Although environmental audit in Vietnam has been of concern more than a decade ago, it is still considered a lagging field compared to which of many countries in the region and internationally.
Since 2008, the State Audit has also decided to set up a Working Group on Environmental Audit, including the content of Environmental Audit in the Action Plan to implement the Strategy for State Audit Development until 2022. So far, the State Audit has conducted a number of audits with contents related to the environment such as: Auditing the project of planting 5 million hectares of new forest; Project on wastewater treatment, solid waste and environmental protection in Hoi An city; Mekong River water problems...
Statistics show that, since 2010, the State Audit has carried out an average of 5 environmental audits a year, with topics ranging from forest, land, and fresh water management to waste management and mining exploration and, most recently, low carbon metabolism. This is an important step forward in the operation of the State Audit with its approach to developing new types and fields of auditing in line with international trends and practices.
The Law on Environmental Protection 2020 has been added 1 article on environmental audit conducted by the State AuditRecently, the State Audit has also step by step carried out environmental audits in the form of operational audits, such as audits of management and treatment of wastewater and industrial waste, and environmental management of Vinh Tan 1 power station, Binh Thuan province; management and treatment of medical waste in hospitals in Hanoi; on the management and use of environmental non-business funds and the Environmental Protection Fund; on investment and construction of wastewater and waste treatment plants; on measures to reduce the use of plastic bags and manage the import of scrap...
In 2018, the State Audit conducted an audit of the implementation of solutions to reduce the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in Ho Chi Minh City according to the Government's scheme. The results of this audit were highly appreciated by the leadership of the State Audit. In addition, the State Audit also included in the 2020 Audit Plan an audit of sweeping, collecting, transporting and treating domestic waste in Binh Duong province in the period 2017 - 2019.
However, according to the assessment of the State Audit, although in recent years, the work of environmental auditing has been promoted, but it remains many drawbacks. Environmental audits are still mainly integrated in financial statement audits, compliance audits and there is no environmental audit in the true sense; There is not yet an organization with a legal basis, a process and a complete guide for environmental audit activities.
In order to create an important legal basis to facilitate the State Audit to better perform its constitutional role, contributing to improving the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of environmental protection, recently, the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 has been added 1 article on environmental audit conducted by the State Audit in Chapter XIV on "Inspection, audit, handling of violations, settlement of disputes, complaints and denunciations of the environment".
At the same time, Chapter 6, Article 74 also stipulates the implementation of environmental audit at production, business and service establishments, including two contents: the use of energy, chemicals, raw materials and scrap imported from abroad as raw materials for production and pollution control and waste management.
In addition, the State encourages production, business and service establishments to carry out environmental audits themselves. This regulation aims to create conditions for production, business and service establishments to actively choose the optimal implementation plan, suitable to their conditions and capabilities. This is a new regulation, therefore, to ensure guidance for enterprises to implement, MONRE is tasked with developing guidelines on environmental economics at establishments, production, and service businesses.
Ha Tran
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