What do delegates think about the Law on Chemicals (amended)?

Clarifying the concept of chemicals requiring special control

After being absorbed and revised, the Draft Law closely followed the objectives, viewpoints, and policies of law-making and the Conclusion Notice of the National Assembly Standing Committee, including 8 Chapters and 50 Articles, 39 Articles less than the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 8th Session.

Delegate La Thanh Tan - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Phong City

Giving opinions on chemicals requiring special control and banned chemicals, delegate La Thanh Tan - Deputy Head of the National Assembly delegation in charge of Hai Phong City said that Chapter III (production and trading of chemicals) of the Law on Chemicals stipulates 3 types of chemical lists (including chemicals with conditional production and trading, chemicals with restricted production and trading, and banned chemicals).

Chemicals in these categories must be licensed and certified by competent authorities to ensure legal chemical operations.

However, Chapter III (management of chemical activities) of the draft Law on Chemicals (amended) is an equivalent replacement content, and also introduces 3 concepts of chemicals: Chemicals subject to conditional production and business, chemicals requiring special control, and banned chemicals.

Delegate La Thanh Tan suggested that the agency drafting the Law project should clarify whether the concept of chemicals requiring special control is included in the list of restricted chemicals prescribed in the current Law.

Because currently, the certificate of production and trading of restricted chemicals has been issued and is effective, if the chemical requiring special control is of a different type, businesses need to carry out procedures to apply for a new license from the beginning, which may cause disruption and affect the production and business activities of the business.

At the same time, it is proposed to add explanations for the terms: Conditional production and business chemicals, chemicals requiring special control, and banned chemicals to Article 2 for more completeness.

Regarding the management of new chemicals, delegate Ma Thi Thuy - Deputy Head of the National Assembly delegation in charge of Tuyen Quang province - said that the draft Law stipulates the requirement for annual reporting within 5 years after registering new chemicals.

Delegate Ma Thi Thuy - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Tuyen Quang province

However, the draft Law does not mention the consequences if enterprises do not comply with the law and its actual enforcement.

To ensure the seriousness of the Law, delegates suggested that the drafting agency research and assign the Government to specify detailed sanctions for failure to report annually.

Regarding safety distance, delegate Ma Thi Thuy proposed to add regulations for large-scale chemical production facilities to build wastewater treatment systems because chemical production is very toxic. Because 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.

Delegates from Tuyen Quang suggested specifying the number of times to train and practice chemical incident response plans because if the phrase "regularly" is used, it may be difficult for authorities to conduct inspections and handling.

In addition, it is recommended to consider and supplement regulations on the responsibility for recalling and handling banned chemicals, substandard chemicals after being circulated on the market; residual chemicals, chemicals stored at production and business establishments whose chemical business certificates and licenses have been revoked.

Agree on the name of the Law and many regulations

Concluding the conference, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan affirmed that, through discussion, National Assembly deputies basically agreed with the content of the explanation, acceptance, and revision of the draft Law prepared by the drafting agency and the reviewing agency for the conference.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan delivered a concluding speech at the conference.

National Assembly deputies agreed on the name of the Law, regulations on the chemical industry development strategy and responsibilities for developing and implementing the chemical industry development strategy, chemical use, registration of new chemicals, management of new chemicals, provincial-level chemical incident prevention and response plans, and other contents.

In addition, delegates participated in discussions and proposed to continue reviewing regulations related to incentives for key chemical industries, advertising chemicals, hazardous chemicals in products and goods; developing plans to prevent and respond to chemical incidents... All opinions were very enthusiastic and expressed with a high sense of responsibility.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan requested the drafting agency, together with the reviewing agency, to continue to carefully study to absorb, revise and perfect the draft Law. He requested the Government to consider and propose to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the National Assembly to consider and approve it in the upcoming session to ensure consistency between the draft laws.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan requested the agency in charge of reviewing and the agency in charge of drafting to coordinate with the Committee on Law and Justice and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to continue reviewing, ensuring convenience for organizations, individuals and businesses, but also ensuring feasibility in implementation.

Quynh Nga

Source: https://congthuong.vn/dai-bieu-gop-y-gi-ve-luat-hoa-chat-sua-doi-379909.html