CURRENT VIETNAMESE LAWS AND REGULATIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Table of Content
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I
ABSTRACT II
TABLE OF CONTENT III
LIST OF FIGURES IV
LIST OF TABLES V
CHAPTER 1 1
INTRODUCTION 1
I BACKGROUND 1
II PROBLEM STATEMENT 2
III RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 2
IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2
V SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS 3
VI PLAN OF THE RESEARCH 3
VII PRESENTATION OF THE RESEARCH 3
CHAPTER 2 5
LITERATURE REVIEW 5
I ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 5
II ISO 14000 STANDARDS SERIES AND THE PROSPECTS OF EMS 7
CHAPTER 3 19
IMPLEMENTING ISO 14001 AT LV HANOI 19
I CURRENT VIETNAMESE LAWS AND REGULATIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 19
II SOCIAL TRENDS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PERFECTION 22
III COMPANY PROFILE 22
IV ISO 14001 AT THE FACILITY 24
V DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTING ISO 14000 AT LV HANOI 42
CHAPTER 4 48
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 48
I CONCLUSIONS 48
II RECOMMENDATIONS 49
BIBLIOGRAPHY 54
iii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Title Page
2.1. Environmental Management System Loops 6
2.2. ISO 14000 standards series 9
3.1. Procedure for identifying significant environmental aspects at LV Hanoi 24
3.2. Environmental Management structure at LV Hanoi 29
3.3. Environmental communication hierarchy at LV Hanoi 32
3.4. Procedure for document control at LV Hanoi 34
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Title Page
2.1. ISO 14000 standards series 10
2.2. Comparison of EMS standards 14
3.1. Capital contribution of Lever Vietnam 21
3.2. Operational control over significant environmental aspects at LV Hanoi 36
v
Chapter 1
Introduction
I Background
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) has brought
environmental and sustainable development issues into the mainstream of WTO work. The
Committee's first Report, which was submitted to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore in
1998, notes that the WTO is interested in building a constructive relationship between trade and
environmental concerns. On the way joining WTO, Vietnam will soon take environmental
protection into serious concern and environmental issues can no longer be ignored from business
consideration.
Historically, environmental management in corporations and small companies alike has not been
included in the “inner circle” of senior management. Many organizations placed environmental
management on the back burner until compliance issues arose or contamination was found on the
property. When those instances occurred, senior management suddenly gained an intense interest in
the subject.
Today, many organizations are beginning to think beyond environmental compliance towards
environmental performance. Access to vital information about the compliance status of a company,
how many pounds are emitted or who is responsible, can easily be accessed over the Internet. This
leads to an unprecedented awareness by the public of whether an organization has a positive or
negative impact on the environment. Those who are responsible for the bottom line of a company
are also beginning to recognize that a well-designed Environmental Management System (EMS)
can have a profound impact on a company. This impact not only extends to the short-term bottom
line and public image, but also to the long-term financial health of a company. At this time an
EMS that has been certified to the internationally recognized International Organization for
Standardization’s ISO 14001 Standard is considered the state of the art in environmental
management.
Businesses are increasingly adopting the global environmental management system, ISO 14001, in
order to more effectively and efficiently manage their environmental impacts. This voluntary
system, as well as all EMSs, has the potential to provide facilities with a structure to minimize their
environmental impact, ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations, and address
wasteful uses of natural resources. For these reasons, EMS may greatly affect the environmental
performance of facilities that adopt them and subsequently impact their financial performance, as
well.
Only recently could organizations have their EMS certified, as the final version of the international
EMS standard was published in late 1996. Since then, over 10,000 facilities around the world have
had their EMS certified (Gallagher et al., 1999). While businesses are increasingly adopting these
systems to better manage their environmental impacts, little is known about the potential these
systems have for environmental protection, social welfare, and future public policy. In Vietnam,
ISO14001 is still considered among entrepreneurs as a source of expense or obligation, and the
adoption of this standard is limited within a small number of companies, mostly foreign-invested
enterprises. This leads to a bitter fact that most Vietnamese companies may not be able to comply
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with international regulations and standards when they go competing globally thus hindering their
entrance into world market.
II Problem statement
Companies doing their business in Vietnam are now bearing potential risk of losing their ground
due to poor environmental performance. A complete and effective Environmental Management
System is now crucially important for every business entity to proactively deal with the new
business environment at the time being. There are numerous types of EMSs among which, the ISO
14001 EMS has emerged as the most widely accepted international standard for environmental
management and has the potential to harmonize EMS worldwide. When EMS is certified with
ISO14001 standard, a company can reach farther than compliance with regulations since they are
able to rely on environmental management to differentiate themselves from competitors.
The business Lever Vietnam is doing belongs to chemical industry, which has been identified as
one of the most potential source threatening the living environment of the society. Furthermore, the
company’s market is consumer goods, cosmetics for exact, and this product category requires high
standards on industrial sanity and safety. Managing environmental performance becomes a vital
task to keep the company alive in this competitive business environment. Therefore, it is worth
looking at the practice of implementing ISO 14000 at Lever Vietnam to study why and how a
Vietnamese facility uses ISO 14001 as an essential tool to strengthen its EMS.
III Research objectives
• To evaluate the current Environmental Management System at the facility;
• To identify the main benefits of and obstacles to implementing ISO 14001 standards at the
facility;
• To suggest recommendations to the facility about strengthening the current EMS with ISO
14001 standard series.
IV Research methodology
IV.1 Primary information:
• Interview with management board of the facility to study the current EMS
• Interview with officials from Office for Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control for
overall perception about the current practice of implementing ISO14000 in Vietnam
IV.2 Secondary information:
• Books, journals, magazines, newspapers
• Company releases
• Government regulations, guidance and other documents.
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V Scope and limitations
V.1 Scope:
This piece of research only focuses on EMS at the firm level, it does not intend to assess the
possibility and prospects of implementing ISO14001 at the industry or the nation level. The
research also implies an in-depth analysis of possibility but not a feasible study for implementing
ISO14001 standards at the company. Instead, this case study is an investigation of the practice of
implementing ISO 14001 at Lever Vietnam Hanoi Branch (hereinafter is referred to as LV Hanoi),
located at Nguyen Trai Road, Thuong Dinh, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi.
V.2 Limitations:
It might be difficult to reveal much primary information from the company. The legal system for
environmental control in Vietnam has not been built to such an effective level that can standardize
the environmental records for many kinds of company. The company chosen may not have
recorded a sufficient database for its EMS and is, thus, unable to give out much detailed
information.
VI Plan of the research
The time plan of the research can be divided into five stages:
• Literature review
• Data collection
• Data analysis and recommendation
• Completing research report
• Presentation of results
VII Presentation of the research
Chapter 1: Introduction
This part presents the rationale of the research, research methodology, background and statement of
the research problem, objectives, scopes and limitation of the study.
Chapter2: Literature review
This part reviews the definition of an EMS and its importance to sustainable development. The role
of EMS in the modern business competition and how ISO14000 standards can be used in building
an effective EMS for a facility will be discussed. Basic concepts and viewpoints based on which
the research is conducted will be justified in this chapter. Also at the focus are the general
principles and benefits when implementing ISO14000 into a firm.
Chapter3: Implementing ISO14001 at the facility
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This part will focus on analyzing environmental practices of LV Hanoi and base on the analysis the
current EMS will be evaluated to work out the weaknesses and rooms for improvement in the
company’s current EMS. An overview of Vietnam’s legal system on environmental protection will
be provided to support the analysis. The study of the current system will be the main arguments
used for later recommendations.
This section will also discuss prospects and feasibility of implementing ISO14000 standards into
the facility. The main benefits and obstacles in the implementation process will be examined in
details to assess the reality of applying ISO14000 to strengthen the company’s EMS.
Chapter 4: Conclusions and recommendations
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Chapter 2
Literature review
I Environmental Management System and sustainable development
Environment, health and human development in the future depend heavily on what we are doing at
the mean time. Environmental problem has become so serious that if we do not change the way we
exploit natural resources, the way we manufacture and even our lifestyle, the Earth will continue to
be hurt and the living environment to which our lives belong will continue to be destroyed.
Examples of hottest environmental problems include: depletion of Ozone layer, Greenhouse effect,
ecological imbalance, air and water pollution, toxic chemical substances, exhausted natural
resources, and environmental impacts on living quality. Those problems are getting worse and
worse and they are affecting all countries, developed or developing. Environmental problem itself
at the same time increases interdependence among the countries and no single solution can be
acceptable for all actually. The problem also can never be solved without regarding the social-
economic and other specific situations of each country or organization. As such, the second
principal of the 1972 Stockholm Conference stated: “All countries are responsible to ensure that all
activities within their control and legal regulations will not damage the environment or cause the
aspects out of control by other countries”.
Individuals and business of all types must accept responsibility for the stewardship of the Earth, not
only as a means of pollution control and resource management, but also as a way of balancing
human activities with nature’s expertise in renewing itself. Future prosperity, which is essential for
a healthy global economy, depends on preserving the Earth’s natural wealth and sustaining a
healthy ecological balance.
The 1992 Rio Conference introduced the world to the concept of sustainable development, a notion
coined by the Brundtland Commission Report, Our Common Future. Briefly stated, sustainable
development is an approach to development that utilizes the Earth and its resources in a manner
that does not compromise the ability of the future generations to meet their needs. Partially
resulting from agreements reached at the Rio Conference, sustainable development emerged as the
foundation upon which national (and even some local) governments and many major organizations
worldwide elected to build their environmental policies for the 21st century.
The significance of the sustainable development concept to the emerging worldwide paradigm shift
in environmental management is evidenced by the fact that the international business community
voluntarily elected to adopt many codes and charters that promote sustainability in one form or
another. One of the most visible examples is the Business Charter for Sustainable Development
developed by the International Chamber of Commerce. This charter lays out 16 principles for
environmental management that translates sustainability into operation terms. Over 1200
corporations, including more than 25% of the Fortune 500, have endorsed these principles.
(Dufresne, 1997)
Anticipating this trend, over the past several years many business firms worldwide have adopted
formal environmental management systems as procedures for systematically identifying
environmental aspects and impacts of their operations, setting explicit goals for compliance,
performance, and continuous improvement, and managing for them throughout these operations.
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An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a management structure in which organizations
can assess their environmental impacts. It creates a system to assess, catalogue, and quantify
environmental impacts, not simply activity by activity, but throughout an entire organization. The
goal of EMS adoption is to help organizations ensure that their operations articulate and achieve
specified environmental goals, normally including at least compliance with environmental laws,
management of other major environmental risks and liabilities, and potentially positive
environmental improvements as well. An EMS supplies the framework to do so by creating a
systematic structure to adopt a written environmental policy; to identify all environmental aspects
and impacts of their operations; to set priorities, goals and targets for continuous improvement in
their environmental performance; to assign clear responsibilities for implementation, training,
monitoring, and corrective actions; and to evaluate and refine implementation over time so as to
achieve continuous improvement both in implementation of environmental goals and targets and in
the EMS itself. (Gallagher et al., 1999).
Five principles make up an EMS and the basic elements of an EMS are set up respectively to these
five principles, namely policy and commitment, planning, implementation, measurement and
evaluation, and review and improvement. Implementation of EMS starts with an initial review,
which is not defined as a principle, and then follows the five principles. (Figure 2.1)
Figure 2.1 Environmental Management System Loops
Source: Sturm and Igel (1996)
Evaluation of an EMS should, therefore, follow each basic element of the system to assess the
specific procedures as well as efforts exerted into those procedures. Management’s vision and
commitment, and employees’ competence are the keys to assess an EMS. Management’s vision and
commitment determine the missions and structure of an EMS, what is it built for and how should it
operate. Employees are the persons who implement and participate in daily operation and,
therefore, their knowledge in environmental management is essential to the smooth operation and
future development of the EMS.
Continual
Improvement
Checking and
corrective actions
Implementing
Planning
Initial Review
Environmental Policy
Review
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The reasons for the business community to build up an EMS do not come solely from the public
interest about sustainable development. In fact, an effective EMS can make the road less traveled
for those organizations, which strive for perfect environmental performance. An organization can
choose to be a leader or a follower within their field. By identifying the environmental costs of its
operations broadly and by initiating prevention-based measures in all aspects of product
manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal, organizations can handle their responsibilities
proactively instead of reactively. Organizations can use integration of environmental controls
throughout a business and implementation of a life cycle approach to product and process design
analysis to prevent pollution by identifying and effectively managing all activities with potential
environmental impacts. Organizations choosing this path will set standards for other companies to
follow and will consequently achieve competitive advantage.
II ISO 14000 standards series and the prospects of EMS
II.1 What is ISO 14000 standards series
The world’s first standard for environmental management system (EMS), BS 7750, was developed
by the British Standards Institution in 1992. BS 7750 is the model for ISO 14000 standards series,
which is developed by the International Organization for Standardizations (ISO). ISO 14001, which
establishes the requirements for an EMS, was finalized in 1996.
II.1.1 ISO 14000 - Introduction
After the success of the ISO 9000 series of quality standards, the International Standards
Organization is nearing completion and publication of a comprehensive set of standards for
environmental management. This series of standards is designed to cover the whole area of
environmental issues for organizations in the global marketplace.
II.1.2 History of Development
The ISO 14000 series emerged primarily as a result of the Uruguay round of the GATT
negotiations and the Rio Summit on the Environment held in 1992. While GATT concentrates on
the need to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade, the Rio Summit generated a commitment to
protection of the environment across the world. The environmental field has seen a steady growth
of national and regional standards. The British Standards Institution has BS 7750, the Canadian
Standards Association has environmental management, auditing, eco-labeling and other standards,
the European Union has all of these plus the eco-management and audit regulations, and many
other countries (e.g. USA, Germany and Japan) have introduced eco-labeling programs.
After the rapid acceptance of ISO 9000, and the increase of environmental standards around the
world, ISO assessed the need for international environmental management standards. They formed
the Strategic Advisory Group on the Environment (SAGE) in 1991, to consider whether such
standards could serve to:
• Promote a common approach to environmental management similar to quality management
• Enhance organizations' ability to attain and measure improvements in environmental
performance; and
• Facilitate trade and remove trade barriers.
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