On September 6, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a meeting to give comments on the finalization of the Draft Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 08/ND-CP/2022 detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection (Draft Decree).
According to the Government Office, at the meeting, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) Do Duc Duy emphasized that the draft Decree focuses on amending and supplementing regulations to reduce administrative procedures (AP) on environmental impact assessment, environmental licensing, and increase decentralization and delegation of power to localities.
It is expected that about 55.96% of records will be assigned to the provincial People's Committee to appraise environmental impact assessment reports; about 11.05% of subjects will have their administrative procedures for appraising environmental impact assessment reports reduced.
Minister Do Duc Duy discussed with leaders of Hung Yen, Ha Nam provinces, Da Nang city, Vietnam Electricity Group... about the proposal to expand the mechanism of granting common environmental licenses for many works in the same project, or many projects in one area; the scale and type of public investment projects that need local environmental consultation; instructions on the order and procedures for bidding for waste collection and treatment...
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha highly appreciated the preparation, reception, and explanation work of the drafting agency and the opinions at the meeting to continue perfecting the draft decree.
Issues discussed between drafting agencies, management agencies, businesses and organizations need to be specified in each article, clause and section, not just in a "policy declaration".
Along with promoting decentralization and delegation of power to localities, the Deputy Prime Minister said that it is necessary to have regulations related to the responsibilities and authorities of communes and wards; review detailed appendices, clear quantitative criteria, easy to understand, easy to implement, in the direction of management according to objectives, nature, level of impact, nature of environmental pollution sources, not just the scale and scope of the project.
The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to continue to closely follow the Law on Environmental Protection and specialized laws; promote the settlement of administrative procedures in the electronic environment; continue to assess the impact of environmental protection policies and recycling incentives on businesses.
In particular, research and forecast new areas and types of waste to calculate and design early and far-reaching environmental protection mechanisms and policies.
The Deputy Prime Minister also gave his opinion on the proposal to integrate many projects in the same area when granting environmental licenses; and to assess the environmental impact of projects using land converted from rice-growing land.
At the same time, give opinions on the authority assigned to ministries and branches to issue environmental protection standards in specialized fields; requirements for environmental impact assessment from the project preparation stage to request investment policies; mechanisms for using environmental protection and waste treatment funds contributed by enterprises...
