Vietnam: What are the cases of exemption from the fee for water resource exploitation right according to the provisions of the Law on Water Resources 2023?
- What are the cases of exemption from the fee for water resource exploitation right in Vietnam according to the provisions of the Law on Water Resources 2023?
- What are the regulations on the methods of collecting, submitting, managing, and using the fee for water resource extraction right in Vietnam?
- What are the procedures for calculating the fee for water resource extraction right in Vietnam?
What are the cases of exemption from the fee for water resource exploitation right in Vietnam according to the provisions of the Law on Water Resources 2023?
Under the provisions of Clause 3, Article 69 of the Law on Water Resources 2023, an organization or individual exploiting surface water or groundwater as prescribed in clause 1 of this Article shall be exempted from the fee for water resource exploitation right in the following circumstances:
- Water is exploited to serve domestic activities of the people in in border areas, on islands, in disadvantaged and extremely disadvantaged areas;
- A project includes a water exploitation structure item guaranteed by the Government of Vietnam under the Government guarantee;
- During the period a water exploitation structure is damaged due to force majeure, resulting in a failure to continue the exploitation or suspension of the exploitation.
What are the regulations on the methods of collecting, submitting, managing, and using the fee for water resource extraction right in Vietnam?
Under the provisions of Article 14 of Decree 82/2017/ND-CP amended by Clause 7, Article 1 of Decree 41/2021/ND-CP, the methods of collecting, submitting, managing, and using the fee for water resource extraction right in Vietnam are specified as follows:
- Fee for water resource extraction right shall be submitted annually based on the amount of money specified under decisions approving fee for water resource extraction right. Within their competence, license holders shall select submission methods once a year, twice a year, or once for the whole approved duration. One-time payment for the entirety of approval duration of fee for water resource extraction right shall be decided by competent agencies capable of approving fee for water resource extraction right on the basis of proposition of license holders and prescribed under decisions on approving fee for water resource extraction right.
- Submission, collection, and return of fee for water resource extraction right shall conform to regulations and law on tax administration and this Decree.
- Fee for water resource extraction right shall be collected and submitted to local governments where structures extracting water are situated. For structures extracting water that are reservoirs situated within at least 2 provinces, fee for water resource extraction right shall be separated among each province based on a percentage of water resource tax.
- Management, use, and return of fee for water resource extraction right shall conform to regulations and law on state budget; annual allocation of state budget shall be prioritized to guarantee protection of water resource, mark water source protection corridors, supervise water extraction, and conduct water pollution prevention and remediation measures based on total fee for water resource extraction right that has been collected.
- Fee for water resource extraction right is considered a cost within prime cost of manufacturing products of license holder.
What are the procedures for calculating the fee for water resource extraction right in Vietnam?
Under the provisions of Article 11 of Decree 82/2017/ND-CP amended by Clause 5, Article 1 of Decree 41/2021/ND-CP, the procedures for calculating fee for water resource extraction right in Vietnam are specified as follows:
Procedures for receiving, appraising and approving fee for water resource extraction right in case of structures that have been in operation:
(1) Documents on calculation of fee for water resource extraction right consist of declarations for calculation of fee for water resource extraction right under Annex III attached hereto which consist of: Water source quality; type of water sources, extraction condition, scale of extraction, duration of extraction, duration for payment calculation, extracted amount for each purpose, price, collectible amount for each purpose; total money for each purpose, total fee for water extraction right, methods of submitting fee for water resource extraction right and written presentation;
(2) Receipt and appraisal of fee for water resource extraction right shall be implemented at the same time as receipt and appraisal of application for issuance, extension, revision, and reissuance of water resource-related license;
(3) When presenting applications for issuance of water source extraction and use license, agencies that receive and appraise the applications are responsible for presenting draft decisions on approving fee for water resource extraction right according to Annex V attached hereto.
Procedures for receiving, appraising and approving fee for water resource extraction right in case of structures that have not been in operation:
(1) Within 5 working days from the commencement date of the structures, license holders must submit documents calculating fee for water resource extraction right;
(2) Application for calculation of fee for water resource extraction right consists of: Declaration on calculation of fee for water resource extraction right under Point a Clause 1 of this Article; copy of license for extracting, using water resource;
(3) License holders shall submit 2 documents to receiving agencies via post, online or in person; receiving agencies are responsible for reviewing and inspecting the documents. In case of inadequate documents, receiving agencies shall return the documents and provide reasons within 5 working days;
(4) Within 15 days from the date on which adequate documents according to Point b of this Clause are received, receiving agencies are responsible for organizing appraisal of documents on calculation of fee for water resource extraction right and establishing councils for appraising documents on calculation of fee for water resource extraction right (if necessary). Expenditure on appraisal shall be allocated from fee for appraising applications for issuance of water resource extraction and use license.
If adequate, agencies that receive and appraise documents shall request competent agencies to approve; if inadequate, return the documents to license holders and provide reasons; in case further revision is required, agencies that receive and appraise documents must inform license holders about details to be revised where the deadline for revision shall not be included in appraisal deadline.
In addition, in case structures have been approved in terms of fee for water resource extraction right where only changes to license holder occur without changes to basis for calculating fee for water resource extraction right according to decisions on approving fee for water resource extraction right previously approved, revision to decisions on approving fee for water resource extraction right is not required.
Reissued license must clarify that new license holders must adopt financial obligations which include fee for water resource extraction right that has been previously approved under decisions on approval.
The Law on Water Resources 2023 will take effect from July 1, 2024 except for Clauses 3 and 4, Article 85 of the Law on Water Resources 2023.
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