Vietnam: Handling of violations on management of activities within sea border areas

According to Article 8 of the Decree No. 96/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, penalties for violations against regulations on management of activities of persons and vehicles within sea border areas are specified as follows:

1. A fine ranging from VND 300,000 to VND 500,000 shall be imposed:

- on a Vietnamese citizen who enters a sea border area or restricted area within the sea border area without his/her ID card or Citizen ID card; or

- for temporarily residing, staying or traveling in a sea border area against regulations; or

- for failure to declare temporary residence, stay or travel in a sea border area, or conceal or facilitate another person’s illegal temporary residence, staying or traveling in a sea border area.

2. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed for any one of the following violations:

- Entry by a foreign national into a sea border area (except for tourism areas, services areas and economic zones) without carrying any prescribed document;

- Leaving, entering, traveling, operating vehicles or conducting activities against regulations within a restricted area;

- Failure to notify the local Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, district-level People's Committee, communal People’s Committee or border-guard post in writing of the foreign national’s full name, age, nationality, number of passport, starting and ending date of work, contents of work and workplace, and name and address of the organization for which the foreign national is working within 24 hours from the time such foreign national is employed to work in an economic zone that is within the sea border area or has part of its boundary lying within the sea border area;

- Illegally filming, photographing, measuring or drawing landscapes or recording videos using electronic devices or radio transceivers in the prohibited area within the sea border area.

3. A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed on a person operating a waterway vehicle within a sea border area for any one of the following violations:

- Operating a vessel or waterway vehicle without the registration number plate or with the registration number created against regulations;

- Failure to carry the following documents (their originals or notarized/certified copies): certificate of vessel registration; certificate of fishing vessel registration; certificate of technical and environmental safety inspection for vessels; crew list or seaman’s book (in the case of a fishing vessel) or crew certificate; crew insurance certificate; radio frequency and transmitter use license; documents concerning goods on board the vessel; voyage logbook.0}

4. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to use waterway vehicles within a sea border area for intended purpose.

5. A fine ranging from VND 4,000,000 to VND 6,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to be subject to vehicle inspection and supervision by a competent authority in the cases prescribed by law; or failure to comply with decisions according to administrative procedures.

6. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed:

- for using road vehicle within the sea border area (except for tourism areas, service areas and economic zones) for transport, business, construction, mineral mining, natural resources extraction or environmental activities for at least 10 days without notifying the local Border Guard in writing of number of persons, vehicles, license plates, time, scope and contents of traveling; or

- for operating waterway vehicles within the sea border area without an appropriate certificate of competency issued by the competent authority; or

- a master or chief engineer operating waterway vehicles within the sea border area without any diploma or certificate as prescribed.

7. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for operating aerial vehicles when carrying out civil aviation activities, economic activities, commercial activities, tourism activities, survey, exploration and mining of minerals, extraction of natural resources or environmental activities within the sea border area against regulations on Vietnam’s aviation and on management and protection of national airspace.

8. A fine ranging from VND 15,000,000 to VND 25,000,000 shall be imposed for any one of the following violations:

- Failure to take measures to prevent and minimize damage upon transport, loading and unloading of goods or equipment potentially detrimental to natural resources, human health and marine pollution within the internal waters or territorial waters;

- Using explosive materials without a plan approved by the competent authority or with a plan but failing to notify the provincial People’s Committee and provincial Border Guard as prescribed;

- Exploring and catching aquatic product, conducting scientific research or extracting natural resources licensed by ministries but failing to notifying the provincial People’s Committee and provincial Border Guard;

- Exploiting or salvaging property, objects and antiques within the internal waters or territorial waters without permission of a competent authority.

9. A fine ranging from VND 25,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to notify the competent authority of location, size, shape and depth of offshore equipment and facilities or failure to install aids to navigation and danger warning signs appropriate to offshore equipment or facilities within the internal waters or territorial waters.

10. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed:

- for failure to dismantle the expired offshore equipment or facility; or

- on a foreign vessel entering Vietnam’s internal waters without obtaining permission of a Vietnam's competent authority.

11. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for any one of the following violations:

- Using radio transmitters in the restricted or prohibited area within the sea border area;

- Firing, launching, releasing or operating equipment or objects that threaten security, order, economy, safety or maritime security;

- Using waterway vehicles to perform side-by-side mooring to foreign vessels without permission of a competent authority within the internal waters or territorial waters.

View more details at the Decree No. 96/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from October 10, 2020.

Le Vy

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