Leyla Özay
Technical sectretary
EIA is required in Vietnam since 1993, when the National Law on Environmental Protection (LEP) was issued. Procedural requirements followed by a Decree adopted in 1994. Since the revision of the LEP in 2005, also comprehensive SEA requirements exist.
The central EIA and SEA authority in Vietnam is the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).
The ESIA process in Vietnam consists of the following stages: Screening, Assessment, Review, Approval and Monitoring.
Regarding the timing of the ESIA process, the ESIA report shall be made concurrently with the formulation of the feasibility study report of the investment project. The feasibility study is then also part of the dossier of request for the appraisal and approval of the ESIA report.
Screening process
Screening decision is made by Appraisal Council or Appraisal Services Organisation formulated at National or Provincial level depending on the project.
Screening is done based on the provisions outlined in LEP (2020) and the list included as an Appendix in the EIA Decree 08/2022. The list contains details on project features such as size and capacities against which EIA requirement is determined.
Sensitive areas
Provisions for protection and conservation of sensitive areas exist. A full EIA is required for any project with likely effects on such areas.
Contents of the starting document
The starting document is a package consisting of:
Scoping process
Not specified
Assessment process
There are two processes for environmental impact assessments. First is the Preliminary Enviornmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) and the second is the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
PEIA has been introduced into the environmental law in order to bring it in line with the Law on Investment (2020). PEIA is meant to identify the major environmental issues related to high risk projects (or: Group I projects as outlined in Article 28 of LEP 2020) and is carried out along with the the pre-feasibility study or project investment proposal. The PEIA is submitted to the competent authority and is considered together with the application for investment for approval.
An EIA is required for projects in both Group I (after the PEIA) and Group II projects outlined in article 28 of LEP and Annex IV of Decree 08/2022. The project owner, or a qualified consultancy on their behalf, is responsible to conduct the EIA. The EIA needs to be carried out along with the feasibility or an equivalent study. The EIA results need to be presented in a report.
Contents of the ESIA report
Article 32 of the LEP (2020) outlines that an EIA report should contain the following details:
In addition to what is outlined in the LEP (2020), Circular 02/2022 (and its Annex II) provides forms for EIA reports.
Accreditation of consultants
Decree 29/2011/ND-CP provides specific criteria on how to select the experts that write the EIA report for example with respect to experience and education.
Review process
Depending on the type of project, either MoNRE or the Provincial People’s Committee can be responsible for EIA appraisal. The Ministry of National Defence and Public Security takes responsibility to appraise EIA reports for projects classified as state secrets, or that are in the field of national defence.
The project owner submits the EIA report to the responsible appraisal authority, along with a request form for EIA report appraisal. For projects that legally require appraisal of the feasibility study by the specialised construction authority, the EIA report needs to be submitted together with feasibility study report or an equivalent document.
For reviewing an EIA report, the relevant authority establishes an appraisal council of 7 members. This council evaluates the EIA report in conjuction with the feasibility study for the project. In their evaluation, the appraisal council looks into aspects like the conformity with national, provincial plans, laws and regulations on environmental protection, the EIA method, state of the environment and sensitive environmental factors, the predicted environmental impacts and waste generated and the feasibility and adequacy of environmental protection measures and program.
The appraisal council then sends its comments and the EIA appraisal result to the appraisal authority. If the appraisal authority deems it necessary, they can also carry out a survey to collect comments of organizations and experts. The appraisal authority then consolidates the comments from the appraisal council and other organisations, and decides whether or not to approve the EIA report appraisal result.
If the project is appraised by MonRE, they will send the decision of approval of the EIA report appraising result to the relevant People’s Committee and other relevant agencies. When the Provincial People’s Committee is responsible for appraisal, it shall send its decision to MonRE and other relevant institutions.
The appraisal authority also informs the project owner and other relevant agencies on the decision for approval, or it may ask the project owner to make revisions first.
Review expertise
At least one third of the appraisal council must be experts with expertise in environment or another field related to the project. Experts with a bachelor degree must have at least seven years of working experience, whilst experts with a master’s or doctorate degree need to have 3 and respectively 2 years of working experience. If the project invovles the discharge of wastewater into a hydraulic structure, the appraisal council must include a representative of the regulatory body managing that hydraulic structure.
Experts participating in conducting the EIA of the investment project are not allowed to join the council appraising the EIA report of the project.
Timeline Review
The appraisal authority notifies the project owner of the appraisal result in writing. The timelines to review the EIA report differ per type of investment. Project owners with respect to Group I investment projects (as outlined in LEP 2020, Article 28 clause 3) need to be informed within 45 days. And Group II investment projects (as outlined in LEP 2020, Article 28 clause 4) within 30 days.
When the project owner was requested to revise the EIA report, the appraisal authority needs to decide within 20 days after receiving the revised version whether to approve or to refuse it. In case of refusal, an explanation in writing needs to be provided.
Integration of ESIA into decision-making
The project owner is responsible to fully comply with the requirements that are set out in the decision on the appraisal. When requested, the project owner must revise the contents of the investment project and the EIA report as required by the appraisal authority.
For projects that require an environmental license, the EIA report appraisal forms the basis for acquiring a license from MoNRE or the Provincial People’s Committee.
When a project does not need to obtain an environmental license, the project owner must, before putting the project into operation, inform the appraisal authority about completion of environmental protection works.
Decision justification
Decisions including the reasons thereof are communicated to the proponent in writing. The decision is made public. A report on the decision as well as the certified EIA report are sent to various institutions, depending on which leve the approval decision has been taken.
Timeline decision-making
See timeline review.
Possibilities for appeal
Compliance monitoring
Projects that require an EIA , must also obtain an environmental licence, based on the EIA report appraisal. This licence contains the environmental protection requirements such as an environmental management and supervision plan, and other measures to deal with waste, noise, vibration. The licensing authority has the responsibility to inspect the projects on their compliance with the environmental protection requirements.
Non-compliance penalties
Suspension of permit of operation or other penalizing measures are issued if the proponent does not comply with measures in the already approved environmental protection plan.
Public participation requirements for ESIA process stages
The project owner is responsible to hold consultations during an EIA process and to announce these consultations on their website. The consultation with communities and individuals directly affected by a project is expected to be through meetings. Whilst agencies and organisations directly related to the project need to be enabled to give their written response.
These consultations need to collect inputs on the following aspects of a project:
The project owner is expected to use the consultation inputs in working out solutions for minimizing environmental impacts. The consultation results also need to be processed and presented in the ESIA report and if comments and propositions made by consultees are rejected, the project owner must provide a clear explanation.
During the review of the EIA report, the appraisal authority may choose to carry out a survey to collect comments of organizations.
Access to information
Auhtorities responsible for EIA review need to publish decisions on approval of EIA appraisal results on their web portals.
Authorities that issue environmental licences are required to make the reports underlying to issuing a licence publicly available, which includes:
Both licencing authorities and project owners are required to make the environmental license publicly available.