Thông tư 04/2012/TT-BNV

CIRCULAR

ON GUIDELINES FOR ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF VILLAGES AND NEIGHBORHOODS

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 61/2012/ND-CP dated August 10, 2012 defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Home Affairs;

Pursuant to Joint Resolution No. 09/2008/NQLT-CP-UBTWMTTQVN dated April 17, 2008 of the Government and the Central Committee of Vietnamese Fatherland Front on guidelines for Articles 11, 14, 16, 22 and 26 of Ordinance on exercise of democracy in communes, wards and towns;

Pursuant to Decision No. 85/2002/QD-TTg dated June 28, 2002 of the Prime Minister on promulgation a plan for implementation of Resolution No. 17-NQ/TW dated March 18, 2002 of the 5^th meeting of Central Committee of the Communist Party session IX in terms of “Innovation and improvement of quality of political system in communes, wards and town;

The Minister of Home Affairs on guidelines for organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods,

Chapter 1.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Regulated entities and scope

This Circular provides guidelines for organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods.

Article 2. Villages, neighborhoods

1. Villages, hamlets, mountainous villages, hamlets, etc. (hereinafter referred to as villages); village is a subdivision of commune.

2. Neighborhoods, quarters, sub-regions, etc. (hereinafter referred to as neighborhoods); neighborhood is a subdivision of ward/town.

3. Villages and neighborhoods do not constitute administrative divisions; they are autonomous entities of the community sharing the same area of residence within a commune, ward, or town (hereinafter referred to as commune), where democracy is exercised directly and widely with an aim to promote autonomous forms and instruct the people to comply with policies and guidelines of the Communist Party, laws of the State and tasks assigned by superior authorities.

Article 3. Rules on organization and operation of villages, neighborhoods

1. Villages and neighborhoods shall be under direct state management of communes. Operation of villages and neighborhoods shall be carried out in accordance with regulations of law, principles of democracy, transparency; assurance of the leadership and direction of party committees, commune authorities and initiation of work performed by Vietnamese Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations of communes.

2. Villages and neighborhoods which are operating stably may not be divided into new villages or neighborhoods.

3. Villages and neighborhoods are encouraged to be consolidated to establish new villages or neighborhoods so as to streamline the system, enhance the effective management of communes and improve the effective investment in socio-economic infrastructure of villages and neighborhoods.

4. If a new village or neighborhood is required to be established due to clearance planning, expansion planning, relocation, or adjustments to administrative divisions that is approved by competent authorities, or due to emigration resulting in a new residential area being formed in a mountainous area, border area, islands, remote and isolated area, a place where terrain is divided, large area, difficult traffic, requirements for establishment of the new village or neighborhood may be lower than those prescribed in Article 7 herein.

5. If no new village and neighborhood prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article is established, new forming residential area shall be affiliated with an existing village and neighborhood in consideration of the conformity and advantages of the management of communes and operation of villages, neighborhoods, and residential areas.

Chapter 2.

ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF VILLAGES AND NEIGHBORHOODS

Article 4. Organization of villages and neighborhoods

1. Each village has a village head, a village deputy head and other autonomous organizations of the village. If a village has more than 500 households, one additional village deputy head may be appointed.

2. Each neighborhood has a neighborhood head, a neighborhood deputy head and other autonomous organizations of the neighborhood. If a neighborhood has more than 600 households, one additional deputy head of neighborhood may be appointed.

Article 5. Operation of villages and neighborhoods

1. Community of villages and neighborhoods shall discuss and takes votes on which the competent authorities base to decide issues related to regulations of law on exercise of democracy in communes, wards and towns; directly discuss and decide the exercise of autonomous work in accordance with the provisions of law on construction of new rural areas, urban civilization, modernization, development of production, building infrastructure, the public welfare projects, hunger eradication and poverty reduction; implementation of the policies and guidelines of the Communist Party, policies and laws of the State; tasks assigned by superior party committees, governments, Fatherland Front and the political- social organizations; exercise of rights and fulfillment of obligations of citizens to the State; assurance of solidarity, democracy, transparency, maintenance of security and order, social safety and environmental sanitation; preservation and promotion of the fine traditional culture in the locality; building, maintenance and promotion of the title "cultural village", "cultural neighborhood"; and prevention of social evils and elimination of backward customs.

2. Exercise democracy at the grassroots, formulate and implement regulations, conventions of villages or neighborhoods; actively participate in the campaign "All people unite to build cultural life in residential areas" and movements, campaigns mobilized by socio-political organizations.

3. Comply with direction of party cells of the village or neighborhood, or party committee of the commune, or affiliated party cells (in the locality where no party cell of village or neighborhood is established), reinforce and maintain the effectiveness operation of other autonomous organizations of the village or neighborhood in accordance with regulations of law.

4. Vote, dismiss or discharge village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads. Vote, discharge members of people's inspection board, investment supervision board of community in accordance with regulations of law on exercise of democracy in communes, wards and towns.

5. Operation of villages and neighborhoods prescribed in this Article shall be considered passing at the meetings of villages and neighborhoods.

Article 6. Meetings of villages and neighborhoods

1. Meetings of villages and neighborhoods shall be held biannually (mid-year and year-end); irregular meeting may be also held when necessary. Composition of a meeting is total electors or representative electors of households in the village or neighborhood. The meeting is convened and presided over by village head or neighborhood head. The meeting shall be held when it is attended by at least 50% of number of electors or representative electors of households in the village or neighborhood.

2. Arising issues shall be directly discussed, decided or voted by the people or decided by competent authorities in accordance with Articles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of guidelines issued together with Joint Resolution No. 09/2008/NQLT-CP-UBTWMTTQVN dated April 17, 2008 of the Government and the Central Committee of Vietnamese Fatherland Front.

Article 7. Requirements for establishment of new villages or neighborhoods

A new village or neighborhood shall be established if the following requirements are satisfied:

1. Size of households:

a) Villages: At least 200 households in the delta; or at least 100 households in the mountainous, border, or islands area;

b) Neighborhoods: At least 250 households in the delta; or at least 150 households in the mountainous, border, or islands area;

If a commune is converted into a ward or town, existing villages of such commune shall be converted into neighborhoods of the new ward or town.

2. Other requirements:

Each village or neighborhood must have essential socio-economic infrastructure in conformity with the local conditions to serve the community and ensure the stable people's lives. Each village shall ensure that its average residential area and productive land per household is not lower than that of the commune.

Article 8. Procedures and application for establishment of new villages and neighborhoods

1. Pursuant to Article 3 and requirements for establishment of new villages and neighborhoods prescribed in Article 7 of this Circular, each People's Committee of province shall decide the policy for establishment of new villages and neighborhoods, direct People’s Committees of districts to assign People’s Committees of communes to formulate their projects for establishment of new villages and neighborhoods. Main contents of a project:

a) The necessity of establishing a new village or neighborhood;

b) Name;

c) Geographic location; boundaries (to be shown in a diagram);

d) Population (number of households, household members) ;

dd) Natural area (residential area or productive land area of a village must be specified), with the unit of hectares;

e) Other requirements prescribed in Clause 2 Article 7 of this Circular;

g) Proposals.

2. The People’s Committee of commune of which a new village or neighborhood is to be established shall hold a consultation with all electors or representative electors of households therein about the project for establishment of new village or neighborhood; and take the minutes of the meeting.

3. If over 50% of electors or representative electors of households living in the area where the new village or neighborhood is to be established voted in favor of the project for establishment of new village or neighborhood, the People’s Committee of commune shall prepare the application (attached with the meeting minutes) and send it to the People’s Council of commune for ratification at the latest session.  Within ten working days from the date on which a resolution of People's Council of commune is issued, the People’s Committee of commune shall prepare the application and send it to the People’s Committee of district for consideration.

4. Within fifteen working days from the day on which the satisfactory application is received, the People’s Committee of district shall send a report (attached with the application for establishment of new village or neighborhood sent by the People’s Committee of commune) to the Service of Home Affairs for assessment; the Service of Home Affairs shall send it to the People’s Committee of province thereafter. The deadline for assessment conducted by the Service of Home Affairs shall not exceed fifteen working days from the date on which the report and the application sent by the People’s Committee is received.

5. Application submitted to the People's Committee of province:

a) The report of People’s Committee of district (attached with the report and application for establishment of new village or neighborhood submitted by the People’s Committee of commune prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article);

b) The written assessment of the Service of Home Affairs.

6. According to the documents submitted by People’s Committee of district and the written assessment of the Service of Home Affairs, People's Committee of province shall present them to People's Council of the same administrative level to consider issuing a resolution on establishment of a new village or neighborhood. Upon the issuance of the resolution of the People’s Council of province, the President of People’s Committee of commune shall promulgate a decision on establishment of a new village or neighborhood.

Article 9. Procedures and application for affiliation of residential areas to existing villages or neighborhoods

1. With regard to the affiliation of a residential area to an existing village or neighborhood prescribed in Clause 5 Article 3 of this Circular, the People’s Committee of commune shall formulate a project for affiliation of residential areas to existing villages or neighborhoods upon the promulgation of a decision of relevant policy by the People’s Committee of district. Main contents of a project:

a) The necessity of affiliation of a residential area to an existing village or neighborhood;

b) Geographic location; boundaries of the newly formed village or neighborhood (to be shown in a diagram);

c) Population (number of households, household members);

d) Natural area (residential area or productive land area of a village must be specified), with the unit of hectares;

dd) Proposals.

2. The People’s Committee of commune of which a residential area is to be affiliated with an existing village or neighborhood shall hold a consultation with all electors or representative electors of households therein about the project for affiliation of a residential area to an existing village or neighborhood; and take the minutes of the meeting.

3. If over 50% of electors or representative electors of households living in the area where a residential area is to be affiliated with an existing village or neighborhood voted in favor of the project for affiliation of a residential area to an existing village or neighborhood, the People’s Committee of commune shall prepare the application (attached with the meeting minutes) and send it to the People’s Council of commune for ratification at the latest session.  Within ten working days from the date on which a resolution of People's Council of commune is issued, the People’s Committee of commune shall prepare the application and send it to the People’s Committee of district for consideration.

If no more than 50% of electors or representative electors of households living in the area where a residential area is to be affiliated with an existing village or neighborhood voted in favor of the project, People’s Committee of commune shall hold an additional consultation. If the result remains unchanged, the People’s Committee of commune shall, within five working days from the date on which the minutes of the second consultation is taken, send a report to the People’s Committee of province for consideration.

4. Application submitted to the People's Committee of district:

a) A report submitted by the People’s Committee of commune;

b) The application for affiliation of a residential area to an existing village or neighborhood submitted by the People’s Committee of commune as prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Article.

5. Within fifteen working days from the day on which the satisfactory application is received, the People’s Committee of district shall consider the approval and assign the President of People’s Committee of district to promulgate a decision on affiliation of a residential area to an existing village or neighborhood.

Chapter 3.

VILLAGE HEADS, NEIGHBORHOOD HEADS AND VILLAGE DEPUTY HEADS, NEIGHBORHOOD DEPUTY HEADS

Article 10. Duties and entitlement of village heads and neighborhood heads

1. Duties:

a) Ensure that operation of the village or neighborhood complies with Article 5 and Article 6 of this Circular;

b) Convene and preside over meetings of the village or neighborhood;

c) Initiate plans/programs directly discussed and decided by the community of the village or neighborhood, direct the village or neighborhood to comply with policies and guidelines of the Communist Party, polices, laws of State and perform tasks assigned by the superior authorities.

d) Encourage the people to exercise democracy at the grassroots, formulate and implement regulations or conventions of the village or neighborhood in accordance with regulations of law;

dd) Cooperate with working groups of fatherland front and socio-political organizations of the village or neighborhood, direct the people to participate the campaign “"All people unite to build cultural life in residential areas," the movement "well-spoken public relations" and other movements mobilized by the Fatherland Front and other political-social organizations;

e) Encourage the people to preserve security, order, and social safety, prevention of and fight against crime and social evils in the village and neighborhood, avoid complicated dispute in the people; and promptly report violations of law therein to People’s Committee of commune;

g) Gather and request the government of commune to address legitimate proposals raised by the people in the village or neighborhood; take the minutes of meeting to discuss, decide issues in the village or neighborhood and sent it to competent authorities for consideration; and send the results thereof to the President of People’s Committee of commune;

h) Cooperate with the chief of working groups of fatherland front and heads of socio-political organizations of the village or neighborhood in initiating social-political objectives in the community and facilitate the operation of autonomous organizations (if any) thereof, namely: public relations groups, reconciliation groups, security and order protection groups, investment supervision board of community, production protection groups, and other autonomous organizations as prescribed;

i) Send monthly reports to the People’s Committee of communes, and present verbal reports in biannual meetings of the village or neighborhood.

2. Entitlement:

a) Each village head or neighborhood head may sign contracts for services serving production, construction of infrastructure and public welfare projects that are invested by the village or neighborhood and approved by the meetings of the village or neighborhood;

b) Each village head or neighborhood head may recommend his/her village deputy head or neighborhood deputy head for assistance; assign duties and entitlement to village deputy head or neighborhood deputy head; and may be invited to meetings of relevant issues by superior authorities.

c) Perform tasks assigned by the superior authorities and other tasks in the community as prescribed.

Article 11. Standards for village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads

Village head, neighborhood head, and village deputy head, neighborhood deputy head must be a person who has permanent or regular residence in the village or neighborhood, is 21 years of age or older, healthy, enthusiastic and sense of responsibility in his/her work; has good political credentials and moral qualities, and is trusted by the people; in addition, he/she and his/her family are good samples that comply with guidelines and policy of the Communist Party, policies, laws of State and local regulations; gain cultural knowledge, competence, experience and methods of mobilizing and direct the people to  implement self-management work of the community and perform tasks assigned by superior authorities.

Article 12. Procedures for voting, dismissing or discharging village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads

1. Nomination of village heads, neighborhood heads and recommendation of village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads:

a) The working group of fatherland front shall nominate a village head or neighborhood head;

b) The village head or neighborhood head shall recommend village deputy heads or neighborhood deputy head for assistance (with the consent of the working group of fatherland front).

2. The procedures for voting, dismissing, or discharging village heads, neighborhood heads shall be conducted in accordance with Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the guidelines issued together with Joint Resolution No. 09/2008/NQLT-CP-UBTWMTTQVN dated April 17, 2008 of the Government and the Central Committee of Vietnamese Fatherland Front.

Procedures for voting, dismissing or discharging village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads shall be conducted in the same manner as village heads, neighborhood heads.

3. Terms of office of village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads:

a) Term of office of village heads and neighborhood heads is two and a half years. In case of establishment of new village or neighborhood or vacancy for village head or neighborhood head, the President of People’s Committee of commune shall direct provisional village head or neighborhood head to keep working until electors or representative electors of households of the village or neighborhood may elect a new village head or neighborhood head within no later than six months from the date on which a decision on appointment of a provisional village head or neighborhood head is issued;

b) Term of office of village deputy heads and neighborhood deputy heads is the same as that of village heads and neighborhood heads.

4. Village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads shall be approved by Presidents of People’s Committees of communes.

Article 13. Policies for village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads

1. Each village head or neighborhood head is a person in charge of part-time job in a village or neighborhood and eligible for monthly allowances; the amount of allowances shall be decided by the People’s Council of province as prescribed.

2. Each village head, neighborhood head and village deputy head, neighborhood deputy head is provided with training courses in necessary knowledge and skills; he/she shall be praised or rewarded upon excellent performance of tasks, or dismissed, discharged or liable for penalties, depending on the nature and extent of violations, upon failure to fulfill tasks, violations or failure to gain the people's trust.

Chapter 4.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND EFFECT

Article 14. Responsibilities

1. People's Committees of provinces:

a) Submit applications for establishment of new villages and neighborhoods to People’s Councils of provinces for consideration;

b) Issue a regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods in conformity with the local conditions;

c) Issue criteria for classification of villages and neighborhoods in conformity with local size of population, area and characteristics.

2. Presidents of People's Committees of provinces:

a) Issue decisions on establishment of new villages and neighborhoods upon the promulgation of resolutions of the People’s Council of province;

b) Issue decisions on classification of villages and neighborhoods to government of communes;

c) Direct the implementation of this Circular and Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods issued by the People's Committee of province.

3. Presidents of People's Committees of districts:

a) Issue decisions on affiliation of residential areas to existing villages and neighborhoods upon the approval therefor issued by the People’s Committee of district;

b) Direct and inspect the implementation of this Circular and Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods issued by the People's Committee of province.

4. Presidents of People's Committees of communes:

a) Appoint provisional village heads, neighborhood heads;

b) Issue decisions on approval for village heads, neighborhood heads and village deputy heads, neighborhood deputy heads;

c) Manage, direct the operation of village heads and neighborhood heads in the commune in accordance with this Circular and Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods issued by the People’s Committee of province.

5. Services of Home Affairs:

a) Assess applications for establishment of new villages and neighborhoods and send reports to People’s Council of province for consideration;

b) Inspect the implementation of this Circular and Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods issued by the People's Committee of province;

c) Expedite and inspect the implementation of Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods by People’s Committee of districts;

d) Every December, Services of Home Affairs shall send reports on implementation of this Circular and Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods to People's Committee of province and Ministry of Home Affairs.

Article 15. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from October 15, 2012.

2. This Circular replaces Decision No. 13/2002/QD-BNV dated December 6, 2002 of the Minister of Home Affairs on promulgation of Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods.

3. With regard to villages and neighborhoods in which an additional village deputy head or neighborhood deputy head is appointed due to the size of population prescribed in Article 4 of Regulations on organization and operation of villages and neighborhoods issued together with Decision No. 13/2002/QD-BNV such village deputy head or neighborhood deputy head shall keep working until the end of his/her term of office, and Article 4 of this Circular shall apply thereafter.

Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to Ministry of Home Affairs for consideration./.