Chương V Thông tư 02/2022/TT-BTNMT: Quan trắc môi trường, thông tin, cơ sở dữ liệu môi trường và báo cáo môi trường

Chapter V

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING, INFORMATION, DATABASE AND REPORT

Section 1. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

Article 49. Appraisal of conditions for environmental monitoring services

1. Consideration about application for certification of eligibility for environmental monitoring services of an organization:

a) After receiving the appraisal fee, the agency granting certificate shall consider and assess the organization’s according to conditions specified in Article 91 of the Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP;

b) The agency granting certificate shall send the application to the members of the appraisal council for study and consideration before actually inspecting and assessing at the organization.

2. The appraisal of conditions for environmental monitoring services shall be carried out through an appraisal council that is established by the head of the agency granting certificate of eligibility for environmental monitoring services according to regulations of Form No. 01 Appendix IV issued together with this Circular.

The appraisal council shall be responsible for assessment and appraisal of conditions for environmental monitoring services of the organization requesting for certification according to the results of assessment and consideration about application and the results of actual assessment and inspection at the organization.

3. Actual assessment and inspection in the organization:

a) Contents of assessment and inspection: The appraisal council shall be responsible for actually assessing and inspecting at the organization requesting for the certification of conditions specified in Article 91 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND- CP and compare with the application for certification for environmental monitoring services;

b) The results of the assessment and inspection at the organization requesting for certification shall be made a record and sent to the appraising agency for summarizing. The record of the appraisal council after the assessment and re-inspection shall be the documents in the appraisal dossier.

4. The meeting of the appraisal council shall be conducted after having the results of the actual inspection and assessment of organization and the agency granting certificate receives all the corrected, amended and completed dossiers of the organization according to requirements in assessment and inspection records at the organization.

5. The head of the appraising agency shall submit to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for granting and adjusting the certificate of conditions for environmental monitoring services for the organization requesting certification according to the appraisal results In case of ineligibility for certification, the head of the appraising agency shall be responsible for implementation according to regulations of Point c, Clause 3, Article 93 or Point c, Clause 4, Article 94 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

Article 50: Duties, entitlements of the appraising agency

1. The appraising agency shall appraise the conditions for environmental monitoring services and submit to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration, decision on granting and adjusting the contents of the certificate of the organization that is eligible for environmental monitoring services.

2. Review, evaluate and process application and regarding documents that are sent by organizations requesting for certification of eligibility for environmental monitoring services.

3. Research and assess application of organizations requesting for certification of eligibility for environmental monitoring services; organize the collection of opinions on the assessment, comment on the application and make the report on the assessment of the application.

4. Establish an council for the purpose of appraisal of conditions for environmental monitoring services of the organization requesting for certification of eligibility for environmental monitoring services.

5. Prepare, provide documents and facilitate research on relevant records and documents on the appraisal of conditions for environmental monitoring services for members of the appraisal council

6. Prepare necessary conditions for inspection and assessment at the organization and official meeting of the appraisal council

7. Receive the record of actual inspection and assessment at the organization of the appraisal council, the appraisal results of the appraisal council and carry out necessary procedures to submit to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for decision on granting and adjusting the content of the certificate of eligibility for environmental monitoring services.

8. Keep records and documents on the process of appraisal of the conditions for environmental monitoring services of the organization.

9. Monitor, summarize and report information on environmental monitoring services of organizations that have been granted certificates of eligibility for environmental monitoring services to competent authorities

10. Continuously make, post and update the list of organizations that are eligible for environmental monitoring services on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the appraising agency.

11. Perform other tasks regarding appraisal, issuance and adjustment of the content of the certificate of eligibility for environmental monitoring services.

Article 51. Working principles of the appraisal council for granting and adjusting contents of certificates of eligibility for environmental monitoring services

1. The activities of appraisal council shall only be carried out when the organization has paid the fee for appraisal of eligibility for environmental monitoring services according to regulations of the law.

2. The chairperson, vice-chairperson and secretary of council shall be officials of the appraising agency.

3. The appraisal council shall work on the principle of public discussion with the members of the appraisal council, competent representative of the organization requesting for granting or adjusting the contents of certificate of eligibility for environmental monitoring services.

4. Actual assessment and inspection: the members of the appraisal council shall be responsible for accurately and objectively appraising and assessing the conditions for environmental monitoring services according to regulations of Article 49 of this Circular; making assessment and inspection sheets at the organization according to regulations of Form No. 02, Appendix IV issued with this Circular and making a record of assessment and inspection at the organization according to the regulations of Form No. 03, Appendix IV issued with the Circular.

5. The meeting of appraisal council:

a) The Council shall carry out appraisal and assessment of the conditions for environmental monitoring services of the organization according to relevant records, documents and results of actual assessment and inspection at the organization;

b) The official meeting of the appraisal council shall only be conducted when the following conditions are fully satisfied: There must be at least 2/3 (two thirds) of total council members attending the meeting (online or offline). In particular, there must be an chairperson or a vice-chairperson (who is authorized by the chairperson in his/her absence), competent representative or an authorized person of the organization requesting for granting or adjusting the certificate of eligibility for environmental monitoring services;

c) The council members who are absent in official meeting may send written comments before the meeting of the council. Their comments shall be considered as the comments of members who attend the meeting but do not write appraisal sheets.

d) The chairperson (or the vice-chairperson who is authorized by the chairperson in his absence) and the secretary shall be responsible for signing the minutes of meeting the appraisal council of conditions for environmental monitoring services.

dd) The council members shall be responsible for writing comments and assessment, appraisal sheets at the official meeting of the appraisal council according to regulations of Forms No. 04 and 05, Appendix IV issued together with this Circular;

e) In addition to the responsibilities specified at Points d and dd of this Clause, the secretary shall be also responsible for making the minutes of meeting of the appraisal council according to regulations of Form No. 06, Appendix IV issued together with this Circular. In case of the secretary’s absence, he/she shall notify the chairperson of the council in order to appoint for a council member to act as the secretary of the meeting.

6. The fee for the operation of the appraisal council shall comply with regulations of law.

Article 52. Report on meeting technical requirements for automatic and continuous environmental monitoring before information disclosure to the community

1. The agencies, organizations and individuals that perform automatic and continuous monitoring of environmental quality specified in Clause 4, Article 96 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall be responsible for making and sending reports on meeting technical requirements for environmental monitoring before disclosing information to the community and state management agencies specified in Clause 6, Article 96 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

2. The report on meeting technical requirements on environmental monitoring before disclosing information to the community shall be prepared according to regulations of Form No. 07, Appendix IV issued together with this Circular.

Article 53. Environmental monitoring during petroleum extraction activities

1. Environmental monitoring of petroleum exploration drilling activities at sea:

a) The petroleum organizations that only use water-based drilling fluids in petroleum exploration drilling activities at sea shall not monitor the impacts of exploration drilling activities before and after drilling completion;

b) The petroleum organizations that perform petroleum exploration drilling activities using non-aqueous drilling fluids in an area that is not further than 03 nm, environmentally sensitive area or using water-based drilling fluids for the first time in Vietnam shall monitor the impacts of exploration drilling activities once before implementing the exploration drilling program and once a year from the end of exploration drilling activities.

2. Environmental monitoring of petroleum development drilling activities at sea:

a) Environmental monitoring of works or cluster works: Monitor the impacts of drilling activities once before petroleum development drilling activities. The first time of environmental monitoring shall be within 01 year from the time of collection of the first commercial oil or gas flow from the field. Periodically monitor every 3 years from the time of implementation of the first monitoring program after petroleum development drilling;

b) Monitoring of main oil or gas pipelines: Monitor environment once before installation without periodical monitoring except for the cases of leakage, fire or explosion;

c) Location, time, frequency and indices of environmental monitoring of petroleum activities at the sea shall comply with regulations of Form No. 08, Appendix IV issued with this Circular.

Article 54. Written notification of exemption from periodical monitoring of the project or establishment; notification of the monitoring result of the project or establishment exceeding environmental technical regulations

1. Written notification of exemption from periodical monitoring of the project or establishment according to regulations of Form No. 09, Appendix IV issued with this Circular.

2. Written notice of monitoring result of the project or establishment exceeding environmental technical regulations according to regulations of Form No. 10, Appendix IV issued with this Circular.

Section 2. ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEM, DATABASE

Article 55. General requirements of environmental information system and database

1. Fully implement regulations of the Government’s Decree No. 47/2020/ND-CP dated April 9, 2020 on management, connection and sharing of digital data of regulatory agencies; architectural framework for Vietnamese e-government, ministerial e-government architectural, applicable e-government architectural of province

2. Fully implement regulations from Article 103 to Article 107 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

3. Meet the basic objectives for management of collection, process, storage and sharing of environmental information and data; publication of open data in environment sector; support the management and administration on the electronic environment of state agencies in environment sector; expand information system and database according to management requirements of local agencies or ministries and ministerial authorities ; encourage the use and development of environmental information system on sharing digital platforms of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

4. Ensure the ability to connect and share data between environmental databases, including environmental databases of national authorities, ministries, ministerial authorities and provincial agencies and specialized environmental databases. The connection, interconnectivity and sharing of data between information systems shall be carried out through an national integration and sharing platform; common integration and sharing platforms of ministries and provinces.

5. Ensure information security in operation and connection activities; capability to manage account and authenticate centrally.

Article 56. Basic functions of an environmental information system

1. Basic functional groups of an environmental information system:

a) Manage and publish the list of environmental information; provide environmental information and description of environmental information;

b) Manage and publish the list of open data in environment sector;

c) Manage the sharing electronic list to ensure synchronization with the information system for managing the sharing electronic list of state agencies for the purpose of the development of Vietnamese e-Government; sharing electronic lists of ministries and ministerial authorities ; local authorities; at the same time manage the electronic lists in the internal system;

d) Manage the system of reports on environmental protection at all levels and reports on environmental protection in production, trade and service activities according to regulations of the law on environmental protection;

dd) User administration: set up and administrate a group of users and users, decentralize rights according to process and function of system;

e) Interconnect and integrate environmental between information systems of ministries and ministerial authorities , provincial agencies and the national environmental information system according to regulations on connection and sharing of information between databases at all levels.

2. In addition to the basic functions specified in Clause 1 of this Article, ministries, ministerial authorities and the People's Committee of province may prescribe additional functions when building an environmental information system to meet the requirements for use, specificity of the sector and conditions of local authorities.

Article 57. Technical requirements for environmental information system

1. The assurance of information security of the environmental information system shall comply with the regulations of the Government's Decree No. 85/2016/ND-CP dated July 1, 2016 on information system security according to levels, Circular No. 03/2017/TT-BTTTT dated April 24, 2017 of the Minister of Information and Communications on guidelines for the Government’s Decree No. 85/2016/ND-CP and relevant national technical regulations and standards.

2. Technical requirements for connection, sharing and interoperability between environmental databases of national authorities, ministries, ministerial authorities and provincial authorities on the environmental information system shall comply with regulations of Article 58 of this Circular

3. Technical requirements for the environmental information system shall comply with regulations of technical specifications of the Public Service Portal and the electronic one-stop information system of ministries and provinces specified in Appendix V Circular No. 22/2019/TT-BTTTT dated December 31, 2019 of the Minister of Information and Communications on functional criteria and technical features of the Public Service Portal and the electronic one-stop information system of ministries and provinces.

Article 58. Requirements for connection, sharing and interoperability between environmental databases of national authorities, ministries, ministerial agencies and provincial agencies

1. Ensure connection, sharing and interoperability between environmental databases at all levels according to regulations of the law on Environmental Protection and the Government’s Decree No. 47/2020/ND-CP dated April 9 2020 on the management, connection and sharing of digital data of regulatory agencies.

2. Conform to the requirements and technical standards of connection of information systems and databases with the national database specified in the Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTTTT dated June 23, 2017 of the Minister of Information and Communications on technical requirements for connection of information systems and databases with national databases; technical standards of application of information technology in state agencies specified in Circular No. 39/2017/TT-BTTTT dated December 15, 2017 of the Minister of Information and Communications on the List of technical standards for application of information technology in regulatory authorities, national technical regulations on identifier code structure and data format of message for interconnection of document management and administration systems specified Circular No. 10/2016/TT-BTTTT dated April 1, 2016 of the Minister of Information and Communications on national technical regulations on identifier code structure and data format of message for interconnection of document management and administration systems

3. Connect and share online data on the network through data services of environmental databases at all levels; ensure regular sharing and update on the national environmental database.

4. Shared data shall include default shared data and shared data on a case-by-case basis. Default shared data shall comply with regulations of Article 62 of this Circular. Shared data on a case-by-case basis shall comply with separate requirements of state management agencies in charge of environmental protection at all levels.

Article 59. Assurance of the integrity and legality of environmental information and data in environmental databases at all levels

1. Environmental database management agencies of ministries, ministerial authorities and provincial authorities shall be responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of updating provided information and data on the national environmental database. .

2. Connection, sharing and interoperability between environmental databases of ministries, ministerial authorities and provincial authorities and the national environmental database shall be carried out through a connection account with the form of identification and authentication in accordance with regulations of the law.

3. Creation, modification and deletion of information and data shall be archived with the ability to trace messages that have been authenticated by digital signatures on shared data between environmental databases.

4. The integrity of data shall be guaranteed throughout connection and sharing between environmental databases of ministries, ministerial authorities and provincial authorities with the national environmental database. In case the integrity is not guaranteed, information and data shall be updated from the original database before re-connection and re-sharing.

5. Open data that is provided by environmental data and information management agencies shall be used according to regulations of the Government's Decree No. 47/2020/ND-CP dated April 9, 2020 on management, connection and sharing of digital data of regulatory agencies.

6. Environmental information and data shall be subject to protection of copyright and related rights according to regulations of the law on Intellectual Property. Environmental data information shall be used according to regulations of the Law on intellectual property and Article 101 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP.

Article 60. Basic information and data of the environmental database

1. Basic information and data of environmental databases of national and provincial authorities shall comply with regulations of Form No. 01, Appendix V issued with this Circular.

2. The governing body of the national and provincial environmental database shall decide information expansion in order to manage environment database according to basic information and data of the environmental database specified in Clause 1 of this Article and management requirements,

3. The ministries and ministerial agencies shall decide the information structure of the environmental database of ministries and ministerial agencies according to the basic information and data of the environmental database specified in Clause 1 of this Article and the scope of management

4. The National Environmental Database Management and Operation Agency shall be responsible for development of detailed technical guidelines for construction of the environmental database.

Article 61. Common schedule data of environmental database

1. Common schedule data refers to data on schedules and classification tables used commonly in environmental database to ensure synchronized data integration, exchange and sharing. Common schedule data shall contain:

a) Common schedule data of the common electronic schedule management information system of the state agencies for the purpose of the development of the e-Government of Vietnam;

b) Common schedule data of the natural resources and environment sector; common schedule data of environmental sector.

2. The National Environmental Database Management and Operation Agency shall uniformly manage and periodically update common schedule data according to actual requirements.

3. Common schedule data of environmental database at all levels shall comply with regulations of Form No. 02, Appendix II issued with this Circular.

4. Common schedule data shall be shared with the common electronic schedule management information system of state agencies for the purpose of the development of Vietnam's e-Government.

Article 62. Default shared data of the environmental database

1. Default shared data of the environmental database refers to data containing the basic information that is shared between the environmental databases at all levels according to default sharing method. The default shared data shall include master data in the databases of national authorities, ministries, ministerial authorities, provincial authorities, common schedule data, metadata and other shared data.

2. Environmental master data refers to data containing the most basic information for the purpose of identification and authentication the core management objects in the environmental database.

3. Metadata refers to data that describes the characteristics, scope, and origin of data the environmental database. Metadata shall comply with the technical guidance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant applicable technical guidance on metadata.

4. The National Environmental Database Administration and Operation Agency shall prescribe identifier code structure of master data, uniformly use all environmental databases at all levels and ensure uniqueness for each object of master data.

5. Default shared data of environmental databases at all levels shall include common schedule data specified in Article 61 of this Circular, master data and other default shared data specified in Form No. 03 Appendix V issued together with this Circular.

Section 3. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION REPORT

Article 63. Making of an environmental protection report

1. The People's Committee of district shall make an environmental protection report according to regulations of Form No. 01, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular.

2. The management board of an economic zone, export processing zone, hi-tech park or industrial park shall make an environmental protection report according to regulations of Form No. 02, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular.

3. The People's Committee of province shall direct the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to take charge and cooperate with relevant provincial authorities in making an environmental protection report according to regulations of Form No. 03 of the Appendix. VI issued together with this Circular.

4. The ministries and ministerial agencies shall make reports on the implementation of environmental protection tasks according to regulations of Form No. 04, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular.

5. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall make an environmental protection report and submit it to the Government for reporting to the National Assembly according to the following order:

a) Make a draft of environmental protection report in the whole country as the basis for assessment and synthesis of the results of environmental protection of ministries, ministerial agencies and the People's Committees of provinces.

b) Collect opinions of ministries, ministerial agencies and the People's Committees of provinces on the draft of environmental protection report in the whole country;

c) Research, absorb and explain comments and suggestions, complete the draft of report and submit it to the Government for reporting to the National Assembly according to regulations.

Article 64. Assessment of the results of environmental protection

1. According to assigned environmental protection tasks, the ministries and ministerial agencies shall self-assess the results of environmental protection; make reports on the performance of their environmental protection tasks and send the reports to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment before February 15 every year in order to summarize and submit to the Government for reporting to the National Assembly.

2. The assessment of the results of environmental protection of the People's Committee of province shall comply with the following regulations:

a) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall provide a set of indices and guiding documents on the assessment of the result of environmental protection of the People's Committee of province according to environmental protection requirements and state management tasks in environmental protection in each period;

b) The People's Committee of province shall self-assess the result of environmental protection according to a set of indices and guiding documents on the assessment of the result of environmental protection, take responsibility for the accuracy and sufficiency of information, data and self-assessment results;

c) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall invite a socio-political organization or a sociological survey organization to assess the people's satisfaction with the quality of the environment in the provinces and centrally-run cities. The survey results shall be used to assess the results of environmental protection;

d) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall establish a council to assess the result of environmental protection of the People's Committee of province. The members of the council shall include the representatives of ministries, ministerial authorities, agencies, organizations, relevant experts and scientists;

dd) According to the assessment results of the council, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall summarize, approve and publish the assessment result of environmental protection of the People's Committee of province.

Article 65. Forms and methods of sending environmental protection reports

1. An environmental protection report shall be presented in one of the following forms:

a) Physical report with signature of the authorized person and stamp of the unit and electronic report (file.doc). The datasheets attached to the report shall be borne the overlapping seal. The written reports shall be sent by methods specified at Points c, d, dd, and e, Clause 2 of this Article.

b) Electronic report in the format that is prescribed by the competent state agency or digitized from written report with electronic signature of the competent person and electronic stamp of the unit. The electronic reports shall be sent by methods specified at Points a and b, Clause 2 of this Article.

2. The reports shall be sent to the receiving agency by:

a) National documentation system

b) Information and reporting system of the local authorities and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

c) In person;

d) Post

dd) Fax;

e) Email;

g) Other methods according to regulations.

Article 66. Contents, forms and time of sending environmental protection reports in production, trade and service activities

1. Contents of environmental protection reports:

a) The contents of an environmental protection report of the owner of investment project or production, trade and service establishment subject to environmental license shall comply with regulations of Form No. 05.A, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular;

b) The contents of an environmental protection report of the owner of investment project or production, trade and service establishment subject to environmental registration shall comply with regulations of Form No. 05.B, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular; The owner of investment project or production, trade and service establishment subject to exemption from environmental registration specified in Article 32 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP shall not make an environmental protection report;

c) The contents of an environmental protection report of the investor of project on infrastructure construction and trade in concentrated production, trade, service zone or industrial cluster shall comply with regulations of Form No. 06, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular;

2. The time for sending environmental protection reports: the owner of project or production, trade and service establishment shall annually report environmental protection to the agencies specified in Clause 5 of this Article (from January 1 to the end of December 31) before January 5 of the following year. The investor of project on infrastructure construction and trade in concentrated production, trade, service zone or industrial cluster shall annually report environmental protection to the agencies specified in Clause 5 of this Article (from January 1 to the end of December 31) before January 10 of the following year.

3. Forms of an environmental protection report: An environmental protection report shall be presented in one of the following forms:

a) Physical report with signature of the authorized person and stamp of the unit; electronic report (file.doc). The datasheets attached to the report shall be borne the overlapping seal. The reports in this form shall be sent by methods specified at Points b, c, d Clause 4 of this Article.

b) Electronic report in the format that is prescribed by the competent state agency or digitized from written report with electronic signature of the competent person and electronic stamp of the unit. The electronic reports shall be sent by methods specified at Points a and dd, Clause 4 of this Article.

4. The reports shall be sent to the receiving agency by:

a) Environmental information systems at all levels or other local information systems;

b) In person;

c) Post;

d) Fax;

dd) Email;

e) Other methods according to regulations.

5. Sending an environmental protection report:

a) The owner of the project or production, trade and service establishment shall send the environmental protection reports to the following agencies, including environmental licensing agency (the subjects specified in Point a, Clause 1 of this Article); the environmental registration agency (the subjects specified at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article); Department of Natural Resources and Environment (where the project or the production, trade and service establishment is located); the People's Committee of District; the investor of the project on construction and trade of technical infrastructure in a concentrated production, trade and service zone or an industrial cluster (the establishments that are located in economic zones, concentrated production, trade and service zones) or industrial clusters);

b) The investors of the projects on construction and trade of technical infrastructure in concentrated production, trade and service zones shall send environmental protection reports to agencies specified in Point m, Clause 4, Article 51 of the Law on Environmental Protection;

c) The investors of the projects on construction and trade of technical infrastructure in industrial clusters shall send environmental protection reports to agencies specified in Point l, Clause 3, Article 52 of the Law on Environmental Protection;

6. The owner of the project or the production, trade and service establishment and the investor of construction and trade of technical infrastructure in a production, trade and concentrated service zone and an industrial cluster shall be responsible for sending reports according to regulations of Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article and keeping the documents regarding reports at the facility for the purpose of comparison of the competent state agency in case of inspection.

7. The owner of the project or the production, trade and service establishment and the investor of construction and trade of technical infrastructure in a production, trade and concentrated service zone and an industrial cluster shall be responsible for periodically reporting environmental protection according to regulations of Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Article. The unscheduled reports on environmental protection shall be carried out according to the request of competent state agencies.

Section 4. STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Article 67. Measures for making of state of the environment report

1. The national and local state of the environment reports shall be made according to the Driving force - Pressure - State - Impact - Response model (DPSIR model). The DPSIR model means a model describing the reciprocal relationship between Driving force - D (socio-economic development, underlying causes of environmental changes) - Pressure - P (direct discharges and emissions polluting and degrading the environmental) - State - S (the state of environmental quality) - Impact - I (impact of environmental pollution on public health, socio-economic development and ecological environment) - Response - R (the state and societal responses to environmental protection).

2. The state of the environment reports of ministries and ministerial agencies shall be integrated into environmental protection reports specified in Clause 4, Article 63 of this Circular.

Article 68. Responsibilities and funding for making state of the environment reports

1. Responsibilities for making state of the environment report

a) The agency assigned to make state of the environment report under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall assist the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in making general report and thematic report on national state of the environment according to regulations of Clause 2, Article 2 of Law on Environmental Protection;

b) The Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall assist the People's Committee of province in making general report and thematic report on local state of the environment according to regulations of Clause 2, Article 120 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

2. Funding for making general report and thematic report on state of the environment shall be withdrawn from the environmental non-business budget according to applicable regulations.

Article 69. Making of state of the environment report

1. Proposal and approval for thematic report on the environment:

a) The agency assigned to make state of the environment report under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall propose and submit the report to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for approval for thematic report on the national environment before the year in which it is made according to pressing issues about the environment and state management of the environment <0}

b) The Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall propose and submit the report to the People's Committee of province for decision on the topic of thematic report on the local environment before the year in which it is made according to pressing issues about environment and state management of local environment.

2. Sources of information for making of state of the environment report:

a) The general report and thematic report on national state of the environment, general report and thematic report on local state of the environment that are all approved;

b) The Statistical Yearbook of the country, ministries and local governments

c) Results of the environmental monitoring programs;

d) Relevant ministries, ministerial authorities, provincial authorities;

dd) Other sources: results of scientific research programs or scientific research projects at state, ministerial and provincial levels that are all approved

e) The programs on surveys and additional investigations on thematic environmental issues for the provision of data for the making of state of the environment report

3. Consultation with relevant parties about the draft of report:

a) The agency assigned to make state of the environment report under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment may choose one or more forms of consultation, including expert meetings; seminars for consultation between relevant entities, agencies and organizations; written request for opinions according to the actual situation.

b) Written request for opinions specified at Point a of this Clause: The draft of national state of the environment report shall be sent to ministries, ministerial authorities, the People's Committee of province and and relevant entities. The draft of local state of the environment report shall be sent for the purpose of request for opinions from relevant provincial authorities, local agencies and organizations.

Article 70. Format and contents of state of the environment report

1. The main contents of a state of the environment report shall comply with regulations of Clause 3, Article 120 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

2. Format and contents of the general report and thematic report on national and local state of environment shall comply with regulations of Forms No. 07 and 08, Appendix VI issued together with this Circular.

3. During the reporting process, the irrelevant contents may be excluded; the order may be changed as long as the mandatory information specified in Clause 3, Article 120 of the Law on Environmental Protection shall be included according to actual situation

Article 71. Report submission and approval

1. The agency assigned to make state of the environment report under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall submit the report to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for approval for national state of the environment report and thematic report on the national environment.

2. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall submit the report to the People’s Committee of province for approval for report on local state of the environment and thematic report on local environment