In Vietnam, WEEE-related regulations have been actively discussed since the late 2000s, and in 2011, the draft was prepared and submitted to the Prime Minister by the Directorate General of Environment of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, based on input from stakeholders and others. In terms of the legal framework, Article 87 of the Law on Environmental Protection of 2014 (Law No. 55/2014/QH13) stipulates that manufacturers and importers are responsible for the collection and treatment of discarded products under the extended producer responsibility (EPR) principle, and authorizes the Prime Minister to enact subordinate legislation setting out the details of this responsibility.
In August 2013, the “Prime Minister’s Decision No. 50/2013/QD-TTg on the collection and treatment of discarded products” was finally enacted, but its content (e.g., regulated electrical and electronic equipment) did not differ substantially from the earlier drafts that had been made public. However, a new decision replacing this Prime Minister’s Decision was subsequently enacted in May 2015, that is entitled the “Prime Minister’s Decision No. 16/2015/QD-TTg on the collection and treatment of discarded products”. It removed some of the regulated products (specifically “chemical for industry, agriculture and fisheries and medicine for human”), postponed the schedule (see the table below) and clarified the responsibility of manufacturers.
Table: Comparison of No. 50/2013/QD-TTg and No. 16/2015/QD-TTg
| No. | Discarded Products | Starting Date for Collection and Treatment (mm/dd/yyyy) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 50/2013/QD-TTg | 16/2015/QD-TTg | ||
| I | ACCUMULATOR AND BATTERY | ||
| 1 | All types of accumulators | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 2 | All types of batteries | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| II | ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT | ||
| 1 | Compact light and fluorescent light | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 2 | Computer (desktop, laptop), computer monitor, CPU | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 3 | Printer; fax machine, scanner | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 4 | Camera, movie camera | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 5 | Cell phone, tablet computer | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 6 | DVD, VCD, CD player and other tape or disc player | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| 7 | Copier | 01/01/2016 | 07/01/2016 |
| 8 | Television, refrigerator | 01/01/2016 | 07/01/2016 |
| 9 | Air conditioner, washing machine | 01/01/2016 | 07/01/2016 |
| III | CHEMICAL USED IN INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURE AND FISHERY AND MEDICINE FOR HUMAN | ||
| 1 | Hazardous industrial chemical | 01/01/2015 | exemption |
| 2 | Chemical, chemical product used in veterinary | 01/01/2015 | exemption |
| 3 | Chemical, chemical product for plant protection | 01/01/2015 | exemption |
| 4 | Chemical, chemical product used in fishery | 01/01/2015 | exemption |
| 5 | Medicine for human | 01/01/2015 | exemption |
| IV | LUBRICANT and GREASE | ||
| 1 | Lubricants | 01/01/2015 | 07/01/2016 |
| V | TIRE and INNER TUBE | ||
| 1 | All types of tires | 01/01/2016 | 07/01/2016 |
| 2 | All types of inner tubes | 01/01/2016 | 07/01/2016 |
| VI | TRANSPORTATION | ||
| 1 | All types of motorcycles and motorbikes | 01/01/2018 | 01/01/2018 |
| 2 | All types of automobiles | 01/01/2018 | 01/01/2018 |
After a delay in enacting a regulation setting specific provisions for the implementation, it was finally enacted in October 2017. The regulation, entitled “Circular No. 34/2017/TT-BTNMT on the collection and treatment of discarded products”, stipulates the technical requirements for the collection points of the regulated products, as well as the obligation to report annually on the status of its implementation. In this Circular, the requirements for “collection points” were concretely specified. Collection points are divided into three categories, with the number and location of them to be determined by manufacturers themselves, based on the volume of product sold, the distribution system and the distance from the collection points to the treatment plant.
However, these EPR rules in Vietnam are now to be revised under the Law on Environmental Protection of 2020 (No. 72/2020/QH14). See more details on that discussion in the following:
Brief report: Public seminar for new regulations on e-waste, ELV and packaging waste management of Vietnam: (1) Overview of the proposed EPR system
On January 10, 2022, the Vietnamese government established and enacted the Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP Detailing a Number of Articles of the Law on Environmental Protection, which sets out a new list of discarded products under EPR rules. See more details in the following:
Vietnam sets comprehensive EPR regulations for WEEE, ELV, packaging and batteries
