The Hanoi Times – President Nguyen Minh Triet yesterday proclaimed three new laws and amendments to five others.

The new laws are Law o­n urban planning, Law o­n Vietnamese Representative Offices Abroad and Law o­n Public Debt Management.

The amended law promulgated are law o­n the amendment and supplement to Article 126 of the Housing Law and  Article 121  of the Land Law and to articles of law relating to investment in construction.

Those amended law are also cinematography, cultural heritage and intellectual property.

Under Article 126 of the Housing Law, people eligible to won a house or an apartment in Vietnam must have a permit to live in the country for at least three months instead of six months as before.

But o­ne condition they must satisfy is to product a visa-exemption paper granted by Vietnamese authorities.

Under Ar6ticle 126, these home owners can o­nly use their property for themselves and their families living in Vietnam.

And under the changes in Article 121 of the Land Law, they cannot use their house as capital or collateral.

The changes will come into effect o­n September 1.

The changes to Laws relating to capital constructions, including the Law o­n Construction, the Law o­n Tender, the Law o­n Enterprises, the Land Law and the Law o­n Housing, are aimed at improving the investment climate and accelerate the disbursement of capital in public financed projects.

Under the amendments, land use right and certificate for Property o­n Land will be combined into o­ne document.

 The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will be the o­nly agency allowed to grant the certificate.

These revised laws will come into force o­n August 1.

The promulgation of the Law o­n Vietnamese Representative Offices Abroad will replace the 1990 Consulate Ordinance and the 1993 Ordinance.

The law is to help the activities of Vietnamese offices abroad and to meet new State management requirement in international integration.

It will come into effect o­n September 2.

The Law o­n Urban Planning has six chapters and 76 articles. It regulates a wide range of activities from writing proposals project evaluation and approval and organising urban planning and management in accordance with approved plans.

Under the law, which will take effect o­n January 1 a new urban plan must be publicised for at least 30 days following its official approval.