Vietnam: Authority to impose penalties delegated to the sector-specific fertilizer inspector

According to Decree No. 55/2018/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, authority to impose penalties delegated to the sector-specific fertilizer inspector is specified as follows:

- The inspector in the agriculture and rural development sector and the person tasked with carrying out inspections in the fertilizer sector when on duty shall be vested with the following powers:

+ Impose penalties represented in the form of warning;

+ Impose a fine of up to VND 500,000;

+ Seize any material object or equipment used in commission of administrative violation which is worth up to VND 500,000;

+ Apply forcible destruction.

- The chief inspector of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Director of the Crop Production and Plant Protection Subdepartment, the Leader of the inspector team in the Agriculture and Rural Development sector, the Leader of the inspector teams specializing in the following sectors, such as Plant Protection Department, Crop Production and Plant Protection Subdepartment, shall be vested with the following powers:

+ Impose penalties represented in the form of warning;

+Impose a fine of up to VND 50,000,000;

+ Deprive of the right to use certificates, licenses or suspend business within a specified duration;

+ Seize any material object or equipment used in commission of administrative violation which is worth up to VND 50,000,000;

+ Seize the Certificate of conformity with fertilizer manufacturing requirements/the fertilizer manufacturing License, the Certificate of fulfillment of fertilizer trading conditions, or the fertilizer import License;

+ Apply the following corrective measures to mitigate consequences:

• Forcible seizure of fertilizers for retests;

• Forcible reprocessing of fertilizers without obtaining the Decision on authorization for marketing of fertilizers in Vietnam or transformation of them into input materials for production of finished fertilizer products;

• Forcible recall and return of expired fertilizers to manufacturers;

• Forcible disgorgement of ill-gotten gains obtained by commission of administrative violations;

• Forcible destruction;

• Forcible re-export;

• Forcible annulment of fertilizer test results; fertilizer sampling results; fertilizer quality analysis and test results;

• Forcible recovery and elimination of documents and materials;

• Forcible repayment of monetary amounts equal to value of material objects exhibiting violations in the event that they have already been used, removed or concealed.

-  The leader of the sector-specific inspector team subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall be vested with the following powers:

+ Impose penalties represented in the form of warning;

+ Impose a fine of up to VND 70,000,000;

+ Deprive of the right to use certificates, licenses or suspend business within a specified duration;

+ Seize any material object or equipment used in commission of administrative violation which is worth up to VND 70,000,000;

+ Seize the Certificate of conformity with fertilizer manufacturing requirements/the fertilizer manufacturing License, the Certificate of fulfillment of fertilizer trading conditions, or the fertilizer import License;

+ Apply corrective measures to mitigate consequences as the chief inspector of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, etc.

- The chief inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Director of the Plant Protection Department shall be vested with the following powers:

+ Impose penalties represented in the form of warning;

+ Impose a fine of up to VND 100,000,000;

+ Deprive of the right to use certificates, licenses or suspend business within a specified duration;

+ Seize any material object or equipment used in commission of administrative violation;

+ Seize the Certificate of conformity with fertilizer manufacturing requirements/the fertilizer manufacturing License, the Certificate of fulfillment of fertilizer trading conditions, or the fertilizer import License;

+ Apply corrective measures to mitigate consequences as the chief inspector of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, etc.

More details can be found in Decree No. 55/2018/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, which takes effect from April 16, 2018.

-Thao Uyen-

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