Vietnam enacts governmental decree specifying various penalties in the field of environmental protection 
The Governmental Decree No. 45/2022/ND-CP on Administrative Penalties in the Field of Environmental Protection was enacted on July 7, 2022 in Vietnam. This Decree establishes rules for administrative violations, forms of punishment, fines, and corrective measures in the field of environmental protection. The maximum amount of the fine is 2 billion VND for organizations. The Decree will come into effect on August 25, 2022, and the previous Governmental Decree No. 155/2016/ND-CP on Administrative Penalties in the Field of Environmental Protection and Governmental Decree No. 55/2021/ND-CP on Amendments and Supplements to No. 155/2016/ND-CP will become invalid.
The Decree mainly stipulates violations related to the following items and penalties for them:
- Environmental impact assessments
- Environmental licenses, environmental applications
- Test operation of waste treatment works in investment projects
- Environmental protection in facilities, centralized manufacturing, trading and service districts, industrial zones and traditional craft villages
- Environmental monitoring
- Discharge of wastewater to the environment
- Discharge of wastewater with harmful parameters to the environment
- Emission of dust and exhaust gases to the environment
- Emission of dust and exhaust gases with harmful parameters to the environment
- Management of domestic, general and hazardous waste
- Manufacturer/importer’s responsibility for recycling and processing of waste products and packaging materials
- Importing scrap from overseas
- Noise and vibration
- Soil, water, and air pollution
- Oil spill response, waste accident response
- Management of environmental information, annual reporting
- Ozone layer protection, greenhouse gas reduction
- Long-term environmental pollution
For organizations and individuals who commit violations, penalties in the form of warnings or fines shall apply. The maximum fine is 1 billion VND for individuals and 2 billion VND for organizations. In addition, in some cases, additional penalties and corrective actions may be applied.
As a specific violation and penalty, if an organization does not have an “environmental license,” one of the new regulations introduced by the Environmental Protection Law 2020, they will be fined up to 440 million VND. In addition, fines have been set of up to 50 million VND for violations of greenhouse gas regulations and up to 2 billion VND (approx. 10.6 million JPY) for inadequate management of hazardous waste.
Penalties for violations in the field of environmental protection are set to expire after up to two years.
Penalties for New Regulations
This Governmental Decree also clarifies the penalties for the newly defined persistent organic pollutants (POPs), expanded producer liability (EPR), and greenhouse gas management provisions in the 2020 Environmental Protection Act. The main violations and penalties for each of the POPs, EPR, and GHG regulations are listed below.
