Decree No. 147/2016/ND-CP dated November 02, 2016 on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2010/ND-CP of September 24, 2010, on the policy on payment of forest environment service charge

DECREE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2010/ND-CP of September 24, 2010, on the policy on payment of forest environment service charge[1]

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

Pursuant to the December 3, 2004 Law on Forest Protection and Development;

At the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

The Government promulgates the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2010/ND-CP of September 24, 2010, on the policy on payment of forest environment service charge.

Article 1.To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2010/ND-CP of September 24, 2010, on the policy on payment of forest environment service charge.

1. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 5 as follows:

“1. Beneficiaries of forest environment services shall pay service charge to service providers.”

2. To amend and supplement Article 8 as follows:

“Article 8. Entities to enjoy forest environment service charge payment

1. Entities to enjoy forest environment service charge payment are owners of forests where such services are provided, including:

a/ Forest owners that are organizations whose forests are allocated or leased by the State for stable and permanent use for forestry purposes and organizations that plant forests by themselves on state-allocated forest land areas;

b/ Forest owners that are households or individuals whose forests are allocated or leased by the State; village communities with forests allocated by the State for stable and permanent use for forestry purposes; forest owners that are households, individuals or village communities that plant forests by themselves on state-allocated forest land areas.

2. Organizations, households, individuals and village communities that have package contracts on stable and permanent forest protection with forest owners that are state organizations (below referred to as contracted households).

3. Commune-level People’s Committees assigned by the State to manage forests in accordance with law and providing forest environment services.

4. Socio-political organizations assigned by the State to manage forests in accordance with law and providing forest environment services.”

3. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 11 as follows:

“1. For hydropower generation establishments

a/ The rate of forest environment service charge payable by hydropower generation establishments is VND 36 per kWh of commercial electricity. The electricity amount used to calculate the payable charge amount is that sold by a hydropower generation establishment to electricity buyers under electricity trading contracts;

b/ Determination of payable forest environment service charge amounts

The payable forest environment service charge amount in a payment period equals the electricity amount (kWh) in the payment period multiplied by the charge rate per kWh (VND 36/kWh).”

4. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 11 as follows:

“2. For clean water production and supply establishments:

a/ The rate of forest environment service charge payable by clean water production and supply establishments is VND 52 per cubic meter of commercial water. The water volume used to calculate the payable charge amount is that sold by a clean water production and supply establishment to consumers;

b/ Determination of payable forest environment service charge amounts

The payable forest environment service charge amount in a payment period equals the commercial water volume (m³) in the payment period multiplied by the charge rate per m³of commercial water (VND 52/m³).”

5. To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 2, Article 15 as follows:

“b/ Deduction of up to 5% of the total entrusted service charge amount remitted into the provincial-level forest protection and development funds plus other lawful funds as provisions and support for households, individuals and village communities with forests allocated or contracted for stable and permanent protection in case of a natural disaster or drought or in case the forest environment service charge rate per allocated forest area is lower than that of the previous year.

In case the forest environment service charge rate for a forest area is more than twice  the support of the state budget for contracted forest protection, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall decide on an appropriate allocation level on a case-by-case basis in the same provincial locality.”

6. To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 2, Article 15 as follows:

“c/ The remaining amount to be payable to forest environment service providers shall be used as follows:

Forest owners that are households and individuals with forests allocated or leased by the State; village communities with forests allocated by the State for stable and permanent use for forestry purposes and forest owners that are households and individuals and village communities planting forests by themselves on forest land may enjoy the whole service charge.

Forest owners that are organizations may account it as a source of revenue, and may manage and use such amount under the financial regulations applicable to such organizations. In case a forest owner is contracted to protect forests, it may spend no more than 10% of the collected forest environment service charge amount on its contracted forest areas for protection to perform the management and organize the environmental protection education; the remaining amount must be paid to contracted households.

Commune-level People’s Committees assigned by the State to manage forests which have not yet been allocated or leased in accordance with law, may account it as a revenue source of the commune-level Fund for Forest Protection and Management, of which the spending management must comply with Article 3 of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 07/2012/QD-TTg of February 8, 2012, promulgating a number of policies to intensify the forest protection.

Socio-political organizations with forest management tasks assigned by the State in accordance with law shall formulate plans on use of funds for forest management and protection from the collected forest environment service charge amounts and submit them to the district-level People’s Committees for approval, and submit such plans to the provincial Fund for Forest Protection and Development for inclusion in the provincial plan on payment of forest protection service charge.”

7. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 2, Article 20 as follows:

“a/ Forest environment service providers shall ensure that forest areas where forest environment service is provided are protected and developed properly under forest protection and development master plans approved by competent state agencies;”

8. To annul Clause 7, and Point b, Clause 9, Article 22.

Article 2.Organization of implementation

Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall implement this Decree.

Article 3.Effect

1. This Decree takes effect on January 1, 2017.

2. The forest environment service charge rate payable by hydropower plants specified in Clause 3, Article 1 of this Decree shall be applied after the first adjustment of the electricity retail price after the effective date of this Decree.-

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC