Vietnam: A fine ranging from VND 3 million to VND 5 million shall be imposed for transmission of false distress alerts

According to Clause 1 Article 22 of Decree No. 162/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, a fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for transmission of false distress alerts. Besides, penalties for violations against other regulations on search and rescue activities within territorial waters, islands and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are specified as follows:

A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

- Failure to discharge obligations according to applicable regulations on maritime search and rescue;

- Delayed execution of shifting orders made by competent authorities during the carrying out of search and rescue activities as regulated.

The following fines shall be imposed for failure to obey shifting orders made by competent authorities during the carrying out of search and rescue activities as regulated:

- A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed on a ship of below 500 GT;

- A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed on a ship whose gross tonnage is from 500 GT to less than 3,000 GT;

- A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 80,000,000 shall be imposed on a ship of 3,000 GT or more.

Concurrently, additional penalties are to suspend the master’s certificate of competency for 03 - 06 months for failure to discharge obligations according to applicable regulations on maritime search and rescue.

View more details at Decree No. 162/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from January 01, 2014.

Ty Na

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