Law on Organization of Local Government: Transforming the local government model into a two-tier system.

The Ministry of Interior stated that, in order to implement the Party's policy on streamlining the organization and apparatus of the political system (eliminating district-level organizations and implementing a two-tiered local government model), the National Assembly Party Committee is directing the amendment and supplementation of several articles of the 2013 Constitution, focusing on issues related to the organization and apparatus of the political system. This includes amending and supplementing several articles of Chapter IX, which regulates local government, with the proposed abolition of district-level administrative units, and local governments organized into only two levels (provincial level and levels below the provincial level).

Accordingly, after the National Assembly considers and approves the Resolution amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2013 Constitution, the current Law on Organization of Local Government should be promptly amended and supplemented to ensure consistency with the provisions of the 2013 Constitution (after amendment and supplementation) on local government.

Furthermore, the Law on Organization of Local Government in 2025 (effective from March 1, 2025) has been comprehensively amended and supplemented to clearly define authority, promote decentralization and delegation of power between central and local government agencies; between different levels of local government; and address shortcomings, deficiencies, and limitations in the implementation of the Law on Organization of Local Government in 2015.

However, due to the regulations on administrative units and the model of local government organization in the current Law on Organization of Local Government, which is designed according to three levels (provincial, district, and commune), it is necessary to amend and supplement the provisions of the Law on Organization of Local Government to implement a two-tiered local government model. Addressing the issues arising from the transition from a three-tiered to a two-tiered model is crucial to establishing a legal framework for state agencies and organizations to operate under a two-tiered local government model, ensuring efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency to meet the new development requirements of the country.

The objective of drafting the Law on Organization of Local Government (amended) is to fundamentally revise the regulations on the organization and operation of local government in order to fully institutionalize the policies and orientations in the Party's documents and resolutions, the conclusions of the Politburo and the Secretariat, and to concretize the provisions of the Constitution (after amendment) in order to transform the current three-tiered model of local government organization (provincial, district, and commune levels) into a two-tiered model (provincial and grassroots levels), ensuring a streamlined, efficient, effective, and unified state administration from the central to the grassroots level.

Structure of the draft Law on Organization of Local Government (amended)

The draft Law comprises 7 chapters and 49 articles (a reduction of 1 article compared to Law No. 65/2025/QH15, including: retaining 9 articles, removing 3 articles (related to the tasks and powers of district-level local governments); adding 2 new articles (due to the separation of regulations on the tasks and powers of the Provincial People's Council for centrally-administered cities and of communes for wards to more specifically regulate the tasks and powers of the People's Councils in administrative units according to each field); amending and supplementing 35 articles to conform with the transformation of the local government organizational model from 3 levels (provincial, district, and commune levels) to 2 levels (provincial and grassroots levels), specifically as follows:

Chapter I:The general regulations consist of 7 articles (from Article 1 to Article 7).

Chapter II:The organization of administrative units, establishment, dissolution, merger, division of administrative units, adjustment of administrative boundaries, and renaming of administrative units are covered in 3 articles (from Article 8 to Article 10).

Chapter III:The division of authority between local governments at different levels is defined in four articles (from Article 11 to Article 14).

Chapter IV:The duties and powers of local authorities are outlined in 11 articles (from Article 15 to Article 25).

Chapter V:The organization and operation of local government comprises 14 articles (from Article 26 to Article 39).

Chapter VI:The regulations on the organization of local government in cases of changes to administrative boundaries and other special circumstances comprise 7 articles (from Article 40 to Article 46).

Chapter VII:The implementing provisions consist of 3 articles (from Article 47 to Article 49).