Vietnam news: The National Assembly considered the Draft Environmental Protection Act (12 Nov 2013)

The National Assembly considered the Draft Environmental Protection Act (amended) Thứ ba, ngày 12 tháng 11 năm 2013 cập nhật lúc 15:40

On the afternoon of November 6, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Quang, authorized by the Prime Minister presented the project report on the Environmental Protection Act (amended).

The project report on Environmental Protection Law (Amendment ) evaluated a number of provisions on environmental protection that remain appropriate, unrealistic, stagnated, out of touch with the development requirements of practical and international integration and overlapping with other legal provisions. Besides, there have surfaced inconsistencies in the provisions on environmental protection with other laws related to environmental protection. The above reasons have reduced the effectiveness and efficiency of environmental protection management. Thus, the amendment is urgently needed in order to firmly rejected polluted projects that affect public health .

Upon the verification of the amendment, Commission of Science, Technology and Environment agreed on the need to revise the Environmental Protection Act in order to overcome the shortcomings and inadequacies in the law enforcement of environmental protection; meet the requirements of industrialization modernization and transformation of economic growth pattern from width to depth to ensure the sustainable development of the country...

On the basis of the consensus on the range of amendment  and supplement of the Law , Commission of Science , Technology and Environment Committee recommended the  drafting committee to review and supplement the regulations in order to overcome the existing issues of the past 8 years of law enforcement  in the prevention , control and sanction of environmental contamination; inspection and handling of violations of the law on environmental protection; compensation for environmental damages; management responsibilities of the State to protect the environment; new regulations in response to climate change; green growth and environmental security.

The Draft of Environment Protection Act (Amendment ) has expanded the cope of law enforcement, not only within the " territory " but also the " continental shelf and exclusive economic zone " of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; extended the concept of environmental; supplemented the principle prioritizing environmental protection; clarified a number of prohibited contents in environmental protection. At the same time, the amendment clearly defined responsibilities of ministries and local authorities in the protection of rivers. In addition, in order to avoid detected pollution of projects after investment resulting in business suspension and wasteful investment ( typically Dong Nai hydropower projects 6 and 6A) , the bill has added regulations for large projects that have the potential to impact many aspects of the environment on preparation of investment report and 2-step environmental impact assessment ( EIA ): preliminary environmental impact assessment and environmental impact assessment .

With the development and promulgation of the new LEP, opinions , guidelines and policies of the Party to actively respond to climate change , strengthening resource management and environmental protection will be specified. Besides, the new LEP will facilitate the elimination of shortcomings and inadequacies of the provisions on environmental protection to develop a comprehensive legal system , enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the management of environmental protection. In addition the LEP helps meet the new requirements of the transition pattern of growth, restructuring the economy in harmony with nature, green growth and promote sustainable development .