The benefits of transparency

Project owners’ responsibilities are clearly defined in the draft LEP

A positive step toward economic development and environmental protection

To integrate environmental consideration right from the planning stage, the role of SEA is really important.

 The guiding role of strategies, master plans and socio-economic development plans which are serve as the primary strategies, is very important in Vietnam. Reflecting warning and preventive measures taken from EIA implementation in those strategies is therefore critical.

Also, by looking through the lens of environmental protection, efficiency can be improved and economic pressures can be eased. Therefore, the Law on Environmental Protection (EIA)’s master plan for SEA is a big step in the right direction for Vietnam’s socio-economic development and environmental protection.

 Additionally, the responsibility for environmental protection is clearly put in the hands of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and other related ministries and bodies, and the role of provincial people’s committees in appraising an SEA is made undoubtedly clear.

The law would regulate that an appraisal committee is set up by the appraising body, but does not stipulate the selection of members or appraisal methods, which are vital to the quality of SEA reports. These stipulations are expected to be provided in the guiding documents of the amended LEP.

The responsibility of project owners

Regulations governing EIA reports in the draft LEP are much clearer than those in previous version – LEP 2005.

It is clearly defined that projects which have the potential to harm the environment and/or society must conduct an EIA. This means the revised law will expand the kinds of projects that have to do EIA reports.

The way to chose which projects could be implemented EIA is the first step to ensure the transparency of EIA procedures. The list of projects which are forced to do EIA in the decree 29/2011/ND-CP was declared, therefore appropriated regulations on projects which have to do EIA must be released in the new decree based on the revised law.

Choosing which projects must implement EIA reports is the first step to ensuring transparency of EIA procedures. Projects which must conduct EIAs was outlined in Decree 29/2011/ND-CP, and therefore this decree will also have to be amended based on upcoming related revisions in the LEP.

In terms of conducting EIA reports, project owners’ responsibility is are clearly defined in the draft LEP. Even if they outsource this to consultants, project owners are still responsible for the completion and content of the reports.

Also, the amendments concerning the initial regulation-assessment phase and re-assessment phase are helpful in clarifying the process by which to conduct EIA reports. While this is still fairly limited in the draft, it is a positive move forward.

EIA report contents have been re-organised in the draft as well, as in the current law there is overlap, for example, between articles 20 and 23. EIA reports must be monitored closely in the coming time to ensure all the functions of the law are activated.

In particular, the selection of content and research, measurement and assessment methodologies requires careful debate. It is essential that EIA reports are detailed and fully transparent.

The amended law is also expected provide regulations on hiring consultants to prepare EIA reports. Although project owners take the full responsibility of the quality of the reports, hiring licensed consultants who have adequate techniques and methodologies is a solution to ensure EIAs are reliable. Licensing  procedures are expected to be clarified in guiding documents of the amended LEP.

Strong measures

Another important factor in the draft LEP is the requirement that projects have a certificate of environmental protection granted by the government. This certificate would only be granted after an enterprise submits its EIA report, environmental protection plan, and other related documents to the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

 Environmental protection solutions and technical standards are now part of EIA reports and are required by law, according to the amended LEP.

As a result, enterprises must not only follow the LEP but also have to strictly take and follow measures to protect the environment as defined clearly in their EIA report.

Compared to EIA regulations in other countries that only anticipate, measure and assess the impact of a project on the environment and separate reports from environmental regulations, Vietnam’s EIA policy is a strong tool in the environmental protection process.

Those legal documentations bring bout both advantage and disadvantages to the EIA owner. The advantage is that the EIA contains solutions and technical standards based in the existing legal regulations. This makes easier to put through the approval process of EIA.

These new additions are a double-edged sword for projects. One advantage is that the EIA would include solutions and technical standards based on existing regulations and the EIA approval process would become easier.

However the disadvantage is that it would take time to improve environmental protection technology if regulations change and this would undoubtedly require yet another revision to EIA policy.

To reduce the consequences of this disadvantage, policy makers need to consider how to make EIA reports appropriate with updated regulations.

In my opinion, guidelines on technical assessments and simplifying EIA procedures should be addressed in the coming time.

Apart from that, since EIA has its legal role, the government needs to strictly monitor reports’ contents and instruct projects’ owners to obey and release future policies and comments on their reports.

For appraisal bodies such as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, more than just checking the content of EIA reports, they need to study and use information therein toward future policies and law.