The 2020 Law on Environmental Protection (“LEP”) has supplemented various obligations of organizations and individuals compared to the previous Law of 2014. In that spirit, on July 7, 2022, the Government issued Decree 45/2020/ND-CP (“Decree 45”) on administrative sanctions in the field of environmental protection, replacing Decree 155/2016/ND-CP and Decree 55/2021/ND-CP, also introduced numerous sanctions corresponding to the additional obligations and the rate of several sanctions was also increased to strengthen the deterrence for violations.
Below, ATA Legal Services shall list a number of new obligations under the 2020 LEP and the corresponding sanctions for such violations specified in Decree 45:
1. For enterprises, manufacturers, businesses and services:
|
No. |
Violation |
Sanction |
|
1 |
Failing to obtain environmental registration or fail to obtain environmental license registration for investment projects generating waste with different levels of environmental impact. |
- Violation of environmental registration obligation: A warning or a fine ranges from VND 500,000 to VND 30,000,000. - Violation of environmental license registration obligation: a fine ranges from VND 5,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000 with additional sanctions. |
|
2 |
Failing to send the “written notice of completion of environmental protection works” to the competent authority after the approval of the appraisal results of the environmental impact assessment report is issued. |
A fine ranges from VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000. |
|
3 |
Failing to publicize the approved environmental impact assessment report. |
A fine ranges from VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000. |
|
4 |
Violation of the obligation on trial operation of waste treatment works after being granted the environmental license.
|
A fine ranges from VND 10,000,000 to VND 120,000,000 with additional sanctions.
|
|
5 |
Violation of the obligation on the management of persistent pollutants. |
A fine ranges from VND 30,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000. |
|
6 |
Failing to preliminarily treat generated wastewater before connecting to the collection system for further treatment at the centralized wastewater treatment system of the concentrated area of manufacturers, businesses and services, and industrial clusters. |
A fine ranges from VND 25,000,000 to VND 30,000,000.
|
|
7 |
Investors of urban and apartment projects: - Fail to have sanitary facilities in public places as per regulations; - Fail to have equipment, means or place to separate solid waste at source; - Fail to ensure the area of trees, water surface, open space in urban areas, concentrated residential areas as prescribed. |
A fine ranges from VND 200,000,000 to VND 250,000,000. |
|
8 |
Violation of regulations on responsibility for product and packaging recycling of manufacturers and importers (violation of regulations on registration of recycling plans, declaration of contribution amounts to support recycling, reporting of recycling results; violation of regulations on compulsory recycling rate, compulsory recycling formalities and payment of recycling support contributions; violation of obligation to pay recycling support contributions. |
A fine up to VND 1 billion. |
|
9 |
Violation of responsibility for waste treatment of manufacturers and importers (failure of disclosure or incomplete disclosure of information about products and packages produced or imported; violation of regulations on declaration of the amount of contributions for supporting waste treatment; violation of regulations on payment of contributions for supporting waste treatment). |
A fine up to VND 1 billion. |
In addition, Decree 45 also significantly increased the fine rate for acts of leaking or discharging toxic chemicals into the land and water environment against regulations to the rate ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 (used to range from only VND 5,000,000 – VND 10,000,000).
2. For individuals and households
Decree 45 also supplemented violations and corresponding fines, including the following outstanding contents:
|
No. |
Violation |
Fine rate |
|
1 |
Failing to classify domestic solid waste as prescribed; failing to use packaging containing domestic solid waste as prescribed.
|
From VND 500,000 to VND 1,000,000.
|
|
2 |
Burning plant-originated by-products outdoors near residential areas, airports, and main traffic routes. |
From VND 2,500,000 to VND 3,000,000. |
Decree 45 shall take effect on August 25, 2022.
Comment: