Vietnam law has regulations on strategic environmental assessment. Let’s find out this issue with Lawyer X through the following situation: “Dear Lawyer! What are subjects required to undergo strategic environmental assessment in Vietnam? What are regulations on carrying out strategic environmental assessment? Thanks for answering my questions!”
Legal grounds
- Vietnam Law on Environmental protection
Subjects required to undergo strategic environmental assessment
– National strategy for extraction and use of natural resources.
– National comprehensive planning; national marine spatial planning; national land use planning; regional planning; provincial planning; special administrative-economic unit planning.
– National and regional strategy for field and sector development, national sector planning and technical and specialized planning having great impacts on the environment on the list prescribed by the Government.
– Adjustments to the planning specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.
Carrying out strategic environmental assessment
– Organizations assigned to formulate the strategy and planning specified in Article 25 of this Law shall carry out strategic environmental assessment in the process of formulating such strategy and planning.
– The result of strategic environmental assessment of the strategy specified in Clauses 1 and 3 Article 25 of this Law shall be incorporated in the application for approval of the strategy.
– The result of strategic environmental assessment of the planning specified in Clauses 2 and 3 Article 25 of this Law shall be presented in a report enclosed with the application for approval of the planning.
– The agency presiding over appraising planning shall appraise strategic environmental assessment result during the appraisal. The agency approving the strategy shall consider strategic environmental assessment result during the approval.
– The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall give its written opinions on contents of strategic environmental assessment of strategies and planning.
– The strategic environmental assessment result shall serve as one of the bases for the competent authority to consider approving a strategy or planning.
Contents of strategic environmental assessment
– Contents of strategic environmental assessment include:
+ Assessing conformity of the environmental protection policy with viewpoints, objectives and policies on environmental protection and sustainable development, and international environmental agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory and regulations of this Law;
+ Proposing schemes for adjustment and completion of contents of conformity of the environmental protection policy with viewpoints, objectives and policies on environmental protection and sustainable development, and international environmental agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory and regulations of this Law.
– Contents of strategic environmental assessment of the planning include:
+ Planning contents that may impact the environment;
+ Scope of strategic environmental assessment;
+ Environmental components and natural heritage sites that may be affected by the planning;
+ Strategic environmental assessment methods applied;
+ Comparing and assessing conformity of viewpoints and objectives of the planning with viewpoints, objectives and policies on environmental protection, national environmental protection strategy and planning, and environmental protection contents in the regional and provincial planning;
+ Results of identifying negative and positive major environmental issues in the planning;
+ Impacts of climate change;
+ Results of forecasting negative and positive trends of major environmental issues upon implementing the planning; solutions for maintaining positive trends and reducing negative trends of major environmental issues;
+ Orientations for environmental protection during the implementation of planning;
+ Results of consultation with relevant parties during the strategic environmental assessment;
+ Noteworthy environment protection-related issues (if any), proposed directions and solutions for resolution.
– The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment shall elaborate this Article.
Environmental criteria for investment project classification
– Environmental criteria for investment project classification include:
+ Scale, capacity and type of production, business and service;
+ Area of land, land with water surface, and sea used; scale of extraction of natural resources;
+ Environmentally sensitive factors including high density residential areas; water source used for supply of domestic water; wildlife sanctuaries prescribed by the law on biodiversity and fisheries; types of forests prescribed by the law on forestry; other tangible cultural heritage and natural heritage sites; land meant for growing wet rice during 02 or more cropping seasons; important wetlands; migration and relocation requirements and other environmental sensitive factors.
– According to the environmental criteria set out in Clause 1 of this Article, investment projects shall be classified into Group I, II, III and IV.
– Group I investment projects are those that pose a high risk of adverse environmental impacts, including:
+ Large-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services that are likely to cause environmental pollution; projects providing hazardous waste treatment service; projects involving import of scrap from foreign countries as production materials;
+ Medium-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services with environmentally sensitive factors that are likely to cause; large-scale and capacity projects not involved in types of production, business and services with environmentally sensitive factors that are likely to cause environmental pollution;
+ Large- or medium-scale projects using land, land with water surface and marine area with environmentally sensitive factors;
+ Large- or medium-scale and capacity projects on extraction of minerals and water resources with environmentally sensitive factors;
+ Projects requiring repurposing of land on at least medium scale with environmentally sensitive factors;
+ Large-scale projects requiring migration and relocation.
– Group II investment projects are those that pose a risk of adverse environmental impacts, except for those specified in Clause 3 of this Article, including:
+ Medium-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services that are likely to cause environmental pollution;
+ Small-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services with environmentally sensitive factors that are likely to cause environmental pollution; medium-scale and capacity projects not involved in types of production, business and services with environmentally sensitive factors that are likely to cause environmental pollution;
+ Large- or medium-scale projects using land, land with water surface and marine area with environmentally sensitive factors;
+ Small-scale and capacity projects on extraction of minerals and water resources with environmentally sensitive factors;
+ Small-scale projects requiring repurposing of land with environmentally sensitive factors;
+ Medium-scale projects requiring migration and relocation.
– Group III investment projects are those that pose a risk of adverse environmental impacts, except for those specified in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article, including:
+ Small-scale and capacity projects involved in types of production, business and services that are likely to cause environmental pollution;
+ Projects not involved in types of production, business and services that are likely to cause environmental pollution and generating wastewater, dusts and exhaust gases that must be treated or generating hazardous waste that must be managed in accordance with regulations on waste management.
– Group IV investment projects are those that do not pose a risk of adverse environmental impacts, except for those specified in Clauses 3, 4 and 5 of this Article.
– The Government shall elaborate Clause 1 and promulgate a list of investment projects specified in Clauses 3, 4 and 5 of this Article.
Preliminary environmental impact assessment
– Projects subject to PEIA are group I investment projects specified in Clause 3 Article 28 of this Law.
– The PEIA shall be conducted during the period of pre-feasibility study on investment in construction, proposal for investment guidelines and request for approval of investment guidelines for investment projects subject to investment guideline decision or approval in accordance with the Law on Investment, Law on Public Investment, Law on Public-Private Partnership and Law on Construction.
– The PEIA shall focus on:
+ Assessing the conformity of the investment project location with the national environmental protection strategy, national environmental protection planning and environmental protection contents in regional planning, provincial planning and other relevant planning;
+ Identifying and predicting major environmental impacts of the investment project on the basis of scale, production technology and location of the project;
+ Identifying environmentally sensitive factors present in the investment project location according to the location selection methods (if any);
+ Analyzing, assessing and selecting a scheme regarding scale, production technology, technology for waste treatment and location of the investment project, and solutions for reducing environmental impacts;
+ Determining notable major environmental issues and environmental impacts during the EIA.
– Entities proposing the investment projects in Clause 1 of this Article shall conduct PEIA. PEIA contents shall be considered by a competent authority together with the application for investment guideline decision or approval.
Please see more:
- Instructions for exclusive registration of company logos in Vietnam
- Service of changing the legal representative of Vietnamese enterprises
Services of Lawyer X
Prestigious professional services: Firstly, the team of consultants and consultants for many years in the field of civil status, and customer support.
On-time: Certainly, with the motto “Get your lawyer right at your fingertips”, we ensure the service always performs on time. The rights and interests of customers always come first.
Cost: Besides, Lawyer X’s service costs are highly competitive; depending on the nature of the particular case. So, we want our guests to have the best possible service experience. Therefore, costs which guaranteed to be the most suitable and economical for customers.
Confidentiality of client information: Finally, all personal information of clients Lawyer X will be 100% confidential.
If you need any further information, please contact LSX Law firm: at +84846175333 or Email: [email protected]
Frequently asked questions
Environmental criteria for investment project classification include: Scale, capacity and type of production, business and service; Area of land, land with water surface, and sea used; scale of extraction of natural resources; Environmentally sensitive factors including high density residential areas; water source used for supply of domestic water; wildlife sanctuaries prescribed by the law on biodiversity and fisheries; types of forests prescribed by the law on forestry; other tangible cultural heritage and natural heritage sites; land meant for growing wet rice during 02 or more cropping seasons; important wetlands; migration and relocation requirements and other environmental sensitive factors.
The PEIA shall be conducted during the period of pre-feasibility study on investment in construction, proposal for investment guidelines and request for approval of investment guidelines for investment projects subject to investment guideline decision or approval in accordance with the Law on Investment, Law on Public Investment, Law on Public-Private Partnership and Law on Construction.
Contents of strategic environmental assessment include: Assessing conformity of the environmental protection policy with viewpoints, objectives and policies on environmental protection and sustainable development, and international environmental agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory and regulations of this Law; Proposing schemes for adjustment and completion of contents of conformity of the environmental protection policy with viewpoints, objectives and policies on environmental protection and sustainable development, and international environmental agreements to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory and regulations of this Law.
Conclusion: So the above is Regulations on strategic environmental assessment in Vietnam. Hopefully with this article can help you in life, please always follow and read our good articles on the website: lsxlawfirm.com
