Fees for appraisal and issuance of certificate of biosafety of genetically modified crops in Vietnam as of March 21, 2024

Fees for appraisal and issuance of certificate of biosafety of genetically modified crops in Vietnam as of March 21, 2024 (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

On February 5, 2024, the Minister of Finance issued Circular 12/2024/TT-BTC on prescribing fees for processing of applications for certificate of biosafety in genetic modification, collection, payment, transfer, management and use thereof

Fees for appraisal and issuance of certificate of biosafety of genetically modified crops in Vietnam as of March 21, 2024

The fee for processing each application for certificate of biosafety of genetically modified crops from March 21, 2024 shall be VND 70.000.000.

In there:

- Payers are organizations or individuals that submit their applications for certificate of biosafety of genetically modified crops to the competent authorities defined in Article 23 of Decree 69/2010/ND-CP.

- Collectors under this Circular include the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam or regulatory authorities affiliated to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam that are assigned to process applications for certificate of biosafety of genetically modified crops as prescribed by laws.

Each collector may retain 80% of total collected fees to cover its expenses incurred during application processing and fee collection as prescribed in clause 4 Article 1 of Decree 82/2023/ND-CP dated November 28, 2023, and shall transfer the remaining amount equaling 20% of total collected fees to state budget according to corresponding chapter, section and sub-section in the list of state budget entries.

The collector that is a regulatory authority ineligible for use of a pre-determined amount of collected fees to cover its operating expenses as prescribed in clause 3 Article 1 of Decree 82/2023/ND-CP must transfer total amount of collected fees to the state budget.  Expenses incurred during application processing and fee collection shall be covered by state budget-derived fund which is included in the collector’s cost estimate under policies and levels of state budget expenditures as per laws.

(Article 2, 3, 4 and 6 of Circular 12/2024/TT-BTC)

More details can be found in Circular 12/2024/TT-BTC taking effect on March 21, 2024 and Circular 186/2016/TT-BTC; At the same time, Article 2 of Circular 55/2018/TT-BTC is abolished.

Conditions for issuance of biosafety certificates in Vietnam 2024

Biosafety certificate means a document issued by a competent state agency certifying that genetically modified organisms are safe for the environment and biodiversity and permitted to be released into the environment under specific conditions.

To be granted a biosafety certificate, genetically modified organisms must satisfy the following conditions:

- Having been assayed under Vietnam's specific conditions. Their assay results have been recognized as satisfactory by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

- Having been concluded by the Biosafety Council as safe for the environment and biodiversity.

(Clause 1, Article 3 and Article 22, Decree 69/2010/ND-CP)

Cases of revocation of biosafety certificates in Vietnam

A biosafety certificate shall be revoked in the following cases:

- There is a new scientific proof of the risks of genetically modified organisms that have been granted a biosafety certificate:

- Organizations or individuals intentionally provide untruthful information which is decisive to the grant of the biosafety certificate:

- There is a proof that the Biosafety Council's conclusions lack scientific grounds.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall decide to revoke biosafety certificates, issue written notices to organizations or individuals having such biosafety certificates and publish the revocation in the mass media.

From the date of issuance of decisions revoking biosafety certificates, organizations and individuals are disallowed to release into the environment genetically modified organisms with revoked biosafety certificates.

(Article 24 of Decree 69/2010/ND-CP)

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