Tripling the Penalty for Transfer of Forest Land Use Rights without Meeting Conditions from January 05, 2020

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To be specific, according to this Decree, in cases of transferring or gifting land use rights with conditions for households and individuals that do not meet the conditions stipulated in Article 192 of the Land Law 2013, a fine of up to 3 million VND will be imposed. The fines and violations are specified in Article 25 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP as follows:

“1. A warning or a fine ranging from 1,000,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND shall be imposed on households and individuals for the following violations:

a) Households and individuals living interspersed within strictly protected zones, ecological restoration zones belonging to special-use forests but have not yet met the conditions to move out of these zones, but still transfer or gift the rights to use homestead land, forest land combined with agricultural, forestry, and aquaculture production to households and individuals living outside those zones;

….”

This is a new point of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP compared to Decree 102/2014/ND-CP. Currently, according to Clause 1, Article 20 of Decree 102/2014/ND-CP, the fine for this action is only from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND.

The increase in fines for the act of transferring forest land without meeting the conditions shows a determination to protect forest land and the local land use plan. Improper handling of violations could lead to the division of forest land and create difficulties for local management.

Detailed content can be found in Decree 91/2019/ND-CP effective from January 5, 2020.

Toan Trung

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