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| The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hanoi__Photo: VNA |
The 2024 Law on Cultural Heritage (the Law) aims to improve regulations on the safeguarding and promotion of values of cultural heritage, decentralization and delegation of powers for state management of cultural heritage, and mechanisms and policies to promote mobilization of social resources for the safeguarding and promotion of values of cultural heritage.
Consisting of 95 articles arranged in nine chapters, the Law regulates cultural heritage and management, safeguarding and promotion of values of cultural heritage. It also defines the rights, obligations and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, communities and individuals in the management, safeguarding and promotion of values of cultural heritage of Vietnam.
Replacing its 2001 predecessor with revisions made in 2009, the Law applies to: (i) agencies, organizations, communities and Vietnamese residing in Vietnam; (ii) agencies, organizations, communities and foreigners residing and operating in Vietnam; and (iii) Vietnamese permanently living and operating overseas and involved in the management, safeguarding and promotion of values of cultural heritage.
As defined in the Law, cultural heritage includes intangible cultural heritage and tangible cultural heritage of Vietnam that are handed down from generation to generation. Vietnam’s cultural heritage is a precious asset of the Vietnamese ethnic community, constitutes part of the cultural heritage of the mankind, and plays a great role in the cause of national construction and safeguarding.
All cultural heritage in the territory of Vietnam, originating in the country or foreign countries, and taking different forms of ownership, will be managed, safeguarded and promoted in accordance with the Law and other relevant laws. Vietnam’s cultural heritage in foreign countries will be safeguarded in accordance with international law and treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party.
Ownership over cultural heritage
The Law adds provisions on the establishment of cultural heritage by type of ownership, i.e., entire-people ownership, common ownership and private ownership, in accordance with the Civil Code and relevant laws. Article 4 of the Law lists cultural heritage under the entire-people ownership, cultural heritage under private ownership, and cultural heritage under common ownership.
The State will act as the owner’s representative of, and uniformly manage, cultural heritage under the entire-people ownership, and recognize and safeguard cultural heritage under private ownership or common ownership in accordance with the Constitution, the Law and other relevant laws.
Ownership over cultural heritage will be established with disputes settled and violations handled under the Law and other relevant laws.
World heritage areas and buffer zones of world heritage areas
World heritage areas and buffer zones of world heritage areas will be determined according to Article 27.8 of the Law.
Each world heritage has a world heritage area and a buffer zone determined according to the UNESCO’s regulations and guidelines. The world heritage area is the area where exist the original elements constituting the outstanding universal value of the world heritage, and will be protected as category-I protected areas of relics. The buffer zone of the world heritage area is the area surrounding the world heritage area, which is part of or contributes to the value and unique characteristics of the world heritage, and has the effect of creating an additional layer of protection for the world heritage, and will be protected as category-II protected areas of relics.
The world heritage area and buffer zone of the world heritage area will be determined on the map to be included in the dossier of nomination submitted to the UNESCO to propose the recognition of the world heritage. Information on world heritage areas and buffer zones of world heritage areas must be updated on maps of relevant master plans.
The expansion or narrowing of the boundaries of world heritage areas and the buffer zones of world heritage areas must comply with the UNESCO’s regulations and guidelines, causing no change in the criteria creating the outstanding universal value of the world heritage, and be recorded in a dossier. In case of making major adjustments to the boundaries of world heritage areas or the buffer zones of world heritage areas, it is required to prepare a new nomination dossier.
Repatriation of overseas vestiges, antiquities and national treasures of Vietnamese origin
The State will encourage domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to discover and notify to competent state agencies of, and purchase, donate and hand over to the State, overseas vestiges, antiquities and national treasures of Vietnamese origin.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will direct the preparation of a list of overseas vestiges, antiquities and national treasures of Vietnamese origin and the determination of the value thereof. The Ministry will also propose plans to recover or purchase, and grant import licenses for, overseas vestiges, antiquities and national treasures of Vietnamese origin and bring them back to the country.
When discovering overseas vestiges, antiquities and national treasures of Vietnamese origin that are originating in their localities, provincial-level People’s Committees have the responsibility to identify and make a list of these vestiges, antiquities and national treasures and determine the value thereof. They will also have to mobilize resources within the ambit of their competence or propose the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to implement plans on recovery, purchase and repatriation of these vestiges, antiquities and national treasures.
For vestiges, antiquities and national treasures which are identified by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and for which the Ministry proposes plans for recovery, purchase and repatriation, the Prime Minister will decide on plans for recovery or use the state budget to purchase and repatriate them to Vietnam.
Noticeably, for organizations and individuals that purchase and repatriate overseas vestiges, antiquities and national treasures for exhibition, safeguarding and value promotion in museums, houses of traditions, commemorative houses or exhibition houses for not-for-profit purposes as certified by competent state agencies, or donate or hand over vestiges, antiquities and national treasures to the State, they will be entitled to incentives regarding import duty, value-added tax and other related taxes and charges and have costs for these activities accounted as valid expenses when determining taxable income.
National database on cultural heritage
The national database on cultural heritage will be built to store, manage, safeguard, exploit and promote values of cultural heritage, serving socio-economic development.
The Prime Minister will approve the national database on cultural heritage while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will take charge of building, managing, operating, updating, maintaining, and guiding the exploitation and use of, the database.
Agencies, organizations and individuals have the responsibility to organize the building of databases on cultural heritage as decentralized, ensuring integration and connection with the national database on cultural heritage and meeting security and confidentiality requirements.
The building, updating, maintenance, exploitation and use of the national database on cultural heritage, and the validity of data on intangible cultural heritage and converted documentary heritage must comply with the laws on data and e-transactions.-
