Vietnam Environmental Technologies Export Market Plan

impact assessments to a list of prohibited activities and a
system for addressing non-compliance. The most
important article of the law is the Decree on Protection
of the Environment.
The Decree on Protection of the Environment details:
the duties of various government agencies and local
organizations; the procedures for undertaking environmental
impact assessments (EIAs); mechanisms such as
standards and permits for preventing, combating, and
rectifying environmental hazards, pollution, and
degradation; the types of environmental standards;
methods of financing activities to protect the environment;
and establishing inspectorate and compliance
systems.
In addition to passing the Law on Protection of the
Environment, the government periodically issues
incentives for companies investing in projects related to
environmental protection. Most recently, the government
issued Circular 1817 on October 21, 1999, that outlined
tax benefits given to investment projects involving
environmental protection, pollution treatment, and waste
treatment and processing.
MOSTE has delegated to local DOSTEs the power to
verify that projects continue to comply with environmental
standards. MOSTE has the overall responsibility
for organizing environmental inspections and ensuring
that actual inspections are executed according to the
relevant environmental standards. The inspectors
themselves are drawn from agencies such as NEA,
MOSTE, the State General Department of Inspection, the
People’s Committees, and customs bodies.
Commercial and manufacturing establishments are
required to make financial contributions for environmental
protection, pay compensation for any damage they
cause by their activities, and rectify any environmental
degradation they cause. To improve enforcement of this
principle—in this instance, for the mining sector—the
government in October 1999 issued Circular 68CP/
Article 15. The circular requires companies engaged in
mining exploration or exploitation to contribute funds to
an environment rehabilitation fund. The funds are put in
an escrow account, to be used if the company’s operations
require environmental clean-ups. MOSTE must present
any cases of serious environmental hazards to the prime
minister and submit proposals for rectification of these
problems for his approval.
Besides the penalties imposed for violations of the Law
on the Environment, the government attempts to create
other disincentives for polluting industries. The
government has compiled a list of the country’s worst
polluters and has entered them into a “black book” which
is distributed to provincial offices responsible for
environmental protection. The government also uses the
state-owned media to highlight environmental violations
committed by these black book companies and foreign
enterprises.
These efforts aside, overall enforcement of environmental
guidelines remains weak, especially regarding
domestic enterprises. One of the key problems with
Vietnam’s enforcement mechanism is that fines are so
low that they do not provide an incentive for companies
to invest in pollution-prevention technology. While the
fines vary depending upon the degree to which standards
have not been met, they usually fall in the range of 2 to 5
million dong ($150 to $400). These costs are minimal,
when compared to the cost of installing primary and
secondary waste treatment facilities.
According to an official at the DOSTE office in Ho
Chi Minh City, domestic enterprises are generally aware
that they cannot meet environmental standards set in the
law. Lacking the financial ability to minimize or treat
waste, companies simply try to keep their emissions as
close to the standards as possible in order to keep the
fines at a manageable level.
The administrative structure for managing inspections
and levying fines complicates enforcement. In Ho Chi
Minh City, for example, DOSTE used to have an
autonomous division responsible for enforcing standards
called ENCO. The division had its own “seal and
signature,” according to one DOSTE official, which gave
it the mandate to inspect and impose fines. In 1999,
however, this division was folded back into DOSTE,
weakening its clout. The division now must go through
the DOSTE bureaucracy before performing its role as
enforcer.
In practice, organized, and sometimes heated, protests
by local citizens are the strongest incentive for local
companies to install waste treatment systems. Citizens
who believe that a company is discharging harmful
pollutants will take their complaints to the local company.
For example, in the Xuan Truong area of Thu Duc district,
a heavily industrialized area outside of Ho Chi Minh
City, citizens have organized and brought complaints to
polluting companies. If this does not produce results,
complaints are lodged with local authorities, provincial
authorities, and in some cases the National Assembly in
Hanoi. There have been isolated cases of citizens taking
action themselves, such as blocking discharge pipes.
Depending upon the success of the lobbying efforts,
the district officials, People’s Committee officials, etc.
will then contact the company directly. According to some
Vietnamese environmental experts, polluting companies
will only take action once forced to do so by these
government offices, not by DOSTE officials.
Vietnam Export Market Plan
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