What is an environmental license? Obliged applicants for environmental license in Vietnam

What is an environmental license? Obliged applicants for environmental license in Vietnam (Internet image)

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

1. What is environmental license?

According to Clause 8, Article 3 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, 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. environmental protection as prescribed by law.

2. Obliged applicants for environmental license in Vietnam

Obliged applicants for environmental license under Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 are as follows:

- 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 this Article.

- 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.

3. Contents of environmental license in Vietnam

Contents of environmental license under Article 40 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 is as follows:

- Contents of an environmental license include general information about the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster; items to be licensed; environmental protection requirements; validity period; other contents (if any).

- Items to be licensed include:

+ Source of wastewater; maximum wastewater flow rate; wastewater flow; pollutants and permissible limits of pollutants in the wastewater flow; location and method of wastewater discharge and wastewater receiving bodies;

+ Source of emissions; maximum exhaust gas flow rate; wastewater flow; pollutants and permissible limits of pollutants in the emissions flow; location and method of exhaust gas discharge;

+ Source and permissible limits of noise and vibration;

+ Works and system for hazardous waste treatment; hazardous waste code and quantity of waste permitted for treatment, quantity of hazardous waste transfer stations, operating area with regard to the investment project, hazardous waste treatment service providers;

+ Type and quantity of scrap permitted for import with regard to the investment project, establishments importing scrap from foreign countries as production materials

- Environmental protection requirements are as follows:

+ There should be appropriate works and measures for collecting and treating waste and emissions and reducing noise and vibration; in the case of discharge of wastewater into hydraulic structures, environmental protection requirements should be in place to be applied to the source of water discharged into hydraulic structures;

+ Regarding investment projects and hazardous waste treatment providers, there should be measures, systems, works and equipment serving storage, transport, transfer, preliminary processing and treatment which satisfy technical and managerial requirements;

+ Regarding investment projects and establishments importing scrap from foreign countries as production materials, there should be appropriate warehouses and yards for scrap storage; recycling equipment; impurity treatment scheme; re-export scheme;

+ There should be environmental management and supervision plans, environmental emergency prevention and response plans; equipment and works serving environmental emergency prevention and response and environmental monitoring;

+ It is required to manage domestic solid waste, normal industrial solid waste and hazardous waste; improve and remediate environmental; carry out biodiversity offsets according to regulations of law;

+ Other environmental protection requirements (if any).

- The environmental license shall be valid for:

+ 07 years, regarding group I investment projects;

+ 07 years, regarding businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters operating before the effective date of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and applying environmental criteria as Group I investment projects;

+ 10 years, regarding the license holders not mentioned in Points a and b of Clause 4 of Article 40 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020;

+ The validity period may be shorter than that specified in Points a, b and c of Clause 4 of Article 40 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 at the request of the investment project owners, businesses, investors in construction and commercial operation of infrastructure in dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters (hereinafter collectively referred to as “investment project/business owners”).

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