special administrative zone

A special administrative zone is a Vietnamese commune-level unit established for an important island area with distinct geographic and administrative conditions.

It is one of the local unit forms directly below a province or centrally governed city, alongside communes and wards. It has local-government institutions for its defined territory.

The term is different from a special administrative region, which is a higher constitutional arrangement in another national system. Economic designation alone does not make an area this type of local unit.