Vietnam: The fine up to VND 10,000,000 to be applied for changes on content of environmental licenses without notifying the competent authority?

Main Content

• Vietnam: The fine up to VND 10,000,000 to be applied for changes on content of environmental licenses issued by the People's Committee of districts without notifying the competent authority?
• What are the penalties for not publishing the environmental licenses issued by the People's Committee of provinces in Vietnam?
• What are the penalties for failing to obtain environmental licenses re-issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Vietnam?

Vietnam: The fine up to VND 10,000,000 to be applied for changes on content of environmental licenses issued by the People's Committee of districts without notifying the competent authority?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 11 of Decree 45/2022/ND-CP stipulates as follows:

"Article 11. Violations against regulations on environmental licenses

1. Violations against regulations on implementation of environmental licenses under the licensing competence of the People's Committee of districts or implementation of environmental licenses under the licensing competence of the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Public Security that the subject equivalents under the licensing competence of the People's Committee of districts, except for the cases specified in Articles 15, 29, 30, 31, 35 and 38 of this Decree, the penalties shall be as follows:

a) A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to report to the licensing agency for consideration and settlement in case there is a change in the contents of the license already granted in accordance with regulations; submit documents of application for environmental licenses not within the prescribed time limit;

...

h) A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for building and installing equipment, pipes or other waste lines to discharge untreated waste into the environment; failing to build and install environmental protection works according to regulations.

Thus, acts of violating regulations on environmental licenses will be administratively fined according to the above provisions.

Accordingly, for acts of changing the contents of an environmental license without notifying the competent authority, the administrative fine of up to VND 10 million will be imposed.

Vietnam: The fine up to VND 10,000,000 to be applied for changes on content of environmental licenses without notifying the competent authority?

What are the penalties for not publishing the environmental licenses issued by the People's Committee of provinces in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 11 of Decree 45/2022/ND-CP stipulates as follows:

"Article 11. Violations against regulations on environmental licenses

...

2. Acts of violation against regulations on implementation of environmental licenses under the licensing competence of the People's Committee of provinces or implementation of environmental licenses under the licensing competence of the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Public Security, which the subject equivalent licensing competence of the People's Committee of provinces, except for the cases specified in Articles 15, 29, 30, 31, 35 and 38 of this Decree, the penalties shall be as follows:

a) A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to report to the licensing agency for consideration and settlement in case there is a change in the contents of the license already granted in accordance with regulations; submit documents of application for environmental licenses not within the prescribed time limit;

b) A fine ranging from VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to publishing the environmental licenses as prescribed;

...

h) A fine ranging from VND 400,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 shall be imposed for building and installing equipment, pipes or other waste lines to discharge untreated waste into the environment; failing to build and install environmental protection works according to regulations.

Accordingly, the act of failing to publish the environmental licenses issued by the People's Committee of the province will be subject to an administrative fine of between VND 15,000,000 and 20,000,000.

What are the penalties for failing to obtain environmental licenses re-issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree 45/2022/ND-CP stipulates as follows:

"Article 11. Violations against regulations on environmental licenses

...

3. Violations against regulations on the implementation of environmental licenses under the licensing authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment or the implementation of environmental licenses under the licensing competence of the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Public Security that the subject equivalent license under the licensing authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, except for the cases specified in Articles 15, 29, 30, 31, 35 and 38 of this Decree, the penalties shall be as follows:

a) A fine ranging from VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to report to the licensing agency for consideration and settlement in case there is a change in the contents of the license already granted in accordance with regulations; submit documents of application for environmental licenses not within the prescribed time limit;

b) A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to disclose the environmental licenses as prescribed;

c) A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for providing inaccurate or untruthful information about waste in the application file for an environmental licenses as prescribed; improper or incomplete implementation of one of the contents of the environmental licenses as prescribed, except for the following cases: violation of regulations on environmental monitoring, prevention and response to waste incidents and cases of regulations specified at points a, b, dd, e and g of this clause;

d) A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 150,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to check waste treatment works and equipment to determine the causes of pollution or failing to renovate or upgrade waste treatment works according to regulations in case of reporting incorrect pollution data or in case of violations of the act of discharging waste water, dust and emissions in excess of technical regulations on environment.

dd) A fine ranging from VND 150,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be imposed for providing inaccurate or untruthful information on the results of the completion of works, environmental protection measures in the report on the proposal for granting the environmental licenses for investment projects for which a decision has been made on approving results of appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports before they are put into trial operation according to regulations; failing to grant and change environmental licenses according to regulations; failing to comply with the contents of the environmental licenses as prescribed, except for the following cases: violation of regulations on environmental monitoring; prevention and response to waste incidents and the cases specified at Points a, b, c, e and g of this Clause;

e) A fine ranging from VND 200,000,000 to VND 220,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to obtain re-issued environmental licenses as prescribed;".

Accordingly, in case an environmental license is not re-issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, an administrative fine of up to VND 220 million will be imposed.

Note, the fine levels according to the above regulations apply only to individuals. In case of violations by organizations, the administrative sanction will be 2 times higher than that of individuals.

In addition, organizations and individuals who commit violations will also be forced to take remedial measures and additional sanctions according to Clauses 4 and 5, Article 11 of Decree 45/2022/ND-CP.

Decree 45/2022/ND-CP takes effect from August 25, 2022.