Cases of environmental protection fee exemption in Vietnam

Cases of environmental protection fee exemption in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Cases of environmental protection fee exemption in Vietnam

According to Article 5 of Decree 53/2020/ND-CP, environmental protection fees on wastewater shall not be charged upon:

- Water that is discharged from hydropower plants.

- Seawater that is discharged after being used for salt production.

- Domestic wastewater that is generated by:

+ Organizations, households and individuals in communes;

+ Organizations, households and individuals in wards and towns where a clean water supply system is not available;

+ Non-business households and individuals in wards and towns where a clean water supply system is available that extract water themselves.

- Cooling water (prescribed by the environmental protection law) that is not in direct contact with any contaminant and is discharged through a separate conduit.

- Wastewater from rainwater runoff.

- Wastewater from fishing vessels.

- Wastewater from centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas (specified in the Decree 80/2014/ND-CP on the drainage and treatment of wastewater) that has been treated in accordance with standards and technical regulations on environment prior to its discharge into water bodies.

2. Wastewater upon which environmental protection fees are charged in Vietnam

Wastewater upon which environmental protection fees are charged according to Article 2 of Decree 53/2020/ND-CP are as follows:

- The environmental protection fees in this Decree are charged upon industrial wastewater discharged into water bodies as prescribed by law and domestic wastewater, except for the cases of exemption specified in Article 5 of Decree 53/2020/ND-CP.

- Industrial wastewater refers to wastewater from factories and manufacturing and processing facilities (hereinafter referred to as “facilities”) of organizations, households and individuals, including:

+ Facilities that manufacture and process agricultural, forestry and fishery products, food, spirits, beer, soft drinks and tobacco.

+ Livestock facility that houses cattle and poultry on farms in accordance with regulations of law on livestock production; cattle and poultry slaughterhouses.

+ Aquaculture facilities that are required to prepare environmental impact assessment reports or environmental protection plans as prescribed.

+ Handicraft workshops in handicraft villages.

+ Leather recycling, tanning, textile and dying facilities.

+ Mineral mining and processing facilities.

+ Facilities manufacturing paper, paper pulp, plastics and rubber; electronic and electrical equipment and parts.

+ Mechanical workshops; metallurgical facilities; metal processing facilities, machinery and component manufacturers.

+ Scrap processing facilities, shipbreaking facilities and ship cleaning facilities, waste treatment facilities.

+ Facilities manufacturing basic chemicals, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, agrochemicals, building materials, office supplies and household appliances.

+ Clean water supply plants, power plants.

+ Centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas.

 Centralized wastewater treatment systems in industrial parks, industrial clusters, export-processing zones, economic zones, fishing ports, hi-tech zones and other areas.

+ Other manufacturing and processing facilities that generate wastewater from manufacturing and processing activities.

- Domestic wastewater refers to wastewater generated from activities conducted by:

+ households, individuals.

+ regulatory agencies, public service providers, people’s armed forces, other organizations (including places of management, branches and offices thereof), except for manufacturing facilities and processing facilities affiliated thereto.

+ Facilities cleaning and repairing automobiles and motorbikes.

+ Health facilities; restaurants, hotels; training and research institutes.

+ Other businesses not specified in Clause 2 of Article 2 of Decree 53/2020/ND-CP.

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