Vietnam publishes New Regulation on Responses to Waste-Related Emergencies 
On 23rd April 2025, The Prime Minister of Vietnam hereby promulgates the “Decision on Regulation on responses to waste-related emergencies.” This Decision comes into force as of June 10, 2025, replace Decision No. 09/2020/QD-TTg dated March 18, 2020 of the Prime Minister of Vietnam on the promulgation of the Regulation on responses to waste-related emergencies.
New points of the regulation on responses to waste-related emergencies 2025 are related to: Entities develop plans to respond to waste-related emergencies; Receipt and handling of information on waste-related emergencies; responsibility for Environmental improvement and restoration; disclose plans and scenarios concerning the responses to emergencies, frequency of waste-related emergency drills.
Entities develop plans to respond to waste-related emergencies
While In The regulation on responses to waste-related emergencies (RWE) 2020, the facility that is required for inspection/certification of completion of environmental protection works shall prepare a waste response plan; In The regulation RWE 2025: Owners of investment projects and facilities shall develop and issue plans to respond to waste-related emergencies. These are required details at Article 4. Content of Responses to in-facility waste-related emergencies (RWE) shall comply with Clause 2 Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP. Plans to RWE may be integrated into plans to respond to other emergencies. For example, if Company had Plans to respond to environmental emergencies (REE), then company can integrate with Plans RWE.
Minor changes in receiving and handling of information on waste-related emergencies
- Facilities where waste-related emergencies happen shall not be notified to emergency number 112 as before. Facilities shall promptly submit reports to the district-level Civil Defense Command and the People’s Committee and Civil Defense Committee of the commune where emergencies occur.
- If the emergencies are within the self-responding capacity of the facilities, facilities need to be reported within 24 hours from the detection of such emergencies. If the emergencies exceed the self-responding capacity of the facilities, facilities need to be reported immediately.
Responsibility for Environmental improvement and restoration after waste-related emergencies
- Emergencies occur within facilities, facilities that cause waste-related emergencies shall mobilize their forces, vehicles, and devices to carry out environmental restoration. If local authorities’ support is needed for environmental restoration after waste-related emergencies, there must be written proposals for local authorities to arrange appropriate forces, vehicles, and devices.
- Environmental improvement and restoration after district-level, provincial-level, and national-level waste-related emergencies (emergencies occur out of facilities): In the Regulation RWE 2020, there is only case that authorities approving plans for environmental restoration shall carry out such plans through bidding according to the Law on Bidding (if required). However, in the Regulation RWE 2025, facilities that cause waste-related emergencies shall carry out or hire other units to carry out plans for environmental restoration approved by competent authorities.
Disclose plans and scenarios concerning the responses to waste-related emergencies
In the regulation on RWE 2025, facilities shall disclose plans and scenarios concerning the responses to emergencies by listing them at their facilities and send it to:
- Headquarters of commune-level People’s Committees,
- District-level provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control
- The management board of the industrial park (if business is located in the industrial park)
So, facilities shall not disclose information about weight and properties of waste generated from manufacturing, trading and services provision as the regulation on RWE 2020 required.
Frequency of waste-related emergency drills
Another new point in the Regulation on RWE 2025 is the frequency of waste-related emergency drills. The Regulation on RWE 2020 only requires periodically drills in response to waste-related emergencies while The Regulation on RWE 2025 requires organizing waste-related emergency drills annually. Please see details in Article 23 of the Regulation.
For more information, please see detail content in the Regulation on RWE 2025 as link below:
https://vanban.chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=213448&classid=1&orggroupid=3
