Chương I Luật đê điều 2006: Những quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Governing scope

This Law provides for anti-flood plannings of diked rivers, dike plannings, dike construction, repair, upgrading and solidification investment, dike management and protection, dike maintenance and use.

Article 2.- Subjects of application

This Law applies to domestic agencies, organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals that conduct dike-related activities in the Vietnamese territory.

Article 3.- Interpretation of terms

In this Law, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Dikes mean works preventing river floods or sea water, which are classified and decentralized by competent state bodies according to the provisions of law.

2. Regulatory dikes mean systems of works consisting of dikes, dike embankments, dike culverts and support facilities.

3. River dikes means those that prevent river floods.

4. Sea dikes means those that prevent sea water.

5. River-mouth dikes mean dikes of transition between river dikes and sea dikes or coasts.

6. Surrounding dikes means those that protect exclusive zones.

7. Auxiliary dikes means those that protect areas lying riverwards outside river dikes.

8. Special-use dikes mean those that protect separate objects.

9. Dike embankments mean works constructed to protect dikes against land crumbles and slides.

10. Dike culverts mean works constructed across dikes for water supply or drainage or for combined waterway traffic.

11. Supporting facilities mean works built in service of dike management and protection, including works for accidental spills; dike marker posts, boundary posts, dike signboards, water-level poles, pressure-alleviation wells, technical parameter-observation posts and equipment in service of dike management; dike watch stations, anti-flood and -storm reserve supply warehouses and yards, dike management offices, anti-flood and -storm command posts; flood-diverting or -slowing works; dike protection breakwater tree stretches.

12. Foot of earthen dike is the inter-section between a dike talus and natural land surface, which is determined at the time a competent state body determines the dike protection corridor limit markers. The foot of dike made of concrete or other materials is the outmost construction position of the works' foundation.

13. Dike-crossing sluice gates are works crossing dikes in service of land and railway traffic.

14. Flood diversion means diverting part of river flood water to other flow directions.

15. Flood slowing means the temporary storage of part of river flood water in designated areas.

16. Special works mean those relating to dike safety, including defense, security, traffic, irrigation works, underground works in service of socio-economic development, system of groundwater-exploiting wells; dike-crossing sluice gates, pumping stations, dockyards, historical or cultural relics, ancient street quarters or villages; population quarters or lines in flood-prone areas and islets.

17. Dike maintenance means activities aiming to ensure dike safety, including the rescue of facilities relating to regulatory dike safety.

18. River stretches mean land areas stretching from the outer edge of the dike protection corridor to river banks.

19. Sand expand, islets mean land areas emerging within river beds.

20. Riverbed means the scope between two banks of a river.

21. Designed flood water level means the standard flood water level used for designing dikes and relevant works, approved by competent state bodies.

22. Designed flood flow means the flood flow of a river corresponding to the designed flood water level.

Article 4.- Dike classification and grading

1. Dikes are classified into river dikes, sea dikes, river-mouth dikes, auxiliary dikes, surrounding dikes and special-use dikes.

2. Dikes are ranked into special grade, grade I, grade II, grade III, grade IV and grade V according to their importance from high to low.

3. Dike classification criteria include:

a/ Number of people protected by a dike;

b/ Importance in terms of defense, security, socio-economic development;

c/ Flood and storm characteristics of each region;

d/ Area and scope of administrative land boundaries;

e/ Average submerging level of population quarters against the designed flood water level;

f/ Designed flood flow.

4. The Government shall specify the grade of each dike line.

Article 5.- Principles for activities in the dike domain

1. Ensuring sustainable development, defense and security; protecting the people’s lives and property and the national sovereignty and interests; contributing to socio-economic development.

2. Protecting dikes is the responsibility of all people, state agencies, organizations and individuals.

3. Abiding by the approved anti-flood planning, dike planning; ensuring systematicity, uniformity, synchronism and flood drainage capability of the entire rivers; synchronously combining overall solutions regarding the planting and protection of headwater forests, the construction of water reservoirs upstream, the removal of obstacles, dredging of rivers, flow clearance, and flood diversion and slowing.

4. Efficiently preventing and fighting floods, combining flood prevention and fighting with the development of traffic, landscape and environment, the preservation of historical and cultural relics of the nation, the development of tourism and aquaculture.

Article 6.- State policies on dikes

1. To invest in dike construction and maintenance and prioritize investment in key dike systems, dike-cum-defense-security systems.

2. To encourage and create conditions for domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to invest in research and application of advanced sciences and technologies in combination with traditional measures to the construction, maintenance, upgrading, solidification and protection of dikes, then proceed to apply active anti-flood measures.

3. To encourage organizations and individuals to build, maintain, upgrade, solidify and protect dikes in combination with socio-economic development; to protect the lawful interests of organizations and individuals investing in this domain.

4. To support the overcoming of flood and storm consequences, upgrade infrastructures for areas affected by flood diversion or slowing, flood-prone residential areas; set aside a budget for handling of dike incidents before, during and after each spell of rain, flood, storm.

Article 7.- Prohibited acts

1. Destroying dikes.

2. Exploding or destroying dike bodies, except for emergency cases where competent authorities defined in Article 34 of this Law decide on such explosion or destruction in order to divert or slow flood for dike protection.

3. Operating in contravention of technical regulations flood-diverting or -slowing facilities, dike-culverts, works for accidental spills, dike-crossing gates, pump stations, dry-docks within dike protection areas.

4. Operating upstream water reservoirs in contravention of technical regulations, causing impacts on regulatory dikes.

5. Building works, dwelling houses within regulatory dike protection areas, excluding works in service of flood and storm prevention and fighting, supporting facilities and special works.

6. Driving motorized vehicles beyond the tonnage level permitted for travel on dikes; driving motorized vehicles on dikes where there are ban signboards in case of dike incidents, floods or storms, excluding vehicles used for dike examination and protection, vehicles performing defense, security tasks, ambulances, fire-fighting engines.

7. Dumping wastes within regulatory dike protection areas, river stretches, riverbeds; storing materials on dikes, excluding supplies reserved for flood and storm prevention and fighting.

8. Appropriating, illegally using or removing reserve supplies for flood and storm prevention and fighting.

9. Destroying dike protection breakwater trees, except for the case of exploiting breakwater trees defined in Clause 2, Article 29 of this Law.

10. Exploiting earth, rock, sand, cobble, other minerals; digging ponds, wells within regulatory dike protection areas and conducting other activities obstructing river flows and flood drainage.

11. Using for wrong purposes budgetary investments in the construction, maintenance, upgrading, solidification and protection of dikes.