Guidelines for the Application for Approval of the Proposed Plan for Replacement Afforestation Payment

Currently, organizations and individuals involved in activities related to alternative forest planting when converting forest land to other uses must strictly comply with the provisions of forestry law and relevant legal regulations.

Illustrative image (source: internet)

Article 4 of Circular 13/2019/TT-BNNPTNT guides the application dossier for approval of the plan to pay for reforestation. Specifically, the dossier components include:

- Document from the project owner requesting the provincial People’s Committee (PPC) to approve the plan to pay for reforestation;- Decision on the policy to convert forest land to other uses by the competent state authority;- Report on the area, current status of the forest (according to the intended use, origin of formation, management authority) expected to be converted to other uses; other related documents (if any).

Note: In cases where the dossier is in a foreign language, a Vietnamese translation must be provided.

Receipt of the application dossier for approval of the plan to pay for reforestation by the project owner is implemented as follows:

The project owner can directly submit or send via postal service or online (national single window mechanism, online public services, electronic software, e-mail, fax) 01 set of dossier consisting of the components mentioned above to the provincial PPC where the replacement reforestation land is located, and is responsible for the legality of the submitted dossier:

+ In cases of direct submission or via postal service: The dossier components must be original documents or certified copies;+ In cases of online submission: The dossier components must be scanned or photographed from the original documents;

If the dossier is invalid, the provincial PPC is responsible for notifying the project owner immediately upon receipt of the dossier in the case of direct submission; in writing within 02 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier in other cases.

The project owner completes the obligation of alternative reforestation when notified of the completion of the payment obligation for reforestation by the Forest Protection and Development Fund where the project owner submits the payment.

Notably, for project owners who have been approved in writing by the competent authority for the plan to pay for reforestation into the Forest Protection and Development Fund, matching the provisions of the Forestry Law but have not yet made the payment before Circular 13/2019/TT-BNNPTNT takes effect (January 1, 2020), must follow the payment regulations in this Circular, and the project owner does not need to reapply for approval of the plan to pay for reforestation.

For project owners who have submitted a dossier requesting approval of the plan for reforestation but have not been approved before this Circular takes effect, they must proceed according to the provisions of this Circular.

See more related regulations in Circular 13/2019/TT-BNNPTNT which takes effect from January 1, 2020.

Thu Ba

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