Decree No. 03/2015/ND-CP providing the assessment of environmental damage.

This Decree, consisting of 15 articles divided into five Chapters, provides the responsibility to assess, and claim compensation for, environmental damage, covering the collection of data and evidence for assessing environmental damage, computation of environmental damage, and identification of the liability to compensate for environmental damage caused by pollution or degradation in the following cases: a) Water environment for conservation, daily life, entertainment, production and other purposes is polluted, severely polluted or exceptionally severely polluted; b) Soil environment for conservation, production and other purposes is polluted, severely polluted or exceptionally severely polluted; c) Natural ecosystems belonging or not belonging to nature reserves are degraded; d) Individuals of species prioritized for protection under law die or are injured. This Decree does not apply to cases in which environmental damage is caused by any of the following circumstances: a) Natural disasters; b) Compliance with requests of competent state management agencies in force majeure or urgent circumstances. The assessment of and compensation for damage caused by environmental pollution or degradation to human health and life, assets and lawful interests of organizations and individuals must comply with the civil law.
This Decree applies to organizations and individuals that cause environmental pollution or degradation in the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and to other related organizations and individuals. The Decree is divided as follows: General Provisions (Chap. I); Data and Evidence for Assessing Environmental Damage (Chap. II); Computation of Environmental Damage (Chap. III); Identification of the Liability to Compensate for Environmental Damage (Chap. IV); Implementation Provisions (Chap. V).