CIRCULAR

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF PROVISIONS OF CIRCULAR No.01/NN-KL-TT OF FEBRUARY 18, 1997 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DECREE No. 77-CP OF THE GOVERNMENT ON SANCTIONS AGAINST ADMINIS-TRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION OF FORESTS AND THE MANAGEMENT OF FOREST PRODUCTS

On February 18, 1997, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Circular No.01/NN-KL-TT guiding the implementation of Decree No.77-CP of November 29, 1996 the Government on sanctions against administrative violations in the management and protection of forests and the management of forest products. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development now provides the following amendments and supplements to a number of provisions of Circular No.01/NN-KL-TT:

Section I.- REGARDING THE GENERAL PROVISIONS.

Point 3: On the principles for handling administrative violations.

Point 3.1: In cases where a person commits several administrative violations:

The second paragraph: "When making record or issuing sanctioning decision against the person who has committed such several violations, the competent agency shall make only one record..." is now added with the phrase "at the same moment" before "when making record...", and the word "such" is now crossed out. So, the new sentence is correctly written as follows: "At the same moment, when making record or issuing sanctioning decision against the person who has committed several violations, the competent agency shall make only one record..."

Point 3.2: In cases where many persons bound together in an organization to collectively commit an administrative violation:

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Section II.- REGARDING VIOLATION ACTS, THE FORMS AND LEVELS OF SANCTION

Point 2: The application of sanction forms and levels:

Point 2.2: The method for calculating fines.

The following example is supplemented to the end of the paragraph:

For an act of destroying 0.06 ha of protection forest which is detected by a ranger who makes a record thereon, if the extent of damage caused by such violation act falls within the sanction bracket stipulated in Point a, Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree No.77-CP with a fine of more than 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 VND, before determining the level of sanction, the ranger shall temporarily set a fine as follows:

5,000,000 VND x 0.06 ha

= 3,000,000 VND

0.1 ha

On the basis of the above temporarily calculated fine, in case of extenuating factor(s) the fine may be determined below 3,000,000 VND but not lower than the minimum level of 1,000,000 VND; in case of aggravating factor(s), it may be determined above 3,000,000 VND but not exceeding the maximum level of 5,000,000 VND in this fine bracket.

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In the first paragraph, clause "In special cases where the violator meets with economic difficulties...he/she shall be allowed to use those forestry products." is crossed out.

Section III.- REGARDING THE SANCTIONING COMPETENCE AND PROCEDURES

A.- THE SANCTIONING COMPETENCE

1. The sanctioning competence of rangers:

Point 1.1: A ranger on public duty, when detecting an act of violation under his/her sanctioning competence, shall handle it as follows:

The whole point is amended and supplemented as follows:

- If it is a minor violation and if he/she deems it necessary to serve a warning or to impose a fine of up to 20,000 VND without confiscating the material evidences and means involved in the violation, he/she shall issue a sanctioning decision on the spot as prescribed in Article 46 of the Ordinance on the Handling of Administrative Violations;

- If he/she deems it necessary to impose a fine of more than 20,000 to 100,000 VND without confiscating material evidences and means involved in the violation, he/she shall make a record on the administrative violation and issue sanctioning decision as prescribed in Articles 47 and 48 of the Ordinance on the Handling of Administrative Violations;

The issuance of sanctioning decisions by the rangers within their competence shall strictly comply with the prescribed form and the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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This Circular amends and supplements a number of provisions of Circular No.01/NN-KL-TT of February 18, 1997 and takes effect 15 days after its signing; other provi-sions of Circular No.01/NN-KL-TT shall be kept intact.

FOR THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
VICE MINISTER




Nguyen Quang Ha