Improving the Regulations and the Management Apparatus for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Abstract:
Extended producer responsibility has been in force since 2022, requiring producers and importers to treat and recycle their products at set rates. More than two years of implementation have revealed a number of shortcomings that need to be addressed, above all the design of a coherent and complete organisational apparatus so that extended producer responsibility (EPR) can be implemented smoothly and effectively.
Keywords: Organisational apparatus; management; improving regulations; extended producer responsibility (EPR).
Received: 22 April 2024 – Reviewed: 21 May 2024 – Approved: 17 June 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59394/qlnn.341.2024.877
Main content of the article
- Implementing the rules and organising the management apparatus for EPR
- EPR is set out in Articles 54 and 55 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection and in Decree 08/2022/ND-CP.
- EPR 2020 is mandatory: producers and importers must recycle products and packaging at prescribed rates and specifications.
- The objective is to encourage product design for recyclability, extend product life, cut costs and develop the circular economy.
- Rules already exist on the recycling cost norm (Fs), the mechanism of the Viet Nam Environment Protection Fund, and the establishment of the National EPR Council.
- Significant limitations remain, however: the parties subject to EPR are not clearly identified, reuse is not encouraged, the conditions for producer responsibility organisations (PROs) are loose, recycling specifications are complex, and the arrangements between the EPR Council and the EPR Office do not yet work smoothly.
- Solutions and directions for improvement
- Clarify who bears EPR obligations (based on ownership of the brand or trademark).
- Set the obligation on the basis of the recycling rate applied to the volume of products or packaging placed on the market in the previous year.
- Publish a transparent list of recycling facilities on the national EPR system.
- Revise the conditions for becoming an intermediary recycling organisation (a minimum of 10 authorising businesses).
- Relax the recycling specifications and focus instead on the goal of producing usable input materials.
- Simplify registration and reporting of recycling results; synchronise the data.
- Change the payment deadline (a single payment each year before 20 October instead of two).
Longer-term directions:
- Amend the Law on Environmental Protection to broaden the forms of support and the range of beneficiaries.
- Strengthen the role of the National EPR Council.
- Establish a Department of Resource Circularity under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to manage EPR, the circular economy and waste.
- Separate administrative functions (the EPR management agency) from public service delivery (PROs).
- Have PROs operate on a non-profit basis, manage primary EPR data and support businesses in meeting their EPR obligations.
- Conclusion
- EPR brings economic, environmental and social benefits.
- In Viet Nam it has only been mandatory since 2022, so difficulties remain.
- Regulations and the management apparatus need further work so that the EPR system runs coherently and effectively, in line with practical realities and international trends.
References: the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection, Decree 08/2022/ND-CP, UNEP 2019, Prevent Waste Alliance (2020), and materials on EPR in Germany and the Republic of Korea.