(Status as of 22.12.2020)
We would like to share with you the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 (amendment) which was published last week. The law was approved by National Assembly on 17/11/2020 and will take effect since 01 January 2021 (except for Clause 3 Article 29 Content for environmental impact assessment, which will take effect by 01 February 2021). Kindly find attached the law in Vietnamese for your perusal.
For your convenience, we would like to make a quick summary on some notable changes in the new Law as follow:
1. Promote garbage classification at the source:
- From 01 January, 2020, provision on the collection of garbage fee based on weight, volume instead of per household
- Reusable, recyclable and hazardous solid wastes generated from households and individuals that have been separately classified shall not have to pay the price for collection, transportation and treatment.
- In addition, if the household or individual does not classify daily-life solid waste or does not use the correct packaging, the collector has the right to refuse the collection and transportation, and at the same time notify the competent authority. check and handle
2. Promote Circular Economy, restore and develop natural resource
Add Chapter XI on Economic, Policy and resource for environmental protection. In this Chapter, the government added policies on developing environmental industry, environmental service, environmental friendly product/service; prioritize the green procurement for project, mission funded by state budget; promote the Circular economy, etc.
3. Stricter regulation on project which may be harmful to the environment
Investment projects will be divided into 04 groups based on their level of harm caused to environment (more detail in Article 28, Section 2, Chapter IV). With each group, there will be corresponding management mechanism.
4. Simplify administrative procedures in wastewater discharge permits
5. Add regulation on environmental audit (Article 74)
- To assess effectiveness of environmental management and pollution control of production, business and service establishments.
… and other updates.
The English version will be updated to our Knowledge Management System as soon as we get it.