Ensure chemical safety requirements

Clearly distinguish between activities: chemical production and extraction.

National Assembly delegate Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran (Ho Chi Minh City) said that the draft Law has specific regulations on chemical activities such as storage, trading, decanting and production, but in reality, when registering for business licenses, enterprises engaged in decanting, mixing and production are grouped under one industry code. "This does not reflect the true nature of chemical-related activities while these activities have a direct impact on the environment." Raising this issue, delegate Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran also suggested that it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the activities: chemical production and decanting.

Delegate Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran (Ho Chi Minh City) speaks. Photo: Lam Hien

The draft law does not have regulations on safe distances for chemical production and trading establishments in residential areas. Small businesses can still trade chemicals in residential areas without ensuring safety requirements. Therefore, delegates suggested that relevant regulations should be added to ensure full safety requirements and minimize incidents in residential areas.

Delegate La Thanh Tan (Hai Phong) speaks. Photo: Ho Long

National Assembly Delegate La Thanh Tan (Hai Phong) proposed to clarify whether the concept of “chemicals requiring special control” is included in the list of restricted chemicals stipulated in the current Law or not. Because currently, the certificate of production and trading of restricted chemicals has been issued and is effective. “If the chemical requiring special control is a different type, enterprises need to carry out procedures to apply for a new license from the beginning, which may cause disruptions affecting the production and business activities of the enterprise”. The delegate also proposed to add and explain the terms “chemicals subject to conditional production and trading”, “chemicals requiring special control”, “banned chemicals” in Article 2 of the draft Law for completeness.

Clarify the responsibility of state management agencies in coordinating the prevention and response to chemical incidents.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Minh Tam (Quang Binh) raised the issue that currently, regulations on prevention and response to chemical incidents are related to a number of laws such as: Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene; Law on Environmental Protection; Law on Fire Prevention and Fighting; Law on Civil Defense; Law on Environmental Resource Protection... Therefore, the delegate suggested studying and re-evaluating the basis and feasibility of these regulations to ensure smooth and effective implementation; at the same time, reviewing the contents of the draft Law and other related laws to ensure consistency and consistency.

Delegate Nguyen Minh Tam (Quang Binh) speaks. Photo: Lam Hien

Delegates also suggested studying the integration of chemical incident prevention and response plans with related plans currently stipulated in other laws, avoiding overlap and simplifying administrative procedures.

At point d, clause 2, Article 36 of the draft Law stipulates the development of a chemical incident prevention and response plan, stipulating that "the chemical incident prevention and response plan is appraised at the same time as the appraisal process of the feasibility study report or a document equivalent to the project's feasibility study report".

Commenting on this content, National Assembly delegate To Ai Vang (Soc Trang) suggested that the following two contents need to be clarified: one, the subjects of application are new investment projects or investment projects expanding scale and increasing capacity, which will be suitable for the above appraisal process. Two , for operating facilities, when will the appraisal process be carried out?

Delegate To Ai Vang (Soc Trang) speaks. Photo: Ho Long

Regarding the responsibility for coordinating the prevention and response to chemical incidents, delegate To Ai Vang proposed to supplement regulations clearly defining the responsibilities of state management agencies at all levels in the process of coordinating the prevention and response to chemical incidents. "Chemical incidents have a very long-term and very large impact on human life, health, property as well as the environment. Therefore, state management agencies at all levels must be responsible for coordinating with organizations and individuals in preventing and responding to chemical incidents," the delegate emphasized.

Concluding the discussion session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan requested that the drafting agency, together with the reviewing agency, continue to carefully study the comments to absorb, revise and perfect the draft Law.

Delegates attending the conference. Photo: Lam Hien

Regarding the contents related to a number of other draft laws that were also consulted at the 7th Conference of specialized National Assembly deputies and submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the upcoming 9th Session, such as the draft Law on Corporate Income Tax (amended), the draft Law amending a number of articles of the Law on Advertising, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly emphasized that it is necessary to ensure consistency between the draft laws.

Regarding the idea of ​​integrating the chemical incident prevention and response plan and the environmental incident response plan, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly requested that the agency in charge of appraisal and the agency in charge of drafting coordinate with the Standing Committee of the Law and Justice Committee and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to continue reviewing and ensuring convenience for organizations, individuals and businesses; at the same time, pay attention to ensuring feasibility in implementation if integration is possible.

Thanh Chi

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/bao-dam-cac-yeu-cau-ve-an-toan-hoa-chat-post408294.html