ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES TO MANAGE HAZARDOUS WASTE IN VIETNAM

ABSTRACT

A considerable amount of hazardous waste has been the cause of serious environmental pollution, from small scale to large-scale impacts and adverse effects on human health, well-being and overall environmental quality. In this article, the authors focuses on analyzing the current legal status of hazardous waste management in Vietnam, proposing a number of solutions to improve the law and improve the efficiency of hazardous waste management and treatment in Vietnam in the coming time.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Значительное количество опасных отходов стало причиной серьезного загрязнения окружающей среды, от небольших до крупномасштабных воздействий и неблагоприятных последствий для здоровья, благополучия человека и общего качества окружающей среды. В данной статье авторы фокусируются на анализе текущего правового статуса обращения с опасными отходами во Вьетнаме, предлагая ряд решений по совершенствованию законодательства и повышению эффективности управления и переработки опасных отходов во Вьетнаме в ближайшее время.

Keywords: Hazardous waste, Environmental pollution, Environmental quality · Administrative management

Ключевые слова: Опасные отходы, Загрязнение окружающей среды, Качество окружающей среды · Административное управление.

In a series of passed laws, four directives have identified specific and challenging objectives for the collection and management of municipal solid waste. The 1999 Landfill Directive, for example, was designed to prevent or minimize the negative impact of landfills on the environment and human health, is limited to 10% of the amount of municipal solid waste that can be landfilled from 2035 onwards. In 2008, a revised version of the waste framework directive “sets out measures to protect the environment and health by preventing, or minimizing the generation of waste” and its negative impacts.

Especially the legal regulations to minimize plastic waste and marine waste. The European Commission enacted a plastic policy on May 23, 2018 aimed at reducing plastic products totaling 70% of all marine waste. The goal of the plastic strategy is that all plastic packaging will be reused or recycled by 2030 and to prevent and reduce marine plastic waste from plastic items and fishing gear. The policy includes four actions to prevent one-time use of plastic: prohibits certain types of plastics, such as cotton swabs, plastic plates and cutlery, and plastic balloon sticks; discourage other types of plastic, such as plastic cups, meal packaging, at extra charges; warnings about plastics, such as toilet towels, disposable wet paper, balloons and Extended Producer Responsibility Systems, for the previously mentioned plastic bags, cigarette filters and plastic cups and meal packaging.

In Vietnam, the legal system of environmental protection has had new developments, which is first shown by the approval of the Law on Environmental Protection 2014, which took effect by the XIII National Assembly, the 7th session. Enforcement from January 1, 2015 and replacing the Law on Environmental Protection 2005. With the aim of developing a sustainable environment, the Law on Environmental Protection 2014 mentioned hot issues that are being raised in the current environmental protection such as: Coping with climate change; promote green growth; environmental planning construction; additional regulations on the content of state management on environmental protection; concretize the responsibilities and rights of socio-political organizations, socio-professional organizations and population communities in environmental protection ...

However, in addition, the legal system related to hazardous waste in general and hazardous waste management in particular still has problems and limitations: Some legal provisions related to hazardous waste management are still general, the legal liability for violators is low, leading to an increase in hazardous waste management. Waste treaters' regulations on waste transportation just stop at "taking full responsibility for the operation of unofficial means of transport in the process of transporting hazardous waste", but what is the responsibility and what the form is, the current law has not yet clearly defined.

According to Clause 2, Article 8 of Circular No. 36/2015 / TT-BTNMT, “Vehicles transporting hazardous waste must have a satellite navigation system (GPS) connected to the online information network for identification. location and record of hazardous waste transportation ”. The regulation that means of transporting hazardous waste must have a GPS satellite system is inconsistent with reality. Because, the concept of "GPS satellite navigation system" in Vietnam is a relatively unfamiliar concept for the subjects conducting activities related to hazardous waste; or if there is a fully equipped positioning system (GPS), this will be difficult to implement in practice because when the vehicle goes to locations without network connection, or the network is unstable, it will not be possible.

Update and accurately capture the process of transporting hazardous waste.

Regulations on handling violations of the law on hazardous waste management. Criminal liability is the heaviest sanctions imposed on subjects violating the provisions of the Penal Code. For the first time, the 2015 Penal Code (amended in 2017) has defined criminal liability of commercial legal entities. This is a breakthrough and important step in the criminal law in Vietnam, although only limited criminal liability to commercial legal entities, but creates a legal basis for criminal handling for these subjects when there are activities with signs of criminals in causing environmental pollution. Regarding the scope of criminal liability of commercial legal entities, according to Article 76 Penal Code in Vietnam, legal entities are only responsible for 31 offenses belonging to two criminal groups, which are crimes violating the economic management order and environmental crimes (in which, does not stipulate legal liability for the violation of regulations on hazardous waste management in Article 236 Penal Code in Vietnam). Compared with the 2009 Penal Code, Article 236 of the 2015 Penal Code has specified the direction of specifying the amount of hazardous waste that offenders allow to bury, bury and discharge into the environment and clearly stipulating evaluation criteria for the burying, burying and discharging waste containing radioactive substances, causing environmental radioactive contamination of radioactive sources those with below average level of danger according to the national technical regulations on radiation safety, grouped and classified radioactive sources in excess of the permitted standards, serving as a basis for determining that the person committing the above acts is prosecuted for criminal responsibility under this crime. However, although the 2015 Penal Code has shown more progress, it is to provide criminal prosecution within the range of crimes specified in Article 76 of Penal Code in Vietnam, but if only the provision for handling criminal liability for individuals committing crimes as prescribed in Article 236 of the 2015 Penal Code is a major flaw, worrying because in fact, legal entities are the entities that discharge hazardous waste into the environment the most in the production and business process.

In order to improve prevention and deterrence, it is necessary to complete the Vietnam Penal Code. Regarding the subject of the crime, it is recommended to supplement the direction of stipulating criminal liability of the juridical person for the crime specified in Article 236 of the 2015 Penal Code to avoid omitting the crime. create motivation to raise legal awareness of legal entities in managing and controlling hazardous waste into the environment. Regarding penalties, it is necessary to amend the regulations on the penalty frame and the penalty level in the direction of aggravating the fine level when applied as the main penalty to synchronize, and reasonable with the administrative sanctions in the field of environmental protection. On the other hand, it is necessary to re-stipulate the level of termed imprisonment in the direction of increasing the intensity while ensuring the reasonableness of the penalty frame, because this behavior can have serious, very serious and particularly serious effects on people and the environment.

In terms of governance, collection and disposal fees in Vietnam are significantly lower than the entrance fees applied in the international context. In Europe, the entrance fee for lubricating oil can range from 3,200 to 12,900 VND / kg depending on the water and halogen (chorua and sulfur) content. Similarly, the entrance fee for oil filters is around 20,600 VND / kg in Europe. Entrance fees for lead acid batteries and e-waste in Europe are close to zero due to the established Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program for these wastes. Collection and disposal costs are covered by vehicle owners / electronic product consumers from the time they purchase the new electronics / lead-acid accumulators. The entrance fee for infectious waste in Europe is relatively cheap compared to other types of hazardous waste - around 5,600 VND / kg as the infectious waste is co-burned in a municipal incinerator. There are significant differences in handling costs between Vietnam and Europe. Part of the difference can be explained by the price differential between Vietnam and Europe. An important part of the price difference can be explained by different requirements for treatment facilities, e.g. best available technical compliance, higher environmental compliance.

The EPR program in OECD member countries charges different manufacturers, depending on the type of plastic such as PET, HDPE,  bioplastic, biodegradable plastic or plastic bag.

In Vietnam, EPR was the first principle in the Law on Environmental Protection 2005 and continues to be specified in the Law on Environmental Protection 2014. The Prime Minister issued detailed regulations on recall and disposal of discarded products in 2013 and this was revised and supplemented in 2015. However, the effectiveness of the EPR at present is still modest due to its lack of coverage in the scope of regulation and subjects of application, the absence of effective financial tools and specific implementation guidelines. Therefore, the completion of EPR is considered as one of the important policy tools in the overall policy system on solid waste management in general and plastic waste management in particular.

Over the past time, Vietnam has issued specific regulations to develop the EPR program, but in reality, the effectiveness has not been achieved as expected. The EPR program for plastic products in Vietnam should specify the product to be recalled and the recovery rate applicable to each manufacturer. The implementation of the Program should be implemented according to the roadmap and must be synchronous and linked with the existing waste recycling market. That will help reduce the manufacturer's cost of making recycle product recalls in Vietnam.

It is necessary to build a complete EPR system in Vietnam in the direction of clearly identifying the products after use that must be recalled and the compulsory recovery rate for each type of discarded product; at the same time, specifying the financial mechanism that the source is the producer and importer in a transparent and controlled manner to effectively collect, pay and support. The EPR model in the world is very diverse, however, in Vietnam there is a need for state management and supervision together with the strong participation of the private sector in the EPR system.

EPR implementation should be done step-by-step, with a specific roadmap associated with the separation of waste at source and raising public awareness about the regular and self-conscious waste separation, disposal and collection. This is an important mechanism to promote a circular economy, so it is necessary to have synchronization with the recycling market with professional collection and recycling organizations, besides, there is a need for support in the current informal recycling collection sector in Vietnam (which often call the craft village waste recycling) improve capacity and participate effectively and synchronously in the EPR system.

Some achievements that some European countries have achieved: firstly, policies have been shown to be effective and cost-effective in reducing environmental pollution; second, the environmental protection policies in European countries are relatively fair; thirdly, European countries have built a strong enough organizational system, management agencies and supervising the implementation of environmental protection policies; fourth, solutions for implementing policies are diversified and appropriate; fifth, appreciate properly, inherit achievements in environmental protection policies.

From the analysis and assessment of environmental protection policies in some European countries as well as the reality of environmental protection policies in Vietnam today, the authors have proposed some lessons about formulating and implementing policies on environmental protection for Vietnam: First, building a policy system based on a comprehensive legal framework; Second, effectively implementing policies and laws on environmental protection; Third, flexibly and effectively use solutions to enforce policies; Fourth, increasing the participation of stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of environmental protection policies and enhancing transparency in management at all levels are key to success; Fifth, there should be a harmonious combination between solutions to implement environmental protection policies ...

References:

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4. The Criminal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2015, amendments and additions in 2017 // URL:  https://www.policinglaw.info/assets/downloads/2015_Criminal_Code_of_Vietnam_(English_translation).pdf     (date of application 23.01.2024)