Experts proposed to revise a number of provisions of the Mineral Law for stricter and more effective management of mineral activities, heard a workshop in Hanoi in mid-September.
At the workshop to review five years of implementing the mineral policies and law, they pointed out difficulties in implementing the 2010 Mineral Law such as method to determine damage and to identify agencies in charge of, and resources to be used for, making compensations when mineral activities are announced to be banned or temporarily banned in certain areas.
They went on to say that although the Mineral Law as well as the Law on Environmental Protection laid down the responsibility of mining organizations and individuals to restore the environment and pay deposits for environmental restoration, their specific responsibilities for environmental rehabilitation and restoration in the course of mineral mining and revaluation of public property before closing mines under approved plans were not yet clearly defined.
The Mineral Law provided no feasible mechanism for handling mining organizations and individuals that fail to implement mine closure plans, they said.
The mineral legislation was inconsistent with other relevant tax laws with regard to taxation of mineral resources of all types and categories and remained silent on quality and extraction conditions of mines as well as incentives for enterprises investing in technologies for extraction, savage extraction and processing of low-concentration minerals, said Vu Manh Hung from the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, adding there also lacked provisions on methods of calculation of expenses for restoration of the environment and public works surrounding exploited mines.
Experts took the occasion to call for simplification of the procedures and dossiers for grant of mineral activity permits, addition of standards and technical regulations on deep processing of minerals and economical and efficient extraction and use of mineral resources, and participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).- (VLLF)
