Instructions for remediating environment after emergency in Vietnam

Instructions for remediating environment after emergency in Vietnam (Internet image) 

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

1. Instructions for remediating environment after emergency in Vietnam

Instructions for remediating environment after emergency in Vietnam according to Article 126 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 are as follows:

- The owner of the investment project/facility causing an environmental emergency shall remediate the environment after the emergency occurs within such facility. The People’s Committee of the commune where the emergency occurs shall inspect and supervise the environmental remediation.

- After a district, provincial or national-level environmental emergency occurs, the environmental remediation shall be carried out as follows:

+ The district-level People’s Committee shall conduct survey and assessment of state of the environment, formulate, approve and direct the implementation of the environmental remediation plan for the district-level environmental emergency. Within 30 days from the end of the stage of organizing the response, the district-level People’s Committee must approve the environmental remediation plan;

+ The provincial People’s Committee shall conduct survey and assessment of state of the environment, formulate, approve and direct the implementation of the environmental remediation plan for the provincial environmental emergency. Within 60 days from the end of the stage of organizing the response, the provincial People’s Committee must approve the environmental remediation plan;

+ The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall conduct survey and assessment of state of the environment, formulate, approve and direct the implementation of the environmental remediation plan for the national environmental emergency. Within 90 days from the end of the stage of organizing the response, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment must approve the environmental remediation plan.

- Contents of the environmental remediation plan consist of:

+ Description and assessment of the state of the environment after the emergency occurrence including the level, extent and characteristics of environmental pollution in each area; state of the environment, premises and ecosystems (if any) before the emergency occurrence; requirements for remediating the environment in accordance with the environmental technical regulation on ambient environment quality, premises restoration and recovery of main characteristics of the ecosystem;

+ Environmental remediation measures; analysis, assessment and selection of the best solution for environmental improvement and remediation;

+ List and volume of items serving environmental remediation regarding the selected solution;

+ The implementation plan divided into multiple stages of environmental remediation; program for management, monitoring and supervision during environmental remediation period; plan to commission environmental remediation results.

- The inspection, supervision and commissioning of the environmental remediation plan specified in Clause 2 of Article 126 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 shall comply with the following regulations:

+ If an entity causing an environmental emergency implements the approved plan itself/himself/herself; the authority approving the plan shall inspect and supervise environmental remediation according to the approved plan;

+ If the authority approving the plan shall organize the implementation of the plan, the entity causing the emergency is entitled to participate in supervision, appraisal, inspection and commissioning of remedial remediation.

- The environmental remediation shall comply with the environmental technical regulation on ambient environment quality.

- The authority approving the environmental remediation plan shall announce the end of the environmental remediation stage to residential communities, press agencies and communications agencies.

2. Responsibility for environmental emergency response in Vietnam

Responsibility for environmental emergency response according to Article 122 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 is 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 respond to environmental emergencies as prescribed in Point a Clause 1 Article 127 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020

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