On August 5, 2025, the Ministry of Finance released the Draft Decree on Environmental Protection Fees for Wastewater for public consultation. Below are the new key highlights of the Draft:

1. Revise definitions of wastewater 

Definitions of wastewater in the Draft is shorter than in current Decree 53/2020/NĐ-CP: 

• Nước thải công nghiệp: is wastewater generated from production, business, and service activities; from concentrated production, business and service zones; and from industrial areas, in accordance with the provisions of the law on environmental protection. 
• Nước thải sinh hoạt: is wastewater generated from human daily-life activities (such as eating, drinking, bathing, washing, and personal hygiene), or generated from business and service establishments that are managed as domestic wastewater in accordance with the provisions of law.  

2. Add on cases of fee exemption  

Draft Decree add on below cases of fee exemption:   

• Wastewater from centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas, apartment complexes;  
• Wastewater from mineral extraction activities;  
• Wastewater (from production and processing activities) is reused in compliance with environmental regulations;  
• Thermal exchange water (currently referred to as “cooling water” under the existing regulation). 

3. Environmental protection fees on industrial wastewater: 

• For establishments that only use clean water supplied by a clean water provider, fees will be calculated monthly as a percentage of the clean water price (same method as domestic wastewater). 
• Facilities discharging less than 5, from 5 to less than 10, from 10 to less than 20 m³/day: fixed fee remains unchanged. 
• Facilities discharging 20 m³/day or more: 
  • Establishments conduct wastewater monitoring periodically: formula remains the same as current regulation, but variable fee doubles compared to current variable fee. 

Establishments do not conduct wastewater monitoring periodically: apply the formula :  

F = f + (L x Ci) 

      Where: 

      + F: the amount of fee payable.  

      + f: the fixed fee 4.000.000 VND/ year  

      + L: wastewater volume (m3), determined based on the following order of priority:  

         . results of flow-measuring devices;  

         . 80% of the volume of water consumed;  

         . information provided in the environmental documents.”  

       + Ci: variable fee of contaminant parameter i in the wastewater: 

4. Payment of environmental protection fees for wastewater 

The Draft introduces more flexible payment methods: 

• Fee transfer to the account of the fee collector;  
• Payment via online payment platforms, through the National Public Service Portal or the ministerial/provincial e-portals  
• Cash payment to the fee collector.  

We hope that this article will help you more understanding about Draft Decree on Environmental Protection Fees for Wastewater. Should you have any further questions or confusion, please feel free to contact us here. 

For more details of the Dratf Decree, please see văn bản pháp luật 

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