Circular 07/2025/TT-BTNMT amend Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT detailing Law on Environmental Protection

 CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT dated January 10, 2022, of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection

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Pursuant to the Law on Environmental Protection dated November 17, 2020;

Pursuant to Decree No. 68/2022/ND-CP dated September 22, 2022 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

Pursuant to Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP);

Pursuant to Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP dated January 6, 2025 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP);

At the proposal of the Director of the Pollution Control Department, the Director of the Department of Legal Affairs, the Director of the Department of Environment;

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment hereby promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT dated January 10, 2022, of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT dated January 10, 2022, of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT)

1. To amend and supplement Article 1 as follows:

“1. Detailing Point a Clause 2 and Point b Clause 3 Article 8; Clause 7 Article 10; Point a Clause 1 Article 19; Clause 2 Article 24; Clause 3 Article 27; Clause 2 Article 32; Clause 11 Article 34; Clause 5 Article 40; Clause 9 Article 49; Clause 4 Article 62; Clause 8 Article 67; Clause 6 Article 72; Clause 4 Article 74; Point c Clause 1 Article 75; Clause 2 Article 76; Clause 5 Article 78; Clause 5 Article 79; Clause 4 Article 80; Clause 4 Article 81; Clause 5 Article 83; Clause 4 Article 84; Clause 6 Article 86; Point b Clause 1 Article 115; Point b Clause 2 Article 115; Clause 5 Article 118; Clause 5 Article 119; Clause 5 Article 120; Clause 7 Article 126 and Clause 6 Article 148 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

2. Detailing Point d Clause 2 Article 15; Point d Clause 2 Article 16; Clause 5 Article 17; Clause 3 Article 18; Clause 7 Article 19; Clause 2 Article 21; Point a Clause 6 and Point a Clause 8 Article 21; Point b Clause 3 Article 26; Point e Clause 3 Article 28; Point dd Clause 5 Article 28; Clause 13 Article 29; Clause 16 Article 30; Point b Clause 12 Article 31; Clause 12 Article 31; Clause 9 Article 36; Point a Clause 3 Article 37; Clause 5 Article 40; Clause 10 Article 45; Point b Clause 2, Point b Clause 3 Article 54; Point dd Clause 2 Article 58; Point a, Point c Clause 4 Article 65; Clause 1, Clause 3 Article 66; Clause 2, Clause 3 Article 67; Clause 2 Article 69; Clause 4 Article 71; Point c Clause 2 Article 76; Clauses 1, 2, 3 Article 80; Clause 2, Point a Clause 3 Article 81; Clause 3 Article 82; Clause 1 Article 84; Clause 5 Article 93; Clause 6 Article 94; Clause 6, Clause 8 Article 96; Point d Clause 4, Point a Clause 6 and Point c Clause 7 Article 97; Point c Clause 5, Point a Clause 7 and Point c Clause 8 Article 98; Clause 4 Article 104; Clause 6 Article 105; Clause 1 Article 107; Point a Clause 2 Article 111; Clause 4 Article 125; Clause 7 Article 127; Clause 1 Article 145; Clause 6 Article 147 and Point dd Clause 5 Article 163 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, amended and supplemented under Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP.”.

2. To amend and supplement Clause 1 Article 7 as follows:

“1. Report on investigation and assessment of soil quality environment; report on detailed investigation and assessment of soil pollution area; structure and content of plans for soil environmental treatment, remediation and rehabilitation shall be made according to Form No. 02, Form No. 03 and Form No. 05, Appendix I to this Circular.”.

3. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Clause 4, Clause 6, Clause 7 and add Clause 9 after Clause 8, Article 13 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. An appraisal council shall be composed of a chairperson, vice-chairperson (if any), a secretarial commissioner, 02 review commissioners, and other members. The appraisal council shall work on the principle of public discussion among the members of the appraisal council, between the appraisal council and the facility or project owner in the form of holding official meeting and thematic sessions shall be decided by the council chairperson in case of necessity. Council members who represent agencies or organizations must be officially designated through a written nomination from the respective agency or organization.”.

b) To amend and supplement Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Members of the appraisal council participating in the official meeting of the appraisal council shall be responsible for writing comments according to Form No. 06, appraisal form according to Form No. 07 provided in Appendix II to this Circular and sending them to the council at the meeting. The absent appraisal council members may send their comments before the official meeting of the council and are considered the opinions of members attending the official meeting of the council but not writing the appraisal form. The council members who are representatives of agencies and organizations responsible for commenting and evaluating the content of the environmental impact assessment report of the project related to the scope of management of that agency or organization.”.

c) To amend and supplement Clause 6 and Clause 7 as follows:

“6. The chairperson, vice-chairperson (if any) of the appraisal council, and the secretarial commissioner of the appraisal council must be civil servants of the appraisal agency or civil servants of the specialized agency under the appraisal agency, except for the case specified in Clause 8, Article 34 of the Law on Environmental Protection. The chairperson of the council (or the vice-chairperson authorized by the chairperson in case he/she is absent) and the council secretarial commissioner shall be responsible for signing the records of the appraisal council meeting.

7. Members of the appraisal council shall be responsible before the appraisal agency and law for their comments and assessments of the environmental impact assessment reports, the plans for environmental remediation and rehabilitation, receive meeting documents at least 3 days before the appraisal council’s meeting; receive remuneration in accordance with the law.”.

d) To add Clause 9 after Clause 8 as follows:

“9. In case of approval without the need for modification or supplementation as prescribed in Clause 8 of this Article, the council chairperson shall report to the appraisal agency for consideration and approval of the appraisal results of the project's environmental impact assessment report.”.

4. To add Clause 9 after Clause 8 Article 15 as follows:

“9. Request for approval of the appraisal results of the environmental impact assessment report shall be made according to Form No. 09a provided in Appendix II to this Circular.”.

5. To amend and supplement Article 18 as follows:

“Article 18. Working principles and responsibilities of the appraisal council and inspection team for the grant of environmental licenses

1. The appraisal council shall be responsible for advising the licensing agency in the process of granting or re-granting an investment project's environmental license; take responsibility before the environmental licensing agency and before the law for appraisal results.

2. The inspection team shall be responsible for carrying out the physical inspection at the investment project's location, the facility and comparing it with the dossier of request for the grant, regrant of an environmental license for the facility or project owner, ensuring compliance with the law on environmental protection, take responsibility before the environmental licensing agency and before the law for inspection results.

3. The appraisal council and inspection team shall work on the principle of public discussion.

4. An official meeting of the appraisal council or implementation of an inspection team may only be conducted when the following conditions are fully satisfied:

a) At least 2/3 (two-thirds) of the members of the appraisal council must be present in person at the meeting or participate in an online meeting, including a chairperson or authorized vice-chairperson (hereinafter referred to as the chairperson) and a secretary;

b) At least 2/3 (two-thirds) of the members of the inspection team must be present in person in the inspection, including a leader or authorized deputy leader of the inspection team and a secretary;

c) Participation of a competent representative or an authorized representative of the facility or project owner as prescribed.

5. The appraisal council's members who are absent may send their written comments before the official meeting is held, and such comments shall be considered as the ones of members who participate in the official meeting but do not write the appraisal and assessment sheet.

6. Delegates participating in the meeting of the appraisal council and inspection team shall be decided by the environmental licensing agency in case of necessity. Participating delegates shall be entitled to express opinions in the appraisal council’s meetings, directed by the chairperson of the meeting, and receive remuneration as prescribed by law.

7. The chairperson, vice-chairperson of the appraisal council, the leader or deputy leader of the inspection team, the secretaries of the appraisal council, the secretaries of the inspection team must be public employees of the environmental licensing and assessment agency or authorized, assigned specialized agency.

8. The chairperson of the council (or the vice-chairperson authorized by the chairperson in case he/she is absent), the leader of the inspection team (or the deputy leader authorized by the leader in case he/she is absent) shall be responsible before the environmental licensing agency and the law for the appraisal content and inspection results; be responsible for signing records of meetings of the appraisal council and inspection records as prescribed.

9. Members of the appraisal council and inspection team shall be responsible before the environmental licensing agency and the law for comments and assessments of reports on the proposal for the grant or re-grant of an environmental license and the contents and tasks assigned by the chairperson during the appraisal and inspection process. Members of the appraisal council shall receive remuneration in accordance with the law; members of the inspection team shall receive remuneration as members of the appraisal council.

10. Results of the environmental license appraisal council are specified as follows:

a) Approval without modification or supplementation: When all members of the appraisal council attending the official meeting vote for approval without modification or supplementation;

b) Disapproval: when more than 1/3 (one-third) of the appraisal council members attending the official meeting vote for disapproval;

c) Approval with modification or supplementation: not falling into the cases specified at Points a and b of this Clause.

11. Results of the environmental licensing inspection team are specified as follows:

a) Approval of granting an environmental license: when all members of the inspection team agree to grant an environmental license without the need for modification or supplementation;

b) Disapproval of granting an environmental license: when more than 1/3 (one-third) of the members participating in the inspection team disagree;

c) Approval of granting an environmental license with the condition of modification or supplementation: not falling under the cases specified at Point a and Point b of this Clause.”.

6. To amend and supplement Article 19 as follows:

“Article 19. Forms for grant of environmental licenses, revocation of environmental licenses, and physical inspection of the process of trial operation of waste treatment facilities

1. Decision on the establishment of the appraisal council for the grant or regrant of environmental license of the investment project shall be made according to Form No. 22 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

2. Decision on establishment of an appraisal group for the grant or regrant of environmental licenses for the investment project and the facility shall be made according to Form No. 24 provided in Appendix II to this Circular, and shall be applied in the following cases:

a) Being subject to the establishment of an inspection team for the grant of environmental licenses as specified Point c Clause 4 Article 29 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP;

b) Being subject to the regrant of environmental license as specified in Clause 5 Article 30 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP;

3. Written notice of physical survey plans in case of grant of environmental licenses to the investment project that is not subject to environmental impact assessment shall be made according to Form No. 26 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

4. Record of physical survey of the investment project area that is not subject to environmental impact assessment shall be made according to Form No. 27 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

5. Record of the meeting of the appraisal council for the grant or regrant of environmental license for the investment project shall be made according to Form No. 28 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

6. Record of inspection for grant, regrant of environmental license for the investment project and the facility shall be made according to Form No. 29 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

7. Written comments made by members of the appraisal council for the grant or regrant of environmental license for the investment project shall be made according to Form No. 30 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

8. Appraisal votes of members of the appraisal council for the grant or regrant of an environmental license for the investment project shall be made according to Form No. 31 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

9. Written comments made by members of the inspection team for the grant or regrant of environmental license for the investment project and the facility shall be made according to Form No. 32 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

10. Written notice of completion or return of application dossiers for grant or regrant of environmental licenses of the investment project and the facility shall be made according to Form No. 33 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

11. Written notice of environmental licensing agencies on the adjustment of the type and volume of hazardous wastes permitted to be treated or the volume of scraps permitted to be imported as raw production materials as specified in Clause 4 Article 30 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall be made according to Form No. 35 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

12. Written consultation of the state agency managing irrigation works during the process of grant or regrant of environmental license of the investment projects or the facility shall be made according to Form No. 36 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

13. Written consultation with the state agencies, organizations during the process of grant or regrant of environmental license for the investment project and the facility shall be made according to Form No. 37 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

14. Written reply of the state agency managing the irrigation works shall be made according to Form No. 38 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

15. Written reply of consulting agencies, organizations in the process of grant or regrant of environmental licenses shall be made according to Form No. 39 provided Appendix II to this Circular.

16. Environmental license (grant, renewal, regrant) shall be made according to Form No. 40 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

17. Modified environmental license shall be made according to Form No. 41 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

18. Decision on revocation of environmental licenses shall be made according to Form No. 42 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

19. Written notice of the plan for trial operation of waste treatment facilities of an investment project shall be made according to Form No. 43 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

20. Decision on appointment of public employees and civil servants for physical inspection of waste treatment facilities of the investment project or the facility during trial operation for cases not specified in Clause 4 Article 46 of the Law on Environmental Protection shall be made according to Form No. 44 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

21. Decision on establishment of a team for physical inspection of trial operation of the waste treatment facilities of the investment project and the facility under Clause 4, Article 46 of the Law on Environmental Protection shall be made according to Form No. 44a provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

22. Record of inspection, supervision of trial operation of waste treatment facilities by public employees and civil servants shall be made according to Form No. 45 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

23. Record of inspection of trial operation of waste treatment facilities for the investment project or the facility using scraps as raw production materials or using hazardous waste treatment services shall be made according to Form No. 46 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.”.

7. To amend and supplement Article 20 as follows:

Article 20. Additional waste monitoring for operating facilities when applying for environmental licenses and waste monitoring of inspection team for environmental licensing

1. The additional waste monitoring for cases of requesting an environmental license for the facilities with environmental criteria equivalent to group I or group II investment projects specified at Point e Clause 3 Article 28 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall be carried out as follows: taking single samples (for wastewater) and taking pooled samples (for emissions) for 02 consecutive days to assess the treatment efficiency of wastewater and emissions treatment facilities and equipment (if any).

2. The additional waste monitoring for cases of requesting an environmental license for the facilities with environmental criteria equivalent to group III investment projects specified at Point e Clause 3 Article 28 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall be carried out as follows: taking single samples (for wastewater) and taking one composite sample (for emissions) for 02 consecutive days to assess the treatment efficiency of wastewater and emissions treatment facilities and equipment (if any).

3. The waste monitoring of inspection team for environmental licensing specified in Clause 7 Article 29 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, amended and supplemented under Clause 11 Article 1 of Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP, shall be carried out according to regulations on waste monitoring techniques. Particularly for emission monitoring, it shall be carried out as follows:

a) One sample of emissions for parameters collected by continuous sampling method (isokinetic, isokinetic and other methods according to regulations on environmental monitoring techniques) to measure and analyze parameters as specified;

b) One sample of emissions for parameters measured by rapid field-measuring devices (measurement results by digital measuring devices). The result is determined as the average value of at least 03 measurements as stipulation on waste monitoring techniques.”.

8. To amend and supplement Point a Clause 2, Clause 4, Clause 5, Clause 6 and add Clause 7 after Clause 6 Article 21 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Point a Clause 2 as follows:

“2. Monitoring for dust and emission treatment facilities and equipment: The measurement and sampling of dust and emissions for analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of each waste treatment project and equipment in the waste monitoring plan are prescribed as follows:

a) A composite sample shall be determined in one of the following two cases:

A composite sample shall be determined to be a single sample when taken by a continuous sampling method (isokinetic, isokinetic and other methods according to regulations on environmental monitoring techniques) to measure and analyze parameters according to regulations.

A composite sample when measured by rapid field measuring devices (measurement results by digital measuring devices) is determined to be the average value of at least 03 measurement results as prescribed at 03 different times of the day (morning, noon - afternoon, afternoon - evening) or at 03 different times of the production shift (beginning, middle, end);”.

b) To amend and supplement Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Monitoring for centralized production, businesses, and service areas, industrial clusters, investment projects, and establishments subject to the provision in Column 3, provided in Appendix II to Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall be carried out as follows:

a) Centralized production, business, and service areas, industrial clusters; investment projects, and establishments subject to the provisions in Column 3, provided in Appendix II to Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall conduct waste monitoring according to Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article, except for the provisions in Point b of this Clause;

b) Investment projects and facilities subject to the provisions in Column 3, provided in Appendix II to Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP must conduct waste monitoring on at least 03 single samples in 03 consecutive days of the stable operation period (01 sample of input wastewater and 03 samples of output wastewater) in the following cases: Domestic wastewater treatment system (excluding wastewater treatment systems combined with industrial wastewater treatment); wastewater treatment systems connected to the centralized wastewater treatment system of production, businesses, and service areas, industrial clusters for further treatment; wastewater and emission treatment systems with additional stages to improve treatment efficiency.".

c) To amend and supplement Clause 5 as follows:

“5. For investment projects that do not fall into the cases specified in Clause 4 of this Article, the waste monitoring shall be decided by the investment facility and project owner but must ensure monitoring of at least 3 single samples for 3 consecutive days of the stable operation of waste treatment facilities (01 input wastewater samples and 03 output wastewater samples; 03 output dust and emission samples).”.

d) To amend and supplement Clause 6 as follows:

6. The monitoring of wastewater or emissions when re-operating the wastewater and emission treatment facilities specified at Point d Clause 8 Article 31 or Point c Clause 7 Article 97 or Point c Clause 8 Article 98 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall be carried out as follows:

a) Facilities specified in Column 3 Appendix II together with Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall conduct waste monitoring according to Point c Clause 1 or Point c Clause 2 of this Article;

b) Facilities other than those specified in Column 3 Appendix 2 to Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall conduct waste monitoring at least 03 single samples in 03 consecutive days during the stable operation phase of waste treatment facilities (01 sample of input wastewater and 03 samples of output wastewater; 03 samples of output dust and emission).”.

e) To add Clause 7 after Clause 6 as follows:

“7. For investment projects and facilities with an emission treatment system with a design capacity of less than 3,000 m³/hour (calculated separately for each emission treatment system), a wastewater treatment system with a design capacity of less than 10 m³/day (calculated separately for each wastewater treatment system) must conduct waste monitoring on at least 01 single sample (01 output waste sample).”.

9. To amend, supplement Article 22 as follows:

“Article 22. Form for environmental registration

A form for environmental registration of the facility or investment project owner shall be made according to Form No. 47 provided in Appendix II to this Circular.”.

10. To amend, supplement Article 23 as follows:

“Article 23. Receiving environmental registration

1. The commune-level People's Committee shall receive environmental registration dossiers of the facility or investment project owner directly, by post office or by electronically.

2. The commune-level People's Committee shall update data on environmental registration into the national environmental information system and database.”.

11. To add Article 25a after Article 25 as follows:

“Article 25a. Self-auditing of environmental resources by production, business and service establishments

1. Self-auditing of the environment by production, business and service establishments shall be carried out according to the contents specified in Clause 2 Article 74 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

2. Production, business and service establishments shall conduct self-auditing of the environment according to the following steps:

a) Making a plan, determining the process and resources to conduct environmental audits;

b) Making a list and contents that need to be audited;

c) Linking, checking existing legal dossiers and comparing with the actual management system;

d) Reviewing completed items and evaluating work efficiency, identifying uncompleted items and proposing management and handling measures;

dd) Approving the environmental audit report.

3. Production, business and service establishments are encouraged to conduct environmental self-audits according to the following contents:

a) Collect and synthesize information and data on the use of raw materials, fuels, materials, scrap (type of scrap, HS code, expected import scrap volume), electric energy, chemicals used, electricity and water supply sources of the establishment;

b) Evaluate the efficiency, volume of raw materials, fuels, energy, input materials and sources of each type of output waste;

c) Evaluate compliance with regulations on pollution control and waste management (results of completion of environmental protection works, environmental incident response plans); volume of each type of waste generated; accompanying waste treatment measures; issues that have not meet the requirements on pollution control and waste management;

d) Propose an action plan: Action plan on minimizing loss and waste of input materials and fuels and reducing waste generation; action plan to better comply with regulations on pollution control and waste management.”.

12. To add Article 26a after Article 26 as follows:

“Article 26a. Classification of other domestic solid waste

Based on socio-economic conditions, technical infrastructure for domestic solid waste treatment and development orientation of each locality, the Provincial-level People’s Committee may choose to classify other domestic solid waste as prescribed at Point c, Clause 1, Article 75 of the Law on Environmental Protection as follows:

1. Bulky waste;

2. Hazardous waste;

3. Other remaining waste.”.

13. To amend and supplement Clause 3 Article 29 as follows:

“3. The Provincial-level People’s Committee shall direct the development and appraisal of service prices for collection, transportation and treatment of domestic solid waste in accordance with the law on prices.”.

14. To amend and supplement Point b and Point dd Clause 2 Article 30 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Point b Clause 2 as follows:

“b) Packaging containing different types of domestic solid waste shall have distinct colors: green packaging for food waste and gray packaging for other remaining domestic solid waste as specified in Clause 3, Article 26a of this Circular or for unclassified domestic solid waste as prescribed. In case of necessity, the Provincial-level People’s Committee may prescribe other colors to ensure the uniformity and consistency in the province;”.

b) To amend and supplement Point dd Clause 2 as follows:

“dd) In case the locality stipulates that domestic waste must be classified into different types as prescribed in Article 26a of this Circular and Point c, Clause 1, Article 75 of the Law on Environmental Protection, materials used as packages of domestic waste must ensure that the type of waste contained inside is visible (this provision does not apply to bulky waste and other remaining domestic solid waste).”.

15. To amend and supplement Article 31 as follows:

“Article 31. Methods for determining domestic waste treatment service charge applicable to investors and providers of domestic solid waste treatment services

The method for determining domestic solid waste treatment service charges shall follow Circular No. 45/2024/TT-BTC dated July 1, 2024 of the Minister of Finance promulgating the general pricing method for goods and services valued by the State.”.

16. To add Article 39a after Article 39 as follows:

“Article 39a. Environmental management plan of the hazardous waste treatment service provider

1. The owner of the hazardous waste treatment service provider shall prepare an environmental management plan according to the contents specified at Point g, Clause 3, Article 84 of the Law on Environmental Protection, which some contents shall be guided in detail as follows:

a) Pollution control and waste management: List of waste treatment systems and equipment; list and volume of waste permitted to be collected and treated; waste generated from the operation process; identification and classification of generated waste to have appropriate management measures; diagram for water use, wastewater generation balance; products recycled, recovered from the treatment process;

b) Occupational safety and hygiene: Measures to protect health and ensure safety for workers in accordance with the law on labor; annual health check-up plan according to labor law;

c) Environmental incident prevention and response: Works, equipment, tools for waste incident prevention and response; summary diagram in abbreviated form (or diagram form) of waste incident response process; development, promulgation and publicization of waste incident response plan;

d) Annual periodic training and coaching: Periodic training; training content; training subjects;

dd) Environmental monitoring program: Time, parameters, frequency of waste monitoring and supervision according to regulations; management and quality control of automatic and continuous wastewater and emission monitoring systems according to regulations;

e) Hazardous waste treatment efficiency assessment: Plan and content of assessment of the conformity and efficiency of hazardous waste treatment of waste treatment systems, works and equipment;

g) Pollution treatment and environmental remediation plan after the end of operation: Measures to prevent and minimize environmental impacts during the demolition process; scope and plan for environmental remediation and restoration.

2. The environmental management plan of the hazardous waste treatment service provider is approved by the facility owner and attached to the application for issuance or reissuance of an environmental license according to regulations (shall only need to be prepared once at the same time as submitting the application for grant or regrant of an environmental license). The owner of the facility shall be responsible for the content of the environmental management plan and shall update the environmental management plan when there are changes.

3. Based on the environmental management plan, the owner of the facility shall organize the implementation or assign personnel in charge of environmental protection to organize the implementation of the responsibilities of the owner of the hazardous waste treatment service provider and other responsibilities as prescribed by law.

4. The owner of the hazardous waste treatment service provider shall decide on the frequency, duration and form of training (self-training, on-site training or sending personnel to attend training courses organized by other units) as prescribed at Point d Clause 1 of this Article.

5. The owner of the hazardous waste treatment service provider is encouraged to periodically assess the effectiveness of hazardous waste treatment as prescribed at Point e Clause 1 of this Article in order to self-monitor and supervise the conformity and effectiveness of the waste treatment system, works and equipment.

6. The pollution treatment and environmental improvement plan prescribed at Point g Clause 1 of this Article shall be selected for implementation upon termination of operations for the entire facility or in stages for some waste treatment areas and hazardous waste transfer stations.

7. Environmental management plan of the hazardous waste treatment service provider shall comply with Form No. 06a provided in Appendix III to this Circular.”.

17. To add Clause 6 after Clause 5 Article 42 as follows:

“6. Medical facilities shall use delivery books for hazardous medical waste made according to the form prescribed in Circular No. 20/2021/TT-BYT dated November 26, 2021 of the Minister of Health providing regulations on management of medical waste within medical establishments’ premises or hazardous waste documents when transferring hazardous medical waste for treatment.”.

18. To amend and supplement Point a Clause 2 Article 64 as follows:

“a) Based on requirements for environmental protection and tasks of state management of environmental protection in each period, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall issue a set of indicators and guidance on assessment of environmental protection results of provincial-level People's Committees;

The level of people’s satisfaction with the quality of living environment is one of the contents of the set of indicators to evaluate environmental protection work of the Provincial-level People’s Committee;".

19. To amend and supplement Clause 2 and Point a Clause 3 Article 66 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. Deadline for submitting reports on environmental protection: Owners of investment projects, production, business and service establishments shall send annual reports on environmental protection work to the agencies specified in Clause 5 of this Article (the reporting period is from January 01 to the end of December 31) before January 15 of the following year; owners of projects on construction and commercial operation of infrastructure facilities of concentrated production, business and service areas or industrial clusters shall send annual reports on environmental protection work to the agencies specified in Clause 5 of this Article (the reporting period is from January 01 to the end of December 31) before January 20 of the following year.”.

b) To amend and supplement Point a Clause 3 as follows:

“3. Forms of report on environmental protection: A report on environmental protection may be presented in one of the following forms:

a) A paper report, that is signed by a competent person, stamped by the unit. The summary data tables attached to the report must be sealed across the pages. Reports in this form shall be submitted by the methods specified at Points b, c and d, Clause 4 of this Article;”.

20. To amend and supplement Article 78 as follows:

“78. Responsibility for recycling products and packaging of manufacturers and importers

1. Reasonable and valid recycling cost norms for a unit of product and packaging volume (Fs) shall comply with Appendix IXa to this Circular.

2. Forms for fulfilling product and packaging recycling responsibilities:

a) Registering a recycling plan for products and packaging shall be made according to the Form No. 01 provided Appendix IX to this Circular;

b) Report on product and packaging recycling results (for manufacturers and importers) shall be made according to the Form No. 02; Report on results of authorized product and packaging recycling organization (for authorized parties) shall be made according to the Form No. 02a; Report on the results of self- recycling product and packaging/results of product and packaging recycling under contract (for manufacturers, importers who self-recycle products and recycling units) shall be made according to the Form No. 02b provided in Appendix IX to this Circular;

Units self-recycling products and units hired to recycle under contract shall update the monthly recycling progress on the National EPR Information System, according to the Form No. 02c provided in Appendix IX to this Circular. The update time is before the 20^th of the following month;

c) Declaration of the amount of money contributed to support product and packaging recycling shall be made according to the Form No. 03 provided in Appendix IX to this Circular;

d) Declaration of the list of products and goods manufactured and imported to the market shall be made according to Section I, Form No. 05 provided in Appendix IX to this Circular;

dd) Declaration of product and packaging specifications to be recycled shall be made according to the Form No. 06 provided in Appendix IX to this Circular. This declaration is submitted together with the Form No. 01 and Form No. 03 provided in Appendix IX to this Circular.

3. Information on receiving registration for recycling plans, reporting on recycling results; declaration of financial contributions to support product and packaging recycling activities and information on the account receiving financial contributions to support product and packaging recycling activities:

a) Information on the place receiving registration for recycling plans, reporting on product and packaging recycling results; declaration of financial contributions to support product and packaging recycling activities: shall be sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment electronically via the National EPR Information System;

b) The Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund shall provide information on the receiving account and the content of the transfer of financial contributions to support product and packaging recycling activities in accordance with law;

c) Contributions to support product and packaging recycling activities that have not yet been disbursed shall be deposited at commercial banks, ensuring preservation of the original capital and timely disbursement for supported recycling activities. The Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund shall decide and take responsibility for choosing a commercial bank to deposit money as prescribed by law.”.

21. To amend and supplement Article 79 as follows:

“Article 79. Responsibility for recycling products and packaging by manufacturers and importers

1. Forms for fulfilling the responsibility for waste collection and treatment:

a) Declaration of the amount of money contributed to support waste treatment shall be made according to the Form No. 04 provided in Appendix IX to this Circular;

b) Declaration of the list of products and goods manufactured and imported to the market shall be made according to Section II, Form No. 05 provided in Appendix IX to this Circular;

2. Information on the place to receive the declaration of financial contributions to support waste treatment activities and information on the account to receive financial contributions to support waste treatment activities:

a) Information on receiving the declaration of financial contributions to support waste treatment activities: shall be sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment electronically via the National EPR Information System;

b) The Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund shall provide information on the receiving account and the content of the financial contribution transfer to support waste treatment activities in accordance with law;

c) Contributions to support waste treatment activities that have not yet been disbursed shall be deposited at commercial banks, ensuring preservation of the principal and timely disbursement for supported waste treatment activities. The Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund shall decide and take responsibility for selecting commercial banks for depositing money as prescribed by law.”.

Article 2. Amending and supplementing forms in Appendices of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT

1. Form No. 04 and Form No. 10 in Appendix I of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT are amended and supplemented under Section 1 of the Appendix to this Circular.

2. Forms No. 01b, 02, 03, 04, 04a, 06, 09, 09a, 10, 22, 24, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44a and Form No. 47 in Appendix II of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT are amended and supplemented under Section 2 of the Appendix to this Circular.

3. At waste code “12 08 - Waste from mechanical preliminary processing of waste at the place of generation or transfer” Section C Form No. 01 in Appendix III: to replace code “12 09 09” with code “12 08 09”; code “12 09 10” with code “12 08 10”; code “12 09 11” with code “12 08 11”; code “12 09 12” with code “12 08 12”.

4. Forms No. 04, 06a, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and Form No. 15 in Appendix III of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT are amended and supplemented in Section 3 of the Appendix to this Circular.

5. Form No. 07 in Appendix IV of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT is amended and supplemented in Section 4 of the Appendix to this Circular.

6. Form No. 01, 03, 05A and Form No. 05B in Appendix VI of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT are amended and supplemented in Section 5 of the Appendix attached to this Circular.

7. Form No. 02 in Appendix VII of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT is amended and supplemented in Section 6 of the Appendix to this Circular.

8. To replace Appendix IX of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT with Appendix IX in Section 7 of the Appendix to this Circular.

9. To add Appendix IXa in Section 8 of the Appendix to this Circular.

10. Forms No. 01, 02 and Form No. 03 in Appendix X of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT are amended and supplemented in Section 9 of the Appendix to this Circular.

Article 3. Annulling a number of provisions of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT

1. To annul Point c Clause 2, Article 64.

2. To annul Forms No. 23, 25 and Form No. 34 in Appendix II to Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT.

Article 4. Transitional provisions

Complete and valid dossiers received by competent state agencies for settlement before the effective date of this Circular shall be processed in accordance with the law at the time of receipt, except in cases where organizations and individuals request to follow this Circular.

Article 5. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect from the date of its signing.

2. From the effective date of this Circular, the following documents cease to be effective:

a) Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTNMT dated July 6, 2023 of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, on cessation of the effect of Clause 1, Article 7 and Clause 2, Article 75 of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT;

b) Decision No. 3323/QD-BTNMT dated December 1, 2022 of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment on correcting Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT dated January 10, 2022, of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection.

3. Any difficulties arising in the course of implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for research, guidance, amendment and supplementation./.