The Ministry of Finance said that, implementing the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets in 2017, the Government issued Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP stipulating standards and norms for the use of offices and public service facilities.

Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP was issued in 2017 and has so far made many changes in related legal documents, in policy development orientation as well as in practice at agencies, organizations and units such as:

Law No. 56/2024/QH15 has amended a number of contents of the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Law on Organization of Local Government 2025, the Law on Organization of the Government 2025 (effective from March 1, 2025), so it is necessary to amend related regulations in Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP accordingly (such as: applicable subjects, regulations on decentralization).

The implementation process has encountered some difficulties in practice (currently, there is only one content abolishing Clause 5, Article 12 of Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP which has been stipulated in Decree No. 114/2024/ND-CP); especially when rearranging and streamlining the organization of the political system according to the policies and viewpoints of the Party and State, it is necessary to have regulations on the principles of handling old or existing working headquarters and public service establishments to ensure timeliness, economy, efficiency, and maximum utilization of existing headquarters.

Based on the above, the Government's issuance of a Decree regulating standards and norms for the use of offices and public service facilities (replacing Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP) is necessary and has legal and practical basis.

Supplementing regulations on principles for applying standards and norms

Regarding the principles of applying standards and norms: The Draft basically inherits the provisions of Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP; at the same time, amends and supplements a number of contents:

Supplementing the principle of allowing the regulation of working areas of positions and assigning authority to the Head of the agency, organization, or unit to decide on the arrangement of specific working areas for positions, ensuring that the total area arranged for positions does not exceed the total working area determined according to regulations so that the Head of the agency, organization, or unit can proactively arrange them in accordance with reality due to some cases where it is not possible to accurately arrange the area for each position and office of the position (such as: design requirements, arrangement of use when receiving old headquarters, arrangement of many agencies, organizations, and units to use in the same headquarters or actual usage needs,...).

Supplementing regulations on handling principles for existing working headquarters and public service establishments that are assigned, transferred or handled after merger, consolidation, separation, dissolution or termination of operations in Clause 6, Article 3 of the draft Decree as follows:

"For existing working headquarters and public service establishments, the assignment, transfer or handling shall be carried out after the merger, consolidation, separation, dissolution or termination of operations.

Agencies, organizations and units receiving working headquarters and public service facilities shall manage and use the area according to the standards and norms prescribed in this Decree.

For the surplus area (if any), the Minister, Head of the central agency, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee (the governing body of the receiving agency, organization, or unit) shall consider and handle the surplus area according to the provisions of law on management and use of public assets in the form of: handing over or transferring to another agency, organization, or unit for management and use; handing over to an organization with the function of managing and trading local houses for management and exploitation (for houses and land under local management) and other appropriate forms, ensuring savings and efficiency; during the time the competent agency or person has not yet handled the area, the receiving agency, organization, or unit shall be responsible for managing, preserving, protecting, maintaining, and repairing this area".

Supplementing regulations on standards and norms for working offices of alternate Party Central Committee members; principles for determining equivalent titles and positions to apply standards and norms for using working offices to ensure compliance with Conclusion No. 35-KL/TW and stipulating principles to cover the realities arising when arranging the organization of the administrative apparatus.

Standards and norms for using office premises of agencies and organizations

The content of this Chapter inherits the content stipulated in Decree No. 152/2017/ND-CP which is still suitable for reality, and at the same time amends and supplements the content to remove difficulties and shortcomings arising in practice, promote decentralization and delegation of power, specifically:

Regarding the working area of ​​the positions: The draft proposes to increase the maximum working area of ​​the positions compared to the provisions of Decree 152/2017/ND-CP; at the same time, supplement and adjust the group of positions to comply with Conclusion 35-KL/TW dated May 5, 2022 of the Politburo on the list of positions, leadership positions and equivalents of the political system from the central to grassroots levels:

Specifically, at the Central level:

(1) The group of positions from Deputy Director of Department, Deputy Director of Bureau and equivalent or higher (group 6 in Appendix No. 01) to the group of positions of Standing member of the Secretariat; Member of the Politburo; Member of the Secretariat; Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front; Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court; Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy; Vice President; Deputy Prime Minister; Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (group 2): Increase by 15 m ² ;

(2) Group of titles: Head of Department, Division and equivalent; Deputy Head of Department, Division and equivalent (group 7): Increase 8m ² ;

(3) Title group: Specialist title and equivalent titles (group 8): Increase 5m ² ;

(4) Title of individual signing a direct labor contract to perform professional and technical work according to Government regulations on contracts for certain types of work in public service units (group 9): Increase by 3m ² .

In which: For positions in groups (2) to (4), the maximum area mentioned above includes the working area and reception area. In addition, these positions are allocated other necessary areas (if any); for positions in groups (5) and (6), the maximum area mentioned above includes the working area and reception area.

Locally:

(1) Group of titles from Deputy Director of Department, Deputy Head of local agencies, departments, branches and equivalent; Secretary of Party Committee at commune level and equivalent, Chairman of People's Council, People's Committee at commune level and equivalent or higher (group 6 in Appendix No. 02) to group of titles of Secretary of Provincial Party Committee, City Party Committee (except Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City); Deputy Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee, Deputy Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Chairman of People's Council, Chairman of People's Committee of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (group 2): Increase by 15m ² ;

(2) Group of positions of Deputy Party Secretary at commune level and equivalent; Vice Chairman of People's Council, Vice Chairman of People's Committee at commune level and equivalent; Head of Department and equivalent of departments, agencies, boards and branches at provincial level (group 7): Increase by 8m ² ;

(3) Position group: Head of department, board, agency and equivalent at commune level; Deputy Head of department and equivalent of provincial department, agencies and branches; Deputy Head of department, board, agency and equivalent at commune level (group 8): Increase 06m ² ;

(4) Group of specialist titles and equivalent titles at local level (including commune-level civil servants) (group 9): Increase ^05m2 ;

(5) Group of individual titles signing direct labor contracts to perform professional and technical tasks according to Government regulations on contracts for certain types of work in public service units: Increase 03m ² .

Eliminate regulations on working area of ​​non-professional positions at commune level to conform to the orientation of "Ending the use of non-professional workers at commune level" in the Project on rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a 2-level government organization model.

In which: For positions in group (2), group (3), the maximum area mentioned above includes the working area and reception area; in addition, these positions are arranged with other necessary areas (if any); for positions from group (4) to group (6), the maximum area mentioned above includes the working area and reception area.

The Ministry of Finance said that according to the feedback from ministries, branches and localities during the process of evaluating policy implementation and giving opinions at conferences, the working area of ​​the current positions is still limited in area, not ensuring the working conditions of the positions.

In reality, the current leaders' offices, in order to serve the work, must arrange an area for meetings and small-scale consultations; accordingly, to place a set of meeting tables and chairs for about 10 people, about 12-15 ^m2 is needed, while in reality, most units arrange this area to ensure work efficiency, enough space for researching and processing documents, discussing and implementing work, placing personal file cabinets, walking distance in the room, placing technical equipment, ensuring the work chain between related departments, etc.

The above arrangement will affect the actual working area of ​​other positions such as specialists; therefore, to suit the current reality, the draft Decree proposes to increase the area for positions as reported above.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/tieu-chuan-dinh-muc-su-dung-tru-so-lam-viec-co-so-hoat-dong-su-nghiep-post401028.html