Environmental license is an important legal document in Vietnam. Let’s find out this issue with Lawyer X through the following situation: “Dear Lawyer! I want to know what are obliged applicants for environmental license? What are contents of environmental license? Who has the power to issue environmental license? Thanks for answering my questions!”
Legal grounds
Vietnam law on environmental protection
Obliged applicants for 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 this Article.
– If the projects mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article are urgent public investment projects as prescribed by the Law on Public Investment, they are exempt from the environmental license.
Contents of environmental license
– 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 this Law and applying environmental criteria as Group I investment projects;
+ 10 years, regarding the license holders not mentioned in Points a and b of this Clause;
+ The validity period may be shorter than that specified in Points a, b and c of this Clause 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”).
– The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment shall promulgate form of the environmental license.
The power to issue environmental license
– The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall issue the environmental license to the following applicants, except for the case specified in Clause 2 of this Article:
+ The projects in Article 39 hereof for which the EIAR appraisal result has been approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;
+ The projects specified in Article 39 hereof 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.
– 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.
– Provincial People’s Committees shall issue the environmental license to the following obliged applicants, except for the cases specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article:
+ Group II investment projects in Article 39 hereof;
+ Group II investment projects in Article 39 hereof that involve 02 districts or more;
+ The investment projects in Clause 2 Article 39 hereof 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.
– District-level People’s Committees shall issue the environmental license to the applicants in Article 39 hereof, except for the cases specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.
Bases and time for issuance of environmental license
– Bases for issuance of the environmental license include:
+ The application for issuance of environmental license specified in Clause 1 Article 43 hereof;
+ The EIAR of which result of appraisal has been approved by the competent authority (if any);
+ National environmental protection planning, provincial planning, regulations on environmental zoning and environment’s carrying capacity under the competent authority’s decision, except for the case specified in Point e of this Clause;
+ Technical regulation on environment;
+ Regulations of law on environmental protection, water resources and other relevant regulations of law;
+ At the time of issuing the environmental license, if the national environmental protection planning, provincial planning or regulation on environmental zoning or environment’s carrying capacity has not yet been promulgated by the competent authority, the environmental license shall be issued according to Points a, b, d and dd of this Clause.
– The time for issuance of the environmental license is as follows:
+ An investment project subject to EIA must obtain the environmental license before trial operation of the waste treatment work, except for the case in Point c of this Clause;
+ An investment project not subject to EIA must obtain the environmental license before the competent authority promulgates the document specified in Points a, b, c, d and g Clause 1 Article 36 of this Law. If a construction project is not subject to feasibility study report appraisal by the specialized construction authority in accordance with regulations of law on construction, it must obtain the environmental license before the competent authority issues or adjusts the construction permit;
+ If the waste treatment work of the investment project in Clause 2 Article 39 hereof is currently under trial operation as prescribed by law before the effective date of this Law, the project owner is entitled to continue the trial operation to obtain the environmental license after the trial operation is done or prepare an application for the environmental license before the trial operation is done. The project owner is not required to carry out the trial operation again, however, the result of trial operation must be reported and evaluated as prescribed in Article 46 of this Law;
+ The business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster in Clause 2 Article 30 hereof that has been put into official operation before the effective date of this Law must obtain the environmental license within 36 months from the effective date of this Law, except for the case where the competent authority has issued the certificate of completion of environmental protection work, certificate of conformity with environmental standard, certificate of eligibility for environment protection in import of scrap from foreign countries as production materials, license for hazardous waste treatment, license to discharge wastewater into water sources, license to discharge wastewater into hydraulic structure (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “component environmental license”). The component environmental license may be used as the environmental license until its expiry or within 05 years from the effective date of this Law if it is an indefinite-term component environmental license.
– If the investment project or project on construction of a business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster is executed in multiple phases or has multiple works or work items, the environmental license may be issued to each phase, work or item work that generates waste. The later issued environmental license shall incorporate contents of the previously issued license that is still effective.
– The environmental license shall serve as the basis for carrying out the following activities:
+ Inspection and supervision by competent authorities of environmental protection activities of investment projects, businesses, dedicated areas for production, business operation and service provision and industrial clusters;
+ Assumption of responsibility for environmental protection by investment project/business owners.
– If name of the investment project, business or dedicated area production, business operation and service provision or investment project/business owner is changed, the investment project/business owner shall continue to comply with the environmental license and notify the licensing authority for renewal of the license.
– From the effective date of the environmental license, the decision on approval of EIAR appraisal result and component environmental license becomes null and void.
Applications and procedures for issuance of environmental license
– An application for issuance of an environmental license includes:
+ An application form;
+ A report on proposal for issuance of the environmental license;
+ Legal and technical documentation of the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster.
– Procedures for issuance of the environmental license are as follows:
+ An investment project/business owner shall send an application for issuance of the environmental license to the competent authority specified in Article 41 hereof. The application may be submitted in person or by post or through the online public service system;
+ The licensing authority shall receive the application and inspect its adequacy and validity; make publicly available contents of the report on proposal for issuance of the environmental license, except for information classified as state secrets or enterprise’s secrets as prescribed by law; consult relevant organizations and individuals; carry out a site inspection of the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster; carry out appraisal and issue the environmental license.
The sequence of receiving and handling administrative procedures shall be followed in person, by post or through the online public service system at the request of the investment project/business owner;
+ If the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster discharges wastewater into a hydraulic structure, the licensing authority shall collect written comments and reach an agreement with the regulatory body managing such hydraulic structure before issuing the environmental license;
+ If the investment project or business is located within a dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster, the licensing authority shall collect written comments of the investor in construction and commercial operation of such dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster before issuing the environmental license;
– The licensing shall be based on appraisal of the report on proposal for issuance of the environmental license. The licensing authority shall establish an appraisal council and inspectorate in accordance with the Government’s regulations.
Regarding the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster that discharges wastewater into a hydraulic structure, the appraisal council and inspectorate shall include a representative from the regulatory body managing such hydraulic structure.
The regulatory body managing the hydraulic structure shall appoint a member to join the appraisal council and inspectorate and comment on the licensing within the time limit for comment collection; if such time limit expires and a written response fails to be given, it is considered that such body agrees to the licensing.
– The time limit for licensing begins on the date of receiving a satisfactory application and is as follow:
+ Not exceeding 45 days if the environmental license is issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Public Security;
+ Not exceeding 30 days if the environmental license is issued by a provincial or district-level People’s Committee;
+ The licensing authority may impose a shorter time limit than that specified in Points a and b of this Clause according to the type, scale and nature of the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster.
– If an investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision required to obtain the environmental license performs radiation works, it shall, in addition to complying with this Law’s regulations, comply with laws of law on atomic energy.
– The Government shall elaborate this Article.
Please see more:
- Instructions for exclusive registration of company logos in Vietnam
- Service of changing the legal representative of Vietnamese enterprises
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Frequently asked questions
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).
An application for issuance of an environmental license includes:
– An application form;
– A report on proposal for issuance of the environmental license;
– Legal and technical documentation of the investment project, business, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster.
An investment project/business owner shall send an application for issuance of the environmental license to the competent authority specified in Article 41 hereof. The application may be submitted in person or by post or through the online public service system;
Conclusion: So the above is Regulations on environmental license in Vietnam. Hopefully with this article can help you in life, please always follow and read our good articles on the website: lsxlawfirm.com
