Circular No. 08/2010/TT-BTNMT stipulates the construction of National Environmental Reports, Sectoral and Field Environmental Impact Reports, and Provincial Environmental Status Reports.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

Thông tư này quy định chi tiết khoản 4 Điều 38 Luật Thủy sản số 18/2017/QH14 đã được sửa đổi, bổ sung tại điểm c khoản 21 Điều 14 Luật số 146/2025/QH15.

This Circular stipulates the preparation of environmental status reports including the National Environmental Report, Provincial Environmental Status Report, and Sectoral/Economic Sector Environmental Impact Report.

Thông tư này áp dụng đối với tổ chức, cá nhân có liên quan đến hoạt động kinh doanh đối tượng thủy sản nuôi chủ lực trên lãnh thổ Việt Nam.

This Circular applies to central and local state management agencies for the environment, organizations, and individuals involved in preparing environmental status reports.

Article 2. Interpretation of Terms

In this Circular, the following terms shall be understood as follows:

1. An environmental status report is a report providing information on the current state and trends of the environment, causes of pollution and degradation, and their impacts on human health, economy, society, ecosystems, and natural environment, thereby analyzing the need for environmental policies and assessing the effectiveness of such policies.

An environmental status report refers collectively to three types of reports: National Environmental Report, Provincial Environmental Status Report, and Sectoral/Economic Sector Environmental Impact Report.

2. The National Environmental Report is a report providing information on the current state and trends of national environmental quality, causes of pollution and their impacts on human health, economy, society, ecosystems, and natural environment, thereby analyzing the need for national environmental policies and evaluating the effectiveness of such policies in national environmental protection work.

3. The Provincial Environmental Status Report is a report providing information on the current state and trends of the provincial environment, causes of pollution and their impacts on human health, economy, society, ecosystems, and natural environment of the province, thereby analyzing the need for environmental policies and evaluating the effectiveness of such policies in provincial environmental management and protection work.

4. The Sectoral/Economic Sector Environmental Impact Report is a report providing information on the current state and trends of the specific environmental conditions of sectors/economic sectors, causes and impacts of pollution and degradation on human health, economy, society, ecosystems, and natural environment, thereby analyzing the need for environmental policies and evaluating the effectiveness of such policies in sectoral/economic sector environmental management and protection activities.

5. The comprehensive environmental report is a report addressing all environmental issues of the country and locality to provide a general and complete assessment of the current state of national and local environments with its consequences, causes, and trends.

6. The specialized environmental report is an environmental status report focusing deeply on a particular environmental issue or component that receives significant attention from society and environmental management agencies.

7. The DPSIR model describes the interrelationship between Driving forces - D (economic and social development, deep-seated causes of environmental changes) - Pressures - P (direct sources of pollution and environmental degradation) - State - S (state of environmental quality) - Impacts - I (impacts of environmental pollution on community health, economic and social development, and ecological environment) - Responses - R (responses of the government and society to protect the environment).

8. Environmental indicator: a basic parameter reflecting characteristic elements of the environment serving the purpose of assessing and monitoring environmental quality trends, and compiling environmental status reports.

9. Descriptive indicator: an indicator describing prominent environmental issues specific to a region; these indicators accurately reflect the environmental situation.

10. Evaluation indicator: an indicator comparing actual issues in Vietnam with standard conditions. Evaluation indicators compare current environmental conditions with set targets (assessing the feasibility of achieving established goals).

11. Effectiveness indicator: an indicator reflecting the cause-effect relationship among components in the DPSIR model. The most suitable effectiveness indicators for policy planning are those related between environmental pressure (P) and human activities (D). These indicators clearly reflect the environmental efficiency of production processes and products themselves.

Article 3. Principles for compiling the Environmental Status Report

The compilation of the Environmental Status Report must comply with the following principles:

1. Based on the DPSIR model.

2. Truthful, accurate, up-to-date.

3. Scientific, modern.

4. Clear, understandable, easily identifiable.

Chapter II

SYSTEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS REPORTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR COMPLETING ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS REPORTS

Article 4. System of Environmental Status Reports

The system of Environmental Status Reports includes:

1. National environmental report.

The national environmental report includes: General environmental report and Specialized environmental report.

2. Sectoral and field environmental impact situation reports.

3. Provincial environmental status report.

Article 5. Responsibilities and Completion Time for Environmental Status Reports

1. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for compiling the national environmental report according to Clause 2, Article 101 of the Law on Environmental Protection.

The report shall be completed before the last session of the National Assembly each year. The General Department of Environment shall be responsible to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for the compilation and completion of the national environmental report as prescribed.

2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies are responsible for compiling sectoral and field environmental impact situation reports according to Clause 2, Article 100 of the Law on Environmental Protection. The report shall be completed six months prior to the national environmental report to ensure information provision for the general environmental report.

Organizations and specialized units for environmental protection under ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies shall be responsible to their respective ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies for the compilation of sectoral and field environmental impact situation reports.

3. Provincial People's Committees are responsible for compiling provincial environmental status reports according to Clause 2, Article 99 of the Law on Environmental Protection. The report shall be completed six months prior to the general environmental report to ensure information provision for the general environmental report. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall be responsible to the Provincial People's Committee for the compilation of provincial environmental status reports.

Based on the environmental situation and management requirements of the locality, the Provincial People's Committee decides on the compilation of specialized environmental reports to submit to the same-level People's Council and report to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Annually, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment compiles environmental data as the basis for compiling provincial environmental status reports and sends the compiled environmental data report of the locality to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for compiling the national environmental report.

Chapter III

CONTENT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS REPORT

Article 6. Content of the Environmental Status Report

1. The content of the Environmental Status Report is stipulated in the Law on Environmental Protection according to Clause 1, Article 99 for provincial environmental status reports; Clause 1, Article 100 for sectoral and field environmental impact situation reports; and Clause 1, Article 101 for the national environmental report.

2. The Environmental Status Report needs to focus on analyzing and evaluating the following contents:

a) Consequences of environmental pollution, including: damage to public health, economic losses, damage to ecosystems, especially agricultural ecosystems;

b) Urgent environmental issues, hotspots, and priority solutions to address these issues;

c) Contents related to community activities and actions to enhance community awareness about environmental protection.

Article 7. Information and data in the Environmental Status Report

1. The Environmental Status Report must provide comprehensive qualitative and quantitative information.

2. Information in each chapter and section of the Report must be closely related to the main message.

3. Use environmental indicators to collect information and data. Environmental indicators (descriptive indicators, assessment indicators, effectiveness indicators) are used in the report to convey the messages of the Report.

4. All information and data in the report must be based on officially recognized statistical sources.

5. When there is a limitation or lack of data, it can be replaced with estimates based on existing recognized data. When making estimates, assumptions and data sources must be clearly stated.

6. The information and data presented in the report need to be aligned with the same time period. The time series of indices in the Environmental Status Report should have the same reference years.

7. For sections on trends, developments, and future forecasts, to ensure consistency throughout the entire content of the report, economic and social scenarios must be provided as a basis for evaluating different environmental issues in the future.

8. Comparative methods should be used when assessing and analyzing issues.

Article 8. Sources of information and data for compiling the Environmental Status Report

1. Information and figures from the Statistical Yearbooks of the General Statistics Office, Ministries, and Provincial Statistics Offices.

2. Information and figures from the results of environmental monitoring conducted by the national environmental monitoring system and local environmental monitoring systems.

3. Information and figures from relevant ministries, departments, provincial departments, and agencies.

4. Information and figures from other sources:

a) Results from environmental monitoring stations or centers outside the national and local environmental monitoring systems;

b) Results from research and surveys serving the Environmental Status Report;

c) Results from scientific research programs or state-level research topics that have been accepted and officially published.

5. Additional research and surveys on specific environmental issues (conducted by the agency responsible for compiling the report) aimed at supporting data for the construction of the Environmental Status Report.

Article 9. Comparisons and contrasts in the Environmental Status Report

Comparisons and contrasts in the Environmental Status Report include:

1. Comparisons of differences in scale and quality Within the National Environmental Report, comparisons and contrasts used are comparisons between the level of achievement of national environmental goals with international commitments, comparisons among provinces/cities in implementing national environmental goals, and comparisons and contrasts with environmental technical standards.

Within the Provincial Environmental Status Report and the Environmental Impact Situation Report of sectors and fields, comparisons and contrasts used are comparisons among enterprises within the same sector or among districts/counties within a province in meeting environmental technical standards.

2. Comparisons of the development of different but related issues (for example: comparing GDP growth and greenhouse gas emissions).

3. Comparisons using standardized types of data (for example: greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP).

After comparisons and contrasts, issues must be ranked, priority issues identified, and their practical implementation analyzed.

Chapter IV

PROCEDURE FOR BUILDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS REPORT

Article 10. Activities during the process of compiling the Environmental Status Report

1. During the process of compiling the Environmental Status Report, the following activities shall be carried out:

a) Establishing the Editorial Team;

b) Building the structural framework (Annexes 2, 3, and 4) and detailed outline of the Report (Annex 1);

c) Collecting necessary information, data, and indicators;

d) Organizing the compilation of the Report according to the structural framework;

e) Organizing consultations with relevant parties for draft Reports;

f) Submitting and approving the Report;

g) Sending and publicly disclosing the report.

2. Determining and approving topics for specialized environmental reports.

Based on current environmental issues of public concern, the General Department of Environment proposes topics for specialized environmental reports to be submitted to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for approval.

Article 11. Establishment of the Editorial Team for the Report

1. Depending on actual needs, the leader of the unit responsible for compiling the Environmental Status Report establishes the Editorial Team to carry out tasks stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. Tasks of the Editorial Team for the Environmental Status Report.

a) Collecting, analyzing, and processing data; designing and building charts, tables, and illustrative images for the Report;

b) Compiling component reports according to the detailed outline that has been established;

c) Synthesizing and drafting the Report; incorporating feedback from consultations, revising, and finalizing the Report.

Article 12. Organizing Consultations with Relevant Parties for Draft Reports

1. National Environmental Reports and Industry and Sectoral Environmental Impact Reports: These are officially sent for comments in writing to relevant ministries, localities, and related units.

2. Provincial Environmental Status Reports: These are officially sent for comments in writing to provincial departments, agencies, and related units.

Article 13. Submission and Approval of the Report

The unit responsible for compiling the Report submits it to the competent authority for approval, specifically:

1. National Environmental Reports are approved by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

2. Provincial Environmental Status Reports are approved by the People's Committee of the province.

3. Industry and Sectoral Environmental Impact Reports are approved by the Minister or Head of the Ministry or sector.

Article 14. Sending and Publicly Disclosing the Report

1. After the Report is approved, the agency compiling the report is responsible for sending the report to state agencies and related organizations as prescribed by law.

2. Publicly disclosing the Environmental Status Report on the electronic information website:

a) National Environmental Reports are published openly on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment;

b) Provincial Environmental Status Reports are published openly on the website of the People's Committee of the province;

c) Industry and Sectoral Environmental Impact Reports are published openly on the website of the Ministry or sector.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 15. Budget for Compiling the Environmental Status Report

Based on procedures, regulations, economic and technical norms, and current expenditure systems, the unit responsible for compiling the Environmental Status Report prepares a plan and budget estimate for implementing the compilation of the Environmental Status Report from the environmental public service budget.

Article 16. Effectiveness and Responsibility for Implementation

1. This Circular takes effect from May 6, 2010.

2. The General Department of Environment oversees and monitors the implementation of this Circular; is responsible for leading and coordinating with related units to provide detailed guidance on compiling Environmental Status Reports.

3. Central and local state management agencies on the environment, organizations, and individuals involved in compiling the Environmental Status Report are responsible for implementing this Circular.

4. In the course of implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, the relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals are requested to promptly reflect these issues to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration and resolution./.