Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Scope
1. This Decree deals with violations, penalties, fines, remedial measures against administrative violations, the power to impose administrative penalties and the power to make records of administrative violations against regulations on forestry.
2. Other administrative violations against regulations on forestry which are not prescribed in this Decree shall be governed by other relevant Government's decrees on penalties for administrative violations within the scope of state management.
Article 2. Regulated entities
1. This Decree applies to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals that commit violations against regulations on forestry in the territory of Vietnam; the persons that have the power to record violations and the ones competent to impose administrative penalties in accordance with regulations herein.
2. Organizations mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article include:
a) Regulatory authorities committing violations which are not related to their assigned management tasks;
b) Enterprises that are established and operate under the law of Vietnam; branches and representative offices operating in Vietnam of foreign enterprises;
c) Co-operatives and cooperative unions;
d) Public service providers;
dd) Professional organizations operating in the forestry sector.
3. Individuals mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article include entities that are not prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.
Article 3. Definitions
For the purposes of this Decree, the below are construed as follows:
1. “forest ranger” means an official who is in charge of forest management and on the payroll of forest protection authorities.
2. “vital body parts” mean animal body parts which have specialized functions and the separation of which from the animal body will lead to the death of such animal (e.g. head, heart, skin, skeleton and liver, etc.).
3. “products of forest animals” mean products which originate from forest animals such as meat, eggs, milk, sperm, embryo, blood, bile, internal organs, skin, fur, bones, horn, ivory, legs and hoofs, etc. or articles whose ingredients are processed or prepared parts of forest animals such as bone glue, handbags, purses and belts made from skins of forest animals.
4. “regenerating forest without reserve volume” refers to forest composed of trees established through either natural regeneration or assisted natural regeneration with the standing volume of 10 m3/ha.
5. Exhibits and instrumentalities for committing administrative violations include:
a) Forest products which are exploited, traded, transported, stored or processed against the law;
b) Devices, tools and petrol chainsaws of various types used to commit administrative violations;
c) Vehicles, including bicycles, non-motorized vehicles, motorcycles, motor vehicles, vessels, boats, motorboats, lighters and other vehicles which are used to commit administrative violations.
6. “illegally appropriated vehicle" means a vehicle which is stolen, robbed, extorted or appropriated by the violator by abuse of trust or when its legal owner is unable to prevent such act of appropriation, or a vehicle the possession, management or utilization of which is illegally taken by the violator.
7. “illegally used vehicle” means a vehicle which is lent or leased out, operated or used by a person who is hired by the legal owner, manager or user to use it for lawful purposes but is deliberately used for committing an administrative violation by the borrower, lessee or hired person.
Article 4. Penalties and remedial measures
1. The organization or individual must incur a warning or a fine when committing an administrative violation against regulations on forestry.
2. Depending on the nature and severity of each administrative violation, the violating organization or individual may face one or some of the following additional penalties:
a) Confiscation of the exhibits and instrumentalities for committing administrative violations;
b) Suspension of forest harvesting for a fixed period of 06 - 12 months;
c) Suspension of the processing of forest products for a fixed period of 06 - 12 months.
3. In addition to administrative penalties, the violating organization or individual may be liable to one or some of the following remedial measures:
a) Enforced restoration to original condition;
b) Enforced demolition of buildings or structures which have been built without the license or inconsistently with the license;
c) Enforced implementation of measures for control of environmental pollution and prevention of the spread of epidemics;
d) Enforced destruction of goods or articles which cause harm to human health, domestic animals, plants or environment;
dd) Enforced transfer of illegal benefits obtained from administrative violations or enforced transfer of amounts of money equivalent to the value of the exhibits and/or instrumentalities of administrative violations which have been sold, liquidated, hidden or destroyed inconsistently with the law;
e) Enforced reforestation or payment of reforestation cost equivalent to the standard afforestation investment applicable by local government at the time of committing administrative violations;
g) Enforced revocation of issued sustainable forest management certificate;
h) Enforced payment for forest environmental services and interests on late payments (if any) corresponding to late payment amounts and period;
i) Enforced payment for forest environmental services to entities in charge of forest protection under signed contracts;
k) Enforced destruction of tree seed or seedling shipments;
l) Enforced removal of waste, hazardous, flammable, explosive, ignitable chemicals from forests;
m) Enforced establishment of ecotourism, resort or recreation area project which must comply with law or be conformable with the ecotourism, resort or recreation area scheme approved by a competent authority;
n) Enforced formulation and submission of sustainable foreign management plans to competent authorities for approval;
o) Enforced reforestation in the next season.
Article 5. Units used in damage calculation
1. Forest area or immature forest area is calculated by m2.
2. Timber volume is calculated by m3.
3. Units and methods for determining quantities and volumes of forest products shall conform to regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. When imposing administrative penalties, the exhibits of violations which are timber must be converted into logs. Sawn wood or roughly squared wood may be converted into logs by multiplying a coefficient of 1.6.
4. The value of forest animals of common species, body parts or products thereof, endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IIB, body parts or products thereof, endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IB, body parts or products thereof, non-timber forest plants and timber products shall be determined in VND.
Article 6. Imposition of administrative penalties
1. The fine for every administrative violation prescribed herein shall be imposed on individual and shall not exceed VND 500,000,000. The fine imposed on an organization is twice as much as that imposed on an individual for the same administrative violation and shall not exceed VND 1,000,000,000.
2. Penalties for administrative violations involving endangered, rare timber or non-timber forest plants that need protection shall be the same as those for endangered, rare and precious timber or non-timber forest plants of Group IA.
3. Penalties for administrative violations involving species in Appendix I of CITES shall be the same as those for endangered, rare and precious plants or animals of Group I. Penalties for administrative violations involving species in Appendix II of CITES shall be the same as those for endangered, rare and precious plants or animals of Group II.
4. Penalties for administrative violations involving endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IB or Group IIB or in Appendix I or Appendix II of CITES but classified as endangered, rare animals that need protection shall be the same as those for endangered, rare animals that need protection.
5. The violation which has been handled by a criminal proceedings agency but then is classified as an administrative violation according to the decision not to institute criminal proceedings, decision to drop criminal charges, decision to terminate investigative activities or decision to dismiss a case as prescribed in Article 63 of the Law on penalties for administrative violations shall be handled according to its nature, severity and consequence as regulated herein. In case the exhibits of violations are endangered, rare animals that need protection, they shall be treated as endangered, rare and precious animals of Group IB.
If the seriousness of the violation exceeds the maximum fine in the fine bracket, the maximum fine will be imposed.
6. If a violation causes damage to various forest categories, including production forest, protective forest, special-use forest, or has exhibits comprising of various forest products but is not liable to criminal prosecution, the fine for this violation shall be imposed according to each forest category or forest product type.
7. Any violation involving the forest which is planned to be used for other purposes but the repurposing decision is not yet in effect shall be handled in the same manner as the violation involving the forest before it is repurposed.
8. If the forest owner detects any violation which causes damage to his/her forest products, he/she shall record the violation, protect the scene and exhibits, submit a report and transfer the case to a competent authority/ official within 03 days from the detection of violation, and then is required to cooperate with competent authority/ official in handling the case according to regulations herein. Confiscated forest products shall be returned to the forest owner if they are extracted from the forest planted by using the forest owner's funding only.
9. Exhibits/vehicles which have been impounded because they have been illegally appropriated or used by violators shall be handled according to Clause 1 Article 126 of the Law on penalties for administrative violations.
Tìm kiếm
Nghị định 35/2019/NĐ-CP (Bản Word)
Nghị định 35/2019/NĐ-CP (Bản Pdf)
