What is an environmental emergency in Vietnam? What are the general regulations on environmental emergency prevention and response in Vietnam?
- What is an environmental emergency in Vietnam?
- What are the general regulations on environmental emergency prevention and response in Vietnam?
- What are the responsibilities for promulgating and approving environmental emergency prevention and response plans in Vietnam?
- Who is responsible for environmental emergency response in Vietnam?
What is an environmental emergency in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 14, Article 3 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection in Vietnam, the definition of environmental emergency is defined as follows:
“environmental emergency in Vietnam” means an accident resulting from human-induced factors or natural changes that cause severe environmental pollution or degradation.
What is an environmental emergency in Vietnam? What are the general regulations on environmental emergency prevention and response in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
What are the general regulations on environmental emergency prevention and response in Vietnam?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 121 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection in Vietnam on general regulations on environmental emergency prevention and response as follows:
- The environmental emergency prevention and response shall adhere to technical processes and regulations on safety and environment.
- The motto “leadership on-the-spot, forces on-the-spot, means and materials on-the-spot, and logistics on-the-spot” shall be used for environmental emergency response.
- Entities causing environmental emergencies shall respond to them and pay costs of response.
- An environmental emergency that occurs in an establishment or administrative division, the head of such establishment or administrative division shall direct and organize the response to the environmental emergency. There must be a commander, who will assign specific tasks and coordinate different forces, vehicles and equipment involved in response to the environmental emergency.
- The State shall encourage and enable entities to invest in environmental emergency response services.
- The prevention of environmental emergencies caused by waste leakage, spill or dispersal (hereinafter referred to as the “waste-related emergencies”) shall comply with regulations of this Law. The prevention of environmental emergencies caused by chemicals, radiation, oil slick, epidemics and others shall comply with relevant regulations of law.
What are the responsibilities for promulgating and approving environmental emergency prevention and response plans in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 109 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP stipulating the responsibilities for promulgating and approving environmental emergency prevention and response plans as follows:
- Every investment project and business owner shall promulgate and organize the implementation of their environmental emergency prevention and response plan in conformity with the environmental emergency prevention and response contents in the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result or environmental license.
If the environmental emergency response plan is incorporated into and approved together with the plan for response to another emergency as prescribed in point b clause 6 Article 124 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection in Vietnam, such plan shall include all contents specified in clause 2 Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.
- The National Committee for Search and Rescue, the provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the district-level provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control shall promulgate the national, provincial and district-level environmental emergency response plan respectively.
The national, provincial and district-level environmental emergency response plan shall be formulated and promulgated every 05 years.
If the national, provincial and district-level environmental emergency response plan are incorporated into the civil defense plan at the same level, it shall include all contents specified in clause 3 Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.
Who is responsible for environmental emergency response in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 122 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection in Vietnam, the responsibilities for environmental emergency response are as follows:
- Every investment project/business owner shall perform the following tasks:
+ Comply with requirements concerning plans, measures and equipment for environmental emergency prevention and response as prescribed by law;
+ Carry out regular inspection and adopt managerial and technical plans and measures to eliminate and reduce the risk of environmental emergencies.
- Provincial People’s Committees shall:
+ investigate, statistically report and assess the risk of environmental emergencies within their provinces;
+ build database and compile and publish information about sources that are likely to cause environmental emergencies within their provinces as prescribed by law;
+ build and direct district- and communal-level People’s Committees to build capacity for environmental emergency prevention and response within their provinces.
- Ministries and ministerial agencies shall:
+ provide guidance on, inspect and build capacity for prevention and warning of environmental emergencies in the fields and sectors under their management; preparation for environmental emergencies and organization of environmental emergency response within the scope of management as prescribed by law;
+ provide guidance on contents of environmental emergency response plans under their management; technical processes and techniques for environmental emergency response and environmental emergency scenarios under their management as prescribed by law;
+ formulate and request the National Committee for Natural Disaster Management and Response to promulgate the national environmental emergency response plan within the scope of management;
+ participate in response to national environmental emergencies within the scope of management as assigned by the National Committee for Natural Disaster Management and Response.
Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nhung