is part of the public land funds of communes, wards or townships.
2. District-level People’s Committees may decide on land expropriation in the following cases:
a/ Recovery of land from households, individuals and communities;
b/ Recovery of land from overseas Vietnamese who are allowed to own houses in Vietnam.
3. In case both subjects prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article exist in one expropriated area, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall decide on the land expropriation or authorize district-level People’s Committees to decide on the land expropriation.
Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, the district People's Committee shall issue a decision to recover land in the following cases:
- Land recovery for households, individuals, and communities;
- Recover residential land from Vietnamese people residing abroad who can own houses in Vietnam.
Note: In case the land recovery area includes subjects under the recovery authority of the Provincial People's Committee and the District People's Committee, the Provincial People's Committee will decide to recover the land or authorize it for the District People's Committee to decide on land recovery.
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