Procedures for appraisal of fire safety designs in Vietnam

Procedures for appraisal of fire safety designs in Vietnam

1. Development of fire safety design in Vietnam

Clause 1, Article 13 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP stipulates the development of fire safety design in Vietnam as follows:

Construction, renovation or repurposing of projects and works and manufacturing or conversion of motor vehicles subject to special fire safety requirements must comply with fire prevention and fighting regulations and standards. Planning schemes and construction design dossiers of projects, works and motor vehicles mentioned in Appendix V enclosed therewith shall be formulated by units eligible according to regulations and are subject to fire safety design appraisal.

2. Fire safety designs of object subject to appraisal in Vietnam

Clause 3, Article 13 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP stipulates that fire safety designs of the following subjects require appraisal:

- Schemes for or amendments to planning for construction of cities, economic zones, industrial parks, industry clusters, export-processing zones, hi-tech parks and other functional zones according to the Law on Planning;

- Projects and works which are mentioned in Appendix V enclosed with Decree 136/20220/ND-CP and the construction, renovation or repurposing of which affects one of the fire safety conditions provided for in Point b Clause 5 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP;

- Motor vehicles subject to special fire safety requirements which are mentioned in Section 21 of Appendix V enclosed with Decree 136/20220/ND-CP and the manufacturing or conversion of which affects one of the fire safety conditions provided for in Point c Clause 5 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP.

3. Components of applications for fire safety design appraisal in Vietnam

Clause 4, Article 13 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP stipulates the components of applications for fire safety design appraisal as follows:

applications for fire safety design appraisal consists of 02 sets, certified by the investor or vehicle owner. If the application is in a foreign language, a Vietnamese translation of the explanation must be attached, specifically as follows:

(1) For application for feedback on construction planning scheme: application for consideration of and feedback on fire safety solution of entity formulating the planning (made using Form No. PC06); documents and detailed planning drawings at a scale of 1/2000 (for industrial parks of more than 20ha) or 1/500 (for the remaining cases) showing requirements for fire safety solutions mentioned in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 Article 10 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP;

(2) For application for building site approval prior to design of independent works posing fire or explosion hazard and mentioned in Sections 15 and 16 of Appendix V enclosed with Decree 136/20220/ND-CP (excluding internal filling stations and gas using facilities):

Application for building site approval by investor (made using Form No.06), and letter of authorization per the law if the investor authorizes another unit to carry out this task;

Certificate of land use rights or written proof of lawful land use rights for land of the project/work;

Drawings and documents showing current topographic conditions of the land relevant to fire safety such as fire resistance level of the work, distance between the work and surrounding works, wind direction and height of the work;

(3) For application for feedback on fundamental design of project/work:

Application for consideration of and feedback on fire safety solution of investor (made using Form No. PC06), and letter of authorization per the law if the investor authorizes another unit to carry out this task;

Decision to approve construction investment guidelines (for state-funded projects);

Written approval of construction investment guidelines (if any) or investment registration certificate (if any) or certificate of land use rights or written proof of lawful land use rights (for the remaining cases);

Certificate of eligibility for fire prevention and fighting service business of fire safety design consultancy unit;

Ffundamental design description and drawings showing requirements for fire safety solutions mentioned in Article 11 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP;

(4) For application for appraisal of technical design or construction drawing design:

Application for appraisal of fire safety design of investor (made using Form No. PC06), and letter of authorization per the law if the investor authorizes another unit to carry out this task;

Written feedback on fundamental fire safety design from the firefighting authority (if any);

Decision to approve construction investment guidelines (for state-funded projects);

Written approval of construction investment guidelines (if any) or investment registration certificate (if any) or certificate of land use rights or written proof of lawful land use rights (for the remaining cases);

Certificate of eligibility for fire prevention and fighting service business of fire safety design consultancy unit; cost estimate for construction of work;

Drawings and description of technical design or construction drawing design showing fire safety requirements mentioned in Article 11 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP;

Copies of design appraisal certificate, design appraisal document, drawing bearing seal of fire safety appraisal (for renovation/amended design dossiers);

Document on construction design appraisal by construction authority (if any);

(5) For application for appraisal of technical design of motor vehicle subject to special fire safety requirements:

Application for appraisal of fire safety design of investor/vehicle owner (made using Form No. PC06), and letter of authorization per the law if the investor/vehicle owner authorizes another unit to carry out this task;

Certificate of eligibility for fire prevention and fighting service business of fire safety design consultancy unit;

Estimated investment in vehicle;

Technical design description and drawings showing fire safety requirements mentioned in Points b and c Clause 1 and Points b, c, d and e Clause 3 Article 8 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP;

(6) Documents included in these applications shall be the authentic copy or certified or notarized true copy or copy/photocopy submitted together with its authentic copy for comparison.

The design description and drawing must be certified by the applicant.

For applications in a foreign language, a Vietnamese translation must be provided and the applicant shall take responsibility for the content of the translation.

4. Contents of appraised items in Vietnam

- For planning schemes: compliance of planning schemes with regulations in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 Article 10 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP;

- For projects and works: compliance of their designs with existing regulations on the following matters:

List of regulations and standards on fire prevention and fighting, technical documents, technical instructions and technologies applicable to work design;

Roads for fire trucks, fire safety separation distance from surrounding works;

Water supply for fire fighting;

Fire resistance levels, fire and explosion hazard classes and purpose-based space division related to fire prevention and fighting;

Solutions for fire and fire spread prevention;

Smoke dispersion solutions; escape solutions;

Solutions for rescue and rescue support;

Plans for lightning and static prevention;

Solutions for supply of power to fire prevention and fighting system and other technical systems relevant to fire prevention and fighting;

Fire alarm and firefighting systems and firefighting equipment of works;

- For motor vehicles subject to special fire safety requirements:

Fire safety solutions suitable for characteristics of operations and fire and explosion hazards of vehicles;

Conditions for fire prevention, fire spread prevention, escape and human rescue during fire;

Fire safety solutions applicable to power system, fuel system and engine;

Fire alarm and firefighting systems and other firefighting equipment;

Systems and equipment for detection and handling of leakage of gases and liquids posing fire and explosion hazards;

- For construction or renovation of fire prevention and fighting systems or equipment of works having undergone commissioning and been put into use according to regulations: fire safety design of the constructed or renovated parts of the fire prevention and fighting systems or equipment.

(Clause 5, Article 15 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP)

4. Procedures for appraisal of fire safety designs in Vietnam

Step 1: Submit application

The applicant shall submit 01 application prepared according to Clause 4 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP to the competent authority mentioned in Clause 12 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP in one of the following ways:

- Directly at the single-window unit of the competent authority;

- Online via the public service portal of the competent authority (documents included in state secret lists shall be submitted in compliance with regulations of laws on state secret protection);

- By public postal service, service provided by an enterprise or individual or authorization as prescribed by law.

Step 2: Receipt of application

 The official receiving the application shall check its components and validity and perform the following tasks:

- If the application is adequate and valid according to regulations in Clause 4 herein, receive it and fill out the acknowledgement of application receipt (using Form No. PC03);

- If the application is inadequate or invalid according to regulations in Clause 4 herein, instruct the applicant on how to complete the application as per regulations and fill out the application revision instruction (using Form No. PC04).

Step 3: Announcement of application processing results

- If the application is submitted directly at the single-window unit of the competent authority, the official receiving it shall give 01 copy of the acknowledgement of application receipt or application revision instruction to the applicant and retain 01 copy;

- If the application is submitted via the public service portal of the competent authority, the official receiving the application shall send a notification of application receipt or instruction on application revision to the applicant via email or text message;

- If the application is submitted by public postal service, the service of an enterprise and individual or authorization as per the law, the official receiving it shall send 01 copy of the acknowledgement of application receipt or application revision instruction to the applicant and retain 01 copy;

- If an application is invalid (the applying project or work does not require fire safety design appraisal according to regulations in Appendix V enclosed therewith or the receiving authority is not competence in appraising fire safety design of the applying project or work according to regulations in Clause 12 herein), the receiving authority shall notify the applicant that the application is rejected within the time limit prescribed in Clause 10 herein in writing and in the way in which the applicant sent their application.

Note: The person sent to submit the application by the applicant must have a letter of introduction or letter of authorization and present their unexpired identity card or passport.

(Clauses 6, 7, 8, 9 of Article 15 of Decree 136/20220/ND-CP)

Ngoc Nhi

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