Guidelines for determining the time of submission of the application for issuance of environmental license in Vietnam

Guidelines for determining the time of submission of the application for issuance of environmental license in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is environmental license?

Environmental license means a document issued by a competent authority to an organization or individual (hereinafter referred to as “entity”) involved in business activities, permitting such organization or individual to discharge waste into the environment and manage waste and scrap imported from foreign countries as production materials in accordance with environmental protection requirements as prescribed by law.

(Clause 8 Article 3 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020)

2. Guidelines for determining the time of submission of the application for issuance of environmental license in Vietnam

Specifically, in Clause 2, Article 29 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP, the time of submission of the application for issuance of environmental license is prescribed as follows:

- 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 Law on Environmental Protection 2020 that is conducting trial operation of the waste treatment work as prescribed by law before the effective date of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 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 Decree 08/2022/ND-CP 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 Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and Decree 08/2022/ND-CP 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.

3. Obliged applicants for environmental license in Vietnam

The following objects must have an environmental license:

- Group I, II and III projects that generate wastewater, dusts and exhaust gases that must be treated into the environment or generate hazardous waste that must be managed in accordance with regulations on waste management before officially being put into operation.

- Investment projects, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters operating before the effective date of this Law and applying environmental criteria as the projects mentioned in Clause 1 of Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020.

- If the projects mentioned in Clause 1 of Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 are urgent public investment projects as prescribed by the Law on Public Investment, they are exempt from the environmental license.

(Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020)

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