Procedures for forest appropriation for forest allocated or leased out by the State expires without any extension in Vietnam

Procedures for forest appropriation for forest allocated or leased out by the State expires without any extension in Vietnam (Image from the Internet)

On July 18, 2024, the Government of Vietnam promulgated Decree 91/2024/ND-CP amending Decree 156/2018/ND-CP guiding the 2017 Forestry Law.

1. Procedures for forest appropriation for forest allocated or leased out by the State expires without any extension in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Article 43 of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP (as amended by Clause 25, Article 1 of Decree 91/2024/ND-CP), the procedures for recovering forest allocated or leased out by the State expires without any extension in Vietnam are as follows:

- Within 90 days before the expiration of forest allocation or lease, the specialized forestry agency at the district level, for forest owners who are households, individuals, or community groups, or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, for forest owners who are organizations, shall notify the forest owner of the expiration of forest allocation or lease without renewal;

- Within 30 days before the expiration of forest allocation or lease, the specialized forestry agency at the district level, for forest owners who are households, individuals, or community groups, or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, for forest owners who are organizations, shall submit a proposal to the district-level or provincial-level People's Committee for consideration and issuance of a decision on forest recovery;

- Within 05 days from the date of receipt of the proposal from the specialized forestry agency at the district level, for forest owners who are households, individuals, or community groups, or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, for forest owners who are organizations, the district-level or provincial-level People's Committee shall consider and decide on forest recovery according to Form No. 26 or Form No. 27 of Appendix II attached to Decree 91/2024/ND-CP.

	Form No. 26

	Form No. 27

2. Cases of forest appropriation in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Article 22 of the 2017 Forestry Law, the State shall appropriate the forest in the cases where:

- The forest owner uses the forest for improper purposes, deliberately fails to fulfill obligations to the State, or seriously violates forestry laws;

- The forest owner does not conduct forest protection and development activities for 12 consecutive months from the date of forest allocation or lease, except for force majeure cases certified by a competent state agency;

- The forest owner voluntarily returns the forest;

- The forest allocated or leased by the State expires without renewal;

- Forests allocated or leased incorrectly by authority or to improper entities;

- The forest owner, who is an individual, dies without an heir as prescribed by law;

- Other forest land recovery cases as prescribed by the 2024 Land Law.

3. Procedures for forest appropriation for cases where the forest owner is an individual who dies without any heir in Vietnam

The procedures for recovering forests in the case where the forest owner, who is an individual, dies without an heir as prescribed by law are specifically provided in Article 43 of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP (as amended by Clause 25, Article 1 of Decree 91/2024/ND-CP) as follows:

- Within 10 days from the date of receipt of the death certificate issued by a competent state agency in the case where the individual dies without an heir as prescribed by law, the commune-level People's Committee shall be responsible for certifying and reporting to the district-level People's Committee the individual’s death without an heir as prescribed by law;

- Within 15 days from the date of receipt of the report from the commune-level People's Committee, the district-level People's Committee shall carry out the order and procedures for forest recovery in accordance with Point b, Point c, Clause 2, Article 43 of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP (as amended by Clause 25, Article 1 of Decree 91/2024/ND-CP).

More details can be found in Decree 91/2024/ND-CP which comes into force in Vietnam from July 18, 2024.

Vo Tan Dai

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