Nghe An National Assembly delegation collects comments on draft Law on Environmental Protection (amended)

In preparation for the 10th session of the 14th National Assembly, on the afternoon of September 16, the provincial National Assembly delegation held a conference to collect comments on the draft Law on Environmental Protection (amended). Photo: Mai Hoa

The Law on Environmental Protection (amended) consists of 16 chapters and 179 articles regulating environmental protection activities; rights, obligations and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, households, individuals and communities in environmental protection activities.

At the conference, delegates basically agreed with the draft law being amended and supplemented with many scientific and practical contents; at the same time, they raised many concerns that need to be further added to the draft law.

Some opinions suggest that regulations should be made to improve the quality of report appraisal work.environmental impact assessmentclosely monitor the implementation of environmental impact assessment reports for projects, avoiding environmental pollution when projects come into operation as in the recent past.

Mr. Bui Xuan Hung - Head of Environmental Safety Engineering Department, Department of Industry and Trade gave his opinion at the conference. Photo: Mai Hoa

In addition, it is also necessary to include environmental auditing in the draft law, creating a mechanism for production and business establishments to strictly comply with environmental protection regulations, contributing to the country's sustainable development.

Some people are also concerned that although the 2014 Law on Environmental Protection stipulates that the resources for environmental protection are 1% of the total budget expenditure; however, in practice, this resource has not been ensured for environmental protection. Therefore, the National Assembly needs to study and adjust or have a mechanism to ensure that the provisions of the law are implemented.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Thuan - Inspector of the Department of Health suggested that it is necessary to clarify the responsibility of state management in cases of environmental incidents and environmental protection violations by organizations and individuals. Photo: Mai Hoa

Some opinions also recommend that it is necessary to regulate periodic inspection of compliance with environmental protection laws instead of the regulation of only conducting surprise inspections when there are signs of violations, because if so, it would be difficult to control the work well.environmental protection.

The issue that many people are concerned about is the management and treatment of domestic solid waste and construction waste. Currently, there are many shortcomings in treatment technology and people's awareness is still arbitrary in discharging waste, although there are regulations on the time and location of domestic waste collection for both urban and rural areas.

The law also needs to specifically stipulate the fields, industries, and production and business occupations that are not allowed to operate in residential areas in order to improve the healthy living environment for people and create favorable conditions for state management agencies...

At the end of the conference, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Tran Van Mao affirmed that the Provincial National Assembly Delegation will study and synthesize all the opinions of the delegates to submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for acceptance and addition to the Draft Law on Environmental Protection. Photo: Mai Hoa

In addition, some opinions also suggested that the agency drafting the draft law should closely link the content of the revised Law on Environmental Protection with the Laws and regulations of directly related sectors and fields such as Investment, Construction, Agriculture and Rural Development to create consistency in the implementation process.