Blog

The Government issued Decree 05/2025/ND-CP: Promoting decentralization and delegation of authority in environmental protection management

The Government issued Decree 05/2025/ND-CP: Promoting decentralization and delegation of authority in environmental protection management

Right from the beginning of 2025, the Government issued Decree 05/2025/ND-CP. The new Decree has promoted decentralization and delegation of power to localities to create local initiative in the process of attracting investment or making investment decisions; proactively controlling environmental issues in the area; contributing to unlocking local resources in accordance with the direction of the Prime Minister. 

Decree 05/2025/ND-CP is built on 03 main viewpoints, including: 

  • Reform administrative procedures for people and businesses by reducing the number of subjects required to carry out administrative procedures in the environmental field.  

  • Review and promote decentralization and delegation of authority to localities to handle a number of environmental administrative procedures under the authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.  

  • Amend to facilitate the implementation of new regulations and policies on environmental protection. 

One of the contents that clearly shows the above viewpoints is the decentralization of authority to appraise Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports. There are 07 project groups that were previously under the authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, now decentralizing to the Provincial People's Committees:  

(1) Public investment projects are not under the authority of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister to decide and approve investment policies, except for projects providing waste recycling and treatment services; 

(2) Livestock breeding project; 

(3) Investment project for business of livestock and poultry slaughterhouses; 

(4) Projects are classified only according to the criteria of requiring conversion of land use purpose for rice cultivation from 02 crops or more; 

(5) Projects are classified only according to criteria requiring conversion of land use purposes, land with water surface of nature reserves, natural heritages, biosphere reserves, important wetlands, special-use forests, protective forests, land with natural forests and not under the authority to decide and approve investment policies of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister; 

(6) Investment projects in concentrated production, business and service zones, industrial clusters, excluding: Projects providing hazardous waste treatment services; projects importing scrap from abroad as raw materials for production; other projects in the type of production, business and service with a high risk of causing environmental pollution as prescribed in column (3) of Appendix II of the Decree; investment projects to expand operating facilities exempted from connection according to the provisions of law with wastewater flow subject to periodic monitoring or higher; 

(7) Hydropower projects are not under the authority of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister to decide and approve investment policies. 

In addition, the new Decree also amends and supplements to further specify the documents and procedures for granting, adjusting, re-issuing, and revoking environmental licenses, as well as regulations on trial operation of waste treatment facilities after being granted an environmental license. 

Decree 05/2025/ND-CP takes effect from the date of issuance, i.e. January 06, 01.

← Previous Post Next article →