MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF JUSTICE HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY ************ LE THI HANG HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN VIETNAM TODAY SUMMARY OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IN LAW Hanoi - 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF JUSTICE HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY ************ LE THI HANG HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN VIETNAM TODAY SUMMARY OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IN LAW Supervisors: Assoc Prof Bui Thi Dao Assoc Prof Dr Vu Thu Hanoi - 2019 VIEWPOINTS AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION INTRODUCTION The necessity of the research topic Enhancing the effectiveness of the fight against law violations in the field of environmental protection to ensure the people’s health and life quality, contributing to the national political stability and security, and promoting economic growth of the country is an urgent requirement, goal and one of the basic contents of sustainable development of countries around the world In recent years, in Vietnam, administrative violations in the field of environmental protection have been quite common, accounting for the largest proportion among violations of environmental protection law Although its danger to society is not as great as that of criminal crimes, administrative violations are increasing and causing significant harm to the environment If the struggle with administrative violations is not effective, it will lead to increasing violations of the law in the field of environment protection and affecting the sustainable development goals of Vietnam The Party’s socio-economic development strategy in the period 2010-2020 affirmed that “Socio-economic development must always attach importance to protecting and improving the environment ” and “perfecting the legal system on environmental protection, building a system of sanctions strong enough to prevent and handle violations” Handling administrative violations is the State’s legal measure that has great effects in combating violations of law in the field of environmental protection, contributing to raising the efficiency of environmental protection, stabilizing security, politics, social order and safety Being aware of this, our state has focused on improving the system of law on handling administrative violations and gradually improving the effectiveness of handling administrative violations in this field in practice In which, the 2014 environmental protection law, the 2012 law on the handling of administrative violations and Decrees on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection are considered the basic nucleus of the system of law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection By examining the provisions of the existing law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in the 2014 environmental protection law, the law on handling administrative violations 2012, Decree 155/2016/ND-CP on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of environmental protection also reveals many shortcomings There are many overlapping and inappropriate rules on handling administrative violations, competence and procedures for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, causing difficulties for law enforcement on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in reality [122, p 47] Additionally, the awareness of individuals and organizations in protecting environment and their participation in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection is not high The competent subjects to handle administrative violations in this field are still limited professional and qualifications; coordination in handling administrative violations is not strict; technical facilities for handling administrative violations have not yet met the requirements in practice; form of handling is just applying fines rather than measures of solving consequences and forcing implementation of decision on handling administrative violations, thus reducing the effectiveness of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection On the other hand, our state is a socialist rule of law state, of the people, by the people and for the people The state must be responsible for environmental control, all administrative violations in the field of environmental protection must be strictly handled to ensure that people can live in a clean, safe and healthy environment to ensure their natural rights and interests In order to this, the State should complete the law on handling administrative violations and improve the effectiveness of organizations of law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in reality It is necessary to examine and evaluate comprehensively and systematically theoretical issues, situation of law and the law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in reality, as well as proposing specific solutions to improve the efficiency of handling administration in the field of environmental protection This aims to enhance the efficiency of environmental protection and contributing to sustainable socio2 economic development of the country and international integration This is the reason why the author selects research titled “Handling administrative violations in the field of environment protection in Vietnam today” as her doctoral dissertation in law Research purpose and tasks 2.1 Research purpose: The study aims to clarify theoretical and practical issues on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and propose solutions to improve the effectiveness of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam today 2.2 Research tasks - Analyzing the theoretical issues on handling of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection such as: concepts, characteristics of administrative violations and handling violations; competence, procedures, forms, roles and factors affecting the effectiveness of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; - Analyzing the provisions of the existing law and the law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in reality, and pointing out achievements, limitations and causes of the limitations - Proposing solutions to improve the law and the effectiveness of law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam today Methodology and research methods 3.1 Methodology: The dissertation uses the methodology of MarxismLeninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thought to consider and analyze issues 3.2 Research methods: Methods of systematical approach, analysis and synthesis; methods of description and analysis legal documents; statistical methods; methods of comparison, proven and method-investigated by ankét (200 questionnaires for the competent subjects in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; 200 questionnaires for individuals, organizations and enterprises) Research subject and scope 4.1 Research subject: is the theoretical handling administrative violations in the field of environment protection; law on handling administrative violations in the field of environment protection and the reality of enforcing law handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam 4.2 Research scope - Regarding contents: systematize and explain theoretical issues on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; assessing the situation of the law including provisions of the law on handling administrative violations in the 2014 Environmental Protection Law, the law on handling administrative violations 2012, Decree 155/2016/ND-CP on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; proposing solutions to improve the efficiency of the law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam - Spatially: to survey directly in some typical provinces/cities in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection such as Hanoi, Bac Giang, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City Chi Minh, Dong Nai, Lam Dong - Regarding time: from 2012 to 2018 New contributions of the dissertation - The dissertation presents the concept of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and clarifying characteristics of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - To analyze and clarify further some basic theoretical issues on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection such as grounds, competence, procedures and forms of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, roles and factors affecting the efficiency of handling these violations - To analyze further and assess comprehensively achievements and limitations of the provisions of Vietnamese law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and law enforcement in practice it then draws causes of the limitations - Giving arguments on the perspective and propose some solutions to improve the efficiency of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Theoretical and practical significance of the dissertation The dissertation seeks to examine and clarify issues from theory, law and law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The dissertation findings can be seen as valuable reference for legislative and regulatory agencies in the process of studying, building and perfecting the law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The dissertation is valuable for researching and teaching at universities of law Structure of the dissertation In addition to the introduction and conclusion and references, the dissertation includes chapters Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Research situation related to the dissertation title 1.1.1 Research works on theoretical issues on environment, protection of environment, handling law violations and handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 1.1.1.1 Research works on theoretical issues on environment, protection of environment, handling law violations on environmental protection 1.1.1.2 Research works on theoretical issues on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection This section mentions research works that examine concept and characteristics of handling administrative violations in general, as well as the concept and characteristics of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in particular; bases of handling these violations; the handled objects, competent subjects, forms and procedures in handling administrative violations, and roles and factors affecting handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 1.1.2 Research works on the real situation of the law in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam 1.1.3 Research works on the reality of enforcing law and solutions to improve the efficiency of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam 1.1.4 Research works on foreign experiences in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 1.2 Evaluating research situation related to the dissertation title and the issues need to be further examined 1.2.1 Achievements of previous research works that the dissertation inherits and develop - Previous research works presented concept of environment, protection of environment and handling administrative violation on environmental protection - Referring bases for handling administrative violations, characteristics of administrative violation in the field of environmental protection; competences in handling administrative violation, the subjects are handled to be mainly individuals and organizations; basic forms of handling, procedures, roles and factors affecting handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Examining the real situation of the law and enforcing law in handling administrative violation in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam before 2015 - Giving solutions to improve the law on administrative violations, as well as competence and forms of handling administrative violations 1.2.2 Issues that need further study - Previous research works have not given a full concept of administrative violations and handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection They presented characteristics of handling administrative violations but they are similar to characteristics of sanctioning administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - The works have not fully interpreted the nature of each form of administrative deterrence to ensure the implementation of the decisions on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Not yet clarified the competence in handling administrative violations of the state administrative management offices on environmental protection and environmental police forces; not clarifying procedures on handling administrative violations that include steps from discovery to overcome consequences - Most of research works on the real situation of the law in handling administrative violations on environmental protection and handling these violations in practice, have just stopped mention rather than intensive interpretation and stopped by 2012, so there are many contents to be no longer consistent with the provisions of the existing law Therefore, the study will focus on assessing the quality of the actual law and the reality of enforcing law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection between 2012 and 2018 - So far, there have not been any comprehensive research works of countries around the world on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and compare with Vietnam The dissertation tries to examine foreign research works on this issue so as to draw experiences for Vietnam The study also intends to propose solutions to improve regulations on administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; forms of handling violations; procedures and competence in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 1.3 Research questions and hypotheses 1.3.1 Research questions (1) How is the nature of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and the components to handle administrative violations in the field of environmental protection understood? (2) What are the roles and factors affecting handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection? (3) How to assess the real situation of the law and activities of handling administrative violations of environmental protection in Vietnam? (4) What are solutions to improve the law and activities of handling administrative violations of environmental protection in Vietnam? 1.3.2 Hypotheses - The nature of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection is the process of applying forms of handling to individuals and organizations who violate administration in the field of environmental protection from the discovery their violations to completely overcome consequence of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - There are components in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, including: bases of handling administrative violations; competent subjects in handling administrative violations; forms and procedures in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Specifically: the bases of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection is that violations occurred in practice but has been anticipated by administrative law; the handling competence will be based on the principle of empowering state administrative agencies in this field Forms of handling administrative violations on protection of environment include sanctions, consequence recovery, administrative suppression to ensure the implementation of decisions on handling administrative violations; force to Chapter THEORETICAL ISSUES ON HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 2.1 Administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 2.1.1 The concept of environment, protection of environment The environment is a system of natural and man-made physical elements surrounding people, having a dialectical interaction with the existence and development of humans and organisms Environmental protection is understood as “activities aim to preserve, prevent and limit adverse impacts on environment; responding to environmental incidents; recovering environmental pollution, degradation, improvement and restoration; exploiting and using rationally natural resources so as to keep a clean environment 2.1.2 The concept of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Administrative violation in the field of environmental protection is illegal acts of environmental protection by individuals who have administrative responsibility capacity or infringing on social relations in the field of environmental protection and must be handled by certain forms of handling administrative violations under the law’s regulations Administrative violations in the field of environmental protection also have characteristics: The objects of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection are very diverse; administrative violation acts in this filed are also diverse; the subjects-violated include individuals and organizations In addition to the subjects directly violate administration in the field of environmental protection, there are also assistants such as advising, encouraging and inciting others to commit acts of harming environment; geographical areas of administrative violation acts are in urban, industrial zones, craft villages, densely populated areas, river basins, coastal areas and seaports; tricks of violation acts are very sophisticated and diverse 10 2.1.3 Constituent of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Objectively: constituent of administrative violations includes signs of behavior, illegal acts and its consequences for social relations in the field of environmental protection, causes and effects, time, place and means of violations In which, the illegal acts are mandatory signs in all administrative violations on environmental protection Subjectively: it includes errors, motives, purposes of violations In which, the errors are reflected in all administrative violations as a mandatory sign Subjects violate administration in the field of environmental protection: including individuals and organizations In addition to citizens, officials and cadres are also those who violate administration if they perform administrative violation acts in the environmental protection Regarding objects: whether they participate in the state administration in the field of environmental protection or not 2.2 Handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 2.2.1 The concept and role of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 2.2.1.1 The concept of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection “Handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection is the activity of the state powerful subjects by administrative procedures prescribed by law to determine administrative violations on protection of environment and applying specific forms of handling for individuals, organizations who violate administration on environmental protection in specific cases to punish, educate violated-individuals, organizations, and protect rights and interests of individuals, organizations, state, society to maintain the order of the state administration in the field of environmental protection Characteristics of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection: Environmental regulations are legal grounds for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; the form and level of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental 11 protection are stricter than that of other areas Analyzing and determining causeeffect relationship between administrative violation acts on protection of environment and its consequences to the state administration on environmental protection are very difficult, methods of collecting evidences to be implemented directly and indirectly The competent subjects in handling administrative violations are diverse, interdisciplinary and inter-region; associated with the use of modern tools and technology, high scientific expertise, and as a complex process and easily lead to negative and take much time 2.2.1.2 The role of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 2.2.2 Forms of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Sanctioning administrative violations includes major and additional penalties: warning is applied for individuals, organizations that their violation is not serious, with extenuating circumstances or for all acts of administrative violations by minors from full 14 to under 16 years of age Imposing fine is defined as a common form in handling administrative violations in the environmental protection Seizing material evidences and means; take away the right to use environmental licenses; suspending activities causing damage to the environment and forcing relocation of production and business establishments that cause serious harm to the environment; and forcing to work for serving the community - Recovering consequences of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection: including: forcing to remedy the initial environment situation that was changed by administrative violations; forcing to break down works and part of works that were built illegally; forcing to implement measures to recover environmental pollution; and forcing to relocate - Preventing administrative violations and ensure the implementation of decisions on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection including: temporary seizure of material evidences and means, environmental license; checking transport means and objects, as well as places store material evidence and means of administrative violations 12 - Forcing to implement decision on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection including: deducting part of salary or income, deducting money from personal accounts and violated-organizations; distraining assets and imposing a fine to administrative violation by real estate 2.2.3 Competence to handle administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Competent subjects in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection including individuals hold job title in the agencies which have function of the state administration on protection of environment like the state administration by territorial; individuals hold job title in the administrative agencies-specialized environmental protection to ensure timeliness and comprehensiveness in handling administrative violations in this field 2.2.4 Procedures for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Procedures for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection are defined as order and ways to conduct specific activities in the process of handling administrative violations including the following stages: to discover administrative violations in the field of environmental protection; to verify administrative violations; to make decisions on handling administrative violations; to implement the decisions on handling administrative violations; to force to implement the decisions on handling administrative violations 2.3 Factors affecting the handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 2.3.1 Law on environmental protection and law on handling administrative violations 2.3.2 Organizational and personnel structure in the field of environmental protection 2.3.4 Science and technology, facilities, facilities, finance 2.3.5 Socio-economic factors Sub-conclusion of chapter 13 Chapter THE REALITY HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 3.1 The reality of the law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 3.1.1 The reality of the law on subjects of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Subjects were handled administrative violations in the field of protection including individuals and organizations However, the provisions of handled subjects have the following limitations: First, Decree 155 stipulates that households and individual business households violate administration in the field of environmental protection are sanctioned as individuals who violate the legal principles regulated by the 2012 Law on handling administrative violations Second, missing the objects who assist others to commit administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Third, those who are officials and public employees when performing official duties shall not be handled for administrative violations This does not guarantee the principle of fairness when dealing with administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 3.1.2 Forms of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The law stipulates the form of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, including: major and additional sanctions; recovering consequences; preventing and ensuring the implementation of decisions on handling administrative violations; forcing to implement the decisions There are still limitations of regulations on measures of handling administrative violations: organizations were imposed a fine twice as much as individuals, has not yet ensured the principle of fairness; administrative violation acts are similar but penalties in legal documents are different; the fine for some acts has not yet been quantified; the fine is not enough to deter those who intentionally commit administrative violations in the field of environmental protection for profit purposes 14 3.1.3 The reality of the law on competence for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The competent subjects in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection are very diverse In which, the competence for applying imposed a fine of billion dong for individuals and billion dong for organizations under the authority of the Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the General Director of Environment Department and the Director of the Police Department on preventing and combating environmental violations and crimes, the Director of the Immigration Department, the President of the provincial People's Committee, and the lowest level is 500 thousand dong under the authority of inspectors However, these regulations are still unavoidable some limitations 3.1.4 The reality of the law on procedures for handling administrative violations The existing law stipulates procedures for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection is applied by general provisions on handling administrative violations including procedures of sanctioning; recovering consequences; procedures of preventing and ensuring the implementation of decisions on handing administrative violations; procedures of handling exhibits and means; procedures of enforcing decisions The current regulations on these procedures still reveal some shortcomings in terms of time, prescription; scope of application of explanatory procedures in handling administrative violations is relatively narrow Summary, the law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection has many advantages but also has many limitations such as not ensuring consistency and uniformity; there are many shortcomings; integration and the compatibility between domestic law and international law are not high Evaluate causes of restrictions 3.2 Administrative violations in the field of environmental protection In the period 2012-2018, there were 93,011,000 cases of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The figure is increasing If the year 2012 just had 10,297 cases, it increased to 14,054 cases in 2014 The year 2015 tends to decrease but this figure has dramatically increased in 2016 15 After Decree 155/2016/ND-CP took effect in 2017, the total number of cases of administrative violations decreased from 2016 but then increased dramatically in 2018 and reached 21,758 cases (see figure 3.1) Administrative violations in the field of environmental protection violate all groups of administrative violations prescribed by law: acts violate regulations on environmental protection plans and schemes; acts of causing environmental pollution; acts violate regulations in the field of environmental protection by production and business facilities and services, and industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks, industrial clusters, concentrated service and business areas; acts violate waste management; violations in handling household waste, industrial solid waste; violations of hazardous waste management; violating regulations on environmental protection when importing machinery, equipment, transport means, raw materials, biological products; violating regulations on preventing and recovering environmental pollution, degradation and incidents; acts of administrative violations on biodiversity Cases of administrative violations from 2012 to 2018 (93,011,000 cases) 25,000 21,578 20,000 14,361 15,000 14,054 10,297 13,096 9,974 9,651 10,000 5,000 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Figure 3.1: Cases of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection between 2012 and 2018 16 Limitations of regulations on administrative violation acts in the field of environmental protection include: some provisions on acts of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection have not been unified with other legal documents or with Decree 155/2016/ND-CP; the law does not have full provisions on specific administrative violation acts of each group; some provisions on administrative violation acts not have specific guidance on how to determine the level of violations, so it is hard to determine measures of handling in reality 3.3 Actual situation of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 3.3.1 The reality of implementing competence in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The forces of Natural Resources and Environment in the whole country have imposed a fine of 451,870 million dong for 5,448 cases However, there are still some limitations such as: responsibilities of authorized subjects in managing personal information of those who violate administration in the field of environmental protection are not closed; some Decisions on handling administrative violations were issued wrongly; many case were discovered late and not handled in time, so the time for sanctioning was expired 3.3.2 The reality of applying forms of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection: The sanction is mainly applied by imposed a fine of 1,559,827 dong Suspending operation of more than 640 facilities make environmental pollution There are over 77,191 forms were applied by recovering consequences However, there are still limitations such as choosing the wrong law for the level of handling violations, it is not consistent with the nature and violation; the additional sanctions have not been paid attention 3.3.3 The reality of implementing procedures for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Most of administrative violations were dealt with under procedures with records In general, the process of handling administrative violations has complied with the law on the time to issue decisions However, there are still certain limitations to implement procedures of handling violations such as some 17 localities still have errors in the documents; some decisions still have many errors such as mistaking forms of additional sanctions for recovering consequences; issuing sanctioning decisions beyond the time since the date of making the violation records Summary, the law enforcement in handling administrative violations in the field of environment protection in Vietnam has many advantages but pointing out some limitations such as missing administrative violations; many cases were discovered late and not handled in time; the issued decisions but there are still many subjects who are not complied with 3.4 Causes results achieved and limited of administrative violations in the field of environment protection in Vietnam Assessing causes of advantages, and causes of the limitations: there is no consensus of viewpoints in handling administrative violations; the apparatus and staffs who are charged in handling administrative violations to be ineffective; some individuals and organizations have not yet complied with the law on handling administrative violations; lack of facilities, techniques and funding Sub-conclusion of chapter 18 Chapter VIEWPOINTS AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 4.1 The viewpoints of improving the efficiency of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - To be fully aware of the viewpoint of sustainable development in issuing legal policies and the law enforcement on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection should be associated with the process of building a socialist rule-of-law state, ensuring the right to live in a clean environment - Handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection should be associated with ensuring the effectiveness of state management in the field of environmental protection, associated with inspection activities and the fighting against violations of law in the field of environmental protection, ensuring prevention principle - To combine harmoniously between the state’s role in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and participation of socio-political organizations and inhabitants in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 4.2 Solutions to improve the law on the handling of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 4.2.1 Amending and supplementing provisions on the administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Supplementing a number administrative violations in the field of environmental protection such as collecting, transporting, burying and treating construction wastes; collecting, transporting, burying mud from dredging canals, ponds, lakes and rivers; collecting, transporting, burying non-hazardous medical wastes; collecting, transporting, burying non-hazardous wastes from agricultural and aqua-cultural activities; failing to monitoring periodic waste; not report the results of environmental monitoring in each stage; not submit results of monitoring waste to the competent agencies In case, must be carried 19 out monitoring environment but not done in reports of assessing environment impacts, environmental protection projects and equivalent environmental files under the competence of provincial-level People’s Committee or agencies were authorized by the provincial-level People's Committee; violation acts in formulating strategies for sustainable exploitation and use resources, protecting maritime environment; acts of violating the master plan on the exploitation and sustainable use of coastal resources; acts of violating program of coastal resource management - Supplementing objects of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and administrative violation acts in this field corresponding to such objects - Setting up and supplementing regulations on environmental technical standards to ensure legal basis to handle effectively administrative violations 4.2.2 Supplementing and increasing competence further of a number of subjects to handle administrative violations in the field of environmental protection First, the 2012 Law on handling administrative violations needs to increase competency for those who are inspectors specialized natural resources and environment, public security, President of the commune-level People's Committee in handling administrative violations by imposing a fine twice compared to current sanction to ensure their autonomy in handling administrative violations Increasing the fine level of the inspectors of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to reduce the difference with the fine level of the Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Second, supplementing competence of environmental inspection and handling administrative violations for the Director of Environmental Protection Branch under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Director General of Vietnam General Department of Sea and Islands, Director of Department of Resources Protection and Environment, Director of General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, Director of Department of Water Resources Management, General Director of General Department of Fisheries, Director of Fisheries Department 20 Third, amending regulations on competency of implementing decision to suspend, enforce and confirm the recovered-consequences for those who violating administration in the direction who issue decision of suspending or force to implement decision on handling administrative violations; for decision of applying forms of recovering consequences, the state management agencies in the field of environmental protection will be the authorized subject implements decision to suspend and force to implement the decision 4.2.3 Amending and supplementing provisions on the handling of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Abolishing and amending some provisions on fine in the 2012 law on the handling of administrative violations, Decree 155 to ensure consistency - Increasing the minimum fine and the maximum fine when handling violations of administration in the field of environmental protection but not exceeding billion dong - Amending and supplementing provisions on the forms of seizing material evidences, preventing and ensuring the implementation and force to implement decision on the handling of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Supplementing forms of “putting real estate in pledge” into the 2012 law on the handling of administrative violations to ensure imposing fine effectively 4.2.4 Amending and supplementing a number of provisions on procedures for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection - Increasing prescription, time is considered to have not been violated by the law in the field of environmental protection Expanding the scope of applying the right to explain in case of seizing material evidences and means and the right to use practicing certificate - Regulating the time to make records of administrative violations when discovering through control and inspection, the time to make records of handling administrative violations will be the time to make records of the inspection Place where making the records take place where the organizations or individuals violate administration 21 - Completing provisions, order and procedures of inspecting the environment quickly and ensuring surprises 4.3 Solutions to improve the effectiveness actual situation of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 4.3.1 Solutions to raise awareness of compliance with environmental protection laws, participate in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection of individuals, organizations and communities 4.3.2 Solutions to the organizational structure and personnel 4.3.3 Solutions to strengthen inspection, control and settlement of complaints and denunciations about handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 4.3.4 Solutions to improve the efficiency of receiving, processing information and publicizing information on administrative violations, and increasing investment in facilities and equipment for handling administrative violations in the field environmental Protection 4.3.5 Solutions to improve the role of the community in handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection Sub-conclusion of chapter 22 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH DIRECTIONS From research findings on the handling of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, the study draws the following conclusion: The dissertation clarifies the concept, characteristics and role of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection The dissertation explains bases of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection It also clarifies the nature of forms and procedures for handling administrative violations on protection of environment The study identifies factors affecting the process of handling administrative violations The dissertation describes a system of the provisions of the law on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection in Vietnam today, it then also seeks to assess the situation and analyze advantages and disadvantages, withdraw causes of limitations in the legal system Analyzing and assessing the reality of implementing laws on handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection by competent subjects The dissertation seeks to analyze relevant points of view that should be thoroughly grasped when handling administrative violations The dissertation proposes solutions to improve the efficiency of this field Further research directions: Building coercive measures in cases that coercive subjects fail to abide by coercive decisions on forcing to recover consequences or for those who are coerced to be unable to implement the coercive decisions Setting up coordination mechanism among administrative agencies in the inspection and control of abiding law on environmental protection and handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 23 LIST OF PUBLISHED-RESEARCH WORKS Le Thi Hang (April 2012) “Amending the provisions of Decree No 105/2009 on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of land”, Journal of Legislative Studies, No (215) Le Thi Hang (June 2016) “Completing the provisions of Decree 179/2013/ND-CP on administrative sanctions in the field of environmental protection”, Journal of Legislative Studies, No (316) Le Thi Hang (June 2016) “Sanctioning administrative violations in the field of environmental protection and inadequacies in current regulations”, Journal of Political Theory, No Le Thi Hang (April 2018) “Limitations of the provisions of the existing law on sanctions for handling administrative violations in the field of environmental protection”, Journal of Theory and Practice, No 1, University of Law, Hue University, ISN 2525-2666 Le Thi Hang (Oct 2018) (Co-author) “Handling administrative and criminal violations on the environmental issues towards Vietnamese enterprises - Laws and practices”, Journal of People's Court, No 10 Le Thi Hang (April 2019) “The law on the handling of administrative violations in managing air quality and planning for environmental protection”, Vietnam Environment Vietnamese version, No 24 Administration Magazine, ... administrative violations in the field of environmental protection? (3) How to assess the real situation of the law and activities of handling administrative violations of environmental protection in Vietnam?... law and activities of handling administrative violations of environmental protection in Vietnam? 1.3.2 Hypotheses - The nature of handling administrative violations in the field of environmental... ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 2.1 Administrative violations in the field of environmental protection 2.1.1 The concept of environment, protection of environment The environment