I. LEGAL BASIS
- Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and Law No. 146/2025/QH15 (amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection);
- Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP; Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP and Decree No. 48/2026/ND-CP;
- Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT; Circular No. 07/2025/TT-BTNMT and Circular No. 09/2026/TT-BNNMT.
II. IMPLEMENTATION CONTENT
1. Projects subject to EIA (Articles 29 & 30 of the Law on Environmental Protection)
- Projects required to conduct preliminary EIA: Group I investment projects;
- Projects required to conduct EIA: Group I projects and certain Group II projects involving land use, water surface, marine areas, mineral extraction, water resource exploitation, land-use conversion, resettlement;
- Projects exempted from EIA: urgent public investment projects or those exempted under laws or resolutions of the National Assembly.
2. Contents of the EIA Report (Article 32)
- Project origin, investor, approving authority; legal and technical bases; EIA methodology;
- Consistency with environmental protection planning;
- Assessment of selected technologies, project components and activities;
- Natural, socio-economic conditions, biodiversity; environmental baseline; identification of affected receptors; justification of project location;
- Identification, assessment, and forecasting of environmental impacts and waste generated during project phases; characteristics and scale of waste; environmental risks and incidents;
- Waste collection, storage, and treatment measures;
- Mitigation measures and environmental incident response plans;
- Environmental management and monitoring programs;
- Consultation results;
- Conclusions, recommendations, and commitments of the project owner.
3. Authority for EIA Appraisal (Article 35)
- The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment appraises:
- Group I projects and certain Group II projects across ≥2 provinces or offshore areas;
- Projects approved by the National Assembly or the Prime Minister;
- Projects under licensing authority for minerals, water resources, or marine dumping;
- Infrastructure projects for industrial/service zones;
- Large-scale land-use projects;
- Waste treatment, imported scrap projects;
- High-risk pollution industries outside industrial zones.
- Provincial People’s Committee Chairman appraises remaining projects.
- Decentralization under Decree 48/2026/ND-CP:
- Certain projects delegated to provincial authorities (except major national-level projects).
4. Consultation in EIA
- Subjects:
- Affected communities and individuals;
- Relevant organizations/agencies.
- Methods:
- Online disclosure;
- Public meetings;
- Written consultation.
5. Time for EIA Appraisal
- ≤ 30 days (Group I);
- ≤ 20 days (Group II);
- ≤ 10 days (urgent public projects).
III. PROJECTS TYPICALLY SUBJECT TO EIA
Typical industries include:
- Mineral processing
- Glass manufacturing
- Metal production
- Paper manufacturing
- Inorganic chemical production
- Textile and garment
- Leather processing
- Oil refining, petrochemical, oil & gas extraction
- Coal-fired power, coke production
- Waste treatment and recycling
- Battery manufacturing
- Cement production
- Rubber processing
- Food & beverage industries
- Sugar production
- Seafood processing, livestock slaughtering
- Electronics manufacturing
