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 No. 157/2013/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions 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 environment service (FES) users who do not sign a contract to pay for FES within 3 months of using FES will be penalized as follows:

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 between VND 40 million and VND 50 million 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 DVMTR payment in case of indirect payment shall be punished as follows:

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

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

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

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

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. DVMTR users 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 for failure to pay or incomplete payment of service fees for more than 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount of up to 20 million VND;

b) A fine of between VND 1 million and VND 3 million shall be imposed if the service fee is not paid or not fully paid for over 3 months according to the contract signed term with an amount of between VND 20 million and VND 30 million;

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

d) A fine of between VND 5 million and VND 10 million shall be imposed 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 between VND 10 million and VND 20 million shall be imposed 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 100 million to VND 200 million;

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

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

h) Remedial measures: Force full payment of the DVMTR usage fee 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) A fine of 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 between VND 3 million and VND 5 million if the amount to be paid is between VND 20 million and VND 50 million;

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 fees to the forest protection recipient according to the signed contract.

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

Hai Yen(Synthetic)