If purchasing mineral ore without knowing it is illegally mined ore, will you be subject to administrative penalties?

In the case where this company A has received an official dispatch from the Provincial People’s Committee allowing this company A to contact and supply mineral ores to establishments including company B. But then this company A was prosecuted for illegally exploiting mineral ores, but the agency Police investigation The Provincial Police issued an investigation notice to clarify and revoke Company B’s illegal profits from purchasing ore from Company A. Is this correct? grounds?

If buying mineral ore without knowing it is illegally mined ore, will the enterprise be subject to administrative sanctions?

In Article 1 of Decree 77/2016/ND-CP amended by Clause 1, Article 14 of Decree 17/2020/ND-CP, it is stipulated as follows: following:

Supplementing Clause 11, Article 9 of Decree No. 187/2013/ND-CP dated November 20, 2013 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Commercial Law on international goods purchase and sale activities and agency activities of buying, selling, processing and transiting goods with foreign countries

11. Conditions for trading minerals:

a) Being a trader according to the provisions of the Commercial Law;

b) Traders can only trade minerals of legal origin.

Minerals of legal origin are minerals whose origin falls under one of the following cases:

– Mined or exploited salvaged from mines, quarries, and waste dumps within the validity period of the Mining License, the salvage mining License issued by the competent state authority;

– Minerals are imported according to the Import Goods Declaration certified by the Border Gate Customs;

– Confiscated and sold by the competent state authority.

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In addition, at Article 11 of the 2012 Law on Handling of Administrative Violations stipulates as follows:

Cases where administrative violations are not sanctioned

Administrative violations are not sanctioned in the following cases:

1. Committing administrative violations in urgent situations;

2. Committing administrative violations due to legitimate defense;

3. Committing administrative violations due to unexpected events;

4. Committing administrative violations due to force majeure events;

5. The person committing the administrative violation does not have the capacity for administrative responsibility; The person who commits the administrative violation is under age and is subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Point a, Clause 1, Article 5 of this Law.”

From the above regulations, when buying and selling minerals, the buyer and seller must ensure that the minerals have a legal origin.

According to the information provided, the minerals company A exploits and sells to company B are illegally mined minerals, so it is determined that the quantity of these minerals does not have a legal origin.

The fact that you believe that company B is unaware that these minerals do not have a legal origin is not a basis for not taking administrative action against company B.

Therefore, the authorities forcing company B to return illegal profits from purchasing minerals from company A is well-founded.

In this case, company B can handle its liability with company A by requesting company A to compensate for damages from illegally selling minerals to company B, resulting in damage to company B.

If purchasing illegally mined mineral ores without checking the origin of the product, how will the enterprise be punished for administrative violations?

The level of administrative penalties for buying and selling goods of unknown origin and processing is specified in Article 17 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP as follows: following:

Violations of shelf life of goods, goods of unknown origin and other violations

1. A warning or fine from 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND for one of the following violations in case the infringing goods are valued at less than 1,000,000 VND:

…

d) Buying, selling, transporting, storing, consuming minerals without legal origin.

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11. A fine from 40,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND shall be imposed for violations specified in Clause 1 of this Article in cases where the infringing goods are valued at 100,000,000 VND or more.

Thus, in case of purchasing illegally mined mineral ore due to not checking the origin, the level of administrative penalty imposed on the enterprise will depend on the value of the amount of minerals the enterprise purchased.

The lowest administrative penalty level when purchasing goods of unknown origin is from 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND (violated goods are worth less than 1,000,000 VND) and the highest level is from 40,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND (violated goods are valued at 100,000,000 VND or more).

Are businesses forced to return profits arising from illegally mined mineral ores purchased?

Pursuant to Clause 14, Article 17 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP has the following provisions:

Violations of the shelf life of goods, goods of unknown origin and other violations

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14. Remedial measures:

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b) Forced return of illegal profits obtained from violating the provisions of this Article.

Thus, in addition to administrative penalties, businesses are also forced to pay back illegal profits obtained from illegally mined ore purchased.