Decree No. 53/2020/ND-CP environmental protection charge for wastewater

DECREE

On environmental protection charge for wastewater^[1]

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

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

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

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

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance;

The Government promulgates the Decree on environmental protection charge for wastewater.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation

This Decree prescribes objects liable to environmental protection charge for wastewater, charge-collecting organizations, charge payers, cases eligible for charge exemption, charge rates, determination of payable charge amounts, charge declaration and payment, and management and use of collected charge amounts.

Article 2.Charge-liable objects

1. Objects liable to environmental protection charge specified in this Decree are industrial wastewater discharged into wastewater-receiving water sources in accordance with law, and residential wastewater, except those exempt from charge specified in Article 5 of this Decree.

2. Industrial wastewater means wastewater discharged from plants, production or processing locations and establishments (below collectively referred to as establishments) of organizations, households and individuals, including:

a/ Establishments producing or processing agricultural, forestry or aquatic products, food, liquor, beer, beverage or cigarettes.

b/ Farm-scaled cattle and poultry raising establishments in accordance with the law on animal husbandry; cattle and poultry slaughterhouses.

c/ Aquaculture establishments subject to formulation of environmental impact assessment reports or environmental protection plans in accordance with regulations.

d/ Cottage industry establishments in craft villages.

dd/ Leather tanning, leather recycling, textile, dyeing, and garment establishments.

e/ Mineral mining and processing establishments.

g/ Establishments producing paper, pulp, plastics or rubber; electrical and electronic components and appliances.

h/ Mechanical, metallurgy, metal processing, mechanical engineering establishments.

i/ Establishments preliminarily processing scraps; ship dismantlement, ship cleaning and waste treatment establishments.

k/ Establishments producing basic chemicals, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, building materials, stationery or household appliances.

l/ Water plants, power plants.

m/ Centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban centers.

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

o/ Other production and processing establishments generating wastewater from production and processing activities.

3. Residential wastewater means wastewater generated from activities of:

a/ Households,  individuals.

b/ State agencies, non-business units, people’s armed forces units and other organizations (including also their executive offices, branches and offices), excluding their production and processing establishments.

c/ Car and motorbike washing and repair establishments.

d/ Medical examination and treatment establishments; restaurants, hotels; training and research institutions.

dd/ Business and service establishments other than those specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 3.Charge-collecting organizations

Organizations collecting environmental protection charge for wastewater include:

1. Provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments and district-level Natural Resources and Environment Divisions that shall collect environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater discharged by establishments in their localities and subject to their management. Based on practical management, provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments shall report to provincial-level People’s Committees to direct provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments and district-level Natural Resources and Environment Divisions to collect environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater discharged by establishments in localities.

2. Clean water suppliers that shall collect environmental protection charge for residential wastewater discharged by organizations, households and individuals using clean water supplied by clean water suppliers.

3. People’s Committees of wards and townships that shall collect environmental protection charge for residential wastewater discharged by organizations, households and individuals in localities that exploit water for use by themselves.

Article 4.Charge payers

1. Payers of environmental protection charge for wastewater are organizations, households and individuals discharging wastewater specified in Article 2 of this Decree.

2. In case organizations, households and individuals discharge wastewater into centralized wastewater treatment systems and pay wastewater treatment service charge to units managing and operating centralized wastewater treatment systems under the service charge mechanism, the latter shall pay environmental protection charge for  wastewater under this Decree (except the case specified in Clause 7, Article 5 of this Decree).

3. In case establishments specified in Clause 2, Article 2 of this Decree use clean water supplied by clean water suppliers for production or processing activities, their heads shall pay environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater (without having to pay environmental protection charge for residential wastewater).

Article 5.Cases eligible for charge exemption

The following cases are exempt from environmental protection charge:

1. Water runoff from hydroelectric power plants.

2. Seawater discharged after being used for salt production.

3. Residential wastewater discharged by:

a/ Organizations, households and individuals in communes;

b/ Organizations, households and individuals in wards and townships without clean water supply systems;

c/ Non-business households and individuals in wards and townships with clean water supply systems, that exploit water for use by themselves.

4. Cooling water (as specified by the law on environmental protection) not in direct contact with pollutants and discharged through separate drains.

5. Wastewater discharged from natural rainwater runoff.

6. Wastewater discharged from fishing vessels.

7. Wastewater discharged from centralized wastewater treatment systems of urban areas (as specified in the Government’s Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP of August 6, 2014, on water drainage and wastewater treatment) into receiving water sources after being treated up to standards and technical regulations on environment according to regulations.

Chapter II

CHARGE RATES, DETERMINATION OF PAYABLE CHARGE AMOUNTS

Article 6.Charge rates

1. The environmental protection charge rate for residential wastewater:

The environmental protection charge rate for residential wastewater is 10% of the selling price of 1m³of clean water, exclusive of value-added tax. In case of necessity to apply higher charge rates, provincial-level People’s Councils shall decide on a specific higher charge rate for each charge-liable object.

2. Environmental protection charge rates for industrial wastewater

a/ Establishments with a total average wastewater volume of under 20m³per day (24 hours) in a year shall be subject to the fixed charge rate based on wastewater volume (without applying the variable charge rate) as follows:

- In 2020, the charge rate of VND 1,500,000/year shall apply.

- From January 1, 2021, on, the fixed charge rates specified in the table below shall apply:

b/ For production and processing establishments with a total average wastewater volume of at least 20 m³per day in a year, the charge rate shall be calculated according to the following formula: F = f + C.

In which:

a/ F is the payable charge amount.

b/ f is the fixed charge rate of VND 1,500,000/year (VND 4,000,000/year from January 1, 2021, on); in case an establishment commences operation after quarter I ends, the payable charge amount shall be calculated for the period from the time of commencement of operation till the year end with the charge rate for one quarter equaling f divided by 4.

- C is the variable charge rate, which shall be calculated based on the total volume of water discharged; wastewater pollutant contents and the charge rate applicable to each pollutant specified in the table below:

c/ Pollutants (subject to measurement, declaration and charge calculation) shall be determined based on current national environmental technical regulations applicable to wastewater. In case there is no national environmental technical regulation applicable to wastewater of an establishment, the establishment’s environmental dossier (the dossier already approved or certified by state management agencies in charge of environmental issues) shall apply.

d/ The volume of wastewater per day shall be determined based on actual measurement data or inspection and examination results of state management agencies in charge of environmental issues.

Article 7.Determination of payable charge amounts

1. For residential wastewater

The environmental protection charge amount payable for residential wastewater shall be determined as follows:

In which:

a/ The volume of clean water used shall be determined based on the charge payer’s water meter readings. For self-exploited water, the volume of clean water used shall be determined based on the scope of business and service activities or permits for exploitation of surface water or groundwater as declared by organizations or business households or individuals and appraised by People’s Committees of wards and townships.

b/ The selling price of clean water is the selling price of water (exclusive of value-added tax) applied by clean water supplier in the locality;

c/ The charge rate is specified in Clause 1, Article 6 of this Decree.

2. For industrial wastewater

a/ For establishments with an average wastewater volume of under 20 m³/day in the year of charge calculation, the payable charge amount must comply with Point a, Clause 2, Article 6 of this Decree.

b/ For establishments with an average wastewater volume of 20 m³/day or more, the quarterly payable charge amount shall be calculated according to the following formula: F_q= (f/4) + C_q.

In which:

+ F_qis the charge amount to be paid in a quarter (VND);

+ f is the fixed charge amount specified at Point a, Clause 2, Article 6 of this Decree.

+ C_qis the variable charge amount (the total charge amounts of pollutants in wastewater) to be paid in a quarter.

c/ The variable charge amount shall be calculated for each pollutant according to the following formula:

- For establishments subject to regular monitoring of wastewater in accordance with law, the grounds for determination of contents of pollutants in wastewater for charge declaration and calculation is data obtained from wastewater monitoring once every 3 months. For establishments for which wastewater monitoring is carried out once every 6 months, the payable charge amounts for quarters when wastewater monitoring is not carried out shall be declared and calculated based on monitoring data of the previous quarter.

The total volume of wastewater discharged shall be determined based on one of the following 3 data sources: (i) actual readings of meters or measuring devices; (ii) 80% of the volume of water used; (iii) information available in regular environmental supervision reports. In case 2 data sources of (i) and (ii) or (i) and (iii) or all 3 data sources are available, data source (i) shall be used. In case 2 data sources of (ii) and (iii) are available, data source (ii) shall be used.

- For establishments subject to automatic and continuous monitoring of wastewater in accordance with law, the declaration, calculation and appraisal of payable charge amount shall be determined for every 24-hour period, in which contents of pollutants used for charge calculation and total volume of wastewater discharged by the establishments shall be calculated based on the daily average (24-hour) value of measurement results. In case pollutants used for charge calculation are not those subject to automatic and continuous monitoring, their contents shall be calculated based on regular monitoring data.

d/ The variable charge amount of an establishment with more than one wastewater discharge point shall be total of variable charge amounts determined at every wastewater discharge point.

Chapter III

CHARGE DECLARATION, PAYMENT, MANAGEMENT AND USE

Article 8.Making and appraisal of declarations and payment of charge

1. Environmental protection charge for residential wastewater:

a/ For water supplied by clean water suppliers

- Charge payers shall pay environmental protection charge for residential wastewater to clean water suppliers upon paying their clean water bills;

- Charge-collecting organizations shall:

+ Open an account for collection of environmental protection charge for residential wastewater at the local state treasury office; open an account book to separately monitor collected amounts of environmental protection charge for residential wastewater and refrain from accounting charge amounts, which may not be remitted into the state budget, as their business turnover.

+ Deposit collected charge amounts into the charge-collection account on a weekly basis and every month, remit collected charge amounts on such account into the state budget no later than the 20^thof the subsequent month.

+ Declare and remit collected charge amounts on a monthly basis, and make finalization with tax offices on a yearly basis in accordance with the law on tax administration.

b/ For self-exploited water

- For every quarter, no later than the 20^thof the first month of the subsequent quarter, a charge payer shall make a charge declaration (according to Form No. 1 promulgated together with this Decree) with the People’s Committee of the ward or township and pay charge into the account for collection of environmental protection charge for residential wastewater opened by the People’s Committee of ward township at the local state treasury office. Bases for charge declaration and payment are the volume of self-exploited water used in the quarter, the selling price of clean water and the charge rate specified in Clause 1, Article 6 of this Decree.

Charge payers shall fully pay additional charge amounts stated in notices of charge-collecting organizations prescribed at this Point (if any) within 10 days after receiving such a notice.

- Charge-collecting organizations shall:

+ Appraise the charge declaration; issue a notice of additional payment or reduction of the payable charge amount in the subsequent period in case charge declarations are not conformable with realities.

+ Open an account for collection of environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater at the local state treasury office. Open an account book to separately monitor collected amounts of environmental protection charge, monitor, manage and use the retained charge amount specified in Clause 1, Article 9 of this Decree.

+ For every quarter, no later than the last day of the second month of the subsequent quarter, charge-collecting organizations shall make and submit to tax offices a declaration of collected environmental protection charge amounts in accordance with the law on tax administration, and remit collected charge amounts into the state budget according to the rates specified in Clause 1, Article 9 of this Decree.

+ For every year, within 90 days, counted from January 1 of the subsequent year, conduct finalization of environmental protection charge with tax offices in accordance with the law on tax administration.

c/ State treasury offices shall account environmental protection charge amounts remitted by charge-collecting organizations into chapters, sections and sub-sections of the state budget index in accordance with law.

2. Environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater:

a/ For establishments with a total average wastewater volume of 20 m³/day or more in a year: For every quarter, no later than the 20^thof the first month of the subsequent quarter, charge payers shall make a charge declaration (according to Form No. 2 promulgated together with this Decree) with charge-collecting organizations and pay the charge amount into the account for collection of environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater opened by charge-collecting organizations at the state treasury office; pay the additional charge amount stated in notices issued by charge-collecting organizations (if any) within 10 days after receiving such a notice.

b/ For establishments with a total average wastewater volume of under 20 m³per day in a year (paying fixed charge under Clause 2, Article 6 of this Decree), charge payers shall:

- Make declaration once with charge-collecting organizations when commencing their operation (according to Form No. 2 promulgated together with this Decree), no later than the 20^thof the month following the month when they commence their operation.

- Make one-off charge payment for the whole year according to notices of charge-collecting organizations no later than March 31 every year. Establishments that commence operation after March 31 shall pay charge according to notices of charge-collecting organizations within 10 days after receiving such a notice.

c/ Charge-collecting organizations shall:

- Coordinate with related agencies in reviewing and adjusting the classification of charge payers into subjects liable to fixed charge or variable charge and notify such to charge payers no later than March 10 every year. For establishments that commence operation after March 31, charge-collecting organizations shall notify to charge payers no later than the last day of the first month of the subsequent quarter.

- Appraise environmental protection charge declarations within 10 working days after receiving them. Bases for appraisal include figures declared by charge payers; measurement results of the state management agency in charge of environmental issues or results of the latest inspection or examination which, however, must be carried out within 12 months from the time of charge declaration and payment. In case payable environmental protection charge amounts differ from those declared by charge payers, charge-collecting organizations shall issue notices of additional charge payment (according to Form No. 3 provided in the Appendix to this Decree) or reduce the payable charge amounts of the subsequent period.

- Open an account book to separately monitor collected environmental protection charge amounts, and monitor, manage and use charge amounts retained under Clause 2, Article 9 of this Decree. Open an account for collection of environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater at the local state treasury office.

- For every quarter, no later than the last day of the second month of the subsequent quarter, make and submit declarations of collected environmental protection charge amounts to tax offices in accordance with the law on tax administration and remit collected charge amounts into the state budget at the rate prescribed in Clause 2, Article 9 of this Decree.

- For every year, within 90 days from the first day of the subsequent year, carry out finalization of environmental protection charge with tax offices in accordance with the law on tax administration.

d/ For production and processing establishments directly managed by the Ministry of Public Security or Ministry of National Defense (cases regarded as national defense and security secrets):

- For every quarter, no later than the 20^thof the first month of the subsequent quarter, charge payers shall make an environmental protection charge declaration (according to Form No. 2 promulgated together with this Decree) and submit it to the Ministry of Public Security or Ministry of National Defense. The latter shall appraise declarations and issue a notice thereof to provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments of localities where the establishments operate according to Form No. 4 promulgated together with this Decree within 30 days after receiving production and processing establishments’ charge declarations and concurrently send such notices to production and processing establishments for charge payment. Provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments shall monitor and manage environmental protection charge payment by such establishments.

Article 9.Charge management and use

1. For residential wastewater:

a/ Clean water suppliers may retain 10% and People’s Committees of wards and townships may retain 25% of total collected amounts of environmental protection charge to cover charge collection expenses. In case charge collection expenses are smaller than retained charge amounts, provincial-level People’s Councils may decide to apply an appropriate retention rate, which, however, must not exceed 10%, for clean water suppliers, or 25%, for People’ Committees of wards and townships;

b/ Retained charge amounts constitute turnover of clean water suppliers. Clean water suppliers shall declare and pay value-added tax and enterprise income tax in accordance with the tax laws and decide on management and use of retained charge amounts (without having to carrying out procedures for change of turnover sources in accordance with Clause 5, Article 5 of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees).

2. For industrial wastewater:

a/ Charge-collecting organizations shall remit total collected amounts of environmental protection charge into the state budget; their operation expenses shall be covered by the state budget.

b/ Charge-collecting organizations whose operation expenses are pre-calculated and allocated under Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees, may retain 25% of total collected charge amounts to cover charge collection expenses under Article 5 of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees; in which, other expenses include expenses for survey, making of statistics, review, classification, updating and management of charge-liable objects; expenses for measurement, evaluation, taking and analysis of wastewater samples to serve the appraisal of charge declarations, and for charge management; and expenses for periodical and unscheduled inspections of industrial wastewater-discharging establishments.

3. Charge-collecting organizations shall remit the remainder after deducting amounts retained under Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article to local budgets for use for environmental protection, additional allocation of working capital for local environmental protection funds for prevention, mitigation and control of pollution caused by wastewater, and application of technological and technical solutions and plans to treat wastewater.

4. Annually, charge-collecting organizations shall make public environmental protection charge amounts collected in the previous year in the mass media such as local newspapers and radios, their portals and in other appropriate forms for citizens and enterprises to be able to acquire such information.

Article 10.Responsibilities of local agencies

1. Provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments and district-level Natural Resources and Environment Divisions shall:

a/ Coordinate with related agencies in classifying objects liable to pay fixed charge and variable charge as specified in Clause 2, Article 6 of this Decree.

b/ Appraise declarations of environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater, issue notices of payable charge amounts; and manage the collection and payment of environmental protection charge;

c/ District-level Natural Resources and Environment Divisions shall sum up figures on environmental protection charge collection for reporting to provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments before March 31 of the subsequent year;

d/ Provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments shall sum up figures on environmental protection charge for wastewater in their localities for reporting to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment before May 31 of the subsequent year and propose amendments to regulations on rates and management and use of environmental protection charge for wastewater (if any) for submission to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

2. Tax offices shall examine, urge and finalize the collection and remittance, of environmental protection charge for wastewater by clean water suppliers and natural resources and environment agencies in their localities.

3. Clean water suppliers shall:

a/ Coordinate with provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments and related units in collecting charge and making lists of establishments subject to payment of environmental protection charge for industrial wastewater so as to refrain from calculating and collecting environmental protection charge for residential wastewater from these establishments under Clause 3, Article 4 of this Decree.

b/ Sum up figures on collected amounts of environmental protection charge for residential wastewater and report them to provincial-level Natural Resources and Environment Departments before March 31 of the subsequent year.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 11.Effect

1. This Decree takes effect on July 1, 2020, and replaces the Government’s Decree No. 154/2016/ND-CP of November 16, 2016, on environmental protection charge for wastewater.

2. Localities (or urban centers) that have collected water discharge service charges under the Government’s Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP of August 6, 2014, on water discharge and treatment of wastewater, shall not collect environmental protection charge for wastewater under this Decree.

3. From the effective date of this Decree, in case provincial-level People’s Councils have already issued documents on environmental protection charge rates for residential wastewater and retention rates applicable to clean water suppliers as prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 154/2016/ND-CP of November 16, 2016, on environmental protection charge for wastewater, but not yet issued new documents to replace these documents, the old documents may be further applied. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall issue new documents to replace the old ones at their upcoming session.

4. The payment of environmental protection charge under this Decree does not serve as a basis for certifying the lawful discharge by wastewater-discharging establishments. Wastewater-discharging establishments that violate environmental regulations will be handled in accordance with the environmental law.

5. In the course of implementation, if legal documents referred to this Decree are amended, supplemented or replaced, the amending, supplementing or replacing documents prevail.

Article 12.Organization of implementation

1. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall sum up proposals and recommendations on revision of documents on charge collection (if any) and send them to the Ministry of Finance for submission to the Government.

2. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall propose People’s Councils of the same level to prescribe in detail:

a/ The environmental protection charge rate for residential wastewater as specified in Clause 1, Article 6 of this Decree (if necessary);

b/ The retention rate of environmental protection charge for residential wastewater as specified in Clause 1, Article 9 of this Decree.

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

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC