Chương 1 Thông tư 03/2011/TT-BXD: Những quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. Scope of regulation

This Circular guides the inspection, assessment and certification of full satisfaction of force-bearing safety conditions and certification of quality standard conformity of construction works.

2. Subjects of application

This Circular applies to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals involved in the inspection, assessment and certification of full satisfaction of force-bearing safety conditions and certification of quality standard conformity of construction works in the Vietnamese territory.

Article 2. Interpretation of terms

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

1. Inspection of quality of construction works (below referred to as inspection for short) means activities of inspecting and determining the quality of construction products, parts of construction works or construction works against quality requirements of their designs, technical regulations and standards through experimentation combined with observational survey and evaluation of their actual state.

2. Assessment of quality of construction works (below referred to as assessment for short) means inspection conducted, solicited or requested by a state management agency or competent agency.

3. Certification of quality standard conformity of construction works (below referred to as quality standard conformity certification) means the appraisal and certification of the conformity of the quality of construction works or work items or parts with the designs of, technical regulations, standards and requirements applicable to these works.

4. Certification of full satisfaction of force- bearing safety conditions (below referred to as force-bearing safety certification) means the certification of quality standard conformity in terms of force-bearing safety.

Article 3. Cases subject to inspection and assessment

1. Cases of inspection include:

a/ Occurrence of an incident in or existence of a quality defect of a construction work;

b/ Arising of a dispute over quality of a construction work;

c/ Regular inspection of a construction work in the course of use;

d/ Renovation, upgrading or extension of the life of a construction work;

e/ Re-inspection of quality of a construction work upon suspicion of quality;

f/ Other cases specified by relevant laws.

2. Cases of assessment:

a/ A procedure-conducting agency or person (construction judicial expert assessment) issues a decision to solicit the assessment;

b/ A state management agency in charge of construction or another state management agency defined by law (collectively referred to as state management agency) requests the assessment.

Article 4. Cases of force-bearing safety certification and quality standard conformity certification

1. Construction works or work items which are likely to cause a catastrophe when having an incident and subject to compulsory force-bearing safety inspection and certification before being put into use include:

a/ Condominiums of grade II or higher; individual houses specified in Clause 2, Article 43 of the Government's Decree No. 71/2010/ ND-CP of June 23, 2010, detailing and guiding the Housing Law.

b/ Public works:

- Crèches, kindergartens and general education schools with 4 stories or more or a total flooring space of 500 m2 or more per work item;

- Health stations, maternity homes, sanatoriums, functional rehabilitation or orthopedic centers, homes for the aged, disease and epidemic prevention and control centers and other medical establishments with 4 stories or more or a total flooring space of 500 m2 or more per work item;

- Universities, colleges, professional secondary schools, vocational schools, technical workers' schools, professional schools and other types of school of grade II or higher;

- General and specialized hospitals from the central to local level, regional general and specialized clinics of grade II or higher;

- Convention centers, theaters, cultural houses, Clubs, cinemas and circuses of grade II or higher;

- Trade centers, department stores, markets, shops and restaurants of grade II or higher;

- Stadiums, competition halls and gymnasia of grade II or higher;

- Offices of grade II or higher of state administrative agencies, non-business units, enterprises, socio-political organizations and other organizations;

- Airports, waterway ports, railway stations and car terminals of grade II or higher;

- Post offices of grade II or higher;

-Multi-function houses, hotels, dormitories, guest houses and inns of grade II or higher;

- Entertainment and recreation centers of grade II or higher;

- Museums, libraries, exhibition centers, showrooms and other works of similar functions of grade I or higher;

- Telecommunications, radio and television towers of grade I or higher located in residential areas.

c/ Petroleum industrial works of grade II or higher:

- Offshore exploration and exploitation drilling platforms;

- Petrochemical refineries;

- Gas processing plants;

- Petrol and oil depots;

- Liquefied gas depots;

- Gas and oil pipelines.

d/ Irrigation and hydropower dams and reservoirs of grade II or higher;

e/ Technical infrastructure works:

- Express railways, sky-train routes;

- Automobile and motorcycle garages of grade II or higher;

Subway works;

- Road and railway bridges of grade I of higher;

- Motorway and railway tunnels and pedestrian underground passages of grade I or higher;

- Cable car systems for passenger transportation.

f/ Other works specified by relevant laws.

2. Quality standard conformity certification:

a/ At the request of the state management agency in charge of construction for public interests;

b/ At the request of investors, owners, managers or users of works or other related organizations or individuals for their interests (interests of individuals that purchase, lease or own or organizations that sell insurance for these works);

c/ Quality standard conformity certification may contain one, some or all requirements on force-bearing, use and operation safety and other requirements on works and work items.

3. Works which have been inspected or tested for takeover by the State Council for Construction Work Check and Takeover are not subject to force-bearing safety certification or quality standard conformity certification, unless it is so requested on a case-by-case basis.

Article 5. Disclosure of information on inspection organizations, force-bearing safety certification or quality standard conformity certification organizations and organizations specialized in construction judicial assessment

1. Inspection organizations which are fully capable under Article 7 and force-bearing safety certification or quality standard conformity certification organizations (below collectively referred to as certification organizations) which are fully capable under Article 10 of this Circular may register themselves for being publicized on the Ministry of Construction's website.

2. Specialized construction judicial assessment organizations defined in the Ministry of Construction's Circular No. 35/2009/TT-BXD of October 5, 2009, guiding construction judicial assessment shall be publicized on the Ministry of Construction's website.

3. Procedures for publicization registration under the regulation on information disclosure promulgated by the Ministry of Construction are posted on this website.

Article 6. Selection of inspection organizations or certification organizations

1. The selection of inspection organizations or certification organizations must comply with the following principles:

a/ Complying with the requirements specified by the bidding law;

b/ Meeting the requirements on capability of inspection organizations specified in Article 7 or of certification organizations specified in Article 10 of this Circular;

c/ Assuring independence and objectiveness:

In order to conduct the assessment, force-bearing safety certification and inspection under Points a, b and e, Clause 1, Article 3, or the quality standard conformity certification under Point a. Clause 2, Article 4 of this Circular, inspection or certification organizations must be those not involved in construction survey and engineering, construction, supply of supplies and equipment installed in, and project management and construction supervision for the works to be inspected or certified.

2. Inspection organizations and certification organizations which are publicized under Article 5 of this Circular will be preferred to others in conducting the assessment or quality standard conformity certification at the request of state management agencies, and the force-bearing safety certification.