Vietnam issued new guidance on 11 administrative procedures in the environmental sector 
On June 26, 2023, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam promulgated Decision 1701/QD-BTNMT on Guidance for Implementation of Administrative Procedures in the Environmental Sector, which came into effect on the same day. The Decision provides details for the newly prescribed administrative procedures related to environmental protection as stipulated in the Law on Environmental Protection (72/2020/QH14), which was fully amended in 2020. The covered procedures include review of application documents, issuance of permit and license by administrative agencies.
Specifically, the Decision details the following 11 administrative procedures:
- Issuance of environmental license
- Renewal of environmental license
- Change in environment license
- Re-issuance of environmental license
- Authorization for handover of hazardous waste not included in environmental license
- Certification of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes under the Basel Convention
- Application for exemption on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention
- Issuance of certificate of qualification for Environmental Observation Services
- Renewal of certificate of qualification for Environmental Observation Services
- Certification of Vietnam Ecolabel
- Renewal of notification of Vietnam Ecolabel certification
Detailed guidance on the above procedures will be provided in the Annex to this Decision. As such, internal procedures for regulatory bodies are now established, which implies that various environmental procedures are going to be fully performed across the country.
The Decision can be downloaded at:
https://www.monre.gov.vn/VanBan/Pages/ChiTietVanBanChiDao.aspx?pID=2944
Example: Application for POPs exemptions
Business entities that import, produce or use as direct production raw materials POPs listed in Annex XVII to the Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP Detailing a Number of Articles of Law on Environmental Protection, one of the subordinate regulations of the Law on Environmental Protection of 2020, are required to apply for exemption as mentioned in above item 7. According to the Decision 1701/QD-BTNMT, applications for POPs exemption will be processed within up to 50 days from the receipt of the application documents. The process consists of checking the formality issues of the documents submitted by a business operator, establishing an inspection team, inspecting the documents, and deciding whether to grant/deny the exemption. However, the number of days mentioned above is only the maximum time required by authorities and does not include the number of days required for business operators to correct or supplement incomplete documents.
