There should be sanctions when businesses do not report annually.

The draft Law on Chemicals (amended) stipulates that within 5 years from the date of registration of new chemicals, organizations and individuals engaged in chemical activities related to new chemicals must annually report to competent state agencies on their activities with new chemicals. Therefore, National Assembly delegate Ma Thi Thuy (Tuyen Quang) proposed that the draft Law should include a provision on assigning the Government to prescribe sanctions for cases of failure to report annually.

Báo Đại biểu Nhân dân•25/03/2025

Commenting on the draft Law on Chemicals (amended) at the 7th Conference of full-time National Assembly deputies, delegate Ma Thi Thuy basically agreed with many contents of the draft Law; emphasizing that the draft Law has ensured conformity with the Party's guidelines and policies, constitutionality, legality, and consistency with the legal system.

To complete the draft Law, delegates proposed to review and amend the provisions in Article 3 on prohibited acts. In particular, Clause 3, Article 3 stipulates that " intentionally providing incomplete, untimely, or incorrect information about chemicals... " is unclear on the responsibility to report and provide information in emergency situations.

National Assembly Delegate Ma Thi Thuy (Tuyen Quang) speaks. Photo: Ho Long

Therefore, the delegate proposed to add the phrase " or late reporting in case of serious chemical incidents according to Government regulations".

Clause 3, Article 3 after being supplemented and amended will stipulate as follows: " Intentionally providing incomplete, untimely, or incorrect information about chemicals; failing to report or delaying reporting in the event of a serious chemical incident as prescribed by the Government; concealing or falsifying information about hazardous properties, loss, leakage, accidents, or chemical incidents".

At the same time, point c, clause 1, Article 4 and clause 2, Article 5 also need to add the phrase "industrial cluster" because according to actual conditions, some localities do not plan to build chemical industrial parks but only plan to build chemical industrial clusters.

Regarding the regulation on registration of new chemicals in Article 19, delegate Ma Thi Thuy said that the regulation on this content in the draft Law does not clearly state the time for processing registration procedures, which may lead to consequences of slow or late processing of procedures... the risk of delays in production and business activities or negative actions in processing registrations by officials. The delegate suggested studying and determining the maximum time for processing registration procedures for new chemicals to enhance the responsibility of competent state agencies in handling them.

Regarding the management of new chemicals, Clause 2, Article 21 of the draft Law stipulates that within 5 years from the date of registration of new chemicals, organizations and individuals engaged in chemical activities related to new chemicals must annually report to competent state agencies on the process of activities with new chemicals. Delegates noted that this provision in the draft Law does not mention the consequences of non-compliance with legal regulations.

Emphasizing that "the process of implementing the Law on Chemicals needs to ensure strictness", the delegate suggested that the drafting agency study and supplement the provisions in the draft Law on assigning the Government to specify detailed sanctions for failure to report annually.

Regarding safety distance, delegate Ma Thi Thuy suggested adding regulations for large-scale chemical production facilities to build wastewater treatment systems because chemical production is very toxic. If only regulating safe construction sites and developing plans to prevent and respond to chemical incidents is not enough.

Regarding equipment and chemical incident response forces, the draft Law stipulates that response forces at chemical facilities must be regularly trained and practice chemical incident response plans. Delegate Ma Thi Thuy suggested that it is necessary to specify the number of times of training and practice of chemical incident response plans. Because if the phrase "regularly" is used as in the current draft Law, it may be difficult for authorities to inspect and handle violations.

In addition, Clause 1, Article 32 of the draft Law stipulates that “organizations and individuals operating in chemicals must ensure the requirements on material and technical facilities for chemical safety and security”. Delegate Ma Thi Thuy proposed to consider and supplement regulations on the responsibility for recalling and handling banned chemicals, substandard chemicals after being circulated on the market; residual chemicals, stored at production and business establishments whose chemical business certificates and licenses have been revoked.

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