What are fines for act of land destruction in Vietnam?
What is land destruction?
Pursuant to Article 3 of the Land Law 2024, the following provisions are stipulated:
Article 3. Explanation of Terms
In this Law, the following terms are defined as follows:
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- Cooperation in production or business by land use rights is an agreement between parties, whereby the land user uses their land use rights to cooperate in production or business without changing the land use rights of the land user.
- Land destruction is an act that deforms the terrain, degrades the soil quality, and pollutes the land, resulting in the loss or reduction of the land's usability as determined.
- Land use planning is the division of the land use planning over time to implement.
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Thus, land destruction is an act that deforms the terrain, degrades the soil quality, and pollutes the land, resulting in the loss or reduction of the land's usability as determined.
What are fines for act of land destruction in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
What are fines for act of land destruction in Vietnam?
According to Article 14 of Decree 123/2024/ND-CP, which regulates land destruction:
Article 14. Land Destruction
1. Acts that degrade soil quality in cases such as: losing or reducing the thickness of the cultivated soil layer; altering the surface layer of agricultural production land with materials, waste, or soil mixed with sand, gravel, stones or soil with a composition different from the current soil; causing soil depletion, erosion, or washout of agricultural land that leads to the loss or reduction of the determined land usability shall be penalized as follows:
a) A fine from 2,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND for land areas under 0.05 hectares;
b) A fine from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND for land areas from 0.05 hectares to under 0.1 hectares;
c) A fine from 10,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND for land areas from 0.1 hectares to under 0.5 hectares;
d) A fine from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND for land areas from 0.5 hectares to under 1 hectare;
dd) A fine from 50,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND for land areas 1 hectare and above.
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According to the above provisions, the fines for land destruction in Vietnam are as follows:
[1] A fine from 2,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND for acts that degrade soil quality in the following cases:
- Losing or reducing the thickness of the cultivated soil layer
- Altering the surface layer of agricultural production land with materials, waste, or soil mixed with sand, gravel, stones, or soil with a composition different from the current soil
- Causing soil depletion, erosion, or washout of agricultural land that leads to the loss or reduction of the determined land usability
[2] A fine from 5,000,000 VND to 200,000,000 VND for acts that deform the terrain in the following cases:
- Changing the slope of the land surface
- Lowering the land surface
- Filling land with specialized water surface (except irrigation reservoirs) or leveling, raising, or lowering the surface of agricultural production land, aquaculture land, leading to loss or reduction in usability according to the designated purpose
Except for cases of converting plant and animal structure on rice cultivation land to combine rice planting with aquaculture, constructing works to directly support agricultural production on rice cultivation land, transforming agricultural land into terraced fields, and other land improvements suitable to the designated land use purpose as allocated, leased, or acknowledged by the authority, or consistent with investment projects approved or agreed by the competent People's Committee.
[3] Acts of land pollution are penalized according to regulations on administrative violations in the field of environmental protection.
Additionally, violators are required to restore the original state of the land before the violation, unless restoration is not feasible on the ground.
For violations where restoration is not feasible, the fine is twice the applicable amount listed above but no more than 500,000,000 VND for individuals, and no more than 1,000,000,000 VND for organizations.
Note: The above fines apply to individuals. Organizations committing the same violations will be fined twice the amount applicable to individuals (stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree 123/2024/ND-CP).*
Will the land user who destroys land have their land expropriated in Vietnam?
According to Article 81 of the Land Law 2024, which provides for Cases of land expropriation due to violations against land law:
Article 81. Cases of land expropriation due to violations against land law
- Using land not in accordance with the purpose assigned, leased, or recognized by the State, having been administratively sanctioned for misuse, and continuing to violate.
- Land users destroy land and have been administratively sanctioned for land destruction and continue to violate.
- Land is assigned, leased to incorrect subjects or by unauthorized competence.
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According to these provisions, if a land user engages in land destruction and has been administratively sanctioned for such destruction but continues to violate, the State will revoke the land due to violations of land law.
