Decision 11/2025/QD-TTg promulgating the Regulation on waste incident response

REGULATION
On waste incident response

(Attached to the Decision No. 11/2025/QD-TTg dated April 23, 2025 of the Prime Minister)

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Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

1. This Regulation stipulates the response to waste incidents occurring in production, business, and service activities, including: the preparation for incident response; the organization of incident response; the environmental remediation and rehabilitation after incidents; mechanisms for supporting response and environmental rehabilitation, participation of the residential community, and responsibilities of relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals.

2. This Regulation shall not prescribe the response to waste incidents taking place at sea. The response to waste incidents taking place at sea shall comply with legal regulations on responding to toxic chemical incidents, responding to oil spill incidents and other relevant law regulations.

Article 2. Subjects of application

This Regulation applies to agencies, organizations, residential communities, and individuals involved in response in waste incidents and rehabilitation of the environment after environmental incidents.

Article 3. Waste incidents, classification of waste incidents, and principles for responding to waste incidents

1. A waste incident means an environmental incident caused by the leakage, spillage, or dispersal of waste during the process of generation, collection, storage, transfer, transportation, preliminary processing, treatment, co-processing, recycling, energy recovery, or destruction of waste.

2. Waste incidents are classified in accordance with the classification of environmental incidents defined in Article 123 of the Law on Environmental Protection, including:

a) Grassroots-level waste incidents;

b) District-level waste incidents;

c) Provincial-level waste incidents;

d) National-level waste incidents.

3. The principle for responding to waste management:

a) Proactively preventing, developing plans and preparing resources and concerted plans on standby to respond to any waste incidents;

b) Organizing the timely receipt and handling with information on waste incidents, giving priority to ensure the flow of information for response activities and timely reporting to competent agencies if beyond their response capacity;

c) Responding to waste incidents in compliance with the motto “four on the premise” (on-the-spot commanding; on-the-spot forces; on-the-spot means and supplies; on-the-spot logistics) and “three on standby” (proactive prevention, timely response, urgent and effective remediation); coordinating and mobilization all possible resources to enhance the efficiency of activities in preparation for and in response to waste incidents;

d) Providing consistent directions, closely coordinating and cooperating among forces, means, equipment involved in activities to respond to waste incidents;

dd) Ensuring safety measures for the waste incident response forces and residents in the areas affected by the waste incident;

e) Organizations and individuals causing waste incidents shall be responsible for paying costs of waste incident response, and environmental remediation and rehabilitation, compensation for damages, and other expenses caused by the waste incident, except for cases covered by the State in accordance with the law regulations.

Chapter II

PREPARATIONS IN RESPONSE TO WASTE INCIDENTS

Article 4. Formulation of plans and organization of drills for waste incident response

1. Responsibilities for formulating waste incident response

a) The owners of investment projects or establishments shall be responsible for formulating and promulgating waste incident response plans. b) The contents of response to grassroots-level waste incidents shall comply with Clause 2, Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP. The plan on responding to waste incidents can be integrated into the plan for responding to other incidents; a plan on responding to waste incidents that is integrated into and approved together with the plan for responding to other incidents as prescribed at Point b, Clause 6, Article 124 of the Law on Environmental Protection must fully include the contents as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP;

b) The National Steering Committee for Civil Defense shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors in, developing and promulgating the national-level waste incident response plan; the provincial-level Civil Defense Commands shall promulgate their provincial-level waste incident response plans; the district-level Civil Defense Commands shall promulgate their district-level waste incident response plans. The contents of waste incident response at the national, provincial, and district levels shall comply with clause 3 Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP. The national-, provincial-, and district-level waste incident response plans specified at this Point may be integrated with civil defense plans or other incident response plans; in cases where the national-, provincial-, or district-level waste incident prevention and response plans are integrated with the civil defense plans of the respective level, such civil defense plans must fully include the contents prescribed in Clause 3 Article 108 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

2. Plans on responding to waste incidents shall be established for the stage of preparation for incident response and the stage of organization of incident response. Such plans must detail a number of scenarios to respond to incidents with respective response solutions.

3. The public announcement of plans on responding to grassroots-, district- or provincial or national-level waste incidents shall comply with Article 110 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

4. The direction of drills of waste incident response plans shall comply with Clause 1, Article 124 of the Law on Environmental Protection. The organization of grassroots-, district- or provincial or national-level waste incident response drills shall comply with Clause 7, Article 124 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

Article 5. Development of forces, resources and equipment, and implementation of plans on responding to waste incidents

1. The owners of investment projects or establishments must have works, equipment, and means for responding to waste incidents in accordance with law regulations or coordinate with capable units in performing the tasks of waste incident prevention and response; and must establish and train on-the-spot response forces for waste incident response.

2. The Ministry of National Defence shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, and provincial-level People’s Committees in, guiding and developing forces, resources, and equipment for responding to waste incidents in accordance with Clause 1 Article 111 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

3. The implementation of plans on responding to grassroots-, district- or provincial or national-level waste incidents shall comply with Clause 4, Article 124 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF RESPONSE TO WASTE INCIDENTS

Article 6. Receipt and handling of information on waste incidents

1. The owners of investment projects or establishments where a waste incident occurs shall be responsible for immediately and promptly reporting on it to the district-level Civil Defense Command and the commune-level People's Committee, commune-level Civil Defense Command of the locality where the incident occurs. Any organizations and individuals detecting a waste incident must immediately report to competent agencies specified in this Clause.

2. The district-level Civil Defense Command shall coordinate with the commune-level People's Committee and the commune-level Civil Defense Command of the locality where the incident occurs to directly verify and organize timely incident response and report on it to the district-level People's Committee to announce the waste incident or notify the competent authority to organize incident response according to the level of the waste incident specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation.

3. The provincial-level, district-level, and commune-level People's Committees where the incident occurs shall be responsible for promptly informing the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense and the Civil Defense Commands at the respective level or the immediately superior level for inspection and handling.

Article 7. Response to waste incidents at establishments

1. The at-law representative of an establishment or the authorized person shall be the one in charge of commanding waste incident response at the establishment.

2. The person in charge of commanding waste incident response at the establishment must organize incident response, assess the incident’s sphere of influence and the establishment’s self-handling capacity to carry out the following actions:

a) In case where a waste incident is within the establishment’s self-handling capacity, the person in charge of commanding waste incident response must conduct measures in response to such incident in accordance with its approved plan and scenario; and must, meanwhile, report to the district-level Civil Defense Command and the commune-level People’s Committee on its response to such incident within 24 hours after the incident is detected;

b) In case where a waste incident is beyond the establishment's self-handling capacity, the person in charge of commanding waste incident response must immediately report on it to the commune-level People’s Committee, the commune-level Civil Defense Command of the locality where the incident occurs or the district-level Civil Defense Command for organization of response; relinquish the competence to command incident response to the district-level Civil Defense Command, and direct the establishment's incident response force at the request of the district-level Civil Defense Command.

3. Reporting and notifying a waste incident prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article, including the following contents: date, venue, cause of waste incident; level and sphere of influence, damage caused by such incident; performed actions to respond to the incident; assessment of the establishment’s response capacity and other relevant contents.

Article 8. Response to waste incidents outside the establishment's premise

1. Identifying and announcing a waste incident:

a) Right after receiving the report as prescribed in Article 6 of this Regulation and within at most 24 hours after receiving the report, the Chairperson of People’s Committee and Head of the district-level Civil Defense Command shall identify and classify such incident in accordance with Clause 2 Article 3 of this Regulation, and direct the response to such incident under this Regulation; in case where such incident is beyond their competence, it must be immediately reported to the provincial-level Civil Defense Command for providing directions on responding to such incident. Head of the district-level Civil Defense Command shall decide to publicly announce the waste incident. Right after receiving the report sent by the Head of the district-level Civil Defense Command or upon having grounds for determination of a provincial-level incident, but no later than 12 hours from the time of receiving the report or having grounds for determination of the provincial-level incident, the Head of the provincial-level Civil Defense Command shall decide to publicly announce the waste incident. The Chairperson of the People’s Committee, the Head of the provincial-level Civil Defense Command shall direct the incident response in accordance with this Regulation; in case where such incident is beyond their competence, it must be promptly reported to the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense for direction on incident response.

Right after receiving the report sent by the Head of the provincial-level Civil Defense Command or upon having grounds for determination of a national-level incident, but no later than 12 hours from the time of receiving the report or having grounds for determination of the national-level incident, the Head of the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense shall decide to publicly announce the waste incident and direct the incident response in accordance with this Regulation.

b) The Decision on public announcement of a waste incident must include the following information: level of such incident, venue, date, sphere of influence, and relevant recommendations; establishment of a field commanding post to organize incident response; appoint an incident response commander, and an incident spokesperson (specify their full name, position, contact information) and any forces involved in incident response.

2. The person in charge of directing waste incident response and the person in charge of commanding waste incident response:

a) Chairpersons of district-level People’s Committees and heads of district-level Civil Defense Commands shall be in charge of directing incident response, mobilizing forces, equipment and means for response to the incidents, and designating commanders and spokespersons for district-level incidents occurring in their localities;

b) Chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees and heads of provincial-level Civil Defense Commands shall be in charge of directing incident response, mobilizing forces, equipment and means for response to the incidents, and designating commanders and spokespersons for provincial-level incidents occurring in their localities;

c) The Head of the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense shall be in charge of directing incident response, mobilizing forces, equipment and means for response to the incidents, and designating commanders and spokespersons for national-level waste incidents.

3. Tasks and powers of a person in charge directing waste incident response:

a) Establishing a commanding post, appointing an incident response commander, a spokesman, and forces in response to such incident; establishing a working group to identify reasons causing such incident if necessary.

b) Mobilizing and allocating funding, vehicles, equipment and mobilizing incident response forces for the person in charge of commanding incident response and the working group responsible for identifying the incident cause; directing relevant agencies, organizations, units, and individuals to participate in and coordinate to respond to such incident;

c) Directly providing directions to respond to the incident; report to and request the superior level to assist in incident response and environmental remediation and rehabilitation where needed;

d) Other responsibilities and powers as prescribed by relevant laws.

4. Tasks and powers of a person in charge commanding incident response:

a) Timely organizing emergency measures to protect lives and properties of People, the State, relevant organizations and individuals, minimizing damage and remedying consequences thereof;

b) Receiving and allocating funding, vehicles, and equipment, and directly providing directions for incident response forces; mobilizing forces and necessary equipment for waste incident response; reporting to the person in charge of directing incident response on a regular basis and providing information for the spokesperson on incident response;

c) Consulting organizations, experts or request agencies, units, organizations and individuals to provide assistance in the process of incident response.

5. Advisory agencies for waste incident response:

a) District-level specialized agencies in charge of environmental protection shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with other relevant organizations and units of the district-level People’s Committees in, providing consultation on organization of district-level waste incident response;

b) Provincial-level specialized agencies in charge of environmental protection shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with other relevant organizations of the provincial-level People’s Committees in, providing consultation on organization of provincial-level waste incident response;

c) The Ministry of National Defence shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Public Security, Finance, Industry and Trade, Science and Technology, Health, and other relevant agencies to in, advising the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense on organizing the response to national-level waste incidents;

d) Agencies as specified at Point a, Point b and Point c of this Clause shall be responsible for providing professional and technical assistance for the person in charge of directing incident response and a working group responsible for identifying the incident cause in accordance with their assigned functions, tasks and powers.

Article 9. Identification of causes of a waste incident

1. The Head of the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense shall establish a working group to identify causes of a national-level incident immediately after such incident takes place; Chairperson of a provincial-level People’s Committee shall establish a working group to identify causes of a concerned provincial-level incident immediately after such incident takes place; Chairperson of a district-level People’s Committee shall establish a working group to identify causes of a concerned district-level incident immediately after such incident takes place.

2. The working group shall include: National Defence; Agriculture and Environment; Industry and Trade; Polices of Environmental Crime Prevention and Combat, Fire Prevention and Fighting, Salvage and Rescue; Health; experts (if any) and other relevant agencies, organizations and individuals.

Article 10. Activities of working groups

1. A working group has the following duties:

a) Collect environmental samples such as soil, water, air, and waste samples at the incident area and potentially affected areas;

b) Collect information on health-related signs of affected residents around the incident area;

c) Determine the cause of the waste incident and collect relevant documents of the establishment where the incident occurred to serve the investigation;

d) Take photographs and videos of the incident scene or seal off and protect the incident scene (if necessary) after the waste incident response work has been completed;

dd) Make a list and conduct brief interviews with organizations and individuals related to the incident at the scene, including: The owner of an investment project or establishment causing the incident, employees of the establishment causing the incident present at the scene, persons affected by the incident, and relevant parties;

e) Survey, analyze, and issue warnings on potential causes of incidents and potentially affected areas;

g) Provide information and technical support to the agency advising the waste incident response commander.

2. The working group may mobilize laboratories and mobile equipment to serve the task of determining the cause of the waste incident when necessary.

3. The Task Force shall dissolve itself upon completion of its duties.

Article 11. Announcement and provision of information on waste incident response

1. The spokesperson of a waste incident designated as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 8 of this Regulation shall announce such waste incident.

2. Responsibilities and powers of the spokesperson:

a) Providing timely, complete, genuine and accurate information on a waste incident and waste incident response to the community, relevant organizations and individuals and communication agencies;

b) Receiving or requesting information on waste incident, and waste incident response from the person in charge of directing the incident response and the person in charge of commanding the incident response, advisory agencies, the working group responsible for identifying the incident causes, and other relevant organizations and individuals.

3. Forms of providing information:

a) Through focal point of contact of relevant agencies, organizations and individuals under the plan on waste incident response and incident response scenarios or information disclosure on the portal of People's Committees at all levels;

b) Organizing press conferences to provide information or through central and local media agencies to provide information on an incident and incident response;

c) Other communication channels which conform with the characteristics, situation and conditions of the region and the locality where the incident takes place.

4. Communities, concerned organizations and individuals have the right to request information on a waste incident and waste incident response; media agencies have the right to access to information on waste incidents and are responsible for conveying accurate, genuine and timely information to people.

5. Information on waste incident response specified in this Article shall be decided by the person in charge of directing waste incident response and shall be provided within 48 hours from the time of announcement of a waste incident.

Article 12. Completion of the stage of organizing waste incident response

1. The stage of organizing incident response shall come to an end when the following requirements are fully satisfied:

a) The main sources of waste causing waste incidents are isolated, controlled, collected and safely handled and there are no longer any risks of causing subsequent incidents;

b) There are no remaining factors arising from the waste incidents that could pose a serious threat to human life and health.

2. The person in charge of directing waste incident response shall decide to announce the end of the stage of organizing incident response when all the conditions prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article are fully satisfied. The decision on announcing the end of the stage of organizing incident response must be made public by one of the forms of providing information as specified in Clause 3, Article 11 of this Regulation.

3. The person in charge of directing waste incident response shall:

a) Transfer the case file to the police agency in case there are signs of criminal law violations;

b) Report the results of the waste incident response to the superior civil defense agency;

c) Archive the waste incident response file in accordance with regulations on archives.

Chapter IV

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION AND REHABILITATION AFTER A WASTE INCIDENT

Article 13. Environmental remediation and rehabilitation after a waste incident

1. The owner of an investment project or establishment that causes a waste incident must be held responsible for environmental rehabilitation after the waste incident within the establishment’s premises. The commune-level People's Committee of the locality where the waste incident occurs shall be responsible for inspecting and supervising environmental rehabilitation activities.

2. The environmental rehabilitation after a district-, provincial- or national-level waste incident shall comply with Clause 2, Article 126 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

a) Provincial- or district-level specialized agency in charge of environmental protection shall be responsible for advising the People's Committee at the same level in directing the organization and implementation of environmental rehabilitation after waste incidents in the locality;

b) The specialized agency assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment shall be responsible for advising the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in directing the organization and implementation of environmental rehabilitation after a national-level waste incident.

3. The environmental remediation and rehabilitation after a waste incident must comply with technical regulations on the quality of the surrounding environment; must restore residential, production and business premises, natural environment for areas without ecological systems to be preserved; and must restore a number of key characteristics of the ecosystem for areas where the ecosystem is conserved.

Article 14. Approval of environmental remediation and rehabilitation plans

1. District-level specialized agencies in charge of environmental protection shall submit to the district-level People's Committees for approval of environmental remediation and rehabilitation plans for waste incidents prescribed at Point b, Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation.

2. Provincial-level specialized agencies in charge of environmental protection shall submit to the provincial-level People's Committees for approval of environmental remediation and rehabilitation plans for waste incidents prescribed at Point c, Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation.

3. The specialized agency assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment shall submit to the Minister of Agriculture and Environment for approval of environmental remediation and rehabilitation plans for waste incidents prescribed at Point d, Clause 2, Article 3 of this Regulation.

4. The main contents of environmental remediation and rehabilitation plans shall comply with Clause 3, Article 126 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

Article 15. Organization of environmental remediation and rehabilitation

1. The owners of investment projects or establishments that causes waste incidents must mobilize their own forces, means, and equipment for implementation of environmental rehabilitation after the waste incidents within their premises. In case support from the local authorities is needed to carry out environmental rehabilitation after waste incidents, a written proposal must be submitted to request the local authorities to allocate appropriate forces, means, and equipment.

2. Environmental remediation and rehabilitation after a district-, provincial- or national-level waste incident shall be carried out according to one of the following cases:

a) The owner of investment project or establishment causing the waste incident shall either implement the approved environmental rehabilitation plan by itself or hire another unit to implement it;

b) The agency approving the environmental rehabilitation plan shall organize the implementation of the environmental remediation and rehabilitation plan through bidding in accordance with the Law on Bidding, if bidding is required.

3. The winning organization or unit shall carry out environmental remediation and rehabilitation in strict compliance with the environmental remediation and rehabilitation plan and ensure the satisfaction of requirements specified in Clause 3, Article 13 of this Regulation and other relevant law regulations.

4. The agency submitting an environmental remediation and rehabilitation plan for approval shall conduct supervision, inspection and acceptance of the completion of environmental remediation and rehabilitation in accordance with the approved plan. The organization, individual causing such incident shall be allowed to participate in the supervision, appraisal, inspection, and acceptance of the completion of the environmental remediation and rehabilitation.

Article 16. Completion of environmental remediation and rehabilitation

1. The environmental remediation and rehabilitation stage shall end when competent agencies decide the acceptance of the results of environmental rehabilitation and rehabilitation process.

2. The agency that approved the environmental rehabilitation plan shall be responsible for announcing the completion of the environmental rehabilitation phase to the residential community, press agencies, and media.

3. Within 30 days after announcing the completion of the environmental remediation and rehabilitation process, the agency approving such environmental remediation and rehabilitation plan shall directly report the outcomes to the immediately superior competent authority.

Chapter V

FINANCIAL REGIMES AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN WASTE INCIDENT RESPONSE

Article 17. Funding for waste incident response

1. Organizations and individuals that cause incidents shall be responsible for paying timely and fully all expenses related to the organization of waste incident response and environmental remediation and rehabilitation. In case the organizations and individuals causing such incidents cannot be identified, the funding for incident response and environmental remediation and rehabilitation shall be borne by the State.

2. Organizations and individuals that cause incidents shall be responsible for reimbursing all expenses related to the organization of waste incident response and the environmental remediation and rehabilitation to the State budget at the written request for reimbursement from the State agency that incurred such expenses.

3. Agencies, organizations, individuals and communities affected, or damaged by waste incidents have the right to request organizations and individuals causing waste incidents to compensate in accordance with law regulations.

Article 18. Public participation in waste incident response

1. The owners of investment projects or establishments shall be responsible for publicizing the incident response plans and scenarios by posting them at the establishments and the headquarters of the commune-level People's Committees, as well as through other convenient methods.

2. Communities potentially affected by waste incidents must be notified of the incident risks caused and measures to respond to waste incidents performed by establishments; must be aware of and must have the right to supervise activities of waste incident response and environmental remediation and rehabilitation conducted by the establishments or State agencies.

3. Representatives of the potentially affected communities must participate in drills of waste incident response organized by the establishments and State agencies. Representatives of such communities shall be responsible for providing information to their communities and acting as a focal point of contact throughout the process of preparation and implementation of waste incident response, and the process of environmental remediation and rehabilitation after such incidents. If necessary, representatives of such communities may have the right to request establishments, relevant agencies and units to provide and explain information on waste incidents, waste incident response and environmental remediation and rehabilitation to them.

Article 19. Encouragement of the participation in waste incident response activities

1. The State encourages and creates favorable conditions for organizations and individuals to invest in and participate in the provision of waste incident response services, including: preparation for waste incident response and organization of incident response and environmental remediation and rehabilitation after waste incidents.

2. The participation and contribution of efforts and funding, from organizations and individuals, to waste incident response activities as prescribed in this Regulation are encouraged.

Chapter VI

IMPLEMENTATION RESPONSIBILITIES

Article 20. Responsibilities of ministries, ministerial-level agencies

1. The Ministry of National Defense shall:

a) Guide, inspect, and build capacity for preventing and warning of the risk of waste incidents for investment projects and establishments involving state secrets concerning national defense; activities for preparing for waste incident response and organizing waste incident response within its management scope in accordance with law regulations;

b) Provide guidance on the contents of waste incident response plans; procedures and techniques for waste incident response and waste incident scenarios for investment projects and establishments involving state secrets concerning national defense in accordance with law regulations.

2. The Ministry of Public Security shall:

a) Direct the fire prevention and fighting, salvage and rescue police force; the environmental crime prevention and combat police force; and police agencies at all levels to participate in waste incident response at the request of competent agencies or authorities;

b) Direct and ensure political security, social order and safety in areas affected by waste incidents; investigate and clarify the causes of waste incidents in accordance with law regulations;

c) Guide, inspect, and build capacity for preventing and warning of the risk of waste incidents for investment projects and establishments involving state secrets concerning security; activities for preparing for waste incident response and organizing waste incident response within its management scope in accordance with law regulations;

d) Provide guidance on the contents of waste incident response plans; procedures and techniques for waste incident response and waste incident scenarios for investment projects and establishments involving state secrets concerning security in accordance with law regulations.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment shall:

a) Participate in organizing the response to national-level waste incidents as assigned by the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense;

b) Direct the implementation of environmental rehabilitation after national-level waste incidents.

4. The Ministry of Health shall:

a) Participate in the response to national-level waste incidents as assigned by the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense;

b) Organize the assessment of the scope and degree of impacts of national-level waste incidents on human health.

5. The Ministry of Construction shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of National Defence, relevant ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and provincial-level People’s Committees in, implementing plans on the use of transportation infrastructure, equipment, means, and transport supplies under its management to participate in waste incident response as directed by the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense.

6. Ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall be responsible for implementing this Regulation within their respective competence in accordance with regulations.

Article 21. Responsibilities of the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense; provincial- and district-level Civil Defense Commands

1. The National Steering Committee for Civil Defense shall provide directions on the formulation, implementation and inspection of the implementation of national- and provincial-level waste incident response plans; inspecting and urging the preparation and readiness for incident response; organizing training and drills of national- and provincial-level waste incident response.

2. Provincial-level Civil Defense Commands shall provide directions on the formulation, implementation and inspection of the implementation of district-level waste incident response plans; inspecting and urging the preparation and readiness for incident response; organizing training and drills of district-level waste incident response.

3. District-level Civil Defense Commands shall provide directions on the formulation, implementation and inspection of the implementation of grassroots-level waste incident response plans; inspecting and urging the preparation and readiness for incident response; organizing training and drills of grassroots-level waste incident response.

4. Providing directions and directly organizing waste incident response in accordance with this Regulation.

Article 22. Responsibilities of localities

1. People's Committees at all levels shall be responsible for:

a) Conducting propagation, raising public awareness, disseminating knowledge about the prevention and response to waste incidents in localities; providing directions to local units to implement, organize drills and implement waste incident response plans;

b) Developing a waste incident response force, ensuring human resources, facilities and equipment to respond to incidents and to readily participate in local waste incident response;

c) Providing directions, organizing and mobilizing relevant forces to respond to waste incidents in the locality;

d) Submitting to the People's Councils at the same level for allocation of funds from the local budget and mobilization of other legal sources to cover expenses for prevention and response to waste incidents within the scope of local management in accordance with law regulations.

2. Provincial- and district-level specialized agencies in charge of environmental protection shall be responsible for:

a) Advising same-level People’s Committees, same-level Civil Defense Commands at the same level for the latter to organize the inspection and assessment of the risk of waste incidents occurring in their locality; submit to the competent agency for promulgation of environmental incident response plans in accordance with regulations; and guide the preparation and organization of waste incident response in their locality;

b) Advising the People's Committees and the Civil Defense Commands at the same level to organize the waste incident response, and environmental remediation and rehabilitation after waste incidents in their locality;

c) Performing other responsibilities related to waste incident response in accordance with regulations.

Article 23. Responsibilities of owners of investment projects or establishments

1. Implementing measures to prevent waste incidents; formulating and implementing waste incident response plans; organizing waste incident response at their establishments and participating in waste incident response at the command of competent agencies and persons.

2. Organizing waste incident response drills and investing in equipment to ensure the readiness to respond to waste incidents on an annual basis./.