Chương I Luật di sản văn hóa 2001: Những quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Cultural heritage provided for in this Law includes intangible and tangible cultural heritages, which are spiritual and material products having historical, cultural or scientific value and handed down from generation to generation in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Article 2.- This Law provides for activities of protecting and promoting the values of cultural heritages; defines the rights and obligations of organizations and individuals towards the cultural heritages in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Article 3.- This Law applies to Vietnamese organizations and individuals, foreign organizations and individuals and overseas Vietnamese that operate in Vietnam. In cases where an international treaty, which Vietnam has signed or acceded to, contains provisions different from those of this Law, the provisions of such international treaty shall apply.

Article 4.- In this Law, the following terms and expressions shall be construed as follows:

1. Intangible cultural heritages are spiritual products of historical, cultural or scientific value, being saved in memory or in scripts, handed down orally and through professional teaching, performance and other forms of saving and handing down, including speech, scripts, literary, art or scientific works, oral philology, folk oratorio, life style, way of life, rites, traditional craft know-hows, knowledge about traditional medicine and pharmacy, about gastronomic culture, about traditional costumes, and other folk knowledge.

2. Tangible cultural heritages are material products of historical, cultural or scientific value, including historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots, vestiges, antiques and national precious objects.

3. Historical-cultural relics are construction works and sites, as well as vestiges, antiques and/or national precious objects pertaining to such works and sites and having historical, cultural and/or scientific value.

4. Famous landscapes and beauty spots are natural sceneries or places where exists a combination of natural scenery and architectures with historical, aesthetic and/or scientific value.

5. Vestiges are bequeathed objects with historical, cultural and/or scientific value.

6. Antiques are bequeathed objects with typically historical, cultural and/or scientific value, and aged one hundred years or more.

7. National precious objects are bequeathed objects with extremely precious, rare and typical value in terms of history, culture and/or science.

8. Duplicates of vestiges, antiques, national precious objects are products made identical to the originals in shape, size, material, color, ornamentation and other features.

9. Collection is a group of vestiges, antiques, national precious objects or intangible cultural heritages, which are gathered, preserved and arranged systematically according to common signs in presentation, content and material so as to meet the demand for inquiry into natural and social history.

10. Archaeological exploration and excavation are scientific activities to discover, gather and research into vestiges, antiques, national precious objects and archaeological sites.

11. Preservation of historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots, vestiges, antiques and national precious objects is the activity to prevent and minimize dangers of damage without changing inherent original elements of historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots, vestiges, antiques and national precious objects.

12. Renovation of historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots is the activity to repair, reinforce and/or embellish historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots.

13. Restoration of historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots is the activity to reconstruct ruined historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots, based on scientific data about such historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots.

Article 5.- The State exercises the unified management over the cultural heritage, which is under the entire population’s ownership; recognizes and protects forms of collective ownership, joint ownership of the community, private ownership and other forms of ownership over cultural heritages according to the provisions of law.

The ownership right and copyright over cultural heritages are defined under the provisions of this Law, the Civil Code and other relevant provisions of law.

Article 6.- All cultural heritages under the ground, in the mainland, on islands, in the inland waters, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are under the entire population’s ownership.

Article 7.- Cultural heritages discovered with unidentified owners and recovered in the course of archaeological exploration and excavation, are all under the entire population’s ownership.

Article 8.-

1. All cultural heritages on the Vietnamese territory, which have domestic or foreign origin and are under the ownership in various forms, shall be protected and have their values promoted.

2. Vietnamese cultural heritages in foreign countries shall be protected under the international practices and the provisions of the international treaties which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to.

Article 9.-

1. The State adopts the policy of protecting and promoting the value of cultural heritages in order to raise the people’s spiritual life, contributing to the socio-economic development of the country; encourages domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to contribute or provide financial supports to the protection and promotion of the values of cultural heritages

2. The State protects the lawful rights and interests of owners of cultural heritages. Owners of cultural heritages shall be responsible for protecting and promoting the values of such cultural heritages.

3. The State invests in personnel training and fostering, research into and application of sciences and technologies to the protection and promotion of the values of cultural heritages.

Article 10.- State agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations, economic organizations, people’s armed force units (hereinafter referred to as organizations) and individuals have the responsibility to protect and promote the values of cultural heritages.

Article 11.- The cultural and mass media agencies shall have to widely propagate and disseminate the values of cultural heritages of the community of Vietnamese nationalities at home and abroad, thus contributing to raising the sense of protection and promotion of the values of cultural heritages among the population.

Article 12.- The Vietnamese cultural heritage shall be used for the following purposes:

1. Promoting their values for the entire society’s benefits;

2. Promoting the fine traditions of the community of Vietnamese nationalities;

3. Contributing to the creation of new cultural values, enriching the treasure of Vietnamese cultural heritages and expanding the international cultural exchange.

Article 13.- The following acts are strictly prohibited:

1. Appropriating or deviating cultural heritages;

2. Ruining or posing a danger of ruining cultural heritages;

3. Conducting illegal excavations at archaeological sites or illegal construction, encroaching upon the land within historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots;

4. Illegally purchasing, selling, exchanging and transporting vestiges, antiques, national precious objects pertaining to historical-cultural relics, famous landscapes and beauty spots; illegally taking abroad vestiges, antiques and national precious objects;

5. Taking advantage of the protection and promotion of the values of cultural heritages to commit law-breaking acts.