How will individuals who violate regulations on environmental incident prevention and cause environmental incidents be punished?

Reply:Pursuant to Article 237 of the 2015 Penal Code (Amended by Point a, Clause 59, Article 1 of the Law amending the 2017 Penal Code), it is stipulated as follows:

Crime of violating regulations on prevention, response and remediation of environmental incidents

1. Anyone who commits one of the following acts shall be subject to a fine of between VND 50,000,000 and VND 500,000,000, non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years:

a) Violating regulations on environmental incident prevention, causing environmental incidents;

b) Violating regulations on response and remediation of environmental incidents, causing serious environmental pollution or causing injury or damage to the health of others with a bodily injury rate of 61% or more, or causing injury or damage to the health of 02 or more people with a total bodily injury rate of 61% to 121%, or causing damage from 1,000,000,000 VND to less than 3,000,000,000 VND.

2. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be subject to a fine of from VND 500,000,000 to VND 2,000,000,000 or imprisonment from 02 years to 07 years:

a) Causing death;

b) Causing injury or damage to the health of 02 or more people, with the total body injury rate of these people from 122% to 200%;

c) Causing damage from VND 3,000,000,000 to under VND 7,000,000,000.

3. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 05 years to 10 years:

a) Causing the death of two or more people;

b) Causing injury or damage to the health of 03 or more people, with the total body injury rate of these people being 201% or more;

c) Causing damage of VND 7,000,000,000 or more.

4. The offender may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, banned from holding positions, practicing a profession or doing certain jobs from 01 to 05 years.

5. A commercial legal entity committing a crime specified in this Article shall be punished as follows:

a) Committing a crime under the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article shall be subject to a fine of from VND 1,000,000,000 to VND 3,000,000,000;

b) Committing a crime under the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article shall be subject to a fine of from VND 3,000,000,000 to VND 5,000,000,000;

c) Committing a crime under the provisions of Clause 3 of this Article shall be subject to a fine of from VND 5,000,000,000 to VND 10,000,000,000 or suspension of operations for a period of from 01 to 03 years;”.

d) Committing a crime under the provisions of Article 79 of this Code shall be subject to permanent suspension of operations;

d) Commercial legal entities may also be fined from VND 100,000,000 to VND 500,000,000, banned from doing business, banned from operating in certain fields from 01 year to 03 years.

Accordingly, individuals who violate regulations on environmental incident prevention and cause environmental incidents shall be fined from VND 50,000,000 to VND 500,000,000, subject to non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years; if there are aggravating circumstances, the offender may be imprisoned from 02 years to 10 years.

In addition, the offender may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, banned from holding positions, practicing a profession or doing certain jobs from 01 to 05 years.

PL