In general, the Draft Land Law includes 237 articles, of which 48 articles have remained unchanged; 153 articles have been amended and supplemented; 36 new articles have been added and 8 articles have been annulled compared to the 2013 Land Law.

Some notable changes in Draft Land Law

For land use purposes, the Draft Land Law has added a provision on “multi-purpose land” (Article 184), allowing organizations and individuals to use the land for different purposes instead of just a single purpose, as long as the principles are met. Meanwhile, the 2013 Land Law does not have any provisions directly stipulating that the holders have the right to use multi-purpose land even though this situation is common nowadays, for example, land users can combine residential and business purposes in the same land plot. Therefore, adding this provision to the Draft is extremely reasonable to legalize the use of land for various purposes, increasing the efficiency of land use. At the same time, this article has also given some specific principles, ensuring that the multi-purpose land is not abused, leading to the problem of arbitrary land use.

Besides, the Draft Land Law has removed the land price frames and revised the regulations on determining land prices. As for the land price frames, Article 113 of the 2013 Land Law stipulates that: “The Government shall promulgate land price frames once every 5 years for each type of land and for each region…”. This provision has been completely deleted in the Draft. Removing the land price frames means that the State will no longer apply minimum and maximum prices for each type of land. Instead, when promulgating the land price tables of each locality, the People’s Committee of the province will base on the principles and methods of land valuation, land standards and land prices, the fluctuations in real land prices in the market to build a land price tables. After completing the construction of the land price tables, they will be submitted to the Provincial People’s Council before approval. Based on the actual situation, the land price frames issued by the Government has a huge difference compared to the real land price in the market, leading to the existence of a two-price land mechanism. That makes it difficult for the competent authorities’ management, the land investment activities of the investors and the interests of the land users. In addition, the difference in land prices also creates conditions for corruption and monopoly in auctions. Therefore, the decision to remove the land price frames in the Draft Land Law is a remarkable step forward, having a great impact on the land sector in particular and socio-economic life in general. In addition to the land price frames, the regulations related to the land price tables has also been revised and supplemented. Specifically, Article 130 of the Draft Land Law has added a basis for determining the land price list as “the common land price in the market and land price fluctuations” and changes the period of the land price tables’ construction from once every 5 years to once a year. These provisions in the Draft make it possible for the land price tables proposed by the Provincial People’s Committee to be more reasonable and less different from the actual land price.

Not only that, the responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the management and use of land is decentralized to localities according to the provisions of the Draft Land Law. The 2013 Land Law has never provided for the decentralization of land management and use. The draft has added provisions to regulate this issue. Article 223.4 stipulates responsibilities for monitoring and evaluation from high to low levels, from central to local levels, including the responsibilities of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Provincial People’s Committees, the People’s Committees of district-level People’s Committees and People’s Committees of commune level. The above agencies are responsible for monitoring and evaluating the land management process. Accordingly, superior agencies will manage their subordinate agencies to ensure transparency and correctness in the management and use of land. The management decentralization mechanism makes management easier, faster and more effective than the centralized management of all the other agencies.

Moreover, Article 124.1 of the Draft Land Law has added financial revenues from land compared to Article 107 of the 2013 Land Law. Some new revenues are the collection of land use levy when using land in combination with other purposes; additional land use levy, land rent for projects that are behind schedule or do not put the land into use and collected from the sanctioning of administrative violations on land. At the same time, the Draft adds revenues from public land services in Article 125. These additions are necessary to avoid loss of the State’s budget for the benefits coming from the land and show obligations of land users.

Beside amending and supplementing the above-mentioned outstanding provisions, the Draft Land Law also has many other innovations. The draft is still in the process of reviewing and soliciting comments from the public, including people, industry experts and law firm in Vietnam hence there will be many changes. However, the advantages and progress of the Draft compared to the current Land Law are obvious, showing the development in line with the actual situation. Therefore, it can be affirmed that, if the Draft is approved and officially takes effect, it will bring positive results.