Will vehicles transporting illegal forest products be confiscated in Vietnam?

Will vehicles transporting illegal forest products be confiscated in Vietnam?

Administrative penalties for illegal transport of forest products are specified in Article 22 of Decree 35/2019/ND-CP amended and supplemented by Decree 07/2022/ND-CP.

Accordingly, in addition to the main form of sanction, which is a fine corresponding to each specific case of violation, violators are also subject to additional sanctions and remedial measures, specifically:

a) Exhibits of the violations specified in Clause 1, Clause 1a, Clauses 2 through 19 of this Article (except the violation involving timber with lawful documents and origin but the actual volume of timber exceeds the permissible deviations announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) shall be confiscated.

b) Instrumentalities of the violations shall be confiscated in case of commission of any of the violations specified in Clause 1, Clause 1a, Clauses 2 through 19 of this Article in one of the following circumstances:

use of vehicles manufactured or assembled against the law; vehicles of which vehicle registration certificate is not available; vehicles bearing false plate numbers.

The violation involves a vehicle which is modified without permission, a vehicle without a corresponding certificate of vehicle registration issued by a competent authority as prescribed by law, or a vehicle bearing a fake license plate.

The violation involves the transport of a volume of ≥ 05 m³ of timber of common species, or a volume of ≥ 2.5 m³ of timber of endangered, rare or precious species in Group IIA, or a volume of ≥ 0.4 m³ of timber of endangered, rare or precious species in Group IA, or non-timber forest plants assessed at ≥ VND 25,000,000, or products made from timber without lawful dossier and assessed at ≥ VND 25,000,000.

The violation involves the transport of forest animals of common species, bode parts or products thereof assessed at ≥ VND 25,000,000, or endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IIB, body parts or products thereof assessed at ≥ VND 15,000,000, or endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IB, body parts or products thereof assessed at ≥ VND 1,000,000.

The violation involves the transport of endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IB or vital body parts thereof, elephant ivory or rhino horns.

The violation involves the illegal transport of ≥ 02 categories of timber (whether or not of endangered, rare or precious species) or forest products of various categories other than timber of endangered, rare or precious species in case the volume of timber of each category or the value of forest products of each category is not so serious that the instrumentalities of the violation must be confiscated but total volume of timber of all categories illegally transported is ≥ 05 m³ or total value of non-timber forest products illegally transported is ≥ VND 25,000,000.

Thus, confiscation of vehicles is also one of the additional forms of punishment when there is illegal transport of forest products in Vietnam. If there is a violation that is subject to the additional penalty of vehicle confiscation, the vehicle transporting illegal forest products will be confiscated according to the law.

Will vehicles transporting illegal forest products be confiscated in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

What remedial measures can be applied when there is illegal transport of forest products in Vietnam?

Point dd Clause 13 Article 1 Decree 07/2022/ND-CP amending Clause 21 Article 22 of Decree 35/2019/ND-CP has regulations on remedial measures when there are illegal acts of transporting forest products:

21. Remedial measures:

a) The violating entity is compelled to implement measures for controlling the environmental pollution and the spread of epidemics; destroy goods or articles which cause harm to human health, domestic animals, plants and the environment in case of commission of any of the violations specified in Points a and b Clause 1, Clause 1a, Points a, b and c of Clauses 2 through 11, Points a, b, c and dd Clause 12, Points a and c Clause 13 and Clause 14 of this Article;

b) The violating entity is compelled to transfer illegal benefits obtained from the administrative violation or an amount of money equivalent to the value of the exhibits and/or instrumentalities of the administrative violation which have been sold, hidden or destroyed inconsistently with the law in case of commission of any of the violations specified in Clause 1, Clause 1a, Clauses 2 through 19 of this Article.

Best regards!