Penalties for violations of regulations on payment for forest environmental services

(Baonghean) - According to Decree 40/2015/ND-CP dated April 25, 2015 of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 157/2013/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the field of forest management, development, protection and forest product management, the level of sanctions for violations of regulations on payment for forest environmental services is as follows:

1. Forest environmental service (FES) users who do not sign a contract to pay for FES within 3 months of using FES will be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine of 500,000 VND to 1 million VND if a contract is not signed with the forest owner to provide forest environmental services in case of direct payment;

b) A fine of 10 million to 20 million VND for not signing a contract with the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund in case of indirect payment;

c) A fine of 40 million to 50 million VND for not signing a contract with the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund in case of indirect payment;

Youth Union members of Nam Dan district volunteer to clear vegetation to prevent forest fires. Photo: Duy Ngoan

2. Users of DVMTR who do not declare the amount of money to be paid for DVMTR in case of indirect payment will be punished as follows:

a) A fine from VND 200,000 to VND 500,000 if the amount to be paid is VND 50 million;

b) A fine of 500,000 VND to 1 million VND if the amount to be paid is from 50 million VND to 200 million VND;

c) A fine of from 1 million VND to 3 million VND if the amount to be paid is from 200 million VND to 300 million VND;

d) A fine of 3 million to 5 million VND if the amount to be paid is from 300 million to 500 million VND;

d) Fine from 5 million VND to 10 million VND if the amount to be paid is over 500 million VND

e) Remedial measures: Forced to sign a contract to pay for environmental services.

3. Users of DVMTR who do not pay or do not pay in full for service use shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine of 500,000 VND to 1 million VND if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount of up to 20 million VND;

b) A fine of 1 million to 3 million VND if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount from 20 million to 30 million VND;

c) A fine of 3 million to 5 million VND if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount from 30 million to 50 million VND;

d) A fine of VND 5 million to VND 10 million if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount from over VND 50 million to VND 100 million;

d) A fine of 10 million to 20 million VND if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount from 100 million to 200 million VND;

e) A fine of 20 million to 30 million VND if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount from over 200 million to 500 million VND;

g) A fine of 30 million to 50 million VND if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount of over 500 million VND;

h) Remedial measures: Force full payment of the fee for using the Service and interest arising from late payment (if any) corresponding to the amount and time of late payment (interest is calculated according to the basic interest rate announced by the State Bank at the time closest to the time of issuing the administrative penalty decision).

4. Penalties for forest owners who are organizations assigned forests by the State that do not pay or do not pay in full and on time the fees collected from forest environmental services to the forest protection contractor according to the contract signed between the forest owner and the forest protection contractor, as follows:

a) Fine from 200,000 VND to 500,000 VND if the amount to be paid is up to 5 million VND;

b) A fine of 1 million to 3 million VND if the amount to be paid is from 5 million to 20 million VND;

c) A fine of 3 million to 5 million VND if the amount to be paid is from 20 million to 50 million VND;

d) Fine from 5 million VND to 10 million VND if the amount to be paid is over 50 million VND.

d) Remedial measures: Force full payment of DVMTR money to the person receiving forest protection according to the signed contract.

For all information about the Forest Environmental Services Payment Policy, readers can visithere!

Hai Yen(Synthetic)