On December 10, the Government issued Decree No. 155/2024/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the field of hydrometeorology. The Decree sets out new regulations to more closely manage weather forecasting and natural disaster warnings.
This Decree provides for administrative violations, forms of sanctions, levels of sanctions, remedial measures for administrative violations, authority to sanction and authority to draw up records of administrative violations in the field of hydrometeorology.
According to the Decree, for each administrative violation in the field of hydrometeorology, the violating organization or individual must be subject to the main form of punishment, which is a fine.
The maximum fine for an administrative violation in the field of hydrometeorology is 50 million VND for an individual and 100 million VND for an organization.
Additional penalties include: Suspension of the license to operate in hydrometeorological forecasting and warning from 1 month to 12 months; confiscation of exhibits and means used to commit the violation.
According to the Decree, a fine of 15 to 20 million VND will be imposed for one of the following violations: Failure to perform forecasting and warning activities within the scope of the license; providing forecasting and warning information to subjects not in accordance with the license; correcting or erasing the license content.
Fine from 20 to 25 million VND for the act of arbitrarily lending or leasing a license.
A fine of 25 to 30 million VND shall be imposed for one of the following violations: Conducting hydrometeorological forecasting and warning activities without a license; conducting hydrometeorological forecasting and warning activities when the license has expired for 6 months or more.
The Decree clearly states that a fine of 10 to 15 million VND will be imposed for one of the following violations: Failure to comply with technical regulations, technical standards, and professional processes for forecasting and warning of hydrometeorology.
Fines from 15 to 20 million VND for one of the following acts: Failure to forecast the flow to the reservoir, the possibility of increasing the water level of the reservoir according to the provisions of law on dam and reservoir safety; issuing meteorological and hydrological forecast and warning bulletins three consecutive times in 1 month for each type of bulletin that is not reliable enough.
A fine of 30 to 50 million VND shall be imposed for one of the following acts: Intentionally providing false meteorological and hydrological forecasts and warnings; intentionally violating technical regulations, technical standards, and professional processes in meteorological and hydrological forecasting and warning activities.
According to the decree, a fine of 3 to 5 million VND will be imposed on the act of transmitting or broadcasting meteorological and hydrological forecasts and warnings without clearly stating the source of the news.
The act of transmitting or broadcasting meteorological and hydrological forecasts and warnings without origin shall be fined from 5 to 10 million VND.
Fines from 10 to 20 million VND for acts of transmitting or broadcasting incomplete content of meteorological and hydrological disaster forecast and warning bulletins.
The act of transmitting or broadcasting meteorological and hydrological disaster forecasts and warnings later than the prescribed time shall be subject to a fine of 20 to 30 million VND.
In addition, a fine of 30 to 40 million VND shall be imposed for one of the following violations: Failure to transmit or broadcast meteorological and hydrological disaster forecast and warning bulletins; fraud regarding the origin of meteorological and hydrological disaster forecast and warning bulletins when transmitting or broadcasting; transmitting or broadcasting incorrect meteorological and hydrological disaster forecast and warning bulletins; intentionally providing incorrect information about meteorological and hydrological disaster forecast and warning activities.
This Decree comes into force from February 1, 2025.
