Circular No. 33/2018/TT-BTNMT dated December 26, 2018 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on procedures for remediation of oil spills at sea

THE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

CircularNo. 33/2018/TT-BTNMT dated December 26, 2018 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment onprocedures for remediation of oil spills at sea

Pursuant to the Law on Resources and Environment of Sea and Islands dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Environmental Protection dated June 23, 2014;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 40/2016/ND-CP dated May 15, 2016 guiding the implementation of certain articles of the Law on resources and environment of sea and islands;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 30/2017/ND-CP dated March 21, 2017 on response to emergencies, disasters, search and rescue;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 36/2017/ND-CP dated April 04, 2017 defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

Pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QD-TTg dated January 14, 2013 by the Prime Minister on promulgation of Regulations on oil spill response and the Decision No. 63/2014/QD-TTg dated November 11, 2014 by the Prime Minister on amendments to the Regulations on oil spill response promulgated under the Decision No. 02/2013/QD-TTg dated January 14, 2013 by the Prime Minister;

At the request of the Director General of the General Department of Vietnam’s Sea and Islands, the Director of the Department of Science and Technology, and the Director of the Legal Department;

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment promulgates a Circular providing the procedures for response to oil spills at sea.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scopeof regulation

This Circular introduces the procedures for remediation of oil spills at sea, including: investigation into and evaluation of environmental pollution from oil spills at sea; formulation, implementation, inspection and evaluation of the plan for remediation of oil spills at the territorial sea of Vietnam.

Article 2.Subjects of application

This Circular applies to regulatory authorities, Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals involved in the remediation of oil spills at the territorial sea of Vietnam.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

“Remediation of oil spills at sea” refers to the process of cleaning up coastal land, water, sediment surface in the seabed, ecosystem of the areas affected by the spill and implementing measures for mitigating damage, recovering biophysical environment and marine environment after oil spills at sea.

Article 4. General rules for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. Relevant regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals shall closely cooperate with each other and mobilize necessary resources for the remediation of oil spills at sea.

2. The oil spill remediation must be performed by using information, data and results of the response to the oil spill and additional investigation and surveys.

3. Advance technologies and eco-friendly technologies must be employed.

4. Marine environmental quality after the remediation of oil spills at sea must be improved and able to meet national technical regulations/standards on environment.

Article 5. Procedures for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. Investigate and evaluate the environmental pollution caused by the oil spill at sea.

2. Prepare the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea.

3. Implement theplan for remediation of oil spills at sea and supervise that implementation process.

4. Evaluate results of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea.

Chapter II

INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION CAUSED BY OIL SPILLS AT SEA

Article 6. Determining areas of preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution

The areas of preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution shall be determined on the basis of remote sensing images, videos and photographs taken at the scene and results from the oil spill response from the information and data of the reports prescribed in Clause 1 Article 13 of the Regulations on oil spill response promulgated under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 02/2013/QD-TTg dated January 14, 2013.

Article 7. Preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution

1. The preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution shall be performed in areas determined in Article 6 hereof.

2. Steps of preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution:

a) Collect and consolidate information, documents and data about the existing status of the marine environment and ecosystem in accordance with regulations in Article 8 hereof;

b) Carry out the measurement, monitoring, sampling and analysis of samples for determining the oil content in the marine environment as regulated in Article 10 hereof;

c) Carry out the preliminary evaluation of marine environmental pollution, including: Determine total mineral oil and grease content in the sea water and total petroleum hydrocarbons in the surface sediment in the seabed in accordance with regulations in Article 10 hereof; compare these parameters with the ones provided in corresponding national technical regulations/standards;

d) Preliminarily evaluate the impacts of the oil spill at sea on biological resources and ecosystem;

dd) Prepare the report on preliminary investigation, surveys and evaluation of marine environmental pollution from oil spills at sea by using the form provided in the Appendix No. 01 enclosed herewith.

3. Regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals responsible for remedying oil spills at sea (hereinafter referred to as “regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills) that are the entities defined in Article 112 of the Law on environmental protection shall assume responsibility for carrying out the preliminary investigation and evaluation of the marine environmental pollution from oil spills at sea.

The preliminary investigation and evaluation of the marine environmental pollution from oil spills at sea must be completed within a maximum period of 10 days from the date on which the report on oil spill response completion as regulated in Point c Clause 1 Article 13 of Regulations on oil spill response promulgated under the Decision No. 02/2013/QD-TTg.

4. Based on the report on preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution, the following actions shall be carried out:

a) In case the oil contents in the sea water and the sediment surface in the seabed do not exceed the maximum permissible levels specified in relevant national technical regulations and/or standards on environment, the oil spills on the shoreline have been collected and cleaned up, and the impacts of the oil spill on biological resources are negligible, the information that the area is not polluted shall be published and the remediation of oil spills at sea is finished.

The information publishing shall be performed in accordance with applicable regulations of the Law on environmental protection regarding the publishing of environment status-related information;

b) In cases other than the one specified in Point a of this Clause, the detailed investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution shall be performed in accordance with Article 12 hereof.

The area subject to the detailed investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution is also the area in which the preliminary investigation and evaluation has been carried out as determined in Article 6 hereof.

Article 8. Collecting and consolidating information, documents and data about the marine environment status for serving the preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environmental pollution

1. Information/ data must be collected from official statistical resources which are legally recognized, trustable, accurate and updated.

2. Information/ data serving the preliminary evaluation of the marine environmental pollution from the oil spill shall be collected from the following sources:

a) Information/ data from the Statistical Yearbooks of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam and of statistics agencies at all levels;

b) Information/ data from resources and environment monitoring results of the global, regional and national resources and environment monitoring systems, and local resources and environment monitoring systems; findings from provincial-level, ministerial-level or national-level scientific researches and/or scientific research themes which have been duly tested and accepted;

c) Information/ data provided by relevant ministries, departments and boards;

d) Reports specified in Clause 1 Article 13 of the Decision No. 02/2013/QD-TTg;

dd) Information/ data from additional field investigations and/or surveys;

e) Information/ data concerning the area subject to the preliminary investigation and evaluation obtained from remote sensing images or aviation photographs;

g) Information/ data from other trustable sources.

3. Information/ data concerning the area of the preliminary investigation and evaluation to be collected and consolidated includes:

a) Information/ data about the natural conditions, natural resources, and ecosystems, including: geological conditions, coastal geomorphology, meteorology and hydrology, oceanography; potentiality and distribution of natural resources; sanctuaries, coral reef ecosystems, sea grass beds, mangrove forests and other marine ecosystems;

b) Information/ data about current status of components of the water environment, sediment environment, pollution status, environmental emergencies, and waste sources in the coastal area;

c) Information/ data about damage to property and humans, economic, social and environmental impacts of the oil spill at sea;

d) Other relevant information/ data.

4. Collected information/ data shall be consolidated and analyzed.

5. In case the collected and consolidated information/ data as regulated in Clause 2 of this Article fails to meet the requirements for the preliminary evaluation of the marine environmental pollution from the oil spill at sea, a field investigation or survey shall be carried out for collecting necessary information/data according to the positions diagram and the plan for additional measurement, monitoring and sampling regulated in Article 9 hereof.

Article 9. Formulating positions diagram and plan for additional measurement, monitoring and sampling serving the preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environment pollution

1. Formulation of the diagram of additional measurement, monitoring and sampling positions

The formulation of the positions diagram shall be made in accordance with regulations on additional measurement, monitoring and sampling.

2. Formulation of the plan for additional measurement, monitoring and sampling:

a) Contents and methods of additional measurement, monitoring and sampling;

b) Additional measurement, monitoring and sampling workload;

c) Time of additional measurement, monitoring and sampling;

d) Personnel and equipment serving the additional measurement, monitoring and sampling.

Article 10. Investigation, measurement and monitoring for determining the oil content in sea water, current conditions of biological resources and ecosystems serving the preliminary investigation and evaluation of marine environment pollution

1. Measurement, monitoring and sampling shall be performed at positions and according to the plan determined in Article 9 hereof. Sampling, handling and storage of samples of sea water and sediment at the surface of the seabed must be performed in accordance with applicable laws.

2. Monitoring of meteorological and hydrological factors, including: visibility, air temperature, atmospheric pressure, air humidity, wind, rain, sea water temperature, sea surface state; other weather conditions must be also recorded (if any).

3. Carry out the measurement and monitoring of factors concerning the sea water and samples of surface sediment in the seabed from the oil spill.

4. Observe, make videos, and take photographs, interview and record information about the existing conditions of biological resources and ecosystems.

5. Review, examine and correct field measurement and monitoring documents/ figures.

6. Transport samples to the designated laboratory for analysis.

7. Process and analyze samples at the laboratory.

Article 11. Detailed investigation, measurement and survey of marine environmental pollution

1. Procedures for detailed investigation and survey of marine environmental pollution:

a) Divide the area subject to the detailed investigation and evaluation into sub-areas based on the criteria mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article;

b) Establish measurement and monitoring routes and positions diagrams, take and analyze marine environment samples by means of supplementing and increasing the number of the positions determined in Article 9 hereof, ensuring that each sub-area must have at least one measurement, monitoring and sampling route, and density of measurement and monitoring positions must be conformable with applicable national technical regulations/ standards on environment; observe, make videos, take photographs, interview and record information about the existing conditions, analyze and evaluate the impacts of the oil spill on biological resources and ecosystems;

c) Prepare the plan for measurement, monitoring, sampling and analysis of samples of marine environment;

d) Implement the plan for measurement, monitoring, sampling and analysis of samples of marine environment in accordance with applicable regulations. Marine environment parameters to be analyzed are provided in Clause 3 of this Article.

2. Division of area of the detailed investigation and evaluation into sub-areas shall be made based on the following criteria:

a) Natural conditions, morphological and geomorphologic characteristics;

b) Characteristics of biological resources and ecosystems;

c) Exploitation and use of marine resources.

3. Sea water parameters and parameter of surface sediments in the seabed caused from the oil spill to be analyzed shall be determined in accordance with the national technical regulations/ standards on environment.

Article 12. Detailed evaluation of marine environmental pollution

1. Contents of the detailed evaluation:

a) Evaluate the levels of pollution of sea water and surface sediments in the seabed by reference to parameters specified in national technical regulations on environment as regulated in Clause 3 Article 11 hereof;

b) Evaluate the degree of the marine environmental vulnerability associated to oil spills for the sub-areas in accordance with regulations in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. The assessment of the degree of the marine environmental vulnerability associated to oil spills for the sub-areas shall be carried out as follows:

a) Carry out the quantitative assessment of the environmental vulnerability index (I_v), which is calculated from 15 individual indicators (V_i) and the weighting factor of such individual indicators (K_i) by adopting the following formula:

I_v=K_i×V_i

The weighting factorK_iof the corresponding individual indicatorV_ireflects the importance of that individual indicator to the environmental vulnerability index of the sub-area, and is determined by employing experts’ knowledge mining tools and approaches.

The value of the individual indicatorV_ishall be calculated by marking according the criteria mentioned in the Appendix No. 02 enclosed herewith;

b) The severity degrees of the marine environmental vulnerability for the sub-area shall be classified according to the valueI_vinto 04 degrees as follows: low vulnerability, medium vulnerability, high vulnerability and critical vulnerability.

3. The report on the detailed evaluation of marine environmental pollution from oil spills at sea shall be prepared by using the form provided in the Appendix No. 03 enclosed herewith.

Regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills shall be responsible for carrying out the detailed investigation and evaluation of the marine environmental pollution from oil spills.

The detailed investigation and evaluation of the marine environmental pollution from oil spills at sea must be completed within a maximum period of 20 business days from the date in which the report on the preliminary investigation and evaluation is made.

Article 13. Conditions for preparing the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. The plan for remediation of oil spills at sea shall be prepared in the following circumstances:

a) The ratio of the positions at which the contents of environmental parameters are higher than the maximum permissible levels prescribed in national technical regulations/ standards on environment to total number of positions of measurement, monitoring and sampling is higher than 25%;

b) The ratio of total area of sub-areas with low vulnerability degree to total area subject to the detailed investigation and evaluation is higher than 15%.

2. With regard to cases other than the one specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the marine environmental pollution shall be monitored in accordance with Article 14 hereof.

Article 14. Monitoring of environmental pollution caused by oil spills at sea

1. Measurement, monitoring, sampling and analysis of environmental parameters whose values exceed the maximum permissible levels prescribed in relevant national technical regulations/ standards on environment shall be carried out and the vulnerability degree of each sub-area shall be periodically assessed.

2. Measurement, monitoring, sampling and analysis of environmental parameters whose values exceed the maximum permissible levels prescribed in relevant national technical regulations/ standards on environment shall be carried out according to the following frequency:

a) For sea water: Once per week;

b) For the surface sediments in the seabed: Twice per week.

3. The assessment of the environmental pollution caused by the oil spill at sea shall be made on a periodical basis of every 15 days by using the form provided in the Appendix No. 04 enclosed herewith.

Regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills shall be responsible for preparing reports on changes in environmental pollution caused by oil spills at sea.

4. Changes in theenvironmental pollution caused by oil spills at sea shall be monitored within 30 days from the date on which the report on detailed evaluation of the marine environmental pollution caused by oil spills at sea is made. In case where the values of environmental parameters still exceed the maximum permissible levels prescribed in relevant national technical regulations/ standards on environment, the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea shall be formulated.

Chapter III

FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING PLAN FOR REMEDIATION OF OIL SPILLS AT SEA

Article 15. Formulating the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. Within 10 days from the date on which the report on detailed evaluation of the marine environmental pollution caused by oil spills at sea is made or from the completion of the monitoring of changes in the marine environmental pollution, regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills shall complete the plans for remediation of oil spills at sea.

2. A plan for remediation of oil spills at sea includes the following primary contents:

a) Grounds for planning the remediation of oil spills at sea;

b) Objectives and scope of the remediation of oil spills at sea;

c) The measure for remediation of oil spills at sea;

d) The supervision of the implementation of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea according to the selected plans regulated in Clause 2 Article 18 hereof;

dd) Evaluation of the implementation of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea.

Detailed contents of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea are available in the form provided in the Appendix No. 05 enclosed herewith.

3. Regulatoryauthorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills must send the complete plans for remediation of oil spills at sea to the People’s Committee at the place where the oil spill occurs and regulatory ministries.

4. Provincial People’s Committees and relevant ministries shall send the received plans for remediation of oil spills at sea to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Article 16. Implementing the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. The plan for remediation of oil spills at sea must be implemented according to its contents.

2. Upon the completion of the implementation of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea, the report on the plan results shall be prepared and sent to the authorities mentioned in Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 15 hereof.

Article 17. Modification of plan for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. Regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills shall consider modifying the plans for remediation of oil spills at sea in the following circumstances:

a) The measure for remediation of oil spills at sea of the plan is ineffective;

b) There are unscheduled national defense and security affairs;

c) The plan for remediation of oil spills at sea must be modified because of acts of God or force majeure events.

2. In case prescribed in Point a Clause 1 of this Article, the modification of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea must be made based on the results of the evaluation of the implementation of the plan. The modification of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea must be completed within 10 days from the date on which the modification decision is issued.

Primary contents of a modified plan for remediation of oil spills at sea are conformable with Clause 2 Article 15 hereof; the modified plan for remediation of oil spills at sea must be also sent to the relevant authorities as prescribed in Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 15 hereof.

Article 18. Supervising implementation of plan for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. The authority that receives the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea and the report on results thereof, within the ambit of assigned duties and rights, shall be responsible for supervising the results of the remediation of oil spills at sea.

2. Contents to be supervised:

a) Environmental parameters meeting the national technical regulations/ standards on environment;

b) Recovered biological resources and ecosystems.

Article 19. Evaluating results of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea

1. Regulatory authorities, organizations and individuals remedying oil spills shall carry out the evaluation of results of their plans for remediation of oil spills at sea and modified plans.

2. The report on the evaluation of results of the plan for remediation of oil spills at sea shall be made according to the form provided in the Appendix No. 06 enclosed herewith.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 20. Effect

This Circular takes effect on March 12, 2019.

Article 21. Implementation organization

1. The General Department of Vietnam’s Sea and Islands shall instruct and inspect the implementation of this Circular.

2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, the Government s affiliates, People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities, and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular.

3. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration./.

For the Minister

Deputy Minister

Tran Quy Kien