Mr. Nguyen Quang Kieu's company (Dong Thap) has been granted an environmental license, including environmental licensing for emissions for 5 waste streams.

Due to the characteristics of different waste sources, the monitoring program for the waste streams does not have complete or all parameters (such as organic vapor waste streams) to calculate the exchange fee.

Mr. Kieu asked, in the process of making a declaration to pay environmental protection fees for emissions, does his company have to re-sample indicators that are not included in the approved periodic monitoring program?

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment responds to this issue as follows:

The fee calculation method is stipulated in Article 5 of Decree No. 153/2024/ND-CP dated November 21, 2024 of the Government regulating environmental protection fees for emissions:

"Article 5. Fee calculation method

1. Environmental protection fees for emissions to be paid during the fee payment period are calculated according to the following formula: F = f + C.

In which:

a) F is the total fee to be paid during the fee payment period (quarterly or yearly).

b) f is the fixed fee stipulated in Clause 1, Article 6 of this Decree (quarterly or yearly).

c) C is the variable fee, calculated quarterly.

The variable fee of the emission discharge facility (C) is the total variable fee at each emission stream (Ci) determined according to the following formula: C = ΣCi.

The variable fee for each emission stream (Ci) is equal to the total The conversion cost of environmental pollutants specified in Clause 2, Article 6 of this Decree is contained in the exhaust gas at each exhaust gas stream (i) and is determined according to the following formula:

Ci = Ci (Dust) + Ci (SOx) + Ci (NOx) + Ci (CO)

The conversion cost of each environmental pollutant contained in the exhaust gas at each exhaust gas stream (i) is determined as follows:

Ci (pollutant in exhaust gas) = Emission flow rate at the i-th exhaust gas stream (Nm3/hour) x Emission discharge time at the i-th exhaust gas stream (hour) x Concentration of pollutant in exhaust gas at the i-th exhaust gas stream (mg/Nm3) x 10-9 x Fees for pollutant (VND/ton)

In which:

The time of exhaust gas discharge at the i-th exhaust gas stream is the total time of exhaust gas discharge during the fee calculation period at the i-th exhaust gas stream as declared by the fee payer.

The exhaust gas flow and the concentration of each pollutant in the exhaust gas at each exhaust gas stream generated during the fee payment period are determined as follows:

For exhaust gas discharge facilities that conduct periodic monitoring: The exhaust gas flow is determined according to the flow recorded in the environmental license; the concentration of each pollutant in the exhaust gas is determined based on periodic monitoring data every 3 months as prescribed in Article 98 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection. In case the emission discharge facility has a periodic monitoring frequency of 06 months/time as prescribed in Article 98 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, the declaration and calculation of fees for the quarter without monitoring shall be based on the monitoring data of the previous monitoring period.

For emission discharge facilities that perform automatic and continuous monitoring: The emission flow and concentration of each environmental pollutant in the emission shall be determined according to the average value of the measurement results (according to the technical characteristics of each type of equipment).

2. For emission discharge facilities that are subject to automatic, continuous or periodic emission monitoring according to the environmental license (hereinafter referred to as the subject of emission monitoring): The environmental protection fee for emissions payable is the total fee payable (F) determined according to the formula prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. For facilities discharging emissions that are not subject to emission monitoring: The environmental protection fee for emissions to be paid is the fixed fee rate (f) prescribed in Clause 1, Article 6 of this Decree".

4 substances that must be declared and paid

Articles 6 and 9 of Decree No. 153/2024/ND-CP stipulate that establishments must declare environmental protection fees for emissions for all 4 environmental pollutants: dust, SOx, NOx (including NO2 and NO), CO.

In cases where the environmental license of a licensed establishment does not cover all 4 substances or lacks 1 of the 4 substances: dust, SOx, NOx (including NO2 and NO), CO, the establishment must still declare and pay emission fees for all 4 substances; Item i.3 of Section B of Form No. 1 attached to Decree No. 153/2024/ND-CP only stipulates that 4 environmental pollutants: dust, SOx, NOx (including NO2 and NO), CO must be declared and paid environmental protection fees for emissions.

Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 153/2024/ND-CP stipulates that in case the facility does not have results of measuring the concentration or flow of exhaust gas, the fee collection organization shall coordinate with the facility to measure and analyze to determine the concentration and flow.

In case the results of monitoring the exhaust gas at each exhaust gas stream of the facility do not show any environmental pollutants, the variable fee for that substance shall be calculated as 0.