From 2020, Monetary Penalties Will Be Imposed for Cases of Non-Utilization of Allocated Land

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To be specific, currently, Decree 102/2014/ND-CP on handling administrative violations in the field of land does not stipulate that failure to use land is an administrative violation. However, when those with land use rights do not use the land within a specified time period, the land will be subject to recovery as per point h Clause 1 Article 64 of the Land Law 2013:

“Annual crop land not used for 12 consecutive months; perennial crop land not used for 18 consecutive months; forest land not used for 24 consecutive months;”

However, Decree 91/2019/ND-CP has considered this as an administrative violation and stipulates fines for the failure to use land. Specifically, Article 32 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP stipulates:

Article 32. Failure to use annual crop land for 12 consecutive months, perennial crop land for 18 consecutive months, forest land for 24 consecutive months

1. The act of failing to use annual crop land for 12 consecutive months, perennial crop land for 18 consecutive months, and forest land for 24 consecutive months not in a force majeure situation as stipulated in Article 15 of Decree 43/2014/ND-CP shall be penalized as follows:

a) A fine from 500,000 to 1,000,000 VND if the unused land area is less than 0.5 hectares;

b) A fine from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 VND if the unused land area is from 0.5 hectares to less than 3 hectares;

c) A fine from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 VND if the unused land area is from 3 hectares to less than 10 hectares;

d) A fine from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 VND if the unused land area is 10 hectares or more.

2. Remedial measures:

Require the use of land according to the purpose allocated, leased, or recognized by the State; in the case of penalization without subsequent use of the land, the State will recover the land as stipulated at point h Clause 1 Article 64 of the Land Law.

Thus, from January 5, 2020, failing to use allocated land within the specified time will be sanctioned as an administrative violation according to Decree 91/2019/ND-CP. The stipulation of such penalties aims to increase the responsibility of land users and prevent the waste of land resources.

Lan Anh

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