Land disputes have always been among the most complex types of disputes, particularly those concerning land use rights and boundary complications. One of the significant procedures in resolving such disputes is measuring and determining the actual land use area and boundaries based on the current land use status. 

1. Authority for measuring in land dispute resolution 

The People’s Court has the authority to resolve disputes over land use rights but does not have the function of measuring or determining the location of disputed land. Therefore, when taking land measurement procedures, the Court must cooperate with specialized agencies that have the expertise to measure and determine the current land use status of the parties. 

Clause 1 Article 13 of Decree no. 102/2024/ND-CP, dated July 31st, 2024, detailing the Land Law regulates: “Land registration office is a land registration agency, an agency providing public services under provincial land management agency; have functions of registering, issuing Certificate of land use right, ownership of properties attached to land (hereinafter referred to as ‘Certification’), take measurement, revise and make cadastral maps, build, manage, operate and utilizing the land information system, provide public land services, and support other state land management tasks within the province.” 

Clause 2 Article 13 of this Decree also stipualtes the duties of the Land registration offices, including measuring tasks, revising and making cadastral maps tasks, extracting cadastral maps tasks, and collecting fees and charges as prescribed by law, and the revenue from public land servies (including services for providing land information and data, as well as cadastral measuring services). 

Besides, several localities also established the Center for Natural Resources and Environment Engineering. This is an agency providing public services under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, with function, duties, authority, and organizational structure determined by the Decision of the respective province or city. Specifically, some of the functions of the Center for Natural Resources and Environment Engineering include providing services and conducting specialized technical operations in fields such as measuring, mapping, remote sensing, land resources, water resources, mineral resources, geology, environment, meteorology and hydrology, climate change, and marine study. 

According to the consolidated report of the Department of Land Resource Planning and Development on the current status of functions, duties, organizational structure, financial mechanisms, and operations of the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering in 43 centrally governed provinces and cities (20 provinces and cities yet to submit reports), there are 20 out of 43 departments that have established the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering; 02 out of 43 Departments operate under a different name; 04 out of 43 Departments have merged the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering into the Land registration office; 03 out of 43 Departments have merged the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering into the Land Fund Development Center; 04 out of Departments have merged into the Natural Resources and Environment Monitoring Center; 03 out of 43 Departments have not established the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering; 01 out of 43 Department has dissolved the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering; 02 out of 43 Departments have converted the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering into Joint Stock Company that is financially self-sustaining. 

Therefore, the Land registration offices and the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering are agencies, and organizations with functions to take measurements on maps and revise cadastral dossies. Through practical cases, the measurement is conducted by the district/provincial Branch of Land registration offices (which has the land use rights), or by the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering by parties’ measuring request. 

2. Procedures for taking measurement current land use status in land dispute cases 

Frequently, in land dispute cases, the measurement of the land use status is carried out based on the involved parties’ request (the plaintiff, the defendant, or a person with related interests and obligations). The measuring procedures for current land use status are usually alongside the Court’s on-site examination and appraisal. However, the Civil Procedure Code 2015 and its guiding documents do not provide specific provisions on the procedures for measuring the current land use status. As a result, the parties often encounter various difficulties during its implementation. 

According to the practical cases, the measurement procedures follow a similar process to the valuation procedures of disputed properties; it generally consists of the following steps: 

Step 1: The parties in cases suggest the Court take measurements and determine the current land use status. 

Step 2: After receiving the request, the Court reviews the agency responsible for taking the measurement, requests an advance payment for measurement costs, and coordinates with the competent measurement agency to prepare for the measurement procedure. 

Step 3: After the requesting party has paid the advance payment for the measurement costs, the Court issues a Decision to conduct the measurement of the current land use status for the disputed land’s area. 

Bước 4: Cơ quan có chức năng tiến hành đo đạc theo thời gian do Toà án ấn định trước sự chứng kiến, chỉ dẫn của đương sự và những người tiên hành tố tụng, các đơn vị chứng kiến được mời/triệu tập tham gia.

Step 4: The competent agency conducts the measurement at the time determined by the Court, in the presence of and under the guidance of the parties and procedural participants, witness parties invited or convened to attend. 

Step 5: After completing the measurement, the competent agency provides the measuring result to the Court for the Court to review, using it as evidence in resolving the dispute.

3. Difficulties in the procedure for measuring the current land use status in disputes over land use rights 

Measuring the status of disputed land is essential for accurately determining key information about the area, boundaries, and condition of the land parcel. This measurement serves as important evidence for the court in resolving the dispute. Although this process is significant, it lacks specific regulations regarding procedural steps, which impacts the resolution of land use rights disputes. 

[1]. In a land use rights dispute, the plaintiff requested the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering to conduct the measurement to determine the current land use status of both the plaintiff and the defendant on two disputed land parcels. After the land use diagram was prepared, the defendant claimed that the measurement map conducted by the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering was inaccurate and did not reflect the actual land use as indicated by the parties, the measured area was reduced due to incorrect alignment with the areas granted under the Land use rights Certificate and that the plaintiff deliberately reported a smaller area on the undisputed side. Through the process of the above trial, several viewpoints have arisen regarding the request for a re-measurement, as follows: 

The first viewpoint states that the land measurement and cadastral extraction carried out under the contract with the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering aims to determine the area related to the disputed land use right. This process is based on the location identified in the on-site inspection record and the work minutes from the same day. Therefore, the data measured by the Center for Natural Resource and Environment Engineering accurately reflects the on-site inspection record established by the Court, and a re-measurement was not intended to be conducted. 

The second viewpoint states that the measurement map lacks consistency regarding the positions of the parties involved and does not accurately reflect land use boundaries or the boundaries based on the parties' instructions. Therefore, it cannot serve as a reliable basis for resolving the dispute.  The on-site inspection and appraisal process, as well as the land measurement procedure, are distinct processes conducted by different councils, and they do not necessarily need to take place simultaneously. If a party disagrees with the initial measurement, they have the right to request a re-measurement. The purpose of the re-measurement is to ensure the accuracy of the disputed land diagram. As such, the defendant's request for a re-measurement should be accepted, and an evaluation of the current land use status should be conducted. 

Considering the above viewpoints, the author believes that the second viewpoint is more reasonable. It is important to note that although the on-site inspection and the measurement procedures occur simultaneously, they are two distinct processes. According to Article 101 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015, the regulations regarding the on-site inspection procedure are as follows: 

“1. At the request of the involved parties or when it is deemed necessary, the Judges shall carry out on-site inspections/appraisals in the presence of representatives of People’s Committees of communes or Police offices of communes/wards/townships or agencies/organizations where exits the objects which need to be inspected/appraised; the on-site inspections/appraisals must be notified in advance so that the involved parties know and witness such inspections/appraisals.

2. On-site inspections and appraisals must be recorded in minutes. The minutes must clearly state the inspection/appraisal results, clearly describe the sites, contain the signatures of the persons that conduct the inspections/appraisals and the signatures or fingerprints of the involved parties if they are present, of the representatives of the commune-level People's Committees or Police offices of communes/wards/townships or agencies/organizations where there exist the to-be-inspected/appraised objects, and others that are invited to participate in the inspections/appraisals. After completing the minutes, the persons that conduct the inspections/appraisals must request the representatives of the commune-level People's Committees or Police offices of communes/wards/townships or agencies/organizations where there exist the objects that need to be inspected/apppraised to sign and seal for certification.”

The measurement procedure is conducted by the specialized agency responsible for measuring and revising cadastral dossies. The council conducting the on-site inspection is different from the council taking measurement of the current land use status in land use rights disputes. 

[2]. The process for measuring the status of land use rights is not clearly defined or regulated, resulting in prolonged legal cases that significantly affect litigation procedures. According to Clause 1, Article 214 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015, the court must suspend proceedings in situations where the resolution depends on the results of judicial assistance requests, the entrustment of evidence collection, or materials and evidence sent from agencies or organizations at the court's request. However, the procedure for assessing the status of land use rights lacks a defined process, timeline, or specific procedures. When the measurement and reporting of results take too long, the court often suspends the case for these reasons. The law does not impose a maximum time limit on case suspensions. As stipulated in Article 216 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015, the decisions regarding the suspension of civil lawsuits remain in effect until new decisions to resume the resolution of these lawsuits are issued. The courts will resume hearing the cases as soon as the decisions to resume proceedings are made.

In practice, in land use rights dispute resolution, the measuring agencies delay providing measurement results; this delay can last for 06 months or even up to a year or more. 

Article 106 of the Civil Code 2015 regulates that “Agencies, organizations and individuals managing or keeping the materials/evidences have the responsibility to supply adequately materials and evidence at the request of the Courts within 15 days from the day on which the requests are received; after such time limit, if such agencies, organizations or individuals fail to supply adequately materials and evidence at the request of the Courts, they shall make written responses containing explanation. Any agencies, organizations, or individuals failing to comply with the requests of the courts without good and sufficient reasons shall be administratively sanctioned or shall face criminal prosecution as prescribed by law, depending on the nature and severity of the violations. The administrative penalties or criminal prosecution as prescribed by law imposed on the agencies, organizations, or individuals shall not mean the exemption from supply of materials or evidence to the courts.". However, the re-measurement procedure is conducted based on the parties’ request sent to the Court; the measurement is carried out as a separate procedure, with independent measurement services and contracts, and does not fall under the category of requests for documents or evidence from the Court. Currently, no specific legal provisions are governing this issue. On what legal basis does the Court issue official letters or documents requesting measurement agencies to return the measurement results sooner? And what binding regulations must be a specialized measurement agency adhere to to provide the measurement results within a specific timeframe?

As a result, the current regulations regarding the measurement of land use rights need to be more comprehensive and clearer due to ongoing challenges in this area. The process for resolving disputes must have well-defined procedures and requirements to effectively address conflicts between parties. For instance, the measurement map should clearly show several key elements: the actual land use status of the involved parties, comparisons with maps maintained by authorities, and any discrepancies in land area between the current situation and official records. Furthermore, it is crucial to strengthen the capacity and accountability of measurement authorities. These agencies should be required to adhere strictly to regulations and standards for land measurement, ensuring timely results that do not delay legal proceedings. Additionally, consideration should be given to incorporating the land measurement procedure into a public service framework. This would establish clear processes, procedures, and fixed timelines for conducting measurements and delivering results, ultimately helping to reduce complications in executing this procedure.

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