MOIT: Environmental Industry Needs a Strong Legal Framework

Deputy Minister Truong Thanh Hoai: Environmental Industry Needs a Sufficiently Strong Legal Framework

Deputy Minister Truong Thanh Hoai emphasized the need to research and build a sufficiently strong legal framework, potentially even a separate Law or mechanism, for the environmental industry sector.

Perfecting the Legal Framework for the Environmental Industry On the afternoon of January 9, the Industrial Safety Techniques and Environment Agency (ISEA/Cục ATMT) organized a conference to summarize work in 2025 and deploy tasks for 2026.

Directing the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Truong Thanh Hoai fully agreed with and highly appreciated ISEA’s report on the results of task implementation in 2025 as well as directions and tasks for 2026.

2025 Achievements: Efficiency and Contribution “In the past year, the Agency has basically completed assigned tasks well, contributing to the general economic development results of the country and the Industry and Trade sector. Especially, in the context of economic growth, where processing and manufacturing industrial growth reached the highest level in the past 5 years and export turnover continued to rise strongly, the contribution of units within the Ministry, including ISEA, is very important,” the Deputy Minister expressed.

Directives: Addressing Overlaps and Gaps However, besides recognizing and appreciating achieved results, the Deputy Minister requested the Agency to be more proactive in advising on institution building and perfection.

• Review Functions: Review and adjust functions and tasks to overcome overlaps between ministries and sectors, as well as between units within the Ministry.
• No Management Gaps: Ensure no gaps occur in the state management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

According to MOIT leadership, reality shows that ISEA is one of the units that Ministry leaders have to remind the least regarding administrative procedure handling and work operation. This clearly demonstrates the proactivity and high responsibility of the Agency’s leadership collective, as well as its staff.

Additionally, the Agency undertakes many specific tasks such as natural disaster prevention, incident response, and civil defense, demonstrating a spirit of proactivity and responsibility. The Agency’s subordinate public service units also have advantages in personnel, equipment, and practical experience, serving as an important foundation for implementing tasks in the coming time.

“Although there are still many difficulties, especially regarding the legal basis, the 2025 work results show the great effort of the Agency’s collective. On behalf of the Ministry leadership, I acknowledge and highly appreciate the efforts and achievements ISEA has attained recently,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Addressing Specific Overlaps Simultaneously, the Deputy Minister requested the Agency to urgently review all functions and tasks, especially contents likely to overlap with the Agriculture and Environment sectors, particularly as many new laws related to the environment will be issued in the near future.

“This review needs to be carried out seriously and urgently to ensure no gaps occur in state management regarding industrial environment and environmental industry,” the Deputy Minister stated.

Decentralization and Local Support At the conference, Deputy Minister Truong Thanh Hoai also agreed with the Agency’s work program. Accordingly, in the coming time, tasks such as perfecting decrees and circulars need to be done seriously and on schedule.

Addressing the recent strong decentralization and delegation of power to local governments, the Deputy Minister emphasized:

“Therefore, I request the Agency to strengthen inspection and supervision teams regarding law enforcement at localities. This serves both to supervise/inspect and to support localities in completing decentralized tasks. This is a transition process, and while the capacity of many localities is still limited, we need to join hands and work together.”

Enhancing Safety Management: A Long-term Vision According to MOIT leadership, the Agency’s task in the coming time is very heavy but also very important. Currently, the legal corridor for the environmental industry sector is scattered across many different laws.

“In the long term, it is necessary to research to build a sufficiently strong legal framework, potentially even a separate Law or mechanism for the environmental industry sector. Only then can we be truly proactive and promote the highest efficiency, making practical contributions to the country’s general development,” Deputy Minister Truong Thanh Hoai noted.

Agency Response and Commitment At the conference, on behalf of the collective of officials and employees, ISEA Director General Pham Tuan Anh thanked and seriously absorbed the profound directing opinions of Deputy Minister Truong Thanh Hoai. “These are extremely important orientations, demonstrating the concern, responsibility, and expectations of the Ministry leadership for ISEA in performing assigned tasks,” Director General Pham Tuan Anh expressed.

According to Mr. Pham Tuan Anh, the Agency pays close attention to directives related to continuing research, proposing institution building/perfection, and fixing management gaps with a spirit of receptiveness, responsibility, and high determination. The leadership collective and all staff seriously absorb and will organize the effective implementation of the Deputy Minister’s directives, striving to complete tasks well in 2026 and subsequent years.

“In the coming time, the Agency will focus on several major priorities, including advising on institution building and perfection; improving the validity and efficiency of state management in the field of industrial safety; and continuing to consolidate the organizational apparatus of the Agency and specialized departments towards streamlined efficiency,” the ISEA leader emphasized.

2025 Regulatory Output In 2025, ISEA excellently completed the task of presiding over the drafting and submission to competent authorities for the issuance of:

• 1 Decree.
• 1 Decision of the Prime Minister.
• 5 Circulars.

Thereby, timely supplementing and fully perfecting the legal system on industrial safety management, especially safety in mineral mining and processing, and safety management of hydropower dams and reservoirs.