Can households be exempted environmental protection fees for domestic wastewater in Vietnam?
Can households be exempted environmental protection fees for domestic wastewater in Vietnam? What are environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater in Vietnam?
Hello, my family is a business household in the town, I see that next to the house there is a household that is entitled to environmental protection fee exemption, but my family still has to pay a fee, is it possible? Please advise.
1. Can households be exempted environmental protection fees for domestic wastewater in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 53/2020/ND-CP stipulating cases of fee exemption as follows:
Environmental protection fees on wastewater shall not be charged upon:
1. Water that is discharged from hydropower plants.
2. Seawater that is discharged after being used for salt production.
3. Domestic wastewater that is generated by:
a) Organizations, households and individuals in communes;
b) Organizations, households and individuals in wards and towns where a clean water supply system is not available;
c) Non-business households and individuals in wards and towns where a clean water supply system is available that extract water themselves.
4. Cooling water (prescribed by the environmental protection law) that is not in direct contact with any contaminant and is discharged through a separate conduit.
5. Wastewater from rainwater runoff.
6. Wastewater from fishing vessels.
7. Wastewater from centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas (specified in the Government’s Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP dated August 06, 2014) that has been treated in accordance with standards and technical regulations on environment prior to its discharge into water bodies.
Thus, households in communes and towns that do not have clean water supply systems will be exempted from environmental protection fees for domestic wastewater. In your case, it is necessary to consider whether your household has a clean water supply system.
2. What are environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater in Vietnam?
According to Article 6 of Decree 53/2020/ND-CP, the fee rates are as follows:
1. Environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater:
Environmental protection fees on wastewater are 10% of the VAT-excluded selling price of 1 m3 of clean water. If it is necessary to charge higher fees, the People's Council of the province or central-affiliated city shall charge specific higher fees upon wastewater.
2. Environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater:
a) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a facility in a year is less than 20 m3/day (24 hours), charge a fixed fee per unit of wastewater volume (variable fee is not charged) as follows:
- In 2020, the fee VND 1,500,000/year is charged.
- From 01 January, 2021 onwards, the fee below is charged:
No.
Average volume of wastewater (m3/day)
Fee (VND/year)
1
From 10 to less than 20
4,000,000
2
From 5 to less than 10
3,000,000
3
Less than 5
2,500,000
b) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a manufacturing/processing facility in a year is more than 20 m3/day: the fee is calculated according to the following formula: F = f + C.
Where:
- F is the amount of fee payable.
- f is the fixed fee: VND 1,500,000/year (VND 4,000,000/year from 01 January, 2021 onwards); if the facility commences its operation after the first quarter, the fee payable will be determined from the quarter in which the facility commences its operation until the end of the year. The fee for every quarter = f/4.
- C is the variable fee per unit of discharged wastewater volume, content of each contaminant in wastewater and the fee applied to each contaminant below:
No.
Contaminant
Fee (VND/kg)
1
Chemical oxygen demand (COD)
2,000
2
Total suspended solids (TSS)
2,400
3
Mercury (Hg)
20,000,000
4
Lead (Pb)
1,000,000
5
Arsenic (As)
2,000,000
6
Cadmium (Cd)
2,000,000
c) The contaminants (which are required to have their content measured, to be declared and upon which fees are charged) shall be determined according to applicable national technical regulation on wastewater). If a national technical regulation on wastewater is not available, determine them according to the contaminants specified in the environmental dossier (which has been approved by an environment authority).
d) The volume of wastewater/day shall be determined according to the measuring data or inspection results given by an environment authority.
According to this Article, the environmental protection fee for domestic wastewater is determined as above in Vietnam.
Best Regards!
