Minimize time and costs for businesses

On the morning of March 14, the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment and the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) jointly organized a workshop to provide comments on the draft Law on Chemicals (amended).

Workshop to provide comments on the Draft Law on Chemicals (amended). Photo: Pham Thang

Presenting some basic contents of the draft Law on Chemicals (amended), Mr. Pham Huy Nam Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Chemicals (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that the draft Law on Chemicals (amended) was submitted by the Government to the National Assembly in Submission No. 371 dated July 30, 2024; was considered and commented on by the National Assembly at the 8th Session and the National Assembly Standing Committee commented on at the 42nd session on February 7, 2025.

Based on the opinions of National Assembly deputies and the Conclusion of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has closely coordinated with the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment to explain, absorb and revise the draft Law.

During the revision process, the Ministry of Industry and Trade strictly implemented the direction of the General Secretary and the Official Letters of the National Assembly Chairman on the policy of innovative thinking in law-making work.

Accordingly, the revised draft Law has reduced 39 Articles compared to the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 8th Session; the Government is assigned to specify 25 Articles in detail. provisions on records, procedures and administrative procedures to ensure the Government's authority and flexibility, timely amendment and supplementation when necessary.

Regarding administrative procedures, compared to the 2007 Chemical Law, the draft Chemical Law (amended) has abolished 9 groups of administrative procedures. At the same time, administrative procedures are built in the direction of maximum application of information technology so that they can be deployed in the electronic environment (such as the national One-stop system, online public service system, specialized chemical database, etc.). This helps to minimize the time and costs of enterprises in the process of implementing administrative procedures.

Regarding decentralization and delegation of power, compared to the 2007 Law on Chemicals, the draft Law on Chemicals (amended) has strongly decentralized and delegated power to localities for the following activities: Issuing Certificates of conditional chemical production and trading; Certificates of eligibility for chemical storage service activities; appraisal and approval of Chemical incident prevention and response plans according to the Government's decentralization and a number of other activities.

During the process of drafting the Law, the drafting agency organized a wide consultation with affected subjects (including the business community). The basic comments were studied and accepted by the drafting agency.

Regarding the concepts of dangerous chemicals and toxic substances, currently in the Penal Code there is 1 article regulating behaviors related to "dangerous chemicals" (Article 134) and 5 articles regulating behaviors related to "toxic substances" (Articles: 242, 296, 311, 312, 389).

However, according to the current Law on Chemicals, the scope of hazardous chemicals and toxic chemicals is very broad and there are no detailed instructions on the application of the above provisions of the Penal Code, thus causing difficulties in implementation.

To address this issue, the draft Law stipulates that the Government shall issue specific criteria to identify “toxic substances” (Clause 5, Article 2) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall issue classification principles to identify “hazardous chemicals” (Clause 4, Article 2).

The drafting agency believes that the provisions in the draft Law are appropriate, focusing resources on managing chemicals with high levels of danger and toxicity, while ensuring flexibility and timely amendments and supplements when necessary.

Need strong enough mechanisms and policies

Regarding incentives for key chemical industry sectors, Mr. Pham Huy Nam Son emphasized that the chemical industry is a fundamental industry, with a very important position and role in the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country, contributing to ensuring security and national defense. Therefore, there needs to be a strong enough mechanism and policy to promote the development of the chemical industry, contributing to institutionalizing the Party's policies and guidelines and moving towards an independent and self-reliant economy.

Although Clause 2, Article 20 of the Investment Law stipulates the subjects eligible for special investment incentives and support, in reality, very few chemical projects enjoy incentives and support under this provision, especially for domestic investors.

To address the above issue, the draft Law stipulates that investment projects in the key chemical industry sector that are consistent with the chemical industry development strategy, with investment capital scale and disbursement progress according to Government regulations are entitled to special investment incentives and support according to the provisions of the Investment Law and other relevant laws.

The drafting agency believes that the preferential regulations for the key chemical industry sector as stated in Article 7 of the draft Law are consistent with the law on investment and consistent with the practice of chemical projects.

Mr. Pham Huy Nam Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Chemicals (Ministry of Industry and Trade). Photo: Pham Thang

Regarding the conditions for chemical safety and security consulting activities, the development of measures to prevent and respond to chemical incidents and chemical safety training are currently assigned to enterprises to proactively implement, while state management agencies only carry out post-inspection.

However, these are highly technical activities related to safety work, so in reality, only a few large enterprises with chemical expertise can perform quality assurance themselves. The rest, most enterprises choose to hire consulting units to develop plans, measures to prevent and respond to chemical incidents and provide chemical safety training.

Currently, due to the lack of regulations on conditions for consulting units, businesses have difficulty in choosing quality consulting units. At the same time, measures to prevent and respond to incidents and chemical safety training are sometimes "perfunctory", not closely following the actual operations of the business, and not ensuring the effectiveness of chemical safety work.

In fact, through the post-audit process, many enterprises have been administratively sanctioned for violations related to the development of measures to prevent and respond to chemical incidents and chemical safety training despite having hired a consulting unit to do so. In addition, there are opinions of National Assembly deputies suggesting adding the subject of chemical safety training to the chemical consulting activities in the list of conditional investments and businesses.

From the above reasons, the drafting agency believes that regulations on conditions for chemical safety and security consulting activities are necessary, contributing to improving the effectiveness of chemical safety work, ensuring the rights of investors, and choosing appropriate, effective, and cost-saving safety solutions.

However, this regulation only applies to entities providing consulting services, while businesses still have the right to self-implement as per current regulations without needing a certificate.

Should chemical and environmental incident response plans be integrated?

Regarding the integration of the Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan and the Environmental Incident Response Plan, during the process of drafting the Law, the drafting agency has researched and developed a plan to integrate the Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan and the Environmental Incident Response Plan.

However, the integration of plans faces the following limitations: First, regarding the subjects: According to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection, all organizations and individuals are responsible for developing an Environmental Incident Response Plan.

Meanwhile, according to the draft Law on Chemicals (amended), only organizations and individuals storing hazardous chemicals exceeding the threshold must develop a Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan. Thus, integrating the two types of plans mentioned above will lead to organizations and individuals whose Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plans have been approved to develop and submit for re-evaluation and approval.

Second , on scope: The scope of environmental incidents is very large, which can include chemical incidents. In fact, at chemical facilities, environmental incidents can occur without originating from chemical incidents.

Therefore, when integrating the above two types of plans, the chemical authority will have to conduct an assessment of the environmental incident response content, which may limit the effectiveness of the assessment process.

Third , regarding issuance procedures: Currently, the Environmental Incident Response Plan is developed and issued by enterprises themselves, so integrating the above two types of plans will lead to the Environmental Incident Response Plan being subject to appraisal and approval by state management agencies, thereby increasing administrative procedures for enterprises.

From the above reasons, the drafting agency believes that if the Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan and the Environmental Incident Response Plan are combined and integrated, both state management agencies and enterprises will face many limitations and difficulties in the implementation process.