What are requirements for grant of construction design practicing certificates in Vietnam?

What are requirements for grant of construction design practicing certificates in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 70 of the Decree 15/2021/NĐ-CP stipulating construction design practicing certificates in Vietnam as follows:

An individual shall be considered to be issued with a construction design practicing certificate if he/she meet the eligibility requirements in Articles 66 and 67 hereof and the eligibility requirements corresponding to ranks below:

1. A Rank-I construction design practicing certificate is awarded to the individual who has worked as a chairperson or president in charge of designing or appraising the design of tasks of the field for which a practicing certificate is sought of least 01 Class I work or higher or at least 02 Class II works or higher of the field that is covered by the certificate applied for,

2. A Rank-II construction design practicing certificate is awarded to the individual who has worked as a chairperson or president in charge of designing or appraising the design of tasks of the field for which a practicing certificate is sought of at least 01 Class II work or higher or at least 02 Class III works or higher or has participated in designing or appraising the design of the tasks relevant to requirements of that practicing certificate of at least 03 Class II works or higher that are the same as those for which a practicing certificate is sought.

3. A Rank-III construction design practicing certificate is awarded to the individual who has participated in designing or appraising the design of tasks of the field for which a practicing certificate is sought of at least 03 Class III works or higher or at least 05 Class IV works or higher that are the same as those for which a practicing certificate is sought.

Pursuant to Article 66 of the Decree 15/2021/NĐ-CP stipulating general eligibility requirements for issuance of construction practicing certificates in Vietnam as follows:

An individual shall be issued with the practicing certificate if he/she:

1. has full active legal capacity as prescribed by law and obtains a residence permit or work permit if he/she is a foreigner or overseas Vietnamese.

2. has his/her qualifications and experience relevant to requirements of the practicing certificate. To be specific:

a) A Rank-I practicing certificate is awarded to the individual who gains a bachelor's degree in appropriate major and at least 07 years’ experience relevant to requirements of that practicing certificate;

b) A Rank-II practicing certificate is awarded to the individual who gains a bachelor's degree in appropriate major and at least 04 years’ experience relevant to requirements of that practicing certificate;

c) A Rank-III practicing certificate is awarded to the individual who has appropriate qualifications and at least 02 years’ experience relevant to requirements of that practicing certificate with respect to the holder of the undergraduate degree and at least 03 years’ experience with respect to the holder of the associate degree or intermediate diploma.

3. passes the test in the field for which a practicing certificate is sought.

Pursuant to Clause 3 Article 67 of the Decree 15/2021/NĐ-CP stipulating appropriate disciplines as the basis for issuance of the construction practicing certificate in Vietnam as follows:

3. Construction design:

a) Construction structure design: the discipline must be construction engineering related to construction structure is required (excluding mining, transport, irrigation works, dikes);

b) Mechanical - electrical design (excluding transmission lines and electrical substations): the disciplines must be engineering related to electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, air ventilation – heat supply and dissipation engineering;

c) Water supply – drainage design: the discipline must be engineering related to water supply and drainage,

d) Mining construction design: the discipline must be engineering related to underground and mine works;

dd) Transport construction engineering design (including roads; bridges - tunnels; railway; inland waterways, maritime): the discipline must be engineering related to transport works;

e) Design of water supply and drainage works; solid waste treatment works: the discipline must be engineering related to water supply and drainage, urban environmental engineering and equivalent discipline;

g) Design of irrigation works, dikes: the discipline must be engineering related to irrigation works, dikes, equivalent discipline.

As regulations above, if you want to apply for a rank-III practicing certificate, you need to meet the conditions specified above, including work experience, working time, appropriate professional qualifications, test, health, residence, etc.

What documents are included in the application for construction practicing certificate in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1 Article 76 of the Decree 15/2021/NĐ-CP stipulating the application for construction practicing certificate in Vietnam as follows:

1. An application for issuance of the construction practicing certificate for the first time, adjustments to certificate rank, certificate renewal includes:

a) An application form provided in form 01 of the Appendix IV of this Decree;

b) The applicant’s 02 color 4 x 6 cm and white background photos and file thereof which are taken within the last 06 months;

c) Qualification(s) awarded by a legal training institution in accordance with the type or rank of the certificate applied for;

The qualification(s) awarded by a foreign training institution must bear consular authentication and enclosed with notarized and certified Vietnamese translations as prescribed by Vietnam’s laws;

d) Practicing certificate issued by a competent authority, in the case of applying for upgrade of the practicing certificate;

dd) Decisions on task assignment (responsibility assignment) issued by an organization to an individual or written confirmation of completed typical tasks provided by the legal representative of the investor. The person signing the written confirmation shall take responsibility for its truthfulness. In case the individual runs his/her own construction business, a contract and record on commissioning of listed typical tasks are required;

e) Legal residence-related documents or work permit issued by a Vietnamese competent authority, applicable to foreigners;

g) Copy of passing test result in case the test is done before the date of submission of the application for the practicing certificate;

h) Documents specified in Points c, d, dd and e of this Clause must be certified true copies or included in a file that contains color photos of originals or copies presented together with the originals for comparison.

Is it permissible to retain the test for issuance of construction practicing certificate in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 77 of the Decree 15/2021/NĐ-CP stipulating test for issuance of construction practicing certificate in Vietnam as follows:

1. The issuing authority shall organize a test for issuance of the construction practicing certificate. In case an individual wishes to apply for a test before submitting the application for issuance of the practicing certificate, the application form No. 02 provided in the Appendix IV shall be submitted to an issuing authority.

2. The test shall be done on a monthly or ad hoc basis and decided by the head of the issuing authority. The issuing authority shall notify the screening result of application for issuance of practicing certificate, time, location of test at least 3 business days before the test date.

3. A test consists of two parts: legal knowledge and professional knowledge. The individual whose practicing certificate remains valid shall be exempted from questions about professional knowledge related to the field specified in such practicing certificate.

The individual applying for reissuance of practicing certificate in a case where the lost or damaged practicing certificate remains valid is not required to take a test.

4. The test result shall be retained for 06 months from the date on which the test is taken to form a basis for issuance of the practicing certificate.

5. The issuing authority shall arrange a place for the test that must satisfy the infrastructure requirements. To be specific:

a) There must be a testing area, waiting area and area for providing test guidelines in the testing place;

b) The testing area must be provided with space for arranging tables, chairs and at least 10 computers;

c) Computers must operate in a stable manner, be connected using LAN, connected to printers and Internet. The Internet bandwidth must be good enough to ensure continuous operation of computers during the test;

d) Closed-circuit television cameras with a minimum resolution of 1280 x 720 (720P) must be installed in a manner that ensures the testing area is properly monitored and be capable of storing data for at least 30 days from the date on which the test is organized;

dd) There must be at least 01 set of loudspeakers to publicly announce information during the test;

e) There must be at least 01 printer to print testing reports and 01 standby printer;

g) Testing software shall be transferred by construction authorities affiliated to the Ministry of Construction and used nationwide.

6. Individuals shall pay charges for taking a test for issuance of construction practicing certificates. Such charges shall be collected, transferred, managed and used in accordance with regulations of the Ministry of Construction.

As regulations above, the test result shall be retained for 06 months from the date on which the test is taken to form a basis for issuance of the practicing certificate.

Best regards!