The obligations on
environment protection in respect to the individual, small business, e.g. bar,
restaurant business are generally regulated under a number of legal documents,
e.g. the Law on Environment protection No. 52/2005/QH11 dated November 29th
2005, Decree No. 29/2011/ND-CP dated April 18th 2011 regulating on
strategic environment assessment report, environmental impact assessment
reports, commitment to environmental protection; Decree No. 117/2009/ND-CP
dated December 31st 2009 on dealing with violation in the field of
environment protection (Decree No. 117/2009/ND-CP).
Under the applicable laws
on environment protection (Article No. 24 of Law on Environment Protection),
the household scaled production, business and service units and objects that
are not fallen into the categories required for preparation of Strategic
Environment Assessment Reports and Environmental Impact Assessment Reports
shall be subject to the commitment to environmental protection made in written
form.
According to Decree No.
117/2009/ND-CP dated December 31st 2009 on dealing with violation in
the field of environment protection (Decree No. 117/2009/ND-CP), the small
business shall be fined if they generate the waste water that does not comply
with the standards or technical regulations on wastewater.
Currently , the laws on
environment protection set out the National Technical Regulation on Hazardous
Waste Thresholds QCVN 07_2009_BTNMT , therefore, this Regulation specifies
thresholds for hazardous wastes and mixture of wastes (except for radioactive
waste and gaseous and vapor waste) with corresponding names in the list of
hazardous wastes issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
If the waste water excesses the standards or technical regulations under that
technical regulation, it shall be considered as hazardous waste. These
Regulations are applied to the waster water generators.
Based on the technical and
chemical indexes under the regulation QCVN 07_2009_BTNMT and the list of
hazardous waste, the laws on environment protection shall determine in which
level the small business violates and to which administrative penalty shall
applied.
It means that the small
business is subject to a written commitment to environmental protection and the
laws require the small business to register with the local managing state
authority.
After having registered,
the business entity must comply with the content in the commitment to
environmental protection. If failing to duly or fully comply, the business
entity shall be fined a penalty of between VND500,000 to VND 5,000,000. If
failing to duly construct, operate or regularly maintain the environment
treatment constructions as undertook under the commitment to environmental
protection, the business entity shall be fined a penalty of between
VND10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000. If failing to issue and register the
commitment to environmental protection, the business entity shall be fined a
penalty of between VND15,000,000 to VND 25,000,000 (Article No. 07 of Decree
No. 117/2009/ND-CP).
During the operation, the
business entity must comply with other requirements of environment protection,
e.g. the limit of noise. Accordingly, the business entity cannot excess the
standards or technical regulations on noise defined for the time sheet between
6:00 hrs and 22:00 hrs and between 22:00 hrs and 6:00 hrs. If failing to comply
with the requirement, the business entity shall be fined a penalty of between
VND2,000,000 to VND100,000,000 (Article No. 12 of Decree No. 117/2009/ND-CP).
In the case that the bar,
restaurant is being operated in a building, trade center, the business entity
may be allowed to exhaust the wasted water through the building exhaust system.
It is not required for wasted water treatment or applying for the permit for
exhausting wasted water. But, if the bar and restaurant is located in a
separate area, especially on and/or near the river, the business entity must
construct the treatment system of wasted water and is only allowed to exhaust
the water in compliance with the qualifications standard. The business entity
is also required to apply for the permit for water exhausting to the water
resource. If the business entity does not comply with this requirement and
intentionally exhaust the wasted water into the water resource, it shall be
fined a penalty of up to VND 300,000,000 depending on the amount of water
exhaust and poisonous level (Article No. 10 of Decree No. 117/2009/ND-CP).
Moreover, the regulations on energy use are
mostly applied for industrial, agricultural high scale production which are not
subject to the small business. However
it is also encouraged that this business entity concentrates on saving energy
and water to protect environment.