Vietnam releases draft revision of Law on Chemicals, plans to enact it in 2025

• Add new word definitions to distinguish chemicals and products containing chemicals.
• Define auxiliary products and intermediate products to make them distinct from waste.

• Introduce rules for the chemical industry’s development.
• Clarify the scope of chemical projects; for example, projects can be defined as concentrated chemical industrial parks, logistics centers or projects for the manufacturing of basic chemicals, petrochemicals, rubber, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, industrial gases, paints and printing inks, detergents, cleaners, chemical products, etc.
• Develop specific standards and requirements for chemical projects and develop systems that give preferential treatment to investment projects for concentrated industrial parks and projects using green chemistry.
• Introduce rules for chemical project management.
• Revise rules so that chemical accident prevention and response plans are reviewed and approved within a period appropriate for chemical projects.

• Develop technical guidelines for chemical risk assessment.
• Consider which is more appropriate, creating a list of specific chemicals or grouping chemicals for management based on their hazard classification.
• Centrally manage chemical information and administrative procedures between the central and local governments on the national chemical database.
• Clarify the responsibilities of each government department based on chemical types.

• Manage chemicals contained in products in a manner that matches international trends for consumers’ health and effective environmental protection, with a focus on the management of household products that potentially expose users to hazardous chemicals.
• Restrict the import into Vietnam of low-quality products and products with a high concentration of hazardous chemicals restricted in other countries.
• Reduce the release of products with high hazardous chemical content into the environment after use.

In line with these objectives, the following things are implemented:

• Develop national technical standards for hazardous chemical content in household and industrial products.
• Develop guidelines for the risk assessment of products.
• Introduce the requirement that importers and manufacturers of products containing chemicals provide chemical information for consumers.

• Clarify the responsibilities of each organization regarding the development of national technical standards for chemicals.
• Institutionalize chemical safety training, clarify requirements for training instructors, and develop a system where a national management body performs inspections.
• Introduce the obligation to publish and update chemical accident prevention and response plans/measures on the national chemical database.
• Develop and unify rules for chemical accident prevention and response plans at the local level.

• Centrally manage information provided by businesses and the industry and trade departments of local governments on the national chemical database.
• Keep information consistent between the National Single Window and the national chemical database.
• Enhance the information security of the national chemical database and its function of protecting confidential information.