02/03/2021
In accordance with the provisions of the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnership, public investment projects, and investment projects in the form of public-private partnership, when considering the investment policy decision, must implement preliminary environmental impact assessment (EIA) in accordance with the law on environmental protection. The Law on Investment also stipulates that the investment project dossier under the competence of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister to decide on investment policies, when applying for investment policy approval, must have the content “preliminary EIA”. Along with that, to specify subjects, contents of preliminary EIA in laws relating to investment, complete and synchronize legal provisions on investment and environmental protection, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has presided over and coordinated with relevant ministries and agencies to develop a Draft Decree on preliminary EIA. The Draft Decree is currently being submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval.
With the actual requirements of considering the contents related to environmental impacts of investment projects, it is necessary to enhance the quality of prevention work in environmental protection; identify projects with potential negative impacts on the environment and preliminarily determine the scope and scale of environmental impacts of investment projects. Also, ensure the EIA in the later period is focused on the most important environmental impacts of the projects, helping save time and money for the EIA implementation... drafting a decree on preliminary EIA is necessary and is an objective practical requirement.
The Draft Decree stipulating preliminary EIA is developed on the legal basis of the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on Public Investment 2019; The Law on Investment 2020, the Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnership 2020, the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Construction 2020. In addition, the Draft Decree is also developed on the basis of selective inheritance of Government’s Decree No. 40/2020/ND-CP dated 6th April 2020, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Public Investment and Government’s Decree No. 40/2019/ND-CP dated 15 May 2019 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the decrees detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection. The results of implemented preliminary EIA are parts of the pre-feasibility study report or investment project proposal. The contents of preliminary EIA are considered and appraised by competent state agencies concurrently with the pre-feasibility study report, investment policy proposal report, application dossier for approval of investment policy, application dossier for the Investment Registration Certificate to reduce time and enhance the quality of appraisal.
Also, the Draft Decree is proposed to apply to agencies, organizations and individuals participating in or related to activities of investment, public investment, public-private partnership investment, construction investment and issuance of investment registration certificates, except for cases of issuance of investment registration certificates at the request of investors. The Draft Decree has 3 Chapters and 7 Articles: General provisions; Preliminary EIA; Terms of enforcement. Subjects required to implement preliminary EIA are projects with high risk of adverse environmental impacts, including: Projects in the form of production, business or service having a risk of environmental pollution with large scale and capacity; Projects providing hazardous waste treatment services; Projects importing scrap from abroad for use as raw materials for production; Projects in the form of production, business or services that are likely to pollute the environment with medium scale and capacity but in areas having environmentally sensitive factors; Projects not in the form of production, business or service having a risk of environmental pollution with large scale and capacity, but in areas having environmentally sensitive factors.
In addition, projects using land, having land with water surface and having marine areas with a large scale or medium scale but in areas with environmentally sensitive factors; Projects exploiting minerals and water resources with large scale and capacity or with medium scale and capacity but in areas with environmentally sensitive factors; Projects requiring conversion of land use purposes with medium scale or higher but in areas with environmentally sensitive factors; Projects requiring large scale migration and resettlement are also subject to preliminary EIA. The time of preliminary EIA is conducted in the pre-feasibility study stage of construction investment, proposing investment policy, and requesting approval of investment policy for investment projects subject to the request for decision or approval of investment policy in accordance with the law on investment, public investment, public-private partnership investment, construction.
Preliminary EIA is a very necessary step to consider before making an investment decision or issuing investment license for a project
According to the new Law on Environmental Protection approved by the National Assembly on 17 November 2020, the contents of the preliminary EIA take effect from 1 February 2021. Therefore, agencies, organizations and individuals proposing investment projects subject to the above-mentioned contents shall implement preliminary EIA. The contents of a preliminary EIA are reviewed by a competent state agency concurrently with the application dossier for the issuance of decision or approval of investment policy. The contents of the preliminary EIA include: Assessing the suitability of the location of investment projects with the national environmental protection strategy and planning, environmental protection contents in regional planning, provincial planning and other relevant plans; Identifying and forecasting the main environmental impacts of investment projects based on the scale, production technology and location; Identifying the environmentally sensitive factors of the areas where investment projects are implemented according to the location options (if any); Analyzing, assessing and selecting options on scale, production technology, waste treatment technology, location of investment projects and measures to minimize environmental impacts; Identifing the major environmental issues and scope of environmental impacts that need to be considered in the EIA implementation process.
According to the Draft, in cases where an investment project has been approved by a competent authority for the EIA report, or confirmed by the registration of the environmental protection plan before the effective date of this Decree, preliminary EIA is not required. Along with that, an investment project that has implemented preliminary EIA and has been approved by a competent authority for investment policy is not required to implement preliminary EIA when applying for investment registration certificate; An investment project whose application for decision or approval of investment policy has been received by a competent authority, or is issued with an investment registration certificate before the effective date of this Decree shall continue to be settled according to the provisions of law at the time of receipt, except where agencies, organizations or individuals request to comply with the provisions of this Decree.
Obviously, preliminary EIA is a very necessary step to consider before making an investment decision or issuing investment license for a project. Hopefully, when the Decree comes into effect, it will remove difficulties for investors, ensure the unity of the legal system on investment – environment and help identify environmental problems early from development projects, ensure the pollution prevention principle and the common goals of sustainable development.
Vũ Thế Hưng
Department of Environment Impact Assessment and Appraisal
Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA)
