Vietnam: Which investment projects must carry out a preliminary environmental impact assessment? What is the content of the preliminary environmental impact assessment?
Which investment projects must carry out a preliminary environmental impact assessment in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 29 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 of Vietnam stipulates as follows:
Article 29. Preliminary environmental impact assessment
1. Projects subject to PEIA are group I investment projects specified in Clause 3 Article 28 of this Law.
In Clause 3, Article 28 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 of Vietnam stipulates as follows:
Article 28. Environmental criteria for investment project classification
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3. Group I investment projects are those that pose a high risk of adverse environmental impacts, including:
a) Large-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services that are likely to cause environmental pollution; projects providing hazardous waste treatment service; projects involving import of scrap from foreign countries as production materials;
b) Medium-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services with environmentally sensitive factors that are likely to cause; large-scale and capacity projects not involved in types of production, business and services with environmentally sensitive factors that are likely to cause environmental pollution;
c) Large- or medium-scale projects using land, land with water surface and marine area with environmentally sensitive factors;
d) Large- or medium-scale and capacity projects on extraction of minerals and water resources with environmentally sensitive factors;
dd) Projects requiring repurposing of land on at least medium scale with environmentally sensitive factors;
e) Large-scale projects requiring migration and relocation.
In accordance with the above regulations, the following projects will be required to carry out a preliminary environmental impact assessment:
- Projects of the type of production, business and services that are at risk of polluting the environment with large scale and capacity; projects on the implementation of hazardous waste treatment services; projects that import scrap from abroad as raw materials for production;
- Projects of the type of production, business and services that have the risk of polluting the environment with medium scale and capacity but have environmentally sensitive factors; projects that do not fall into the type of production, business or service that have the risk of polluting the environment with a large scale and capacity but have environmentally sensitive factors;
- Projects using land, land with water surface, marine areas on a large or medium scale but with environmentally sensitive factors;
- Projects on exploitation of minerals and water resources with large scale and capacity or with medium scale and capacity but with environmentally sensitive factors;
- The project requires a change of land use purpose of medium scale or higher but has environmentally sensitive factors;
- The project requires large-scale migration and resettlement.
Vietnam: Which investment projects must carry out a preliminary environmental impact assessment? What is the content of the preliminary environmental impact assessment?
What is the preliminary environmental impact assessment in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 29 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 of Vietnam stipulates the contents of preliminary environmental impact assessment as follows:
- Assessing the conformity of the investment project location with the national environmental protection strategy, national environmental protection planning and environmental protection contents in regional planning, provincial planning and other relevant planning;
- Identifying and predicting major environmental impacts of the investment project on the basis of scale, production technology and location of the project;
- Identifying environmentally sensitive factors present in the investment project location according to the location selection methods (if any);
-Analyzing, assessing and selecting a scheme regarding scale, production technology, technology for waste treatment and location of the investment project, and solutions for reducing environmental impacts;
- Determining notable major environmental issues and environmental impacts during the EIA.
Which agencies and organizations will carry out the preliminary environmental impact assessment in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 29 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 of Vietnam stipulates as follows:
Article 29. Preliminary environmental impact assessment
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4. Entities proposing the investment projects in Clause 1 of this Article shall conduct PEIA. PEIA contents shall be considered by a competent authority together with the application for investment guideline decision or approval.
Thus, if an investment project belongs to group I proposed by any agency or organization, that agency or organization is responsible for carrying out a preliminary environmental impact assessment.
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