How much is the fine for land destruction in Vietnam?
Some households who are allocated land by the state to plant annual crops arbitrarily level the land surface and move the soil to another place, leading to the soil being eroded, faded, and unable to grow crops. So is this behavior illegal? If so, what is the punishment?
How much is the fine for land destruction in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
According to Clause 1, Article 12 of the 2013 Land Law, destroying land is a prohibited act.
According to Clause 25, Article 3 of the 2013 Land Law stipulating: Land destruction means acts that deform the land, reduce land quality, pollute the land, negate or reduce the usability of the land according to a determined purpose.
According to Clause 3a Article 3 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP stipulating:
Land deformation refers to: changes to slope of land surface; lowering of land level due to land being taken to be used for other purpose or lowering of land level relative to adjacent plots; leveling land containing water sources with defined purposes, canals, irrigation channels or leveling to increase level of agricultural land relative to adjacent plots; except cases of improvement of agricultural land to turn into terraced paddy fields and other forms of improvement in conformity with use purpose of allocated or leased land, or in conformity with investment projects approved by competent People’s Committees which allocate or lease the land;
= > Thus, the act of leveling and moving land to another place leads to the soil being eroded, faded, and unable to grow crops, lowering the land surface, except cases of improvement of agricultural land to turn into terraced paddy fields and other forms of improvement in conformity with use purpose of allocated or leased land, or in conformity with investment projects approved by competent People’s Committees which allocate or lease the land is a violation of land law.
Article 15 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP stipulates that deformation or degradation of soil shall be sanctioned as follows:
- A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed if destroyed land area is less than 0.05 hectare;
- A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed if destroyed land area is from 0.05 hectare to less than 0.1 hectare;
- A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed if destroyed land area is from 0,1 hectare to less than 0.5 hectare;
- A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed if destroyed land area is from 0,5 hectare to less than 01 hectare;
- A fine ranging from VND 60,000,000 to VND 150,000,000 shall be imposed if destroyed land area is 01 hectare or more.
Thus, acts of destroying land and degrading land quality will be fined from 2 million VND to 150 million VND depending on the area of land destroyed.
In addition, remedial measures are required to restore the land to its original condition before the violation. In case the violator does not comply, the State will recover the land according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 1, Article 64 of the Land Law.
Best regards!
