Amendments to national technical regulations on fire safety for houses and buildings in Vietnam

Amendments to national technical regulations on fire safety for houses and buildings in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

The Minister of Construction issued Circular 09/2023/TT-BXD dated October 16, 2023 Amending 1:2023 QCVN 06:2022/BXD National technical regulations on fire safety for houses and buildings.

Amendments to national technical regulations on fire safety for houses and buildings in Vietnam

Specifically, national technical regulations on fire safety for houses and buildings will comply with the contents specified in QCVN 06:2022/BXD and amendments to 1:2023 QCVN 06:2022/BXD.

Some notes for construction design documents when Circular 09/2023/TT-BXD takes effect:

- Construction design documents have been completed and approved by the competent state management agency before Circular 09/2023/TT-BXD takes effect and will continue to be implemented according to the approved design documents.

- The construction design dossier has written feedback on fire prevention and fighting design at the basic design step from the competent state management agency, but the fire prevention and fighting design has not been approved yet, before Circular 09/2023/TT-BXD takes effect, design approval will continue to be carried out according to written comments and responses.

- Construction design documents that have not been commented on and approved for fire prevention and fighting designs by competent state management agencies since the effective date of Circular 09/2023/TT-BXD must comply with the provisions of QCVN 06:2022/BXD and Amendments to 1:2023 QCVN 06:2022/BXD.

More details can be found in Circular 09/2023/TT-BXD taking effect on December 1, 2023.

General requirements in development of technical regulations in Vietnam

The development of technical regulations must ensure the general requirements specified in Clause 2, Article 2a of Decree 127/2007/ND-CP (amended in Decree 78/2018/ND-CP), specifically as follows:

- Ensure that national technical regulations and local technical regulations are consolidated, consistent and appropriate to international conventions to which Vietnam is a signatory.

After acquiring permission from the Ministry of Science and Technology, other Ministries, Ministry-level agencies, People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall grant ex officio approval for plans for development of national technical regulations and local technical regulations as prescribed in Articles 29, 60 and 61 of the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations 2006 to ensure consolidation, consistence and appropriation of the regulations.

The Ministry of Science and Technology shall be responsible for giving comments on plans for development of national technical regulations and local technical regulations within 10 business days starting from the date of receipt of the written request from the authorities responsible for developing the plans.

- Prioritize developing amendments to technical regulations for each group of subjects with similar technical characteristics and management requirements.

- Stipulate management measures and limits for technical characteristics of products, commodities, services, processes and environments for the purpose of state management, ensuring safety, hygiene, health and environment; protection of plants and animals; protection of national interests and security, legitimate rights and interests of consumers; the rights to freedom of business operation for organizations and individuals.

- Contents of national technical regulations may be invoked in other national technical regulations, national standards, international standards, regional standards and foreign standards.

- In case a technical regulation is invoked in international standards, regional standards and foreign standards, the authority issuing such regulation shall ensure provision of the Vietnamese copy of the invoked document to individuals/organizations for their reference upon request.

- During development of technical regulations, regulations on recognition of equivalence must be inspected to ensure compliance with international conventions to which Vietnam is a signatory.

In case a technical regulation is likely to create a technical barrier in international trade, the authority issuing such regulation must send a draft regulation to the Ministry of Science and Technology for international opinions as prescribed in international conventions to which Vietnam is a signatory.

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