What requirements must organizations or individuals be granted water resources licenses in Vietnam from March 20, 2023?
What requirements must organizations or individuals be granted water resources licenses in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 20 of Decree No. 02/2023/ND-CP stipulating as follows:
Requirements for license issuance
1. Organizations and individuals granted water resources licenses must satisfy the following requirement:
a) Have completed the notification and community survey of representatives of the residential community and relevant organizations and individuals as prescribed in this Decree.
b) Have schemes and reports applicable to the approved relevant water resources planning, provincial planning, regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas and specialized planning or suitable for water source capacity in case such planning and regulations are not issued. The schemes and reports must be made by qualified organizations and individuals as prescribed; information and data used for making schemes and reports must be sufficient, obvious, accurate and reliable.
Work design plans or works for water resources exploitation must be suitable for exploitation scales and subjects and satisfy requirements for protection of water resources and environment.
c) Works for surface water exploitation and use with lakes and dams constructed on rivers or streams must meet the requirements prescribed in Point b Clause 2 Article 53 of the Law on Water Resources, requirements prescribed in Points a and b of this Clause and the following requirements:
- Have plans for arranging equipment and human resources to operate reservoirs, monitor and supervise the exploitation and use of water; plans for meteorological and hydrological monitoring, provision of forecasts about the amount of water inflow serving the reservoir operation according to regulations for cases where works are not constructed;
- Have the reservoir operation process; have equipment, human resources or contracts to hire qualified organizations and individuals to perform reservoir operation, monitoring and supervision of the exploitation and use of water; meteorological and hydrological monitoring and provision of forecasts about the amount of water inflow serving the reservoir operation according to regulations for cases where works have been constructed.
2. If an entity explores, exploits or use water without any water resources license, a competent authority shall consider deciding issuance of water exploitation and use license when the following requirements for license issuance are met as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article.
The handling of violations caused by water exploration, exploitation and use without a water resource license shall comply with regulations of laws on administrative penalties for violations against regulations on water resources.
Thus, organizations and individuals that are granted water resources licenses must meet the requirements specified above.
What requirements must organizations or individuals be granted water resources licenses in Vietnam from March 20, 2023? (Image from the Internet)
What are the bases for issuance of water resources licenses in Vietnam?
In Article 19 of Decree No. 02/2023/ND-CP stipulating as follows:
Bases for license issuance
1. The water resources license issuance must be based on:
a) Socio-economic development strategies and planning for of nations, sectors and areas;
b) Relevant water resources planning, provincial planning, regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas and specialized planning approved by competent authorities; in case such planning and regulations are not issued, it must be based on water source capacity and make sure the water source is not depleted or polluted;
c) The status of exploitation and use of water in areas
d) Assessment reports of competent regulatory agencies on applications for issuance of licenses for water resources exploration, exploitation and use;
dd) Demands for water exploitation and use specified in application forms.
2. In case of issuance of licenses for groundwater exploration, exploitation and us, apart from bases prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, it must also be based on the regulations in Clause 4 Clause 5 Article 52 of the Law on Water Resources.
According to the above regulations, water resources license issuance must be based on:
- Socio-economic development strategies and planning for of nations, sectors and areas;
- Relevant water resources planning, provincial planning, regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas and specialized planning approved by competent authorities; in case such planning and regulations are not issued, it must be based on water source capacity and make sure the water source is not depleted or polluted;
- The status of exploitation and use of water in areas
- Assessment reports of competent regulatory agencies on applications for issuance of licenses for water resources exploration, exploitation and use;
- Demands for water exploitation and use specified in application forms.
What are the principles of issuance of water resources licenses in Vietnam?
According to Article 18 of Decree No. 02/2023/ND-CP stipulating the principles of issuance of water resources licenses as follows:
- Compliance with regulations on authority, subjects and procedures as prescribed by law.
- Protection of state interests, legal rights and benefits of relevant organizations and individuals; protect water resources and environment as prescribed by law.
- Prioritized licensing for exploration, exploitation and use of water resources for domestic use.
- No depletion or pollution of water sources when conducting exploration, exploitation and use of water resources.
- Compliance to the approved relevant water resources planning, provincial planning as well as specialized planning and regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas.
Decree No. 02/2023/ND-CP takes effect from March 30, 2023.
Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nhung
