From December 15th, illegal mining will be subject to fines of up to 2 billion VND.

This is one of the new provisions of Decree No. 142/2013/ND-CP issued by the Government on October 24, 2013, on administrative penalties for violations in the field of water resources and minerals, effective from December 15, 2013.

Illustrative image. Source: chinhphu.vn

According to Decree No. 142/2013/ND-CP, in the field of mineral resources, individuals who violate regulations by exploiting minerals without a mining license or exceeding 100% or more of the permitted annual mining capacity stated in the mining license for gold, precious stones, silver, platinum, and hazardous minerals will be fined up to 1 billion VND, while the fine for violations by organizations will be 2 billion VND.

The form and level of penalties are determined based on the nature and severity of the violations, thus ensuring feasibility and contributing to raising awareness of law compliance among organizations and individuals, as well as enhancing the responsibility of state management agencies regarding water and mineral resources.

In addition, Decree No. 142/2013/ND-CP has added many new remedial measures such as: Compelling the implementation of solutions to restore areas where minerals have been exploited to a safe state; compelling the implementation of measures to repair damaged technical infrastructure; carrying out the upgrading, maintenance, and construction of roads; compelling the submission of mineral samples and information to the competent State management agency for minerals; compelling the return of the entire quantity of minerals or monetary value obtained from exploitation outside the permitted area; resulting from exploitation exceeding the permitted capacity; compelling the correction of inaccurate information and data resulting from the violation; compelling the return of illegal profits obtained from the violation.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Decree No. 142/2013/ND-CP, upon its enactment, will contribute to preventing and strictly handling administrative violations in the field of water and mineral resources, ensuring that administrative violations are handled correctly, targeting the right subjects and the right violations, demonstrating the strictness of the law and fairness in water and mineral resource activities in the new period.

According to the Communist Party of Vietnam