According to Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, investment projects in groups I, II, III that generate waste must have an environmental license.
Subjects must have an environmental license before January 1, 2025, as prescribed in the Law on Environmental Protection 2020.
Projects operating before January 1, 2022, when the law comes into effect, are regulated as follows: The project must have a license before testing the waste treatment facility.
Projects that are in trial operation can continue but must apply for a license. Projects that have been officially operated before the law takes effect need to obtain a license within 36 months from January 1, 2022.
According to the Provincial People's Committee, the implementation of environmental licenses is still being neglected. Currently, the province has 89 projects subject to environmental licensing, but only 34 projects have been implemented.
Of the 89 projects requiring licensing, 1 project has a level I pollution risk, 46 level II and 42 level III, posing a great risk to the environment.
Since 2022, in order to effectively implement the Law on Environmental Protection, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has issued documents guiding organizations and individuals in carrying out environmental licensing procedures.
The Department also organizes training, disseminates the Law on Environmental Protection and guides production and business establishments to comply with regulations.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment also compiled a list and requested organizations and individuals to self-review the scale, capacity and volume of waste generated, comparing them with environmental criteria. Thereby, the units were grouped and prepared documents to request environmental licenses according to Article 41 of the Law on Environmental Protection.
On the other hand, from 2022 to 2024, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued many documents urging the implementation of environmental procedures according to the Law on Environmental Protection.
However, the number of projects that have completed their documents and been granted environmental licenses is still low, and many projects are at risk of not being able to meet the schedule before January 1, 2025.
Projects that do not complete the license on time will be inspected and handled according to Article 14 of Decree 45/2022. Investment projects under the approval authority of the Provincial People's Committee without an environmental license may be fined from 150-170 million VND along with additional penalties.
