Regulations on the responsibilities of agencies appraising environmental impact assessment reports according to Vietnamese law

When a company changes ownership, does that company’s environmental protection record need to be corrected or changed?

1. Tax and fee policies on environmental protection according to the law

In Article 136 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, the tax and fee policies on environmental protection are stipulated as follows:

– Environmental protection tax is prescribed as follows:

a) Environmental protection tax applies for products and goods whose use causes adverse impacts on the environment or environmental pollutants;

b) The level of environmental protection tax is determined based on the level of adverse impact on the environment;

c) The promulgation and organization of implementation of regulations on environmental protection tax are carried out. current according to tax law.

– Environmental protection fee is prescribed as follows:

a) Environmental protection fee applies to activities of discharging waste into the environment; exploiting minerals or causing negative impacts on the environment; public services in the field of environmental protection according to the provisions of law on fees and charges;

b) The level of environmental protection fees is determined on the basis of the volume and toxicity level of pollutants discharged into the environment, characteristics of the waste receiving environment; the level of negative impact on the environment of mineral exploitation activities; The nature of public services in the field of environmental protection;

c) The promulgation and organization of implementation of regulations on environmental protection fees are carried out in accordance with the law on fees and charges.

– The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment presides over the assessment of the level of environmental pollution and greenhouse effects of waste or products and goods when used. causing negative impacts on the environment to propose a specific list of taxable subjects, environmental protection fees, framework schedule, tax rates, environmental protection fees for each taxable subject, environmental protection fee and method of calculating environmental protection fees, send to the Ministry of Finance to summarize and report to the competent authority for consideration and decision.

2. Responsibilities of the agency appraising the environmental impact assessment report

Article 38 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 stipulates the responsibilities of the agency appraising the environmental impact assessment report as follows:

– Responsible for the appraisal results and the decision to approve the results of the appraisal of the environmental impact assessment report.

– Publicize on the electronic information portal the decision to approve the results of appraisal of the environmental impact assessment report, except for information that is state secret or corporate secret according to the provisions of law.

– Build and integrate the database on environmental impact assessment into the national environmental database.

3. When changing ownership of a company, does that company’s environmental protection record need to be corrected or changed?

According to Article 31 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, environmental impact assessment is carried out as follows:

– Environmental impact assessment is carried out by the investment project owner themselves or through a qualified consulting unit. Environmental impact assessment is performed simultaneously with the process of preparing a feasibility study report or a document equivalent to the project’s feasibility study report.

– The results of the environmental impact assessment are expressed in an environmental impact assessment report.

– Each investment project prepares an environmental impact assessment report.

At the same time according to Article 28 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP regulating the re-establishment of the environmental impact assessment report as follows:

“Article 28. Main content of the report proposing the issuance of an environmental permit

1. The main content of the report proposing the issuance of an environmental license for an investment project that has had a decision to approve the results of the appraisal of the environmental impact assessment report before going into trial operation, includes:

a) General information about the investment project: project name, project owner; project implementation location; agency that evaluates construction designs, issues environmental-related licenses, and approves projects; decide to approve the appraisal results of the project’s environmental impact assessment report; Changed text (if any); project implementation process; scale (classified according to criteria prescribed by law on public investment), capacity, technology, manufactured products, amount of electricity, source and amount of water used, wastewater receiving source, raw materials, fuel, materials, scrap, chemicals used and other information related to the project;

b) Conformity of the investment project with the national environmental protection planning, provincial planning, environmental zoning, environmental load-bearing capacity (if any);

[…]”

Thus, if the project has had its environmental impact assessment report approved, when there is a change of company owner (and the company’s legal status remains unchanged), it is not required to re-establish an environmental impact assessment report.