Acts such as discharging waste beyond permitted standards, illegal burial of hazardous waste, illegal wildlife trade, and unauthorized exploitation of natural resources recur frequently and are often organized, posing significant challenges to detection, investigation, and handling. Although the legal system on environmental protection is generally relatively comprehensive, gaps in enforcement, insufficiently deterrent sanctions, and limited investigative capacity for environmental crimes still remain. Therefore, improving the legal framework is an urgent requirement to enhance the effectiveness of combatting, deterring, and preventing environmental crimes. This article seeks to contribute to addressing these critical issues.
Keywords: Combating environmental crimes; legal framework; legal improvement; environmental protection.
The situation of environmental crimes and violations of environmental law has become increasingly complicated in many localities, industrial zones, and residential areas. This has seriously affected the investment environment, production and business activities, as well as the quality of life of the people. In order to effectively prevent and combat such crimes, specialized environmental forces have proactively coordinated to dismantle numerous cases and implemented various comprehensive and proactive solutions. However, the pressing issue at present is to improve the legal framework to enhance the effectiveness of the fight against environmental crimes.
THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN THE STRUGGLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The legal framework refers to the system of legal documents that serve as the basis for preventing, detecting, and handling violations and for protecting environmental rights. In Vietnam, it includes:
1. Constitution: The 2013 Constitution stipulates that environmental protection is the responsibility of the State, organizations, and individuals; everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment.
2. Laws: The Law on Environmental Protection 2020 (the central and most important law); together with related laws such as the Penal Code (environmental crimes), the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, the Land Law, the Law on Water Resources, the Forestry Law, the Fisheries Law, and the Law on Biodiversity.
3. Sub-law documents: Government decrees (providing detailed guidance on law implementation and sanctioning environmental violations); circulars of ministries and sectors (technical guidance and environmental standards).
4. International treaties: International conventions and agreements on environmental protection to which Vietnam is a party (e.g., climate change, biodiversity protection, hazardous waste management).
Thus, the legal framework for environmental protection comprises a comprehensive system of regulations ranging from the Constitution and laws to sub-law documents and international treaties, forming the legal basis for environmental protection and the handling of pollution-related acts.
CURRENT LEGAL GAPS
1. Limited sanctions and enforcement:Many acts causing serious environmental damage are still subject only to administrative penalties, which lack sufficient deterrent effect. When consequences exceed the threshold of administrative handling, the transition to criminal prosecution faces numerous difficulties. Certain provisions on environmental damage assessment, valuation of losses, and remediation responsibilities remain unclear, making evidentiary proof in legal proceedings challenging.
2. Weak inter-agency coordination: Coordination mechanisms among functional forces such as environmental police, environmental inspectors, forest rangers, and tax authorities remain insufficiently unified, leading to responsibility shifting, delays in evidence collection, and slow case handling.
3. Difficulties in investigation, prosecution, and damage assessment: Determining environmental damage and its causes is not only scientifically complex but also legally challenging without clear regulations on professional assessment and calculation of remediation costs.
REASONS FOR THE NEED TO IMPROVE THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMETAL PROTECTION
1. Increasingly severe environmental degradation: Air, water, and soil pollution; biodiversity loss; and climate change are becoming more complex. Without a complete and clear legal framework, it is difficult to control and prevent harmful environmental acts.
2. Establishing a clear legal basis for prevention and handling of violations: An improved legal framework helps clearly define prohibited acts, responsibilities of individuals, enterprises, and state agencies, and sufficiently deterrent sanctions. This ensures fair, consistent, and effective handling of environmental violations.
3. Raising awareness and responsibility across society: Clear laws help citizens and businesses understand their environmental protection obligations, encouraging proactive compliance rather than superficial or reactive behavior.
4. Ensuring legitimate rights of the people: When environmental pollution occurs, citizens have a legal basis to file complaints, denunciations, and claims for compensation, thereby protecting health and the right to live in a healthy environment.
5. Contributing to sustainable socio-economic development: A comprehensive environmental legal system helps balance economic development with environmental protection, avoiding the trade-off of environmental quality for short-term growth.
Improving the legal framework for environmental protection is thus a crucial condition for safeguarding natural resources, human health, and sustainable national development.
PROPOSED SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND SUPPORTING LAW ENFORCEMENT
To improve the legal framework for combating environmental crimes in Vietnam, it is necessary to focus on amending and supplementing relevant laws (such as the Law on Environmental Protection and the Ordinance on Environmental Police) to address legal gaps, strengthen damage assessment mechanisms, adjust organizational structures, clarify coordination responsibilities, integrate technology, and align with international commitments - thereby enhancing deterrence and effectiveness in addressing increasingly sophisticated violations, protecting human rights, and promoting sustainable development.
1. Key directions for improvement include:
a. Amending legal documents:
Review and amend the Law on Environmental Protection and regulations on criminal and administrative handling, especially sub-law documents, to align with the new state organizational structure. Improve the Ordinance on Environmental Police to clarify authority and coordination mechanisms among forces.
b. Enhancing investigation and handling effectiveness:
- Damage assessment: Supplement regulations on environmental damage assessment and scientific calculation of remediation costs, with participation of specialized agencies, to remove existing legal bottlenecks.
- Handling cross-border cases: Integrate provisions for addressing transnational environmental crimes in line with international conventions to which Vietnam is a party (Basel, CITES, etc.).
c. Improving organizational structure and coordination:
Adjust the organization, functions, and tasks of environmental management agencies at all levels to ensure unity and effectiveness. Establish clearer inter-sectoral and inter-regional coordination mechanisms among ministries (Natural Resources and Environment, Public Security, Justice, etc.) and local authorities.
d. Applying technology and administrative reform:
Apply information technology and digitalize data in environmental management and monitoring to support investigation and crime tracing. Strengthen decentralization and administrative reform to facilitate environmental crime prevention.
e. Strengthening deterrence:
Increase sanctions to ensure sufficient deterrent effect, including not only administrative penalties but also strict criminal prosecution for environmental crimes.
f. Alignment with international commitments:
Ensure domestic legal provisions are compatible with international treaties on environmental protection and transnational crime prevention.
The ultimate goal is to protect public health, ecosystems, and livelihoods, moving toward green and sustainable economic development in line with the 2013 Constitution’s guarantee of the human right to live in a safe and healthy environment.
2. Solutions for Improving Legislation
To address the above limitations, experts and management agencies have proposed orientations for improving the legal framework, specifically:
a. Amending and supplementing ordinances and relevant laws:
The Vietnamese Government issued Resolution No. 377/NQ-CP dated November 21, 2025 on the draft Ordinance amending and supplementing several articles of the Ordinance on Environmental Police, aiming to expand authority and handling scope at the grassroots level. The draft focuses on granting greater authority to environmental police at the commune level, enabling earlier detection and handling of violations rather than limiting authority to district or provincial levels as before.
b. Strengthening inter-agency coordination mechanisms:
Develop unified command principles, clearly define responsibilities and deadlines among relevant agencies, establish data-sharing mechanisms, form rapid response teams for environmental incidents, and standardize evidence-handling procedures to avoid overlooking crimes.
c. Legalizing damage assessment and remediation:
Supplement regulations on environmental damage assessment and remediation cost calculation with participation of specialized agencies to provide a solid legal basis in judicial proceedings.
d. Adjusting to align with international law:
As Vietnam is a party to conventions such as Basel (hazardous waste transport) and CITES (wildlife trade), updating and harmonizing domestic law with these commitments enhances effectiveness in handling cross-border cases.
3. Solutions Supporting Law Enforcement
For the law to be effectively implemented in practice, a comprehensive system of solutions is required:
a. Application of technology and artificial intelligence:
High-tech applications in environmental monitoring, data analysis, and violation prediction enable early detection and damage mitigation. Technology also supports accurate evidence collection for investigation and prosecution.
b. Training and capacity building for officials:
Specialized training for investigators, environmental inspectors, and relevant personnel is crucial for improving detection and handling capacity.
c. Strengthening legal dissemination:
Promote legal education on environmental protection for citizens and businesses, encouraging community participation in monitoring and reporting violations.
d. Expanding authority and handling from the grassroots level:
The Government’s Resolution No. 377/NQ-CP dated November 21, 2025 assigns the Ministry of Public Security to lead and coordinate with relevant ministries to finalize the amended Ordinance on Environmental Police, expanding authority for early-stage handling.
In practice, although the environmental legal system is relatively comprehensive, enforcement remains inadequate. Many violations are addressed only administratively despite causing serious damage. Investigation and monitoring capacity is limited, sanctions lack deterrence, and criminal prosecution remains rare. In many cases, damage exceeds recoverable levels by the time violations are detected.
The 2014 Ordinance on Environmental Police established an important legal framework for specialized forces. However, changes in police organizational structure and evolving crime methods necessitate amendments to enhance enforcement effectiveness.
4. Comprehensive Solutions for Combating Environmental Crimes
To effectively combat environmental crimes, coordinated solutions at state, community, and enterprise levels are required:
a. Improving legislation and deterrence:
Amend environmental protection laws to be clear, strict, and enforceable; increase sanctions (fines, suspension of operations, remediation requirements); and apply criminal liability to serious and repeat offenders.
b. Enhancing enforcement and monitoring:
Strengthen capacity of environmental police and inspectors; conduct regular and surprise inspections; apply digital technologies (cameras, sensors, satellite data) to monitor pollution, deforestation, and illegal exploitation.
c. Preventing from the root:
Integrate economic development planning with sustainable environmental protection; strictly control environmental impact assessments; promote cleaner production and circular economy.
d. Raising awareness and community role:
Enhance environmental education in schools and media; encourage public reporting and protect whistleblowers; strengthen roles of social organizations, mass organizations, and the press.
e. Corporate responsibility:
Require enterprises to comply with environmental standards and disclose emissions; encourage investment in clean technologies; link environmental responsibility with corporate reputation and branding.
f. Domestic and international cooperation:
Enhance inter-sectoral coordination (public security, natural resources and environment, customs, forest rangers); strengthen international cooperation in combating transnational environmental crimes (wildlife trade, waste trafficking).
Combating environmental crimes requires not only state authorities but also active participation from the entire society, combining strict law enforcement, effective monitoring, and strong community awareness.
Improving the legal framework for combating environmental crime has become an urgent and strategic requirement in the current context. Amid increasing pressures from industrialization, urbanization, resource exploitation, and climate change, violations of environmental law are becoming more complex and sophisticated, causing serious and long-lasting consequences for ecosystems, public health, and the country’s sustainable development. Therefore, building and refining a comprehensive, coherent, and effective legal framework is a prerequisite for enhancing the capacity to prevent, detect, and handle acts that harm the environment.
First, improving the legal framework will contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of handling environmental law violations by addressing shortcomings, overlaps, and gaps in the existing system of legal normative documents. Reviewing, amending, and supplementing relevant ordinances, laws, and decrees is necessary to ensure consistency, transparency, and feasibility in law enforcement. Legal provisions should be designed to be clear and specific, with strong deterrent effects, while remaining aligned with practical management needs and the realities of combating environmental crime.
In addition, expanding and clarifying the authority of competent agencies in investigating and handling environmental crimes is an important factor in strengthening law enforcement effectiveness. At the same time, it is essential to reinforce inter-agency coordination mechanisms among forces such as the police, forest rangers, customs, environmental inspectors, and local authorities to ensure unified direction, information sharing, and timely handling of violations. Such close coordination helps prevent offenders from evading justice and avoids prolonged or ineffective case handling.
Another key aspect is the legalization and standardization of procedures for assessing environmental damage. Determining the extent, scope, and consequences of violations must be conducted on a scientific, objective basis with clear legal validity, serving as grounds for criminal, civil, and administrative liability. Moreover, harmonizing domestic legislation with international standards, treaties, and practices on environmental protection will enhance integration capacity and provide a legal basis for international cooperation in combating transnational environmental crime.
In conclusion, improving the legal framework to combat environmental crime is not only aimed at strengthening enforcement effectiveness but also at protecting the living environment, safeguarding public health, and promoting sustainable development. This is a process that requires a long-term vision, strong political commitment, and the coordinated participation of the entire political system and society as a whole, in order to build a robust, deterrent, and flexible legal system that meets practical demands in the new era.
MA. Pham Xuan Thuong
REFERENCES
- Ordinance on Environmental Police No. 10/2014/UBTVQH13 defining functions, tasks, powers, and organizational mechanisms of the specialized force combating environmental crimes.
- Government Decree No. 105/2015/ND-CP guiding implementation of the Ordinance on Environmental Police, detailing inspection, control, and administrative sanctioning of environmental violations.
- Penal Code 2015 (as amended), containing provisions on environmental crimes and criminal sanctions for pollution and environmental destruction, including liability of individuals and legal entities.
- Decree No. 72/2010/ND-CP on prevention and combat of environmental crimes and violations (a foundational document for organizational coordination and operational measures).
- Article “Improving the Legal Framework for Combating Environmental Crimes” (People’s Army Newspaper), updating practical issues, draft ordinance amendments, expanded authority, and strengthened inter-agency coordination.
