Minister Nguyen Hong Dien reported on the reception and explanation to the National Assembly on the Law on Chemicals (amended)

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said that after the 8th Session, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has proactively coordinated closely with the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment to study, absorb and fully explain the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Conference of specialized National Assembly deputies, the Standing Committee of the Ethnic Council, the Standing Committees of the National Assembly Committees, the National Assembly delegations and relevant agencies and organizations to supplement and complete the draft Law. Up to now, the contents of the draft Law on Chemicals (amended) have been basically agreed upon by the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Agency in charge of the review.

To clarify some issues that many National Assembly deputies are concerned about, the Minister of Industry and Trade mentioned six main groups of issues:

Regarding the key chemical industry sector: The drafting agency believes that the provisions on incentives and special investment support for the key chemical industry sector (in Article 8 of the draft Law) are very necessary for the following reasons:

Firstly, the key chemical industry sectors in the draft Law include investment projects to produce products to provide basic and essential raw materials for many other industries and production sectors (such as basic chemicals, petrochemicals, rubber); sectors ensuring food security and health security (pharmaceuticals, high-quality fertilizers); sectors promoting sustainable development, towards a circular economy (production of hydrogen chemicals, ammonia and derivatives from renewable energy sources; investment projects in specialized chemical industrial zones and clusters, chemical complexes)... These are production sectors with extremely important positions and roles in the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country, contributing to ensuring security and defense and moving towards an independent and autonomous economy.

Second, in the pharmaceutical industry, according to the classification of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vietnam's pharmaceutical industry is ranked at level 3/5, meaning that the domestic pharmaceutical industry produces most of its finished products from imported raw materials. Reality also shows that most of the raw materials needed for drug production (such as pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients) must be imported (about 90%), while domestic pharmaceutical products can only meet a part of the demand (about 5.2% of the demand for the production of modern drugs and 20% of the demand for oriental drugs).

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized that in that context, it is necessary to have strong and feasible incentive policies to develop the domestic pharmaceutical industry, contributing to ensuring self-reliance, preventing risks of shortages of essential drugs, improving economic efficiency and ensuring social security. To avoid overlapping incentive policies to support investment in the development of the pharmaceutical industry, according to the provisions of the Law on Pharmacy, the draft Law has revised the concept of "pharmaceutical products" in Clause 10, Article 2.

Third, regarding the provisions related to corporate income tax, in order to ensure the consistency and feasibility of the legal system, the Drafting Agency proposes to add "key chemical industry sector as prescribed by the Law on Chemicals (amended)" to Clause 2, Article 12 on preferential industries for corporate income tax of the Draft Law on Corporate Income Tax (amended), which is being submitted to the National Assembly for consideration. In particular, the preferential level for the key chemical industry sector is applied similarly to a number of other fundamental industries currently prescribed in the draft Law on Corporate Income Tax (amended), such as production of renewable energy, clean energy, rare materials, etc.

Regarding chemical consulting activities and consulting conditions: Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said that the provisions on chemical consulting activities and consulting conditions in Articles 9 and 10 of the draft Law are necessary for the reasons stated in the Draft Explanation and Acceptance Report sent to the National Assembly Standing Committee. In case the National Assembly approves the above plan, in order to reform administrative procedures, the Government will direct the development of a Decree guiding the implementation of the Law in the direction that the granting of consulting certificates will be done online, based on the assessment of the documents provided by the applicant (no examinations will be organized to grant certificates).

Regarding the development of the Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan: The development and appraisal of this Plan has been implemented steadily according to the 2007 Chemical Law. Through review and comparison, it is shown that the regulations on the Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan and the Environmental Incident Response Plan are different in terms of subjects, content, technical requirements and issuance procedures. Integrating the two types of plans mentioned above will cause difficulties for both state management agencies and enterprises in the implementation process. Therefore, the drafting agency recommends keeping the regulations as in the draft Law, not integrating the Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Plan and the Environmental Incident Response Plan.

Regarding some specific issues mentioned by National Assembly Deputies: Regarding specific issues related to the chemical industry development strategy, green chemistry principles, chemical safety, chemical waste, chemical information, key chemicals, chemical incidents, cutting administrative procedures... Minister Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that the drafting agency will seriously absorb and will have specific explanations during the process of completing the Law to submit to the National Assembly for approval.

Regarding the international cooperation clause, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said that this content has been clearly stipulated in the Law on International Treaties. Therefore, the Minister suggested that this clause should not be added within the scope of the Law to avoid overlap.

The contents of financial support policies, forms of incentives and investment support have been stipulated in the Investment Law. In particular, Article 20 of the Investment Law stipulates tax, land and other incentives implemented according to other relevant laws, such as the Law on Corporate Income Tax or will be developed in addition to the Chemical Industry Development Strategy in the coming time.

Sanctions for violations related to chemical activities will be stipulated in the Decree on administrative sanctions for violations in the chemical sector.

Regarding the issue of authority and responsibility under the authority of ministries, branches and localities, the Drafting Committee will accept the direction of assigning the Government to specify in the Decree and will issue it immediately after the Law is passed.

Regarding some contents assigned to the Government to regulate: Minister Nguyen Hong Dien commented that the contents assigned to the Government to regulate in detail in the Draft Law are necessary to ensure the proactiveness and flexibility in the Government's direction and administration. To ensure the effectiveness of this Law, the Government is currently directing the development of a Decree detailing the implementation of the Law and it is expected that the Decree will be issued at the same time the Law comes into effect.

The Minister also acknowledged other opinions of National Assembly deputies at the parliament and said that these are valuable materials for the Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate with ministries and branches to advise the Government to issue a Decree in the coming time.

Regarding administrative procedures in the chemical sector: The Minister said that the administrative procedures in the Draft Law are built in the direction of strictly following the principles of shifting from pre-inspection to post-inspection, enhancing decentralization, simplifying processes and promoting the application of information technology in management to ensure that it does not affect the investment and business environment, avoid overlap and create favorable conditions for individuals and businesses in chemical activities.

The Commander of the Industry and Trade sector affirmed that, with a receptive spirit, in the process of completing the draft Law, the Drafting Agency has made efforts to research and absorb the opinions of National Assembly deputies, experts, scientists and relevant organizations. At the same time, he said that the Drafting Agency will continue to coordinate with the Agency in charge of reviewing and thoroughly researching, maximally absorbing the enthusiastic and responsible opinions of the Delegates to complete the draft Law, and submit it to the National Assembly for approval at this Session.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/hoat-dong/hoat-dong-cua-lanh-dao-bo/bo-truong-nguyen-hong-dien-bao-cao-tiep-thu-giai-trinh-truoc-quoc-hoi-ve-luat-hoa-chat-sua-doi-.html