THE GOVERNMENT

DECREES:

Article 1.- Scope of regulation and subjects of application:

1. Scope of regulation: This Decree provides for the management and the list of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals from Vietnam's forests.

2. Subjects of application: State agencies, organizations, households and individuals at home, overseas Vietnamese, foreign organizations and individuals that conduct activities related to management of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals in the Vietnamese territory defined in this Decree.

Where treaties which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to contain provisions different from those of this Decree, the provisions of such treaties shall apply.

Article 2.- Grouping of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals:

1. Interpretation of terms:

Endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals mean plant and animal species of special economic, scientific or environmental value, surviving in small populations in nature or in danger of extinction, and on the list of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals promulgated by the Government.

2. Endangered, specious and rare forest plants and animals are divided into the following two groups (see the list enclosed herewith):

a/ Group I, which consists of those strictly banned from exploitation and use for commercial purposes, including forest plants and animals of scientific or environmental value or high economic value, with very small populations in nature or in high danger of extinction.

Forest plants and animals of group I are divided into:

Group I A, which consists of forest plants.

Group I B, which consists of forest animals.

b/ Group II, which consists of those restricted from exploitation or use for commercial purposes, including forest plants and animals of scientific or environmental value or high economic value, with small populations in nature or in danger of extinction.

Forest plants and animals of group II are divided into:

Group II A, which consists of forest plants.

Group II B, which consists of forest animals.

Article 3.- The State's policies on management of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals

1. The State invests in management and protection of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals in special-use forests, in salvage of confiscated endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals.

2. The State provides supports for remedying damage caused by endangered, precious and rare, wild forest animals to organizations located, households and individuals living outside special-use forests, households and individuals lawfully residing in special-use forests (as certified by administrations of communes where such special-use forests exist) according to the provisions of law.

3. The State encourages, assists and assures legitimate rights and interests of organizations, households and individuals that invest in management, protection and development of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals.

Article 4.- Monitoring of development of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals

1. People's Committees of all levels shall have to direct and organize the assessment of the actual state of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals in their localities; sum up the assessment together with the forest statistics and inventory and monitoring of development of forest resources as specified in Article 32 of the 2004 Law on Forest Protection and Development and the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's guidance.

2. The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Finance Ministry in, directing and guiding the study and assessment of the actual state of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals; summing up the assessment nationwide together with the forest statistics and inventory and monitoring of development of forest resources as specified in Article 32 of the 2004 Law on Forest Protection and Development.

Article 5.- Protection of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals

1. Forests where endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals are densely distributed shall be considered for the establishment of special-use forests according to the provisions of law.

Endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals living outside special-use forests shall be protected according to the provisions of this Decree and current provisions of law.

2. Organizations, households and individuals that carry out activities of production, construction of works, survey, exploration, research, sight-seeing, tourism and other activities in forests home to endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals shall comply with the provisions of this Decree, law on forest protection and development and law on environmental protection.

3. The following acts are prohibited:

a/ Exploiting endangered, precious and rare forest plants; hunting, trapping, catching, caging and slaughtering endangered, precious and rare forest animals in contravention of the provisions of this Decree and current provisions of law.

b/ Transporting, processing, advertising, trading in, using, storing, exporting or importing endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals in contravention of the provisions of this Decree and current provisions of law.

Article 6.- Exploitation of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals

1. Exploitation of forest plants and animals of Group I:

Forest plants and animals of Group I shall be exploited only for scientific purposes of research (including purpose of creation of prototype breed sources in service of artificial breeding and culture) and international cooperation.

The exploitation of forest plants and animals of Group I must not adversely affect the conservation of such species in nature and must be performed under plans approved by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

2. Exploitation of forest plants and animals of Group II:

a/ Exploitation of forest plants and animals of Group II in special-use forests:

- They shall be exploited only for purposes of scientific research (including creation of prototype breed sources in service of artificial breeding and culture) and international cooperation.

- The exploitation of forest plants and animals of Group II in special-use forests must not adversely affect the conservation of such species and must be performed under plans approved by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

b/ Exploitation of forest plants and animals of Group II outside special-use forests:

- Forest plants of Group II A outside special-use forests may only be exploited according to the Regulation on exploitation of timber and other forest products promulgated by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

- Forest animals of Group II B outside special-use forests may only be exploited for purposes of scientific research (including creation of prototype breed sources in service of breeding) and international cooperation.

The exploitation of forest animals of Group II B outside special-use forests must not adversely affect the conservation of such species in nature and must be performed under plans approved by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, for forests managed by centrally-run organizations, or approved by provincial-level People's Committees, for forests managed by local organizations or individuals.

3. The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry in, guiding the procedures and order for approving plans on exploitation of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals from nature.

Article 7.- Transportation and storing of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals exploited from nature and products thereof

Endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals exploited from nature and products thereof from nature, when being transported or stored, must comply with the following regulations:

1. There must be sufficient papers proving lawful exploitation origins according to the provisions of Article 6 of this Decree and other papers according to the current provisions of law on handling of material evidences employed in violations (for cases where endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and products thereof are confiscated in administrative or criminal cases).

2. Transportation of endangered, precious and rare forest animals and products thereof out of provinces or centrally-run cities shall require special transportation permits granted by provincial-level forest ranger offices.

3. Transportation of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and products thereof must comply with the State's regulations on inspection and control of forest products. Particularly for timbers of Group I A and Group II A exploited from natural forests in the country, apart from the procedures specified in Clause 1 of this Article, forest ranger's hammer indentations made according to the regulations on management of forest ranger's hammers are required.

Article 8.- Development of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals

1. Artificial culture of endangered, precious and rare forest plants; breeding and rearing of endangered, precious and rare forest animals shall comply with the provisions of law on management of export, import, re-export, introduction from the sea, transit, artificial culture and breeding of endangered wild plant and wild animal species.

2. The exploitation, transportation and storing of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals, which are artificially reared or cultured, and products thereof must be accompanied with documentary proofs of origin according to the provisions of law on export, import, re-export, transit, introduction from the sea, artificial culture and breeding of endangered wild plant and wild animal species.

Article 9.- Processing and trading of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and products thereof

1. It is strictly prohibited to process or trade in endangered, precious and rare forest plants of group I A, and endangered, precious and rare forest animals of Group I B and Group II B exploited from nature and products thereof for commercial purposes (except for the cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article).

2. It is permitted to process or trade in the following objects for commercial purposes:

- Endangered, precious and rare forest animal species originating from artificial breeding and products thereof; endangered, precious and rare forest animal species of Group II B which are material evidences confiscated according to the State's current regulations as they can no longer be salvaged and released into the environment.

- Endangered, precious and rare forest plants of Group I A which are material evidences confiscated according to the State's current regulations; endangered, precious and rare forest plants of Group II A exploited from nature and those originating from artificial culture.

Organizations and individuals that process or trade in endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals for commercial purposes must satisfy the following requirements:

a/ They have business registrations for processing and/or trading of forest plants and animals and products thereof, granted by competent state agencies.

b/ Endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and products thereof are of lawful origin according to the provisions of Articles 6, 7 and 8 of this Decree.

c/ They open books for monitoring the actual receipt and delivery of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and products thereof according to the Agricultural and Rural Development Ministry's regulations, and submit to the supervision and inspection by forest ranger offices according to current provisions of law.

Article 10.- Handling of violations

1. Organizations and individuals that commit acts of violating this Decree's provisions on management of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, be administratively handled. Violating individuals may be examined for penal liability according to current provisions of law.

2. Violations' material evidences and proofs being endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and products thereof shall be managed and handled according to the provisions of law on handling of administrative violations and law on criminal procedures and the following provisions:

a/ Live plants and animals which are temporarily seized in the course of handling must be given proper care and salvage for their safety.

b/ Live plants and animals which are temporarily seized and certified by quarantine offices to be affected with diseases which may spread into epidemics shall be immediately culled according to current provisions of law.

Article 11.- Handling of cases where endangered, precious and rare forest animals harm or threaten to harm people's life and property

1. In any cases where forest animals threaten to harm people's property or life; organizations, households or individuals should first apply measures to drive away such animals without harming them.

2. Where endangered, precious and rare forest animals attack and threaten to harm the life of people outside special-use forests, and after all measures of driving away such animals have been applied but in vain, these cases should be reported in writing to presidents of People's Committees of districts, provincial towns or provincially-run cities (called district-level People's Committees for short) for consideration and decision on permission for trapping or hunting such animals for self-defense and protection of people's life.

Presidents of district-level People's Committees shall personally direct the trapping and hunting of endangered, precious and rare forest animals for self-defense purpose when they attack and threaten to harm people's life.

For particularly precious and rare animals such as elephant (Elephas maximus), rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus), tiger (Panthera tigris), leopard (Panthera pardus), nebulose leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), bear (Ursus (Helarctos) malayanus; Ursus (Selenarctos) thibetanus), gayal (Bos gaurus), gray gaur (Bos sauveli), Javanese gaur (Bos javanicus), owre (Bubalus arnee), presidents of provincial-level People's Committees should be reported for consideration. Where it is impossible to apply other measures (driving away or moving them to other forests) to protect people's life, presidents of provincial-level People's Committees shall decide to permit the application of measures of trapping or hunting for self-defense after obtaining consent of the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.

Organizations assigned to trap or hunt endangered, precious and rare forest animals for self-defense when such animals attack and threaten to harm people's life shall be responsible for keeping intact the scenes and make written records for handling and reporting to immediate superior authorities within 5 working days.

a/ Where trapped or hunted forest animals die or are incurably wounded, written records thereon shall be made for handover of such animals to scientific research institutions for use as specimens in service of training and research or for hygienic cull.

b/ Where trapped or hunted forest animals are curably wounded, they shall be transferred to forest animal salvage establishments or local forest ranger offices for care until they recover and are released into forests.

c/ Where trapped or hunted forest animals are in good health, they shall be promptly released into forests planned as special-use forests (nature conservation zones, national parks) where exist their habitats.

All cases of trapping or hunting of endangered, precious and rare forest animals in contravention of the provisions of this Article shall be regarded as violating the State's regulations on management of endangered, precious and rare forest animals and handled according current provisions of law.

Article 12.- Rights and obligations of forest owners

Forest owners shall have the rights and obligations currently provided for by law. They shall also have the following rights and obligations toward endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals:

1. To exploit endangered, precious and rare forest plant and animal species according to the provisions of Article 6 of this Decree.

2. To be supported and protected by the State regarding their legitimate rights for and interests from investment in management, protection and development of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals.

3. To work out and realize plans on management, protection and development of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals on forest and forest land areas allocated to them.

4. To monitor and report to competent state agencies on the actual state of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals according to the provisions of Points a and b, Clause 2, Article 32 of the Law on Forest Protection and Development on forest and forest land areas allocated or leased by the State.

5. To issue internal protection rules, and post them up for every forest where endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals exist.

Article 13.- Responsibilities to guide and implement

1. The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry shall have the responsibilities:

a/ To guide, organize and inspect the implementation of this Decree.

b/ To annually report to the Government on the management of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Government-attached agencies and presidents of provincial/municipal People's Committees shall have to implement this Decree.

Article 14.- Implementation effect

1. This Decree takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO."

2. This Decree replaces the Council of Ministers' Decree No. 18/HDBT of January 17, 1992, promulgating the list of precious and rare forest plants and animals and the regime of management and protection thereof, and the Government's Decree No. 48/2002/ND-CP of April 22, 2002, amending and supplementing the list of precious and rare forest plants and animals and the regime of management and protection thereof, promulgated together with the Council of Ministers' No. 18/HDBT of January 17, 1992.

LIST OF ENDANGERED, PRECIOUS AND RARE FOREST PLANTS AND ANIMALS

(Promulgated together with the Government’s Decree No. 32/2006/ND-CP of March 30, 2006)

GROUP I: Forest plants and animals banned from exploitation and use for commercial purposes

IA. Forest plants

            I B. Forest animals

GROUP II: Forest plants and animals restricted from exploitation and use for commercial purposes

II A. Forest plants

II B. Forest animals