Reduce environmental permits for businesses

Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority) talked about several new points of the Law on Environmental Protection applied for businesses.

Remove extra licenses

Sharing at the seminar on responsibilities of enterprises in Industrial Zones under the new Law on Environmental Protection held recently by Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority, and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Ms. Le Thi Minh Anh, Legal Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that in the past, each investment project in the Industrial Zone required enterprises to do many types of environmental permits.

According to the current Law on Environmental Protection, investment projects in the Industrial Zones are classified into 4 groups: group I must carry out preliminary EIA, ministerial-level EIA, and environmental permit; group II must have EIA, environmental permit; group III only has to make environmental permits and group IV only has to register for environmental protection. During its operation, enterprises must make annual reports on environmental protection or irregularly at the request of management agencies.

However, current regulations stating that 1 environmental permit to replace 7 types of permits, including: certificate of completion of environmental protection works, permit to discharge wastewater into water sources, permit to discharge wastewater into the irrigation construction site, a certificate of eligibility for environmental protection in the import of the waste as raw production materials, a license to treat hazardous waste, a register of hazardous waste generators, a license to discharge emissions industry.

Similarly, with EIA, investment projects with one or more factories only need to apply for only one EIA. In case the investor wants to expand or increase capacity, an additional EIA must be made, the specialized agency will only approve the extension or increase in capacity, while the EIA of the existing project is still valid. This helps investors reduce procedures, waiting time, and travel costs, etc.

Mr. Nguyen Dao Huu, Factory Director of TPC VINA Plastics and Chemicals Co., Ltd, Long Thanh District said that the integration of environmental permits helps businesses to avoid being "troubled" about permits. For example, with a wastewater permit, according to the previous regulations, in order to discharge treated wastewater into rivers, enterprises must have: a certificate of completion of environmental protection works according to the EIA (issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), permits to discharge wastewater into water sources (under the provisions of the Law on Water Resources), permits to discharge wastewater into irrigation works (according to the provisions of the Law on Irrigation), but now all procedures are almost simplified.

 Manufacturing medical equipment in Long Thanh Industrial Zone.

Continue to remove obstacles faced by investors

Although it is considered that there are many new and more favorable points for investors, there are still many issues that both management agencies and businesses still wonder about.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority, the laws and decrees guiding the implementation are available, but the implementation still has shortcomings.

Regarding project group identification, it is unreasonable to include the industry group producing electrical and electronic components and equipment in the list of production, business and service types that pose a risk of causing environmental pollution. Because this project group generates less solid waste, gas and wastewater. Regarding EIA appraisal, most projects of group I and group II are appraised by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, with fees ranging from VND8-96 million, while the appraisal fee for provincial projects ranges from VND5-26 million. The difference is quite large in addition to the procedures for granting environmental permits and other related procedures after the EIA is approved.

According to the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, each investment project only needs to make one EIA, which is basically convenient for both state management agencies, investors, especially investors who previously had to do a lot of work. The EIA can now be grouped into an EIA that covers the entire project. However, investors will not be able to apply in the case of 1 investment certificate but having factories in many different locations.

In order to better solve administrative procedures on the environment for investors, and at the same time create a consensus of businesses, Dong Nai proposes to the Government 4 issues: decentralization and authorization of more powers for localities in classifying the project groups to make EIA reports; provide clear guidance on the preliminary environmental impact assessment. Each investment project must establish an EIA; clearly define criteria for defining inner city as a basis for identifying projects with environmental sensitive elements; detailed guidance on regulations encouraging the reuse of solid waste and wastewater.

Ms. Le Thi Minh Anh said that because laws, decrees and circulars are closely related, investors must carefully study both the law and the guiding documents. Although the new law has been in effect for more than 4 months, in addition to some advantages, it contains some points that are difficult to apply. Enterprises and local management agencies are units that better understand the points and contents that need to be overcome, and can synthesize recommendations and send them to the drafting and implementing agency.

                                                                                                    Phan Anh