Thông tư 26/2015/TT-BNNPTNT

CIRCULAR

AMENDING TO A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF CIRCULAR No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT DATED 06/5/2013 BY THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROVIDING FOR FOREST REPLACEMENT UPON THE REPURPOSING OF FOREST

Pursuant to the Law on Forest protection and development 2004;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 199/2013/ND-CP dated 26/11/2013 by the Government defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 23/2006/ND-CP dated 03/03/2006 by the Government on the implementation of the Law on Forest protection and development;

At the request of Director General of Forestry;

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural development promulgates the Circular amending to a number of articles of Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/2013 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development providing for forest replacement upon the repurposing of forest.

Article 1. Amendments to a number of articles of Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/2013 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development providing for forest replacement upon the repurposing of forest

1. Clause 2 Article 2 is amended as follows:

“2. There shall be plans for forest replacement for forest areas that are repurposed, forest replacement areas of which shall be at least equal to the repurposed forest areas and approved by a competent agency or the payment slip”.

2. Clause 1 Article 3 is amended as follows:

“1. Any organizations/individuals being owner of a project in which forest  is repurposed shall build up a plan on forest replacement (hereinafter referred to as the plan) and request People's Committees of provinces to approve. If the forest area subject to repurposing is located in multiple provinces, the specific plan shall be built up for each province.

a) The project funded by the State budget in which forest is repurposed before the effective date of Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/2013, the specific forest replacement plans may not be made, the Service of Agriculture and Rural development shall make list of replacement forest areas in the plan, build up a general forest replacement plan for the whole province and request People’s Committee to approve. The Plan shall be built up according to the form in Appendix 03 enclosed with this Circular.

b) Regarding the plans on repurposing of forest to business purpose, project owners who are not able to carry out the forest replacement themselves and pay money for forest replacement may not draw up plans on forest replacement and comply with the regulations in Clause 5 of this Article”.

3. Point a Clause 2 Article 3 is amended as follows:

“a) Name of the Plan on investment in the replacement of forest areas that are repurposed".

4. Clause 2 Article 4 is amended as follows:

“2. Director of the Service of Agriculture and Rural development shall establish a plan appraising Council including the representatives of the Service of Agriculture and Rural development, the Service of Natural Resources and Environment, Service of Planning and Investment, district-level People’s Committees of the area where the replacing forest is located and relevant scientific organization. The Council shall include 5 (five) members with a leader of the Service of Agriculture and Rural development being the chairman.

If the forest replacement plan has the total area under 50 hectares the Plan appraising council may not include all the members prescribed above. Director of the Service of Agriculture and Rural development shall decide the number of members in the Plan appraising council".

5. Article 6 is amended as follows:

“Article 6. Forest replacement in project in which forest is repurposed into business purpose but the project owner is not able to carry out the forest replacement.

1. In case the People’s Committees of provinces allocate land for forest replacement in administrative divisions:

a) Regarding the projects in which the forest has been repurposed before the effect of the Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/1013, the People’s Committee of province shall decide the forest replacement projects subject to forest replacement charge before 30/9/2015.

b) Regarding the projects in which the forest is repurposed after the effect of the Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/1013, the project owners shall request the People’s Committees of provinces to approve the plan on payment for forest replacement.

The application shall include a written application for approval for the plan on payment for forest replacement; a description of the investment project in which the forest is repurposed (enclosed with the application).

The project owner shall submit 01 application directly to the People’s Committees or by post.

Within 15 (fifteen) working days from the day on which the application is received, People’s Committees of provinces shall consider, handle and notify the project owners for implementation.

c) People’s Committees of provinces shall decide the unit price for the afforestation, total amount and deadline for the project owners to pay the charge for forest replacement. Unit price for forest replacement shall be calculated in VND per hectare (including the charge for survey, design and construction of forest and the administrative expense until the forest is formed) according to the average estimate for the afforestation in local area by the time project owner pays the charge.

d) Forest protection and development funds of province shall receive and manage the amount of payment for forest replacement and carry out the disbursement according to the approval of People’s Committees of provinces to carry out the forest replacement.

2. In case land area in the province is not sufficient for forest replacement:

a) Regarding the projects in which the forest has been repurposed before the effect of the Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/1013, the People’s Committee of province shall decide the forest replacement projects subject to forest replacement charge before 30/9/2015.

b) Regarding the projects in which the forest is repurposed after the effect of the Circular No. 24/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated 06/5/1013, the project owners shall request the People’s Committees of provinces to approve the plan on payment for forest replacement.

c) People’s Committees of provinces shall send a writing requesting the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to approve the plan on payment for forest replacement of the project owners. The application shall include a written application of the People’s Committee of province to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; a list of plans subject to payment for forest replacement (enclose with the application) that is formulated according to Appendix 04 enclosed herewith.

Quantity and submitting method: 01 application, submitted directly or by post.

d) Within 20 (twenty) working days from the day on which the application sent from People’s Committee of province is received, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall consider and allocate the land for forest replacement in another locality; decide the unit price for afforestation and total amount and deadline for the project owner to pay the charge for forest replacement and send a written notification to relevant People’s Committee and the project owner for implementation.

dd) Unit price for forest replacement shall be calculated in VND per hectare (including the charge for survey, design and construction of forest and the administrative expense until the forest is formed) according to the average estimate for the afforestation by the time project owner pays the charge.

e) The Central Forest protection and development funds shall receive and manage the amount of payment for forest replacement and carry out the disbursement according to the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to carry out the forest replacement.

3. The payment to forest protection and development funds for forest replacement shall be allocated to the development of protective forest and special-use forest.”

6. The Appendix 03 and Appendix 04 are added.

Article 2. Implementary clause

This Decision comes into effect from September 15, 2015.

Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for amendments./.