Chương I Nghị định 15/2021/NĐ-CP: Những quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Decree elaborates certain regulations of the Law on Construction 2014 and the Law on amendments to the Construction Law 2020 (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 62/2020/QH14) on management of construction projects, including: preparation, appraisal, approval of projects, construction designs; construction survey; issuance of construction permits and construction order management; building special works and carrying out construction projects abroad; management of construction eligibility; methods of construction project management.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. This Decree applies to domestic agencies, organizations, and individuals; foreign organizations and individuals engaged in construction investment within Vietnam’s territory.

2. Domestic organizations and individuals that engage in construction investment abroad shall comply with particular provisions in Section 2, Chapter V of this Decree and relevant law provisions.

3. For projects funded by official development assistance (ODA), concessional loans of foreign grant funding bodies shall comply with the provisions of this Decree and the law on management and use of ODA and concessional loans from foreign grant funding bodies; in cases there is any discrepancy between a signed international treaty on ODA and this Decree, the international treaty shall prevail.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

1. “Main works of a construction project” mean the works with the scale and function deciding on the investment objectives and scale of the project.

2. "Works with great impact on community safety and benefits” mean the works under the list specified in Appendix X of this Decree.

3. “Work built by route” means a construction work which is constructed along a given route in one or multiple administrative divisions, such as: roads; railway; electric transmission lines; telecommunications cables; oil pipelines, gas pipelines and water supply and drainage pipelines; major dams of irrigation and hydropower works; irrigation and drainage canals; dykes, revetments and other similar works.

4.”Energy Efficiency Building” means a building that meets the national criteria and standards for energy efficiency.

5.”Resource Efficiency Building” means a building that applies technical solutions to use fewer natural resources such as soil, water, minerals and other natural resources.

6. “Green Building” means a building that, in its design, construction or operation, meets the energy- and resource-efficient criteria and standards; ensures amenities and quality of life inside the building and protects environment outside the building.

7. "Projects of national importance”, as prescribed in the Construction Law and this Decree, include projects of national importance that meet criteria stipulated by the law on public investment; projects subject to the National Assembly’s decision of project proposal as per the law on Public-Private Partnership investment; and projects subject to the National Assembly’s approval for project proposal as per the law on investment.

8.”Large-scale construction projects using other funds” requiring appraisal of feasibility study reports at construction authorities, including: construction projects of group A according to criteria prescribed by the law on public investment; construction projects subject to the National Assembly’s, the Prime Minister’s approval for project proposals; residence and urban area construction projects subject to approval for project proposals in accordance with the investment law.

9. “Construction project funded by state capital other than public investment capital” means a construction project funded by state capital according to the provisions of the law on procurement but exclusive of public investment capital as prescribed by law on public investment.

10. “Construction operating license” means a license issued to a foreign contractor winning a contract by the Vietnamese competent agency as prescribed in Vietnamese regulations of law.

11. “Front - End Engineering Design”, hereinafter referred to as FEED, is a design step established according to international practice for a project with a technological design after the project is approved to concretize requirements on technological lines, specifications of equipment and materials used mainly, construction solutions serving the preparation of selection of preferred bidders under EPC contracts or specific requirements to implement the next design step.

12. “Foreign contractor” means a foreign organization or individual that is legally capacitated and the individual must also have civil legal capacity to conclude and execute the contract. Passive legal capacity and active legal capacity of the foreign contractor shall be determined according to the law of the country of which the contractor holds the nationality. The foreign contractor may be a general contractor, contractor, joint venture contractor or sub-contractor.

13. “President” means the title of an individual who is assigned to manage and coordinate all consulting tasks, including acting as a president in charge of designing construction planning; president in charge of construction survey; president in charge of construction design and construction design assessment.

14. “Chairperson” means the title of an individual who is assigned to perform specialized tasks, including taking charge of designing construction planning; taking charge of construction design or construction design assessment; taking charge of construction inspection; taking charge of budgeting, assessing and managing construction costs.

15. “Chief supervisor” means the title of an individual who is assigned by a construction supervision organization to manage the supervision of a specific work or package.

16. “Site manager” or “project manager of contractor” (hereinafter referred to as “site manager”) means the title of an individual who is assigned by a construction organization to manage the construction of a specific work or package.

17. “Project manager” means the title of an individual who is assigned to manage and coordinate a specific construction project by the Director of field-based or area-based project management board (PMB), the legal representative of the project management consultancy, the legal representative of the investor (in case the investor uses an affiliated entity or establishes a project management board).

18. “Appraisal applicant” means the investor or an entity designated by the investment decision-maker or the competent to perform pre-construction tasks, if the investor has not been identified, who applies for appraisal of feasibility study report or construction design.

19. “Practicing certificate code” means a 08-digit serial number that is used to manage an individual’s construction practicing certificate. Each individual involved in construction activities shall be granted a practicing certificate code when applying for the practicing certificate for the first time as prescribed in this Decree. The practicing certificate code shall remain unchanged when the individual applies for reissuance of or revision to the issued practicing certificate.

20. “Eligibility certificate code” means a 08-digit serial number that is used to manage an organization’s certificate of eligibility for construction activities. Each organization involved in construction activities shall be granted an eligibility certificate code when applying for the eligibility certificate for the first time as prescribed in this Decree. The eligibility certificate code shall remain unchanged when the organization applies for reissuance of or revision to the issued eligibility certificate.

Article 4. Construction project phases

1. The construction project shall have the following phases in compliance with Clause 1 Article 50 of the Law on Construction dated 2014 as follows:

a) Pre-construction: construction survey; formulation, appraisal of pre-feasibility study report, decision or approval of investment policy (if any); formulation, appraisal, approval of detailed construction planning to formulate feasibility study report; formulation, appraisal of feasibility study report for construction approval/decision and other necessary tasks related to pre-construction;

b) Construction: site preparation, demining (if any); construction survey; formulation, assessment and approval for design and construction estimate; issuance of construction permit (if required); selection of contractors and signing of construction contracts; execution of the works; supervision of work execution; advances or payments for completed works; commissioning; taking-over of the works; handover of completed works and putting into operation; and other necessary tasks;

c) Post-construction: finalization of construction contract, final accounts of the completed works, certificate of completed works, performance guarantees, handover of relevant documents and necessary tasks.

2. Phases of urgent construction projects shall comply with Article 58 hereof. Phases of public-private partnerships projects with construction component (hereinafter referred to as PPP projects) shall comply with law on public-private partnerships investment. As for remaining projects, depending on specific and technical requirements of the projects, the investment-decision maker shall decide the phases for the work items as prescribed in Points b and c Clause 1 of this Article shall be carried out whether in succession or coordinately.

3. According to the nature of the project and actual circumstances, the compensation, support, and resettlement shall be carried out in either the pre-construction or construction phase, in conformity with procedures of the land law.

Article 5. Classification of construction projects

Construction projects shall be classified, for management purpose, as prescribed in Article 49 of the Law on Construction 2014, amended in clause 8 Article 1 of the Law No. 62/2020/QH14, and in this Decree as follows:

1. The projects shall be classified by functions, fields, management purposes as specified in Appendix IV hereto.

2. The projects shall be classified by sources of funds, forms of investment, including: projects funded by public investment capital, projects financed by state fund other than public investment, PPP projects and projects funded by other funds. A construction project funded by mixed sources of funds shall be classified, for management purpose, as follows:

a) If the above project is partially funded by public investment capital, regulations on management of projects funded by public investment capital shall prevail; if the above project is a PPP project partially funded by public investment capital, regulations on management of PPP projects shall prevail;

b) If the above project is funded by state capital other than public investment capital and other funds: in case the rate of state capital other than public investment capital is greater than 30% or more than VND 500 billion of total investment, regulations on management of projects funded by state capital other than public investment capital shall prevail; in case of other circumstances, regulations on management of projects funded by other funds shall prevail.

3. Unless the investment-decision maker requires a feasibility study report, the following construction projects only require an economic - technical report:

a) Projects for religious purposes;

b) Projects for new construction, repair, innovation or upgrade with total investment of less than VND 15 billion (excluding land levies);

c) Projects primarily for procurement of goods, services, installation of equipment or projects for repair, renovation without impact on bearing structure of the works with the cost of construction component less than 10% of total investment and less than VND 5 billion (except for projects of national importance, projects of group A, PPP projects).

Article 6. Application of BIM and digital technology solutions

1. Encourage the application of Building Information Modeling (hereinafter referred to as BIM), digital technology solutions in construction activities and management and operation of works. The investment-decision maker shall decide the application of BIM, digital technology solutions when making a construction project decision.

2. The BIM file is a component in the construction design documents, the as-built documents for the BIM-applied construction projects and works. BIM content and extent of details shall comply with the agreement of the parties involved in the application of BIM in a construction contract.

3. The Prime Minister shall prescribe the roadmap for application of BIM and digital technology solutions in construction activities.

Article 7. Energy Efficiency Building, Resource Efficiency Building and Green Building

1. When investing in the construction of works, there must be technical solutions and management measures in order to efficiently use energy, save natural resources and protect the environment.

2. The State encourages the construction, development, evaluation and certification of Energy Efficiency Building, Resource Efficiency Building and Green Building.

3. The development of the buildings mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article shall comply with the applicable policies, plans and roadmaps set forth by the Prime Minister.

4. The Minister of Construction shall formulate standards for criteria and processes for the evaluation and certification of Energy Efficiency Building, Resource Efficiency Building and Green Building.

Article 8. Provisions on the application of international standards, regional standards and foreign standards (hereinafter referred to as foreign standards); basic standards; new materials and technologies in construction activities

1. The selection and application of foreign standards and basic standards must comply with the provisions of the Construction Law and other relevant law provisions.

2. In case of application of foreign standards:

a) The construction design notes or technical instructions (if any) shall contain the assessment of compatibility, uniformity and compliance with national technical regulations;

b) Foreign standards that are widely recognized and applied shall be preferred.

3. In case of application of basic standards:

a) When applying basic standards, there must be notes about the compliance with national technical regulations and the compatibility and consistency with relevant standards;

b) The announcement of the basic standards must strictly comply with the regulations and process specified in other relevant laws.

4. The use of new materials and technologies for the first time must comply with national technical regulations and relevant standards; ensure feasibility, sustainability, safety and efficiency.