The Ministry of Home Affairs is currently soliciting feedback on the draft amendments to the Law on the Organization of Local Government. This legislative draft is scheduled for submission to the National Assembly during its ninth session in May.
The drafting agency has articulated a proposed resolution to address the consequential issues arising from the transition of local government structures from a three-tiered to a two-tiered system.
In the aforementioned draft, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposes that to ensure societal stability, the efficient functioning of public and private entities, the seamless and uninterrupted operational continuity of local governance during this crucial transition, preventing procedural overlapping, redundancies, and any adverse impact on socio-economic development, the draft Law delineates transitional provisions addressing critical and urgent matters requiring immediate attention.
Consequently, the draft Law stipulates that within a two-year period commencing from the effective date of the legislation (July 1, 2025), the Government shall promulgate regulatory instruments within its power to delineate the revised missions and authorities of local governance and to adjust regulations pertaining to the exercise of these missions.
This is to ensure uniform application when waiting for the amendment or supplementation of relevant laws, ordinances, and resolutions by the National Assembly and its Standing Committee.
The draft Law mandates the termination of the urban governance model as currently implemented in Hanoi, HCMC, Da Nang City, and Hai Phong City.
Furthermore, the draft Law establishes a deadline for district-level local government agencies to transfer operational responsibilities, records, documentation, financial assets, budgetary allocations, administrative facilities, and other pertinent resources to the designated competent agencies, organizations, and entities.
Provisions are included regarding the validity and jurisdictional authority to manage district-level local government documents post-dissolution, as well as the continuation of investment projects, operational tasks, and incomplete or problematic administrative procedure dossiers.
The drafting agency also proposes amendments to regulations concerning the organization of administrative units and the implementation of a two-tiered local government model. This entails the revision and increase of regulations related to the organization of administrative units and the two-tiered local government model (comprising provincial and grassroots levels, excluding district levels), tailored to urban, rural, insular, and special economic-administrative units.
The provincial level, encompassing provinces and centrally-administered cities, will retain its current structure with the potential merger of certain provincial-level administrative units to ensure regulatory compliance and facilitate expanded developmental opportunities. Current commune-level administrative units will be reorganized into grassroots-level administrative units, including communes, wards, and insular special zones, with the elimination of towns.
The draft Law stipulates that insular special zones will be established by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee, taking into account population density, geographical area, demographic characteristics, socio-economic development requirements, as well as national defense and security imperatives.
The draft Law comprises seven chapters and forty-nine articles (a reduction of one article compared to the 2025 amended Law on the Organization of Local Government), retaining nine articles, removing three, adding two new articles, and amending thirty-five.
