Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is one of the mandatory processes of factories with a scale of over 100 hectares, operating concerning environmentally sensitive factors such as recycling and hazardous waste treatment, use of imported scrap, mineral exploitation, etc.

What is an environmental impact assessment (EIA)?

Environmental impact assessment is the process of analyzing, evaluating, and forecasting the impacts of an investment project on the surrounding environment in the construction area, recommending measures to minimize the impact of construction works on the environment.

To understand the regulations on environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports in Vietnam, investors need to comprehend the requirements for environmental management in construction as well as the reporting process stipulated in the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, Article 26 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP and Article 16 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT.

Subjects requiring environmental impact assessment (EIA)

Pursuant to Article 30 of Vietnam Law on Environmental Protection 2020, subjects requiring environmental impact assessment (EIA) are group I investment projects and some group II investment projects with environmentally sensitive factors.

Group III projects and group IV investment projects are subjects that do not need environmental impact assessment (EIA). Group III investment projects will carry out environmental registration at the district-level People’s Committee, except for projects located in 2 or more provinces, which must be registered at the provincial People’s Committee, and group IV projects only need to register at the commune-level People’s Committee. This helps investors of group III and IV projects save a lot of time and procedural costs compared to projects that need environmental impact assessment.

Steps to prepare an environmental impact assessment report (EIA)

To prepare an EIA report under regulations, investors need to complete all 9 steps. During the implementation process, the investor needs to consult with the People’s Committee and Vietnamese Fatherland Front at each level and set up a council to appraise and approve the EIA report.

Dossier requesting appraisal of EIA report

To carry out EIA procedures for the factory, investors need to prepare documents requesting appraisal including

01 written request for appraisal of the environmental impact assessment report (Form 05 Appendix VI Section I Appendix issued with Decree No. 40/2019/ND-CP).
01 feasibility study report or equivalent document such as an economic-technical report.
07 environmental impact assessment reports (Form 04 Appendix I issued with Circular 25/2019/TT-BTNMT). If there are more than 7 people on the appraisal council, the project owner shall provide an additional environmental impact assessment report (EIA).

Application submission location

After fully preparing the EIA dossier, investors shall submit it to the appraisal agency either the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment or the Provincial People’s Committee. Specifically, the environmental impact assessment reports’ results of group I and some specific group II investment projects lie in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Specific group II projects include projects under the authority of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, projects located in 2 or more provinces, projects located in coastal areas with unknown management responsibilities of the Provincial People’s Committee, project falls under the authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to grant licenses for mineral exploitation and use of water resources, sea dumping, and decisions on sea area allocation.

Except for Group II investment projects under the approval authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment mentioned above, the remaining Group II investment projects will be under the authority of the Provincial People’s Committee.

Time limit for appraisal of EIA report

The time for evaluating the environmental impact assessment report starts when the competent authority receives all valid documents. Specifically, for group I investment projects, the maximum appraisal period is 45 working days. Group II investment projects specified in Points c, d, đ, e, Clause 4, Article 28 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 have a maximum appraisal period of 30 working days.

Time for the investor to supplement and adjust the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report at the request of the appraisal agency and time for review and approval of decision according to Clause 9, Article 34 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 will not be included in the assessment deadline.

EIA appraisal fee level

The appraisal fee for group I projects is from 8 – 84 million VND, group II is from 8.6 – 86 million VND depending on the total investment capital of each project.

No.	Total investment capital (billion dong)	Fee for group I (million dong)	Fee for group II (million dong)
1	Up to 10	8,0	8,6
2	From 10 to 20	12,5	13,0
3	From 20 to 50	21,0	22,0
4	From 50 to 100	37,5	38,0
5	From 100 to 200	41,5	42,0
6	From 200 to 500	54,5	55,0
7	From 500 to 1000	61,0	62,0
8	From 1000 to 1500	65,0	67,0
9	From 1500 to 2000	67,0	68,0
10	From 2000 to 3000	70,0	71,0
11	From 3000 to 5000	72,5	74,0
12	From 5000 to 7000	77,0	78,0
13	Upper 7000	84,0	86,0