What are regulations on applications and procedures for issuing environmental licenses in Vietnam?
What are regulations on applications and procedures for issuing environmental licenses in Vietnam? Thank you!
Pursuant to Article 29 of the Decree 08/2022/ND-CP stipulating applications and procedures for issuing environmental licenses in Vietnam as follows:
Applications, procedures and time limit for issuing environmental licenses to investment project, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters (hereinafter referred to as “investment projects and businesses”) are specified in Article 43 of the LEP. Several contents are elaborated as follows:
Legal and technical documentation
Legal and technical documentation specified in point c clause 1 Article 43 of the LEP are prescribed as follows:
- For an investment project not subject to EIA: a copy of the feasibility study report or document equivalent to the investment project’s feasibility study report in accordance with regulations of law on investment, public investment, PPP investment and construction;
- For an investment project or business other than that specified in point a of this clause, the project or business owner is not required to submit legal and technical documentation together with the application for issuance of environmental license.
Time of submission of the application for issuance of environmental license
- The owner of the investment project not subject to EIA shall submit an application for issuance of environmental license after completing the waste treatment work for the entire project or for each investment phase of the project (if the project is divided into investment phases) or for the independent waste treatment work item of the project;
- The owner of the investment project not subject to EIA shall decide the time of submission themself after having a sufficient application as prescribed;
- The investment project owner specified in clause 2 Article 39 of the LEP that is conducting trial operation of the waste treatment work as prescribed by law before the effective date of the LEP shall decide the time of submission of application for issuance of environmental license themself to ensure that an environmental license has to be obtained after the trial operation but at least 45 days if the environmental license is issued by a ministerial agency and 30 days if the environmental license is issued by the provincial People’s Committee or district-level People’s Committee before the date on which the environmental license has to be obtained.
In case of failure to submit the application for issuance of environmental license within the time limit specified in this point, the investment project owner shall send a notification of extension of trial operation duration as prescribed in point c clause 6 Article 31 of this Decree to obtain the environmental license after the end of the trial operation;
- Owner of a business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster shall decide the time of submission of the application for issuance of environmental license themself to ensure that an environmental license has to be obtained as prescribed by the LEP and this Decree but at least 45 days if the environmental license is issued by a ministerial agency and 30 days if the environmental license is issued by the provincial People’s Committee or district-level People’s Committee before the date on which the environmental license has to be obtained.
Notice: The owner of the investment project or business shall submit an application for issuance of environmental license to the authority issuing environmental license (hereinafter referred to as “licensing authority”) and pay fees for application appraisal as prescribed.
The licensing authority
Within 05 working days from the receipt of a sufficient application (except for the case specified in clause 8 of this Article), the licensing authority shall:
- publicize contents of the report on proposal for issuance of environmental license on the website of the licensing authority or authorized authority, except for information classified as state secrets or enterprise’s secrets as prescribed by law;
- send an enquiry to the regulatory body managing hydraulic structures (in case of discharge of water into hydraulic structures), the investor in construction and commercial operation of infrastructure of the dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster (if the investment project or business is located in such dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster), except where the investment project has been issued with the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result and does not change the contents related to wastewater discharge specified in the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result.
The enquired authority shall give a written response to the issuance of environmental license within 07 days from the receipt of the enquiry, except for the case specified in clause 9 of this Article. If such time limit expires and a written response fails to be given, it is considered that such body agrees to the licensing.
Regarding an investment project that directly discharges at least 10,000 m3 of wastewater (except for equipment cooling water, aquaculture water) per day (24 hours) into an inter-provincial river or lake or a river or lake bordering provinces or directly discharges wastewater into coastal sea, the licensing authority shall consult with the People’s Committee of province having the inter-provincial river or lake, bordering river or lake or coastal sea of the bordering province to cooperate in dealing with environmental protection issues in the region, except where the investment project has been issued with the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result and does not change the contents related to wastewater discharge specified in the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result. The enquired provincial People’s Committee shall give a written response within 07 days from the receipt of the enquiry. If such time limit expires and a written response fails to be given, it is considered that such body agrees to the licensing
Regarding an investment project that directly discharges at least 10,000 m3 of wastewater (except for equipment cooling water, aquaculture water) per day (24 hours) or at least 200,000 m3 of dust or emissions per hour, the licensing authority shall consult with a specialized organization about the calculation results given by the pollutant dispersion model or environmental emergency (if any), except where the investment project has been issued with the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result and does not change the contents related to wastewater, dust or emission discharge specified in the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result. The enquired specialized organization shall give a written response within 20 days from the receipt of the enquiry;
- Except for the case specified in clause 9 of this Article, the appraisal of the application for issuance of environmental license shall be carried out as follows:
For the investment project which has been issued with the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal, does not use scrap imported from a foreign country as raw materials for production or provides hazardous waste treatment services and falls into the case specified in point b clause 4 Article 37 of the LEP, the licensing authority shall establish an appraisal council and shall not carry out a site inspection.
For the investment project which has been issued with the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result and does not fall into the case specified in point b clause 4 Article 37 of the LEP, investment project which uses scrap imported from a foreign country as raw materials for production, investment project which provides hazardous waste treatment services, the licensing authority shall establish an appraisal team and shall not carry out a site inspection.
For the investment project not subject to EIA, the licensing authority shall establish an appraisal council if the environmental license is issued by MONRE, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of National Defense or provincial People’s Committee; establish an appraisal team if the environmental license is issued by the district-level People’s Committee. The appraisal council or appraisal team shall carry out a site inspection in the area where the investment project is expected to be executed.
For an business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster which is operating, the licensing authority shall establish an inspectorate instead of establishing an appraisal council or appraisal team if environmental license is issued by MONRE, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of National Defense or provincial People’s Committee; shall carry out a site inspection if the environmental license is issued by the district-level People’s Committee.
The appraisal council and inspectorate shall each be composed of at least 07 members if the environmental license is issued by a central government authority and at least 05 members if the environmental license is issued by the provincial People’s Committee. The appraisal team shall be composed of at least 03 members, including a leader which is the appraising authority’s representative.
The appraisal council and inspectorate shall each be composed of 01 president or chief; 01 deputy president or deputy chief if necessary; 01 secretary; representatives of authorities and organizations concerned; representative of regulatory body managing hydraulic structures, investor in construction and commercial operation of infrastructure of the dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster (if any); experts and officials in the field of environmental protection and operating field of the investment project or business.
Every member of the appraisal council, inspectorate and appraisal team shall consider applications for issuance of environmental license, make remarks about the appraisal contents specified in Article 40 of the LEP and take legal responsibility for their remarks.
The expert participating in making the report on proposal for issuance of environmental license of the investment project or business shall not join the appraisal council, appraisal team or inspectorate responsible for appraising application for issuance of environmental license of such investment project or business;
According to the appraisal result of the appraisal council and appraisal team or result of the inspectorate or site inspection result, the licensing authority shall consider issuing environmental license to the investment project or business in case of eligibility to be issued with environmental license or send a notification of return of application to the project or business owner specifying reasons for ineligibility to be issued with environmental license.
If the application needs modifying to have sufficient grounds for issuing license, the licensing authority shall send a notification to the project owner clearly specifying the modifications. The licensing authority shall not request the project or business owner to perform tasks other than those specified in the notification.
Response (final result or necessary modifications) must be provided within licensing time limit as prescribed.
Except for the case specified in clause 9 of this Article, within 15 days if the environmental license is issued by MONRE, Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security, 10 days if the environmental license is issued by the provincial People’s Committee and 05 days if the environmental license is issued by the district-level People’s Committee, from the receipt of the modified application for issuance of environmental license (in case where the application has to be modified as requested by the licensing authority), the head of the licensing authority shall consider issuing the environmental license to the investment project or business; in case of failure to issue the environmental license, a written response specifying reasons therefor shall be given.
The receipt of applications and return of results specified in point c clause 4 Article 43 of the LEP must be carried out in a simplified manner that reforms administrative procedures and follows administrative procedures online in accordance with the Government’s regulations.
The receipt of applications and return of results shall be carried out online using level 4 online public services of the licensing authority within 15 days from the receipt of the valid applications in the following cases:
- The investment project or business is not required to conduct trial operation of the waste treatment work;
- The investment project or business connects wastewater to the centralized system for wastewater collection and treatment of the dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster and satisfies the following requirements: it is not involved in the type of production, business or services that is likely to cause environmental pollution; is not required to carry out automatic and continuous emission monitoring and periodic monitoring as prescribed in this Decree.
The appraisal of application for issuance of environmental license, and issuance of environmental license in the case specified in clause 8 of this Article shall be carried out through the appraisal team established by the licensing authority with no more than 05 members if the environmental license is issued by MONRE, Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security; no more than 03 members if the environmental license is issued by the provincial People’s Committee or district-level People’s Committee. The licensing authority shall not carry out a site inspection. The time limit for seeking opinions of the authorities and organizations specified in point b clause 4 of this Article is 05 days from the receipt of the enquiry. The time limit within which the licensing authority considers issuing environmental license to the investment project or business or gives a written response to the project or business owner specifying reasons for failure to issue environmental license as specified in clause 6 of this Article is 05 days.
The application form for issuance of environmental license of the investment project owner or business owner shall be made using the form specified in the Appendix XIII enclosed herewith.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment shall promulgate forms of documents relating to issuance of environmental license, except for the case specified in clause 10 of this Article.
Best regards!
