​Cases of suspension of water resources licences in Vietnam

Cases of suspension of water resources licences in Vietnam (Internet image)

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

1. Requirements for water resources licence issuance in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 20 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP, organizations and individuals granted water resources licences must satisfy the following requirement:

- Have completed the notification and community survey of representatives of the residential community and relevant organizations and individuals as prescribed in Decree 02/2023/ND-CP.

- Have schemes and reports applicable to the approved relevant water resources planning, provincial planning, regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas and specialized planning or suitable for water source capacity in case such planning and regulations are not issued.

The schemes and reports must be made by qualified organizations and individuals as prescribed; information and data used for making schemes and reports must be sufficient, obvious, accurate and reliable.

Work design plans or works for water resources exploitation must be suitable for exploitation scales and subjects and satisfy requirements for protection of water resources and environment.

- Works for surface water exploitation and use with lakes and dams constructed on rivers or streams must meet the requirements prescribed in Point b Clause 2 Article 53 of the Law on Water Resources, requirements prescribed in Points a and b of Clause 1 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP and the following requirements:

= Have plans for arranging equipment and human resources to operate reservoirs, monitor and supervise the exploitation and use of water;

Plans for meteorological and hydrological monitoring, provision of forecasts about the amount of water inflow serving the reservoir operation according to regulations for cases where works are not constructed;

= Have the reservoir operation process; have equipment, human resources or contracts to hire qualified organizations and individuals to perform reservoir operation, monitoring and supervision of the exploitation and use of water;

Meteorological and hydrological monitoring and provision of forecasts about the amount of water inflow serving the reservoir operation according to regulations for cases where works have been constructed.

2. Cases of suspension of water resources licences in Vietnam

Specifically, in Clause 1, Article 24 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP, a licence shall be suspended when the licensee commits one of the following violations:

- Violate the contents specified in the licence, thereby causing serious pollution and depletion of water sources;

- Exploit groundwater, thereby causing serious ground subsidence, deformation of works, saltwater intrusion, depletion and pollution of water sources;

- Operate reservoirs and dams, thereby causing floods, artificial inundation, seriously affecting production and daily life of people in the upstream and downstream of reservoirs and dams;

- Transfer the right to exploit water resources without approval of the competent issuing agency.

- Do not fulfill the financial obligation as prescribed;

- Exploit the licence to organize activities violating regulations of law.

3. What is the time limit for suspension of water resources licences in Vietnam? 

Time limit for licence suspension:

- Do not exceed 03 months for licences for groundwater exploration;

- Do not exceed 12 months for licences for water resources exploitation and use.

(Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP)

4. Competence to suspend water resources licences in Vietnam

Specifically, in Article 28 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP, the competence to suspend water resources licences is as follows:

- The Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment shall issue, renew, modify, suspend, revoke and reissue water resources licences in the following cases:

= National essential construction works for water resources exploitation and use within the domain of the Prime Minister;

= Works for groundwater exploration with a flow rate of from at least 3.000 m3/day and night;

= Works for groundwater exploitation with a flow rate of from at least 3.000 m3/day and night;

= Irrigation reservoirs and dams for exploitation and use of surface water serving agricultural production and aquaculture with a flow rate of from at least 2 m3/second and the total capacity of from at least 03 million m3;

Other works for water exploitation and use serving agricultural production and aquaculture with a flow rate of from at least 5 m3/second;

= Irrigation reservoirs and dams apart from the works specified in Point d of this Clause with the total capacity of from at least 20 million m3;

= Works for surface water exploitation and use serving power generation with an installed capacity of from at least 2.000 kW;

= Works for surface water exploitation and use serving other purposes with a flow rate of from at least 50.000 m3/day and night;

= Sea water exploitation and use serving onshore production including aquaculture as well as trading with a flow rate of from at least 1.000.000 m3/day and night;

- The Provincial People’s Committees shall issue, renew, modify, suspend, revoke and reissue licences for cases other than those prescribed in Points a, c, d, dd, e and g Clause 1 of Article 28 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP.

- The Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall issue, renew, modify, suspend, revoke and reissue licences for cases other than those prescribed in Points b and h Clause 1 of Article 28 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP.

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