What are regulations on prescriptive time limits for imposing penalties for administrative environmental protection offences in Vietnam?

What are regulations on prescriptive time limits for imposing penalties for administrative environmental protection offences in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 5 of the Decree 45/2022/NĐ-CP stipulating prescriptive time limits for imposing penalties for administrative environmental protection offences in Vietnam as follows:

1. The prescriptive time limit for imposing penalties for administrative environmental protection offences shall be 02 years.

2. In-progress and completed offences, and dates used to determine prescriptive time limits for imposing penalties for administrative offences specified in this Decree are as follows

a) The offences specified in Article 9; points e, g and h clause 1, points e, g and h clause 2, points e, g and h clause 3 Article 11; points b and c clause 1, points b and c clause 2 Article 13; points b, d and e clause 1, points c, d and dd clause 2, points c, d and dd clause 3, points c, d and dd clause 4 Article 14; clause 2, points e, g and h clause 3, points e, g, h and i clause 4, clause 6 Article 15 and Article 38 of this Decree are in-progress administrative offences and the prescriptive time limits begin from the dates on which the competent law enforcement officer detects such offences.

b) The offences specified in point b clause 1, point b clause 2 of Article 10; point b clause 1, point b clause 2, point b clause 3 Article 11; clause 1 Article 32; clause 1 Article 33; clause 1, point c clause 3 Article 43 of this Decree are in-progress administrative offences and the prescriptive time limits begin from the dates on which the organizations or individuals have to disclose information or submit periodic reports as prescribed;

c) The offences specified Articles 18 to 23 of this Decree are completed ones and the prescriptive time limits begin from the dates on which samples are collected;

d) The offences specified in clause 2 Article 25 of this Decree are completed ones and the ending time is when the commission of the offence is completed;

dd) Except for the offences specified in points a, b, c and d of this clause, the person having the power to impose penalties shall determine the prescriptive time limits for imposing other offences as specified in point b clause 1 Article 6 of the Law on Penalties for Administrative Violations.

What are regulations on fines and power to impose penalties regarding environmental protection in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 6 of the Decree 45/2022/NĐ-CP stipulating fines and power to impose penalties regarding environmental protection in Vietnam as follows:

1. The maximum fine imposed for an administrative environmental protection offence shall be subject to regulations of law on imposition of penalties for administrative offences.

2. Fines for administrative offences prescribed in Chapter II herein are the ones for the administrative offences committed by individuals. The fine incurred by an organization is twice as much as that incurred by an individual for the same offence.

3. Power to impose penalties delegated to the persons specified in Articles 56 to 67 of this Decree shall be the same as the power to impose an administrative offence committed by individuals. In case of imposition of a fine, the power to impose such fine on a violating entity shall be 02 times higher than that on a violating individual.

If the aggravating penalties are imposed for environmental parameters in excess of the permissible limits prescribed in the technical regulations for the same waste sample, the offence of the highest fine of that waste sample shall be selected for imposing penalties.

What are regulations on application of technical regulations on environment and use of environmental parameters for determination of administrative environmental protection offences in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 7 of the Decree 45/2022/NĐ-CP stipulating application of technical regulations on environment and use of environmental parameters for determination of administrative environmental protection offences in Vietnam as follows:

1. When individuals/organizations discharge waste into the environment, the national technical regulations shall be applied to determine administrative environmental protection offences and severity thereof; in case both national technical regulation and local technical regulation are available, the local technical regulation shall apply (hereinafter referred to as “technical regulation”).

2. If a parameter exceeds the permissible limit prescribed in the environmental technical regulation, the rate of excess shall be the highest value calculated by dividing the value collected by technical means and equipment, and from results of inspection, assessment, monitoring, measurement and analysis of certain environmental parameters of waste samples and/or ambient environmental samples by the maximum permissible value of that parameter prescribed in the environmental technical regulation.

3. When imposing fines for the discharge of wastewater (as prescribed in Articles 18 and 19 herein) or the discharge of dust and emission (as prescribed in Articles 20 and 21 herein) in excess of the permissible limits prescribed in the environmental technical regulations, if the discharged wastewater or discharged dust and emission contain both hazardous and conventional environmental parameters or the pH value exceeds the permissible limits prescribed in the technical regulations, the penalty to be imposed shall be determined according to the parameter of wastewater, dust or emission sample involved in the offence for which the highest fine is imposed; if fines determined according to these parameters are equal, hazardous parameters shall serve as a benchmark for determination of the offence.

The fines for the offences involving the remaining environmental parameters of the same samples of these discharges in excess of the permissible limits prescribed in the technical regulations shall be 10% - 50% more than the fine for the selected offence involving each of these parameters provided that total sum of fine for each offence does not exceed the prescribed maximum fine.

In case a business establishment or a dedicated for production, business and service provision has many points of discharging wastewater or dust/emission in excess of the permissible limits prescribed in technical regulations, appropriate penalty shall be imposed on each point.

4. The wastewater discharge rate specified in Articles 18 and 19 of this Decree means the total volume of wastewater discharged into the environment in a day (24 hours). In case where the wastewater discharge rate cannot be determined, the discharge rate shall be calculated by multiplying the flow rate of wastewater determined at the sampling time by 24 hours. In case of discharge of wastewater into soil, groundwater or surface water (in ponds, lakes, pits, etc. within a business establishment) upon the calculation of the wastewater discharge rate in excess of the permissible limits prescribed in the technical regulation on waste, the Kq value (the coefficient of receiving water) shall be equal to 0.6 as regulated in that technical regulation; if the technical regulation relies on the environmental zoning instead of the Kq value, the pollution limits of the strictly protected environmental zone shall apply.

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