Which agency has he power to issue environmental license under the law in Vietnam?

Which agency has he power to issue environmental license under the law in Vietnam? (Internet image)

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

1. Who are obliged applicants for environmental license in Vietnam?

According to Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, the obliged applicants for environmental license include:

(1) 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.

(2) 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 (1).

(3)If the projects mentioned in (1) are urgent public investment projects as prescribed by the Law on Public Investment, they are exempt from the environmental license.

2. Which agency has he power to issue environmental license under the law in Vietnam?

Specifically, in Article 41 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, the power to issue environmental license in Vietnam is as follows:

(i) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall issue the environmental license to the following applicants, except for the case specified in (ii):

+ The projects in Section 1 for which the EIAR appraisal result has been approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

+ The projects specified in Section 1 that involve 02 provinces or more or are located within territorial waters to which responsibility of the provincial People’s Committee for administrative management are yet to be assigned; establishments importing scrap from foreign countries as production materials, hazardous waste treatment service providers.

(ii) The Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Public Security shall issue the environmental license to investment projects and establishments classified as state secrets in the field of national defense and security.

(iii) Provincial People’s Committees shall issue the environmental license to the following obliged applicants, except for the cases specified in (i) and (ii):

+ Group II investment projects in Section 1;

+ Group II investment projects in Section 1 that involve 02 districts or more;

+ The investment projects in (2) of Section 1 for which the EIAR appraisal result has been approved by the provincial People’s Committee or Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment or ministerial agency.

(iv)  District-level People’s Committees shall issue the environmental license to the applicants in Section 1, except for the cases specified in (i), (ii), (iii). 

3. Responsibilities of licensing authorities in Vietnam

Each licensing authority has the responsibility to:

- Receive, inspect and appraise the application for environmental license and issue environmental licenses; renew, adjust or re-issue the environmental license at the request of investment project/business owners; take responsibility for contents of the environmental license;

Manage and store documents and data on the environmental license; partially suspend any investment projects, business, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters’ activity that causes or is likely to cause serious consequences the environment; revoke environmental licenses.

- Publish environmental licenses on its website, except for information classified as state secrets and enterprise’s secrets as prescribed by law.

- Inspect the performance of environmental protection activities and compliance with environmental protection requirements by investment projects, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters as prescribed by law.

- Receive and handle propositions about environmental protection regarding the contents specified in the environmental license; instruct project investment owners to carry out trial operation of waste treatment works, remediation the environment and respond to environmental emergencies (if any) during trial operation.

- Operate, update and integrate data on environmental licenses into the environmental information system and database. The reporting and sharing of information and data on environmental licenses shall be carried out in an interconnected manner and online within the environmental information system and database.

(Article 48 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020)

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