DECREE

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FEES ON WASTEWATER

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Fees and Charges dated November 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on State Budget dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Environmental Protection dated June 23, 2014;

At the request of the Minister of Finance;

The Government hereby promulgates a Decree on environmental protection fees on wastewater.

Chapter I

GENERAL

Article 1. Scope

This Decree provides for wastewater upon which fees are charged, fee collectors, fee payers, cases of fee exemption, fee rate, determination of amount of fees payable, transfer, management and use of environmental protection fees on wastewater.

Article 2. Wastewater upon which fees are charged

1. The environmental protection fees in this Decree are charged upon industrial wastewater discharged into water bodies as prescribed by law and domestic wastewater, except for the cases of exemption specified in Article 5 hereof.

2. Industrial wastewater refers to wastewater from factories and manufacturing and processing facilities (hereinafter referred to as “facilities”) of organizations, households and individuals, including:

a) Facilities that manufacture and process agricultural, forestry and fishery products, food, spirits, beer, soft drinks and tobacco.

b) Livestock facility that houses cattle and poultry on farms in accordance with regulations of law on livestock production; cattle and poultry slaughterhouses.

c) Aquaculture facilities that are required to prepare environmental impact assessment reports or environmental protection plans as prescribed.

d) Handicraft workshops in handicraft villages.

dd) Leather recycling, tanning, textile and dying facilities.

e) Mineral mining and processing facilities.

g) Facilities manufacturing paper, paper pulp, plastics and rubber; electronic and electrical equipment and parts.

h) Mechanical workshops; metallurgical facilities; metal processing facilities, machinery and component manufacturers.

i) Scrap processing facilities, shipbreaking facilities and ship cleaning facilities, waste treatment facilities.

k) Facilities manufacturing basic chemicals, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, agrochemicals, building materials, office supplies and household appliances.

l) Clean water supply plants, power plants.

m) Centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas.

n) Centralized wastewater treatment systems in industrial parks, industrial clusters, export-processing zones, economic zones, fishing ports, hi-tech zones and other areas.

o) Other manufacturing and processing facilities that generate wastewater from manufacturing and processing activities.

3. Domestic wastewater refers to wastewater generated from activities conducted by:

a) households, individuals.

b) regulatory agencies, public service providers, people’s armed forces, other organizations (including places of management, branches and offices thereof), except for manufacturing facilities and processing facilities affiliated thereto.

c) Facilities cleaning and repairing automobiles and motorbikes.

d) Health facilities; restaurants, hotels; training and research institutes.

dd) Other businesses not specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 3. Fee collectors

Collectors shall collect environmental protection fees on wastewater as follows:

1. Provincial Departments of Natural Resources and Environment shall collect environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater generated by facilities under their management. Every provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, in a practical manner, shall notify the People’s Committee of province or central-affiliated city, which will direct the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment and district-level Department of Natural Resources and Environment to collect environmental protection fees on wastewater of facilities within their areas.

2. Clean water suppliers shall collect environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater, which are charged to organizations, households and individuals that use clean water they supply.

3. People’s Committees of wards and towns (hereinafter referred to as “communal People’s Committees”) shall collect environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater, which are charged to organizations, household businesses and individual businesses within wards and towns.

Article 4. Fee payers

1. Organizations, households and individuals discharging wastewater specified in Article 2 hereof shall pay environmental protection fees on wastewater.

2. If an organization, household or individual discharges wastewater into a centralized wastewater treatment system and has paid the entity managing and operating the centralized wastewater treatment system for wastewater treatment services based on the service charge bracket, the entity managing and operating the centralized wastewater treatment system shall pay environmental protection fees on wastewater as prescribed in this Decree (except for the case specified in Clause 7 Article 5 hereof).

3. If the facilities specified in Clause 2 Article 2 hereof use water supplied by a clean water supplier for their manufacturing and processing, the facility owners shall pay environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater (and shall be exempt from environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater).

Article 5. Cases of fee exemption

Environmental protection fees on wastewater shall not be charged upon:

1. Water that is discharged from hydropower plants.

2. Seawater that is discharged after being used for salt production.

3. Domestic wastewater that is generated by:

a) Organizations, households and individuals in communes;

b) Organizations, households and individuals in wards and towns where a clean water supply system is not available;

c) Non-business households and individuals in wards and towns where a clean water supply system is available that extract water themselves.

4. Cooling water (prescribed by the environmental protection law) that is not in direct contact with any contaminant and is discharged through a separate conduit.

5. Wastewater from rainwater runoff.

6. Wastewater from fishing vessels.

7. Wastewater from centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas (specified in the Government’s Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP dated August 06, 2014) that has been treated in accordance with standards and technical regulations on environment prior to its discharge into water bodies.

Chapter II

FEES AND DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT OF FEES PAYABLE

Article 6. Fees

1. Environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater:

Environmental protection fees on wastewater are 10% of the VAT-excluded selling price of 1 m3 of clean water. If it is necessary to charge higher fees, the People's Council of the province or central-affiliated city shall charge specific higher fees upon wastewater.

2. Environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater:

a) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a facility in a year is less than 20 m3/day (24 hours), charge a fixed fee per unit of wastewater volume (variable fee is not charged) as follows:

- In 2020, the fee VND 1,500,000/year is charged.

- From 01 January, 2021 onwards, the fee below is charged:

b) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a manufacturing/processing facility in a year is more than 20 m3/day: the fee is calculated according to the following formula: F = f + C.

Where:

- F is the amount of fee payable.

- f is the fixed fee: VND 1,500,000/year (VND 4,000,000/year from 01 January, 2021 onwards); if the facility commences its operation after the first quarter, the fee payable will be determined from the quarter in which the facility commences its operation until the end of the year. The fee for every quarter = f/4.

- C is the variable fee per unit of discharged wastewater volume, content of each contaminant in wastewater and the fee applied to each contaminant below:

c) The contaminants (which are required to have their content measured, to be declared and upon which fees are charged) shall be determined according to applicable national technical regulation on wastewater). If a national technical regulation on wastewater is not available, determine them according to the contaminants specified in the environmental dossier (which has been approved by an environment authority).

d) The volume of wastewater/day shall be determined according to the measuring data or inspection results given by an environment authority.

Article 7. Determination of amount of fees payable

1. Regarding domestic wastewater

The environmental protection fee on domestic wastewater shall be determined as follows:

Where:

a) The volume of clean water used shall be measured using the fee payer's water meter. If the fee payer self-extracts water, the volume of clean water used shall be determined according to the scope of operation, business, services or surface water/underground water extraction license declared by the organization, household business or individual business and the determination shall be appraised by the communal People’s Committee.

b) Clean water selling price is the VAT-excluded water selling price set by the clean water supplier within the ward or commune.

c) The fee rate is specified in Clause 1 Article 6 hereof.

2. Regarding industrial wastewater

a) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a facility in a chargeable year is less than 20 m3/day, the amount of fee payable is specified in Point a Clause 2 Article 6 hereof.

b) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a facility in a chargeable year is more than 20 m3/day, the amount of fee payable shall be calculated according to the following formula: Fq = (f/4) + Cq.

Where:

- Fq is the amount of fee payable quarterly (VND).

- f is the fix fee specified in Point a Clause 2 Article 6 hereof.

- Cq is the variable fee (total amount of fee payable charged upon contaminants in wastewater) payable quarterly.

c) The variable fee shall be determined by each contaminant as follows:

- Regarding a facility that is required to carry out periodic monitoring of wastewater as prescribed by law: the base for determining content of contaminants in wastewater to serve the declaration and calculation of fees is the result of monitoring that is carried out every 03 months. If a facility that is required to carry out wastewater monitoring every 06 months, the declaration and calculation of fees for the quarter in which the monitoring is not conducted shall be carried out using the result of monitoring that was conducted in the previous quarter. The total volume of wastewater shall be determined according to one of the 03 sources of data: (i) Actual result given by a flow meter; (ii) 80% of the volume of water used; (iii) Information contained in the periodic environmental monitoring report. If (i) and (ii) or (i) and (iii) or (i), (ii) and (iii) are available, (i) will be used. If (ii) and (iii) are available, (i) will be used.

- Regarding a facility that is required to carry out automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater as prescribed by law: The declaration, calculation and appraisal of amounts of fees payable shall be determined every 24 hours. Content of contaminants upon which fees are charged and total volume of wastewater discharged by the facility shall be determined using the daily (24-hour) average value of measurement results. If the contaminants upon which fees are charged are not those required to undergo automatic and continuous monitoring, their content shall be determined using periodic monitoring data.

d) If a facility has multiple wastewater discharge points, the variable fee applied to the facility is the total amount of variable fees determined at each wastewater discharge point.

Chapter III

DECLARATION, PAYMENT, MANAGEMENT AND USE OF FEES

Article 8. Declaration, appraisal of declarations and payment of fees

1. Regarding environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater:

a) In case of using water provided by a clean water supplier

- The fee payer shall pay environmental protection fee on domestic wastewater together with the fee for use of clean water specified in the bill to the clean water supplier.

- The fee collector shall:

+ open an account for “temporary collection of environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater” at the local branch of the State Treasury. Record the collected amount of environmental fees on domestic wastewater in a separate accounting journal. The environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater payable to the state budget shall not be included in the turnover.

+ On a weekly basis, pay the amount collected to the temporary collection account. By the 20th of the next month, the fee collector shall transfer the abovementioned amount to the state budget as prescribed.

+ declare and pay the collected amount of fees on a monthly basis, and send a statement of fees to the tax authority on an annual basis in accordance with regulations of the Law on Tax Administration.

b) In case of self-extracting water

- On a quarterly basis, the fee payer shall declare fees (using the Form No. 01 hereof) to the communal People's Committee and transfer fees to the communal People's Committee's account for “temporary collection of environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater” opened at the local branch of the State Treasury by the 20th of the first month of the next quarter. The bases for declaration and payment of fees are the volume of self-extracted water used during a quarter, the selling price of clean water and the fees specified in Clause 1 Article 6 hereof.

The fee payer shall fully pay an additional fee according to fee collector’s notification specified in this Point (if any) within 10 days from the receipt of the notification.

- The fee collector shall:

+ appraise the fee declaration. If the volume of self-extracted water specified in the declaration is not consistent with volume of actually extracted water, issue a notification of payment of an additional fee or reduce the amount of fee payable in the following payment period.

+ open an account for “temporary collection of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater” at the local branch of the State Treasury. Record the collected amount of environmental fees in a separate accounting journal, monitor, manage and use the remaining fees as specified in Clause 1 Article 9 hereof.

+ On a quarterly basis, by the last day of the second month of the next quarter, declare the collected amount of environmental protection fees to the tax authority in accordance with regulations of the Law on Tax Administration and transfer such amount to the state budget as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 9 hereof.

+ On an annual basis, send a statement of environmental protection fees to the tax authority in accordance with regulations of the Law on Tax Administration within 90 days from January 01 of the next year.

c) The State Treasury shall record the collected amount of environmental protection fees paid by the fee collector in the state budget as prescribed.

2. Regarding environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater:

a) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a facility in a chargeable year is more than 20 m3/day: On a quarterly basis, by the 20th of the first month of the next quarter, the fee payer shall declare fees (using the Form No. 02 hereof) to the fee collector and transfer fees to the fee collector’s account for “temporary collection of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater” opened at the State Treasury; pay an additional fee according to fee collector’s notification (if any) within 10 days from the receipt of the notification.

b) If the total average volume of wastewater discharged by a facility in a chargeable year is less than 20 m3/day (a fixed fee is paid as specified in Clause 2 Article 6 hereof), the fee payer shall:

- declare fees to the fee collector as soon as the fee payer commences its operation (using the Form No. 02 hereof) by the twentieth of the month succeeding the month of commencement of operation.

- pay a lump sum fee for a year according to the fee collector’s notification by March 31 every year. The facility that commences its operation after March 31 every year shall pay fees according to the fee collector’s notification within 10 days from the receipt of the notification.

c) The fee collector shall:

- cooperate with relevant authorities in reviewing and reclassifying the facilities upon which the fixed and variable fees are charged and notify such facilities by the 10th of March each year. If a facility commences its operation after March 31, notify it by the last day of the first month of the next quarter.

- appraise the environmental protection fee declaration within 10 working days from the date on which the declaration is received. The bases for appraisal are data declared by the fee payer; measurement results given by an environment authority or result of the inspection which is carried out within the last 12 months. If the amount of environmental protection fee payable is different from the amount of fee declared by the fee payer, the fee collector shall issue a notification of payment of an additional fee or reduce the amount of fee payable in the following payment period.

- Record the collected amount of environmental fees in a separate accounting journal, monitor, manage and use the remaining fees as specified in Clause 2 Article 9 hereof. open an account for “temporary collection of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater” at the local branch of the State Treasury.

- On a quarterly basis, by the last day of the second month of the next quarter, declare the collected amount of environmental protection fees to the tax authority in accordance with regulations of the Law on Tax Administration and transfer such amount to the state budget as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 9 hereof.

- On an annual basis, send a statement of environmental protection fees to the tax authority in accordance with regulations of the Law on Tax Administration within 90 days from January 01 of the next year.

d) Regarding manufacturing and processing facilities under the management of the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of National Defense (if classified as national defense or security secrets) On a quarterly basis, the fee payer shall declare fees (using the Form No. 02 hereof) to the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of National Defense by the 20th of the first month of the next quarter. The Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of National Defense shall appraise the fee declaration and send a notification to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the province where the fee payer operates using the Form No. 04 hereof within 30 days from the date on which the fee declaration is received, and to manufacturing and processing facilities according to The provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall monitor and manage the payment of environmental protection fees by these facilities.

Article 9. Management and use of fees

1. Regarding domestic wastewater

a) The clean water supplier and the communal People’s Committee shall retain 10% and 25% of the total amount of environmental protection fee collected respectively to cover the costs of fee collection. In case the cost of fee collection is less than the amount of fee retained, the provincial People’s Council shall decide a proper retention ratio which must not exceed 10% for the clean water supplier and must not exceed 25% for the communal People’s Committee.

b) The amount of fee retained is the clean water supplier’s turnover. The clean water supplier shall declare and pay tax (VAT and corporate income tax) in accordance with regulations of law on tax and decide to manage and use the amount of fee retained (not required to carry such amount forward as prescribed in Clause 5 Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016).

2. Regarding industrial wastewater

a) The fee collector shall transfer 100% of the collected amount of fees to the state budget, which will cover its operating costs.

b) If the fee collector is provided with fixed operating costs as prescribed in Article 4 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, it is entitled to retain 25% of the total amount of environmental protection fees collected to cover its costs of fee collection as prescribed in Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, including costs of investigation, producing statistics, review, classification, updating and management of wastewater upon which fees are charged; costs of measurement, assessment, collection and analysis of wastewater samples in service of appraisal of declaration fees and fee management; costs of periodic or unscheduled inspection of facilities generating industrial wastewater.

3. The fee collector shall transfer the fee amount that remains after the fee retention stated in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article to the local government budget for environmental protection, financing of the local environmental protection fund for the purpose of prevention, mitigation and control of environmental pollution caused by wastewater; and adoption of wastewater treatment methods and techniques.

4. Every fee collector shall annually publish the fee amount collected in previous year on mass media such as local newspapers, local radio stations, its website and other appropriate means of media.

Article 10. Responsibilities of local authorities

1. Provincial and district-level Departments of Natural Resources and Environment have the following responsibilities:

a) Cooperate with relevant authorities in classifying wastewater upon which fixed and variable fees are charged as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 6 hereof.

b) Appraise declarations of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater, announce the amount of fees payable and manage the collection and payment of environmental protection fees.

c) District-level Departments of Natural Resources and Environment shall aggregate and report figures on the environmental protection fees collected to provincial Departments of Natural Resources and Environment before March 31 of the next year.

d) Provincial Departments of Natural Resources and Environment shall aggregate and report figures on the environmental protection fees on wastewater within provinces to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Suggest modifications to fee rate, management and use of environmental protection fees on wastewater (if any) to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

2. The tax authority shall inspect, expedite and finalize the collection and payment of environmental protection fees on wastewater by clean water suppliers and local natural resources and environment authorities.

3. Clean water suppliers shall:

a) cooperate with provincial Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant units in organizing fee collection and making lists of facilities required to pay fees on industrial wastewater to decide whether to collect environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 4 hereof.

b) aggregate and report data on the collected environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater to provincial Departments of Natural Resources and Environment before March 31 of the next year.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION CLAUSE

Article 11. Effect

1. This Decree comes into force from July 01, 2020 and supersedes the Government’s Decree No. 154/2016/ND-CP dated November 16, 2016.

2. Local authorities (or urban areas) that charge for the water drainage service as prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP dated August 06, 2014 shall not collect environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater as prescribed in this Decree.

3. From the effective date of this Decree, if the provincial People’s Council has promulgated a document providing for rate of environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater and retention ratio applied to clean water suppliers as prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 154/2016/ND-CP dated November 16, 2016 but has not promulgated a document replacing the former document, the former document shall apply. The provincial People's Council shall promulgate a replacing document at the next meeting.

4. The payment of environmental protection fees specified in this Decree shall not serve the basis for confirming the legal discharge of wastewater by wastewater-generating facilities. Wastewater-generating facilities that violate regulations of law on environment shall incur penalties in accordance with regulations of law on environment.

5. During the implementation, In the cases where any of the legislative documents referred to in this Decree is amended or replaced, the newest one shall apply.

Article 12. Implementation

1. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall consolidate and submit proposed amendments to documents concerning fee collection (if any) to the Ministry of Finance, which will consolidate and submit them to the Government.

2. The provincial People’s Committee shall request the People’s Council at the same level to decide:

a) Rate of environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater as specified in Clause 1 Article 6 hereof (if necessary);

b) Ratio of retention of environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater as specified in Clause 1 Article 9 hereof.

3. Ministers, heads of ministerial agencies, heads of Governmental agencies and Presidents of provincial People’s Committees are responsible for the implementation of this Decree./.

APPENNDIX

(Enclosed with the Government’s Decree No. 53/2020/ND-CP dated May 05, 2020)

Form No. 01

DECLARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FEES ON DOMESTIC WASTEWATER

.... quarter of ..... (specify the year)

To: ........... (name of the collecting authority) ..................

Name of unit paying fees: ............................................................................................

Address: .....................................................................................................................

Phone number: …………………………Fax:…………………….. Email:………………..……

Account No. ………………………………… At:…………………………. (specify the bank)

Amount of environmental protection fees on domestic wastewater payable to the state budget (in words): ………………………………………………………..

I hereby undertake that the information provided herein is adequate and accurate./.

Form No. 02

DECLARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FEES ON INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER
.... quarter of ..... (specify the year)

To: Department of Natural Resources and Environment of .................. province

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

Name of fee payer: .....................................................................................................

Address: .....................................................................................................................

Phone number: ....................... Fax: ................. Email: ...................................

Account No. …………………………… At:………………………………. (specify the bank) 

Production/processing: …………………………………………………………………………..

Average daily water use (m3):…………………………………………………..

Wastewater treatment method: ……………………………………………………………………

Average volume of wastewater in a chargeable year (m3/day): ……………………………….

II. INFORMATION ABOUT ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED DURING CHARGEABLE QUARTER

1. Amount of fixed fee payable in this period: f = ………………………………………dong

2. Amount of variable fee payable in the quarter:

a) Total volume of wastewater in the quarter (m3): ………………………………………

Bases for declaring total volume of wastewater in the quarter: ………………………………..

b) Content of pollution parameters in wastewater upon which fees are charged:

c) Amount of variable fee payable in the quarter: Cq = ………………………………………dong

3. Amount of fee payable to the state budget:

III. AMOUNT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FEES ON DOMESTIC WASTEWATER PAYABLE TO THE STATE BUDGET IN THIS PERIOD …………………….

(in words)………………………….

I hereby undertake that the data declared herein is true to our actual activities./.

Form No. 03

NOTICE OF PAYMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FEES ON INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER

.....quarter of ...... (specify the year)

(.... notice)

Name of fee payer: .....................................................................................................

Address: .....................................................................................................................

Pursuant to the Declaration of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater for the ..... quarter of...... (specify the year), the Department of Natural Resources and Environment hereby notifies the amount of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater payable in this quarter as follows:

Amount of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater payable to the state budget (in words): ………………………………………

The abovementioned amount of fee is requested to be paid to the ..... State Treasury, Account No. ...........................

Deadline: before ……….. (specify the date)

Form No. 04

NOTICE OF PAYMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FEES ON INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER

.....quarter of ...... (specify the year)

Pursuant to the Declaration of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater for the ...... quarter of ... (specify the year) of (name of the fee payer)...

Address: .....................................................................................................................

The Ministry of Public Security/Ministry of National Defense hereby notifies the amount of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater payable by …..(name of the fee payer)… in this quarter as follows:

Amount of environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater payable to the state budget (in words): ………………………………………

The abovementioned amount of fee is requested to be paid to the ................. State Treasury, Account No. ...........................

Deadline: before ……….. (specify the date)

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is requested to monitor the payment of the fee amount by ... (name of the fee payer).... and make consolidated reports as prescribed./.