Organisations, enterprises and individuals who wish to use environmental data provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment many have to pay up to 2.8 million VND (123 USD) in the future.

This was part of the draft decree on collecting fees for the exploitation and use of natural resources and environment data, which was recently proposed the ministry’s Environmental Administration.

Per the proposal, those who wish to use data on maps would have to pay between 608,000 VND (27 USD) and 2.8 million USD (123 USD).

The cost of meteorological data automatically measured at a station would be 720,000 VND (32 USD) per month. The cost of environmental monitoring data measured periodically would be 100,000 VND (4.4 USD) per station per year. Fees for reports, records and environmental documents would be 2,000 VND (0.08 USD) each page.

At a conference on the issue, experts said that previously, the State kept original materials for State management purposes, but now many organisations and individuals wished to use this information.

Thus, the draft decree is necessary and timely, they said.

Do Van Hien, Deputy Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Data on Natural Resources and Environment, suggested the results of inspecting environmental data should be added to the final documents to ensure that the materials had been inspected beforehand.

He also said that the content of the environmental documents should be short and clear. The supply of online environmental information should be implemented.

He suggested that the Vietnam Environmental Administration study and issue a list of restricted-use documents to ensure the legality of the use of data. The administration needs specific guidance on procedures on accessing information for those who in need, he added.-VNA