Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ly Thi Lan province: We must soon remove the shortcomings in the regulations on granting environmental licenses.

Continuing the discussion at the hall on the monitoring report and the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on the results of the thematic monitoring of "the implementation of policies and laws on environmental protection since the Law 2020 took effect", delegate Ly Thi Lan, member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation participated in the discussion on the limitations and shortcomings in the regulations on granting Environmental Licenses, and at the same time proposed a number of solutions to remove these shortcomings.

Head of the National Assembly Delegation of the province Ly Thi Lan spoke at the discussion.

According to the delegate, the issuance of Environmental Licenses is a step with many obstacles in the implementation of sub-law documents, directly affecting the effectiveness of state management. In particular, the legal regulations are still overlapping, inconsistent and difficult to apply. The Law on Environmental Protection 2020 has made a major reform step by integrating many types of environmental licenses into a unified license. However, implementation practice shows that some regulations in Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP (amended and supplemented) have not yet resolved obstacles in the dossier, process and licensing authority.

Regarding the form of the "Report proposing the issuance of an Environmental License" dossier, it still overlaps with the environmental impact assessment dossier, increasing the volume of procedures for businesses. Regarding the licensing time, the Law stipulates 30-45 days from the date of receiving a complete and valid dossier, but in reality it often takes longer. The main reason is that the dossier is complicated, requires a lot of technical information, and attaches a record of environmental protection works; at the same time, according to Decree 05/2025/ND-CP, there are still three different report forms for each type of project, causing businesses to spend a lot of time completing the dossier.

For renovation, expansion projects or old facilities, comparing original documents is difficult, leading to delays in the appraisal process. Compliance costs may still be high because most facilities must hire consultants to prepare documents, conduct three environmental monitoring periods, and invest in additional waste treatment facilities before being licensed. In addition, the determination of subjects that must be granted Environmental Licenses is still inconsistent among localities.

According to Article 39 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, only facilities that generate waste exceeding the threshold must be licensed; however, the guidance in the decrees is still general and does not clearly define project scale criteria, leading to a situation where some places require it and others do not, causing confusion in implementation. In addition, the appraisal process still has many intermediate steps, requiring repeated editing and supplementation. Many facilities have environmental impact reports or periodic monitoring results, but when applying for a license, they still have to re-evaluate the source of waste and prepare new documents, causing duplication, cost and prolonging the licensing process.

Regarding the capacity to organize implementation and licensing appraisal at the local level. Many localities lack specialized staff and technical appraisal experts; monitoring facilities are limited. Business dossiers must be supplemented many times, prolonging the time. In reality, it is necessary to allow localities to hire experts, independent consulting organizations or inter-regional appraisal councils, so there needs to be a clear financial mechanism; at the same time, training and specialized development for environmental officers at the provincial and communal levels to meet professional requirements.

Regarding decentralization and authorization of licensing authority. For group B and C projects, projects in industrial parks and clusters, medium-scale production, processing and livestock facilities, assigning authority to the People's Committee or the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for approval is unreasonable. The Department of Agriculture and Environment - the specialized agency directly appraising - has the capacity and responsibility for the content.

The current decentralization method prolongs the licensing process and increases administrative levels, while projects in this locality account for a large proportion and are highly repetitive. Therefore, it is necessary to strongly decentralize to provincial-level specialized agencies to shorten the time, increase initiative and enhance on-site management responsibility.

Regarding administrative procedures and digital transformation, it is still slow. According to delegates, most of the Environmental License dossiers are still processed manually, businesses have to submit paper copies and go back and forth many times. The licensing data system has not been connected to the Environmental Information System (VEMIS) and automatic monitoring, which limits monitoring and warning of violations. It is necessary to promote digital transformation in the entire process of granting - monitoring - post-inspection, creating a modern, transparent and convenient management platform for businesses.

Delegates recommended that the Government should review, amend and complete the legal framework on granting Environmental Licenses, ensuring consistency between the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and Government decrees. Promote from pre-inspection to post-inspection, based on voluntary registration and commitment to meet environmental discharge standards of project investors to grant Environmental Licenses to speed up the licensing process for investment projects, while strengthening inspection and supervision of compliance with the content of the licensing authority.

Along with that, review and identify the subjects that really need to be controlled by the Environmental License tool. Environmental Licenses should only be granted to investment projects in the list of projects that have the risk of causing environmental pollution and discharging waste into the environment on a large and medium scale according to Government regulations. Develop an automatic Environmental License appraisal tool based on electronic data, decentralize the authority to grant licenses to specialized agencies under the Provincial People's Committee for group B and C projects and medium-sized production facilities, to speed up progress. Promote digital transformation and build a national electronic database on Environmental Licenses, connect with the automatic monitoring system to monitor and warn of violations early.

The delegate emphasized that promptly removing these obstacles will help the Law on Environmental Protection truly come into life, creating a favorable investment environment, while ensuring economic development associated with environmental protection, towards green and sustainable growth.

PV

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/thoi-su-chinh-tri/tin-tuc/202510/truong-doan-dbqh-tinh-ly-thi-lan-phai-som-thao-go-bat-cap-trong-quy-dinh-ve-cap-giay-phep-moi-truong-d8e0011/