Perennial crop land is a type of land belonging to the group of agricultural land specified in Clause 2, Article 9 of the 2024 Land Law as follows:
The group of agricultural land includes the following types of land:
a) Annual crop land, including rice land and other annual crop land;
b) Land for perennial crops;
c) Forestry land, including special-use forest land, protection forest land, production forest land;
d) Aquaculture land;
e) Centralized livestock land;
e) Soil;
g) Other agricultural land.
In addition, Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 102/2024/ND-CP specifically guides as follows: Land for perennial crops is land used for the purpose of planting trees that are sown once, grow for many years and yield harvests once or more.
Based on Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree 123/2024/ND-CP stipulating penalties for the act of abandoning perennial crop land, specifically as follows:
Article 24. Not using annual crop land, aquaculture land for 12 consecutive months, perennial crop land for 18 consecutive months, forest land for 24 consecutive months
2. For the act of not using perennial crop land for 18 consecutive months, the form and level of penalties are as follows:
a) A fine of between VND 2,000,000 and VND 5,000 shall be imposed on land areas under 0.5 hectares;
b) A fine of between VND 5,000,000,000 and VND 10,000,000,000 shall be imposed on land areas from 0.5 hectares to less than 1 hectare;
c) A fine of between 10,000,000 VND and 20,000,000 VND shall be imposed on land areas from 1 hectare or more.
4. Remedial measures
Forcing land users to put land into use within 60 days for acts specified in clauses 1 and 2; 90 days for acts specified in clause 3 of this Article.
Accordingly, for the act of abandoning land for perennial crops, a specific fine may be imposed as follows:
- A fine of between VND 2,000,000 and VND 5,000 shall be imposed on land areas under 0.5 hectares;
- A fine of between VND 5,000 and VND 10,000 shall be imposed on land areas from 0.5 hectares to less than 1 hectare;
- A fine of between 10,000,000 VND and 20,000,000 VND for land areas from 1 hectare or more.
Thus, if perennial crop land is abandoned for 18 consecutive months, the penalty level can be from the lowest of 2,000 VND to the highest of 20,000,00 VND for perennial crop land areas in 3 cases: under 0.5 hectares; from 0.5 hectares to under 1 hectare and from 1 hectare or more.
The above fine is the fine for individuals, the maximum fine for organizations will be 2 times higher according to Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree 123/2024/ND-CP.
In addition to facing the administrative penalty as above, the act of abandoning perennial crop land for 18 consecutive months may also be subject to remedial measures, which is to force land users to put the land into use within 60 days.
