Vietnam: Adjustment of charge for grant of water right

1. Charge for granting water right may be considered and adjusted in the following cases:

- There is change in the license to exploit and use water resources resulting in change in grounds for calculating charge for grating water right in accordance with regulations herein or change in the contents for which charge for granting water right has been approved;

- There is change in the date of commencement of operation of the water exploitation work which has been estimated when giving approval for charge for granting water right;

- There is change in the annual average quantity of electricity (E0) which is defined in the design documents of the hydroelectric power work and approved in writing by the competent regulatory authority;

- The functions and storage capacity of the reservoir of the hydroelectric power work for preventing flood for downstream area is modified, except for cases prescribed in Point c Clause 1 Article 12 of Decree No. 82/2017/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government. The decrease level shall be calculated according to the percentage of storage capacity for preventing flood for downstream area which is adjusted in comparison with the existing useful storage capacity of the reservoir;

- The water exploitation work is damaged and the exploitation must be suspended. The decrease level shall be calculated according to the time period in which the exploitation work is suspended;

- Only the remaining effective period of the license is adjusted. The adjustment level shall not increase more than 20% of the remaining amount payable as approved, except the case prescribed in Point b Clause 1 Article 12 of Decree No. 82/2017/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government.

2. Procedures for adjusting charge for granting water right:

- With regard to the case of change in the license to exploit and use water resources resulting in change in grounds for calculating charge for grating water right in accordance with regulations herein or change in the contents for which charge for granting water right has been approved, the organization or individual must submit the Declaration on information for calculating charge for granting water right. The application for adjusting charge for granting water right shall be received and considered at the same time when an application for modification or re-issuance of water resources license is received;

- With regard to the other cases, the license holder shall submit a written request for adjustment enclosed with written evidence to the application-receiving authorities prescribed in Article 10 herein.

Within duration of 20 working days, the application-receiving authority shall verify and submit the application to the competent authorities prescribed in Article 10 herein for consideration;

- The adjustment of charge for granting water right must be based on the current price to calculate charge for granting water right.

View details at Decree No. 82/2017/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from September 01, 2017.

- Ngoc Duyen -

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