Effective exploitation and management, with policies to protect rare earths

Photo caption — Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegate Nguyen Tam Hung speaks. Photo: An Dang/VNA

Environmental requirements must be set at the highest level.

Commenting on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Geology and Minerals, many delegates expressed their high agreement with the draft Law adding a separate chapter on rare earths. This is a timely legal improvement step, consistent with the context of the world being strongly competitive in strategic materials, renewable energy and high-tech supply chains... Identifying rare earths as particularly important resources that need to be managed uniformly at the national level is an orientation consistent with the country's long-term development requirements.

According to delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh (Lam Dong), the draft Law needs to affirm the principles of rare earth resource management based on science and strict risk control, in which environmental requirements must be set at the highest level; setting mandatory technical safety thresholds: closed selection and separation technology, radioactive dispersion modeling, continuous monitoring system, sludge treatment plan meeting IAEA standards, and requirements for environmental restoration after exploitation right from the licensing stage.

"Only enterprises with technological capacity, financial capacity and environmental management systems that meet international standards are allowed to participate," delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh emphasized.

In addition, delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh suggested emphasizing the independent monitoring role of the national nuclear and radiation safety agency in the entire chain of rare earth selection, separation and processing activities, from technology appraisal, risk assessment, site inspection, to waste treatment supervision and environmental restoration. For rare earth, a resource with a long technical cycle, technology testing, in-depth environmental assessment and construction of complex processing lines are required, and project preparation time usually lasts from 3-5 years.

"If the priority period is too short, investors may be forced to hastily establish projects to retain rights, leading to the risk of not forming deep processing. Therefore, I propose that the law allow for more flexible regulations on rare earths to encourage investors with sufficient technological capacity, avoiding the situation of crude and fragmented exploitation," said delegate Trinh Thi Tu Anh.

Regarding this issue, delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (Ho Chi Minh City) suggested considering and clearly supplementing the export control mechanism and the minimum domestic deep processing rate, in order to ensure that rare earths are truly strategic resources serving national industrial development, avoiding the risk of raw exports and dependence on foreign technology in the rare earth value chain.

According to delegate Nguyen Tam Hung, the draft Law has not clarified the mechanism for selecting enterprises to explore, exploit, and process rare earths based on criteria of technological security, deep processing capacity, and environmental management capacity, while this is a sensitive field with the risk of resource acquisition or underlying technology leakage.

“Therefore, it is necessary to consider adding an economic and technological security approval process before transferring technology, exporting deeply processed products or forming international joint ventures, to ensure resource sovereignty - national economic security - and autonomy in the rare earth industry,” said delegate Nguyen Tam Hung.

Believing that the exploitation and exploration of rare earths is very important, delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap) asked, if this resource exists, the problem is "how to exploit and manage it effectively, especially how to protect rare earths".

"Other minerals may be abundant, but rare earths are very limited, with not many reserves. If they are exploited without strict management and without strict protection measures, it will easily lead to indiscriminate exploitation, and even people can exploit them on their own. Therefore, we suggest that the drafting agency and environmental management agencies pay attention to and manage rare earths well, and have policies and regimes to protect rare earths," said delegate Pham Van Hoa.

Increase enforcement control, protect resources

Regarding the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of 15 laws in the fields of agriculture and environment, delegate Nguyen Thi Lan (Hanoi) said that in Vietnam, the grassroots veterinary network is still uneven, the capacity for monitoring and testing is not uniform, and the risk of drug-resistant bacteria spreading from livestock to humans is increasingly clear. Lessons from African swine fever and avian influenza show that a strong veterinary system will control epidemics better.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Lan suggested that the draft Law should emphasize more on the need to strengthen the capacity of the veterinary system, improve monitoring, warning, testing, and control of the use of veterinary drugs and antibiotics; at the same time, promote the connection between veterinary medicine - health - environment according to the "One Health" model. "This is not only the task of the agricultural sector but also contributes directly to protecting people's health and improving the country's ability to respond to epidemics," Delegate Nguyen Thi Lan emphasized.

In addition, the draft Law needs to stipulate minimum capacity requirements for grassroots veterinary services and standardize the veterinary training system. Regardless of the organizational model, it is necessary to ensure that all levels of government, especially provincial and communal levels, have sufficient human resources and tools to detect and promptly handle epidemics according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health. Along with that, it is necessary to supplement the principle of mobilizing domestic scientific and technological resources, including research institutes, universities, and qualified laboratories to participate in monitoring and assessing epidemic risks.

At the meeting, delegate Ha Sy Dong (Quang Tri) proposed that legal unification must go hand in hand with operational mechanisms; procedures must go hand in hand with post-audit capacity and data management; many lengthy procedures are not due to difficult laws but because management agencies keep fragmented information, businesses have to go through many rounds; decentralization must go hand in hand with environmental risks, not according to administrative boundaries...

"The law needs to be improved in the direction of clarifying provisions, responsibilities, criteria and application methods, reducing paperwork but increasing enforcement control, protecting resources through economic mechanisms instead of relying solely on administrative measures," said delegate Ha Sy Dong.

Adding 7 contents to the 10th Session Program

Earlier, the same morning, the National Assembly approved the amendment and supplement to the 10th Session Program with 394/399 delegates voting in favor, accounting for 83.30% of the total number of delegates.

Accordingly, the National Assembly added 7 contents to the 10th Session's agenda for submission to the National Assembly for consideration and approval, including: Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on mechanisms and policies for national energy development in the 2026-2030 period; Draft Resolution of the National Assembly amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City; Draft Resolution of the National Assembly amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution No. 136/2024/QH15 on the organization of urban government and piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Da Nang city; Investment policy for the Vinh - Thanh Thuy expressway construction investment project; on supplementing the second phase of the state budget (foreign non-refundable capital) in 2025; on adjusting the content of Resolution No. 94/2015/QH13 of the National Assembly on investment policy of Long Thanh International Airport; amending and supplementing Resolution No. 170/2024/QH15 dated November 30, 2024 of the National Assembly on specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties and obstacles for projects and land in inspection, examination and judgment conclusions in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang City and Khanh Hoa Province.

The National Assembly will allocate specific time in the agenda to consider and approve the draft Law on Specialized Courts at the International Financial Center; at the same time, consider adding some contents, including specific mechanisms and policies to implement major projects in the capital city of Hanoi. The implementation time will be adjusted accordingly so as not to change the total working time of the Session.

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