People Enduring Toxics Imported For Recycling
By Ngoc Lan
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| Under the draft law, environmental tax is expected to be levied on gasoline and oil, coal, HCFC, polyethylene bags and insecticides, but not on the environmentally hazardous waste |
The draft Environmental Protection Tax Law, on the National Assembly’s agenda this session, has ignited the public’s interest as environmental destruction becomes more frequent and more severe
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen, head of the State agency in charge of environmental protection, strongly supports this law. “New measures will be implemented, the strongest of which reduces the economic incentives for polluting the environment. For instance, the importation of waste for steel billet production has faced vehement objection as the cargo containers are full of toxic substances. In other countries, such waste must be processed to reduce its detrimental impacts on the environment,” Nguyen said. “However, enterprises are reluctant to adopt this costly approach.”
On May 31, Nguyen told National Assembly deputies that the hefty environmental tax imposed primarily aims to restrict environmentally deleterious behavior, rather than expand the State coffers.
The example that Nguyen cites is the norm, rather than an exception. Is the draft law sufficient to handle this offense? Does it clearly stipulate how severe the offense committed by the importers is? Which materials can be imported, albeit at a restricted level, and which are banned? What are the relevant tax rates? These questions remain contentious. Under the draft law, environmental tax is expected to be levied on gasoline and oil, coal, HCFC, polyethylene bags and insecticides, but not on the environmentally hazardous waste that Nguyen is referring to.
If the draft law does not tackle this problem, enterprises will continue to import this harmful substance, Nguyen told the Saigon Times. The possibility of enterprises purchasing harmful waste which the existing legal framework has yet to deal with cannot be ruled out.
Deputy Nguyen Dinh Quyen, head of the Law Department under the National Assembly Office, says that toxic waste must be banned rather than subject to tax, as “Vietnam should not profit from being the world’s dumping ground.” Herein lies the core of the issue: How far can Vietnam’s environment cope, considering that the natural resource tax is ineffective in improving environmental quality?
Just as controversial is why tax is not imposed on nix grains [a term usually referring to copper slag], given that one million tons of these grains is wreaking havoc in Khanh Hoa Province but no remedy has been in place.
The Government has not provided any explanation in a report. Nguyen says that the issue is whether nix grains are processed immediately or left idle. The latter case is indeed worrisome, so the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will ask Hyundai Vinashin, the importer, to process the existing nix grains with advanced technology before purchasing a new batch of imports.
However, Hyundai Vinashin’s waste treatment plant has yet to operate, the nix grains imported are still not processed, and 500 households in Ninh Phuoc, Ninh Hoa (Khanh Hoa), have grappled with polluted water and health concerns for three years.
What matters now is not so much the volume of waste imported as the extent to which the community can endure pollution. The Environmental Protection Law has been promulgated, but its enforcement remains lax or plagued with uncertainty. For instance, the line between severe pollution and extremely severe pollution is still murky. More drastic action, including tax, is required.
As an environmental protection tool, the draft law must impose tax on every hazardous product and commodity. Furthermore, since there are similar taxes in the Import Tax Law and Special Consumption Tax Law, the Government should exercise prudence so as not to saddle enterprises with unnecessary burdens.