Decision No. 12/2021/QD-TTg dated March 24, 2021 on issuing regulations on oil spill response

DECISION

ISSUING REGULATIONS ON OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization dated June 19, 2015; the Law on Amending and Supplementing certain Articles of the Law on Government Organization and the Law on Local Government Organization dated November 22, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Inland Waterway Traffic dated June 15, 2004; the Law on Amendments and Supplements to certain Articles of the Law on Inland Waterway Traffic dated June 17, 2014;

Pursuant to the Law on environmental protection dated June 23, 2014;

Pursuant to the Law on Marine and Island Resources dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Vietnam’s Sea dated June 21, 2012;

Pursuant to the Vietnam Maritime Code dated November 25, 2015;

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Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 02/2019/ND-CP dated January 2, 2019 on civil defence;

In light of the Written Request of the Minister of National Defence No. 665/TTr-BQP dated March 12, 2021;

The Prime Minister hereby issues the Decision to issue regulations on oil spill response.

Article 1.Regulations on oil spill response activities are annexed hereto.

Article 2.This Decision shall take effect as from May 10, 2021, replacing the Prime Minister's Decision No. 02/2013/QD-TTg dated January 14, 2013, issuing the Regulations on oil spill response activities, the Prime Minister's Decision No. 63/2014/QD-TTg dated November 11, 2014, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations on oil spill response activities annexed to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 02/2013 /QD-TTg dated January 14, 2013.

Article 3.National Committee for Search and Rescue of Vietnam, Ministers, Heads of Ministry-level agencies, Heads of Governmental bodies, and Presidents of People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces, shall be responsible for implementing this Decision./.

PP. PRIME MINISTER
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER




Trinh Dinh Dung

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REGULATIONS

ON OIL SPILL RESPONSE
(Annexed to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 12/2021/QD-TTg dated March 24, 2021)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

These Regulations prescribe details of, and responsibilities of organizations and individuals for, preparatory and management actions for response, mitigation and remedy against oil spills occurring within the territory and territorial sea of Vietnam.

Article 2. Subjects of application  

These Regulations apply to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals directly or indirectly causing oil spills and taking oil spill response actions within the territory and territorial sea of Vietnam.

Article 3. Interpretation

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1. Oil, including:

a) Crude oil means oil from fields which has not yet been processed, is a natural hydrocarbon gas liquid, asphalts, ozokerite and hydrocarbon liquid obtained from a natural gases through condensation or absorption;

b) Finished oil is any kind of processed petroleum products, such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, jet fuel, heating fuel, lubricating or preservative oil, grease, and other products used for production of fuel oils and greases.

2. Oil spill means a phenomenon where oil from various storage and transportation equipment, facilities, structures and oil fields is escaped into the natural environment due to technical incident, natural disaster or human activity.

3. Major oil spill means an oil spill that occurs with a large amount of oil spilled over a wide area, involving many provinces and cities, seriously threatening life, property, environment and health of the people.

4. Oil spill response means any activity carried out using forces, means, equipment and supplies to promptly handle, eliminate or minimize the amount of oil spilled into the environment.

5. Mitigation of consequences of an oil spill is any activity aimed at cleaning up soil, water and ecosystem of an oil-contaminated area and any measure taken to limit damage and restore the ecology and environment after each oil spill.

6. Oil spill response activities encompass all activities from preparation, response, mitigation and remedy for consequences of an oil spill.

7. Oil spill response plan means a projection of risks and incidents that are likely to cause an oil spill together with response plans in these projected situations, training and drilling programs to ensure the readiness of resources for timely response to an oil spill that may occur in reality.

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9. On-scene commander means a person designated or appointed to directly command all response activities at the incident scene. Rights and responsibilities of an on-scene commander are specified in each local or intramural oil spill response plan.

10. Establishment/facility means any entity, legal or natural person involved in extraction, transportation, transfer or use of gasoline and oil causing or posing the risk of causing an oil spill.

11. Establishment/facility owner means the head of an entity assuming total legal responsibility for an establishment’s operations.

12. Lead agency means an authority presiding over and taking charge of oil spill response operations.

13. Response unit means an organization that has oil spill response equipment and personnel professionally educated and trained to gain competency in conducting oil spill incident response activities.

14. Project means a construction project, facility, port or harbor posing the risk of causing an oil spill. 

15. Prioritized protection area means an area with high environmental or socio-economic sensitivity that needs to be protected when an oil spill occurs, such as mangroves, coral reefs, ecological conservation areas, biosphere reserves, drinking/domestic and industrial sources of water, rated historical relics, tourist sites, concentrated aquaculture areas.

16. Restricted area means an area defined by coordinates on a maritime chart or by specific onshore or coastal boundaries and landmarks to warn and restrict movements in that area to ensure safety when conducting rescue, salvage or response to an oil spill.

17. Responsible party means any organization or individual causing an oil spill resulting in environmental pollution.

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19. DWT means the amount of weight in tonnes that a vessel can carry when loaded to the maximum permissible draught.

20. GT means the gross tonnage, which is a measure of the volume of all enclosed spaces on board the ship, including funnel.

Article 4. Oil spill response principles

1. Actively develop plans, invest in equipment and contracts to get ready to respond to oil spills that may occur.

2. Take charge of receiving and processing information on oil spill incidents in a timely manner, prioritize provision of information for response activities, and promptly report to competent authorities if the incident is beyond the response capacity.

3. Coordinate and mobilize all resources to improve the effectiveness of oil spill preparedness and response with priority given to victim rescue and environmental protection.

4. Actively perform response activities near the source of oil spills to prevent and limit oil from being spilled into the environment. Closely monitor the risk of spread of spilled oil towards the shoreline to determine the order of priority and take measures to protect prioritized protection areas.

5. Ensure fire safety and prevention while carrying out response activities.

6. Uniformly command, cooperate and closely collaborate with forces, means and equipment participating in response activities.

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Article 5. Decentralization of oil spill response authority

Based on the incident severity, there are three levels at which response activities are carried out accordingly:

1. Local level

a) Local oil spills: Establishment owners shall be accorded authority to lead and command their own forces, means and equipment or those stated in oil spill response contracts to carry out response activities in a timely manner. Owners of establishments blamed for oil spills shall be responsible for being put in command of the oil spill scene;

b) In case an oil spill is beyond the capacity of an establishment’s capacity or local resources are not affordable for response activities, the establishment must promptly report such situation to the governing body or the People's Committee of a province or centrally-affiliated city (hereinafter referred to as provincial state authority) to seek their support;

c) In case where a serious oil spill occurs or an oil spill occurs in a prioritized protection area, the head of the authority who are assigned as the on-scene commander shall report to the People's Committee of the province where the oil spill occurs and the National Committee for Search and Rescue to seek their orders or directives to take timely actions against the oil spill.

2. Regional level

a) If an oil spill occurs beyond the establishment's response capacity or an oil spill occurs due to unknown causes at localities, the People's Committee of the province where the oil spill occurs shall directly responsible for leading and appointing an on-scene commander to take charge of response activities according to the local plan, and can urgently requisition necessary resources from local establishments, ministries and central authorities and the regional oil spill response center located within the province to take response actions;

b) The contact point that helps the provincial People's Committee take charge of spill oil activities is the provincial Steering Committee for Search and Rescue.

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a) In case where a major oil spill is beyond the local authority’s capacity, the People's Committee of the province where that oil spill occurs shall promptly report it to the National Committee for Search and Rescue to directly take control of and cooperate with relevant agencies in response activities;

b) In case an oil spill is beyond the response capacity of domestic forces, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall solicit the Prime Minister to issue the decision to seek international support;

In the course of responding to oil spill incidents at the above-mentioned levels, lead agencies or on-scene commanders should proactively address and promptly report on incidents, submit necessary recommendations to relevant competent authorities and take responsibility for their decisions.

Article 6. Ranking of oil spill incidents

1. An oil spill may be ranked into 3 levels, including minor, moderate and major, depending on the spill amount or the amount of oil involved or released, specifically as follows:   

a) Small oil spill (minor level) is an oil spill involving the spill amount which is less than 20 m³ (tonnes);

b) Medium-sized oil spill (moderate level) is an oil spill involving the spill amount which ranges from 20 m³ (tonnes) to 500 m³ (tonnes);

c) Large oil spill (major level) is an oil spill involving the spill amount which is greater than 500 m³ (tonnes).

2. The ranking of oil spills can help develop response plans and determine the level of investment in equipment and resources to get prepared and respond in a timely manner for different levels of response.

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PREPAREDNESS FOR OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Article 7. Formulation, review and approval of all-level oil spill response plans

1. The National Committee for Search and Rescue shall preside over, and cooperate with ministries, ministerial-level authorities and local authorities in, formulating the National Plan for Oil Spill Response and submitting it to the Prime Minister to seek his approval and shall be responsible for leading the implementation of the plan; shall guide local authorities and establishments to develop oil spill response plans (according to the sample given in the instructions of Appendix I and II to these Regulations).

2. Provincial People's Committees shall develop local oil spill response plans and submit them to the National Committee for Search and Rescue for its review and approval. Local oil spill response plans should be annually updated and re-submitted for approval every 5 years.

3. Local ports, establishments and projects shall develop their oil spill response plans and submit them to the provincial People's Committees for their review and approval. When there is any change in conditions leading to any change in the contents of a plan, the plan must be updated on an annual basis; When there are any major changes that increase the storage capacity to the extent of exceeding the response capacity in comparison with predetermined response plans, the plan must be reworked and submitted to the competent authority to seek their approval.

4. Offshore oil and gas facilities and projects develop plans to respond to oil spills, report them to the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group for its review, submit them to the National Committee for Search and Rescue to seek its approval and notify the People's Committee of the province at risk of being affected by incidents that may occur at these facilities or projects.

5. Gasoline stockpiles, warehouses or storage facilities with total reserve volume of 50,000 m³ or more, and petrol ports capable of receiving ships with a tonnage of 50,000 DWT or more, should develop incident response plans and report on them to their governing entities for review (Gasoline warehouses or storage facilities connected with petrol ports should develop a common oil spill response plan for use at these warehouse ports) and then submit them to the National Committee for Search and Rescue for its approval.

6. Local ports, gasoline stockpiles, warehouses or storage facilities, each of which has a total reserve volume of less than 50,000 m³, petrol and oil ports capable of receiving the ship of less than 50,000 DWT shall develop oil spill response plans, represent them to governing bodies for their review (Petrol warehouses or storage facilities connected with petrol ports shall develop a common oil spill response plan for both the storage facilities and ports) and submit them to the provincial People's Committees to seek their approval.

7. Petrol and oil trading establishments that may pose a small risk of oil spills on land, in rivers or at sea should develop oil spill response plans and submit them to the district-level People's Committees for their approval or governing bodies for their review and approval according to regulations (for those not under the management of the district-level People's Committees). These plans must be notified to the district-level People’s Committees for their cooperation in execution of these plans.

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9. Oil tankers flying the flag of Vietnam, each of which has total tonnage of 150 GT or more, other ships other than oil tankers, each of which has total tonnage of 400 GT or more, must have their oil pollution response plans approved by competent authorities of the Ministry of Transport; oil tankers flying the flag of Vietnam, each of which has total tonnage of 150 GT or more, engaged in the transshipment of oil between ships at sea must develop plans for oil transshipment between ships at sea to seek approval from competent authorities of the Ministry of Transport.

Article 8. Period of review and approval of oil spill response plans

1. Organizations and individuals must send application dossiers for review and approval of oil spill response plans directly or by post or via other appropriate means to competent authorities.

2. An application dossier for review and approval of an oil spill response plan is composed of:

a) Application form;

b) Text of the plan prepared by using the form given in Appendix I and II hereto.

3. Period of review and approval of an oil spill response plan

a) For a plan approved by the National Committee for Search and Rescue, within 30 working days (excluding holidays) from the date of receipt of a complete and valid dossier, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall be responsible for verifying and issuing the decision on whether  the oil spill response plan is approved;

b) For the plan put under the approval authority of the People’s Committee, within 20 working days (excluding holidays) from the date of receipt of a complete and valid dossier, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall be responsible for verifying and issuing the decision on whether  the oil spill response plan is approved;

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4. After being granted approval by competent authorities, oil spill response plans prescribed in Clause 1 through Clause 8 of Article 7 of this Decision must be notified to relevant agencies, units and local authorities so that they cooperate on execution thereof according to the functions, tasks and responsibilities specified in the plan.

Article 9. Setting up all-level oil spill response forces

1. The National Committee for Search and Rescue shall take charge of, and cooperate with ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local authorities in, designing programs and organizing training, practice and drills to improve effectiveness in cooperation in responding to and mitigating consequences of the national oil spill incident in Vietnam.

2. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Transport shall design and organize specialized training courses on oil spill response and consequence remediation for regional and national levels.

3. Provincial-level People's Committees shall take charge of designing and organizing training courses, drills and exercises to improve the effectiveness of responding to and mitigating consequences of oil spills occurring within their remit.

4. Regional oil spill response centers and oil spill response units shall ensure that their officers and employees are professionally trained and drilled to make them ready for emergency response activities in case of any incident that may occur. A regional oil spill response center may provide training and drilling sessions according to the plan approved by the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

5. Establishments and ports shall either make investment or enter into contracts to get prepared for response to oil spills with establishments that have means and equipment used for response activities or with Regional Oil Spill Response Centers at the level commensurate with possibilities of oil spill occurring in areas under their jurisdiction, and promptly mobilize means, equipment and supplies to carry out response activities, e.g. in case of an oil spill with the released amount of less than 20 tonnes of oil, containing the released oil within 02 hours; from over 20 tonnes to less than 500 tonnes, containing the released oil within 24 hours; from 500 tonnes or more, approaching the scene within 48 hours; and shall get ready to mobilize means, equipment and supplies to participate in cooperation in response to and remediation of consequences of oil spills at the request of competent authorities.

Article 10. Financial assurance for oil pollution compensation

1. Owners of Vietnamese ships and foreign-flagged ships transporting more than 2,000 tonnes of crude must have certificates of insurance or financial assurance for civil liability for damage inflicted by oil pollution in accordance with the provisions of the 1992 CLC Convention.

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Article 11. Implementation of all-level oil spill response plans

1. The National Committee for Search and Rescue shall preside over and cooperate with relevant ministries, central and local authorities in implementing the National Plan for oil spill response and checking the implementation of oil spill response plans under their approval-granting authority.

2. Provincial-level People's Committees shall implement approved oil spill response plans and inspect the implementation of oil spill response plans of establishments and projects within their remit.

3. Vietnam Oil and Gas Group shall collaborate with competent authorities in inspecting the implementation of oil spill response plans of offshore oil and gas facilities and projects under its authority.

4. Regional oil spill response centers shall implement approved oil spill response plans and cooperate with local competent authorities to inspect the implementation of their oil spill response plans of local facilities within their remit.

5. Facilities shall execute approved oil spill response plans.

6. Maritime Administrations, Inland Waterway Port Authorities and other inland waterway regulatory agencies shall take charge of inspecting and supervising the execution of oil spill response plans at ports and ships under way within port waters and on inland waterways under their jurisdiction.

7. Ships shall execute approved oil spill response plans.

Article 12. Monitoring oil spill incidents

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2. All active ports and facilities must closely monitor activities with high risk of oil spills occurring within their remit in order to promptly implement appropriate response measures.

3. Oil tankers carrying out transshipment or side-to-side transfer to other ships in Vietnamese waters must notify the plan of transshipment or side-to-side transfer at least 48 hours in advance to the nearest National Contact Point or Port Authority in terms of the time, location and the volume of oil to be transshipped or transferred side to side according to regulations so that competent authorities can monitor and take timely response measures in case of an oil spill occurring. Transshipment and side-to-side transfer shall be allowed only after receipt of the consent from the National Contact Point or the Port Authority.

Chapter III

CONDUCT OF OIL SPILL RESPONSE ACTIVITIES

Section 1. COOPERATION IN COMMUNICATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Article 13. Points of contact for oil spill incident reporting

1. Organizations and individuals that cause or detect an oil spill shall have the responsibility to promptly report it to one of the following agencies:

a) National contact point for oil spills at sea;

b) Nearest port authorities;

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d) Regional Centers for maritime search and rescue cooperation (in case of requesting rescue or salvage at sea);

dd) Vietnam’s coastal radio stations used for relaying information to lead agencies or rescue and emergency response agencies;

e) Departments of Natural Resources and Environment;

g) Nearest local authorities;

h) Permanent agencies for search and rescue of relevant ministries, ministry-level authorities and local authorities.

2. When detecting oil slick drift at sea, aircraft shall report to the air traffic service provider or search and rescue service provider to relay information to the competent authority as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. In addition to the above contact points, once an oil spill occurs or is detected, it can be reported to the Navy, Border and Coast Guard, Water Police for processing or forwarding of information to the lead agency.4. Processing oil spill information and reports.

Upon receipt of information or reports related to an oil spill, the lead agency must:

a) Verify information about the incident;

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c) Carry out emergency response plans and measures;

d) Notify relevant agencies and units about measures and plans for emergency response collaboration, and sign or decide on response activities;

dd) Inform agencies, units and populace in the areas affected or potentially affected by an oil spill of this incident in order for them to proactively respond to and mitigate the consequences;

e) Report to competent authorities on how information is processed and specific measures to cooperate on response, suggestions and recommendations.

Article 14. Reporting of oil spill response and recovery

1. In the process of responding to and recovering from an oil spill, the National Committee for Search and Rescue, ministries, ministerial-level authorities and local authorities must regularly report on issues falling within their decentralized authority.

2. Oil spill reporting must be continued without stop from the time of oil spill detection to the end of oil spill response activities, including:

a) The preliminary incident report, which is made when detecting an oil spill;

b) The follow-up incident report, which is made on a daily basis during the oil spill response process;

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d) The comprehensive incident report, which is made to aggregate oil spill response activities from the time of detection to the end of these activities.

3. Each report must contain the following information:

a) Time of occurrence or detection of the incident;

b) Location and coordinates of the incident 9if any);

c) Oil type;

d) Estimation of weight and speed of movement of spilled oil; 

dd) Weather condition (e.g. wave, wind, currents, etc.);

e) Response preparation and recommended plans for implementation of response actions;

g) Demands and requests for help, rescue and response to the oil spill incident.

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Article 15. Response to ship-source oil spills at sea

1. In case where a ship’s accident or incident causes an oil spill involving rescue of casualties, ships in distress and response to oil spills, organizing oil spill response and rescue activities falls into the following situations:

a) Regional oil spill response centers or marine rescue units shall perform oil spill response service contracts at the request of the ship master, owner or his/her representative or agent;

b) Regional Oil Spill Response Center in conjunction with Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Cooperation Center simultaneously conduct rescue of casualties and ships in distress;

c) Regional oil spill response centers or marine rescue units shall be responsible for cooperating when being called on by the National Committee for Search and Rescue or the People's Committee to participate in response activities.

2. In case where only marine rescue units participate in offshore response operations, the one that has more capacity and experience in responding may be appointed by the competent authority as an on-scene commander. Regional oil spill response centers shall act as on-scene commanders if they are called on to participate in response activities.

3. Maritime administrations should take urgent actions to dispatch ships and equipment to participate in oil spill rescue and response activities and cooperate with relevant agencies to monitor activities involved in rescue of casualties and ships in distress at sea.

4. In case where any oil spill is caused by multiple ships, these ships must work together to mitigate the consequences and must comply with the orders of the port authority or maritime administration and the on-scene commander.

5. In case where the oil spill poses the risk of getting close to the shore, the on-scene commander shall immediately report to the National Committee for Search and Rescue, the People's Committee of the coastal province that is likely to be affected by that oil spill to organize the monitoring of and preparation for response activities.

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7. Maritime administrations and related agencies must enable ships to participate in rescue and response activities quickly when there is a dispatch order from the competent authority or there is any request for rescue and response activities involved in oil spills.

8. It is possible to temporarily seize the collected oil for reuse and seize the ship causing the oil spill to request compensation.

9. The ship owner and the insurer providing insurance for the owner of the ship causing pollution shall be requested to take urgent action to pay compensation according to the prescribed limit of civil liability.

10. On-scene commanders and agencies and units in charge of response activities shall implement regulations on communication and report to the National Committee for Search and Rescue for their direction and support when necessary.

Article 16. Response to local oil spill incidents occurring at establishments or projects

1. Facilities must develop emergency plans to respond to oil spills and organize forces to ensure timely and effective prevention of and response to oil spills at the level corresponding to the possibility of oil spills caused by establishments.

2. In the case of limited resources and capabilities, establishments should contract with units capable of responding to oil spills in the area or with the Regional Oil Spill Response Center to assist in response activities when any oil spill may occur.

3. Establishments must fully conform to the requirements and instructions of the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and other competent agencies in order to prevent or minimize damage caused by oil pollution as quickly as possible.

4. In case of deeming that the establishment responds ineffectively or the oil spill is likely to cause serious consequences, the provincial People's Committee shall directly take up the position as or appoint an on-scene commander to organize response activities.

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Article 17. Response to oil spill incidents occurring in ports and harbors

1. Ports and harbors shall develop and immediately execute emergency response plans to mobilize resources to respond to oil spills.

2. In the event that an oil spill exceeds the port's capacity, a contract to participate in the incident response with establishments having responding capacity or with the Regional Oil Spill Response Center must be made.

3. The port authority shall cooperate with relevant local agencies in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of oil spill recovery.

4. In case of deeming that the port or harbor responds ineffectively or the oil spill is likely to cause more serious consequences, the port authority shall promptly report to the provincial People’s Committee to directly take their orders for response actions to be taken.

5. The port authority may impound and preserve the collected oil for reuse or as a preventive measure to ensure compensation for damage caused by the oil spill. The transfer of the collected oil shall be based on the received compensation amount or the compensation commitment with the ship owner.

6. In case where a ship owner causing the oil spill is unable to guarantee compensation, the Director of the port authority, competent authorities or emergency response forces shall request the jurisdictional Court to make a decision on impoundment of the ship to ensure compensation for response costs, damage and losses caused by oil spills.

7. The response to oil spills in military ports and inland waterway areas shall also be governed by the provisions of this Article.

8. Military ships and official ships that cause oil spills shall not be governed by the provisions of Clause 5 and 6 of this Article.

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Article 18. Response to local oil spill incidents

1. The People's Committee of the province where an oil spill occurs shall be responsible for directly leading response activities, and appoint an on-scene commander to organize response activities according to the provincial emergency response plan.

2. Based on the developments of the oil spill, the provincial People's Committee shall appoint the on-scene commander and urgently mobilize necessary resources from establishments, ministries and regulatory authorities within their remit.

3. In case an oil spill occurring in a province poses the risk of spreading or spreads to ​​another province, the People's Committee of the province where the oil spill occurs shall proactively notify the People's Committees of the affected provinces and cities to cooperate in response activities and, at the same time, reporting to the National Committee for Search and Rescue to prepare support plans when necessary.

Article 19. Duties of local competent authorities 

1. The Steering Committee for Search and Rescue at the provincial level shall lead oil spill response activities according to the province's emergency response plan to mobilize forces and means from central and local authorities located within the province.

2. Departments of Natural Resources and Environment shall give counsels on and provide manuals for implementation of environmental protection activities involved in the environmental remediation and clean-up of shorelines, post-collection waste management; implementation of plans to protect sensitive areas; shall investigate, measure environmental damage and formulate environmental remediation programs after each oil spill; shall cooperate with relevant authorities to determine the causes of the oil spill.

3. Port authorities shall give counsels on maritime safety assurance and water transport matters during the process of mobilizing ships and means for participation in response to oil spills occurring within the area. 

4. Relevant local authorities and central and local military forces, water police, fire prevention and fighting police, environmental crime prevention police garrisoned within the local area shall give counsels on mobilizing forces to participate in response and consequence mitigation activities.

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Section 4. RESPONSE TO NATIONAL OIL SPILL INCIDENTS

Article 20. Response to oil spill incidents occurring beyond the regional-level capacity

1. In case an oil spill occurs beyond the capacity of the regional-level response, occurs on a large inter-regional scale, or is specially serious, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall directly give orders for response activities according to the National Oil Spill Response Plan.

2. Duties to response to major oil spills shall be assigned, depending on marine response areas and the localities where oil spills occur.

a) Provincial People’s Committees shall directly take charge of local oil spill response activities;

b) The National Committee for Search and Rescue shall appoint one or more on-scene commanders at sea to respond in each area, depending on the specific situations and developments of the oil spill;

c) The National Committee for Search and Rescue shall directly give orders for activities of responding to major oil spills.

Article 21. International cooperation on response to oil spills occurring in Vietnam

1. In case where an oil spill occurs beyond the response capacity of domestic forces, the National Committee for Search and Rescue in conjunction with ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall report to the Prime Minister to seek his permission to call for aid or assistance from foreign emergency response forces.

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3. Cooperation on response to oil spills occurring in Vietnam shall be subject to agreements on emergency response support requirements between parties.

4. Granting permission for and cooperating in response to oil spills shall be subject to regulations on granting permission and cooperating in response activities with foreign emergency response forces in Vietnam.

Article 22. Assisting other countries in responding to oil spill incidents

1. For countries that have signed bilateral or multilateral treaties with Vietnam on response to oil spills, the provisions of these treaties shall apply.

2. For other countries, based on Vietnam's request for assistance and responsiveness, support agreements with national lead agencies of the requesting countries must be concluded.

3. Oil spill response units shall be responsible for regularly keeping in contact with, reporting to the National Committee for Search and Rescue on the situation, and providing adequate documentary evidence of payment and settlement.

Section 5. SEVERAL OTHER OPERATIONS INVOLVED IN OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Article 23. Notification of restricted areas

1. In order to facilitate incident rescue, salvage and response, the lead agency may establish a restricted area to prioritize rescue, salvage and response operations.

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Article 24. Use of dispersants and biological products in oil spill response activities

1. Only oil spill dispersants and biological products registered and authorized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment may be used.

2. Oil spill dispersants may be used at sea only after judging that other methods for recovery of the spilled oil are inappropriate.

3. Using dispersants in internal waters, estuaries and coastal areas with a depth of less than 20 m or less than 01 nautical mile off the shore shall be prohibited.

4. Spilled oil dispersants and biological products may be used provided that they do not exceed the permissible amounts and comply with the procedures and instructions for use adopted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

5. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall take charge of, and cooperate with the Ministry of Science and Technology in, introducing the List of dispersants permitted for use at sea in Vietnam and adopting instructions about the procedures for using dispersants in response to oil spills at sea.

Article 25. Cooperate in using aircraft in response to oil spill incidents

1. The on-scene commander or the lead agency shall report to the National Committee for Search and Rescue to mobilize aircraft to participate in observation and monitoring activities at the oil spill scene, and scatter oil spill dispersants and absorbents.

2. Aircraft participating in observation, monitoring and scattering of dispersants shall notify the results of observation, monitoring and scattering at the incident scene to the air traffic service provider for transfer thereof to the on-scene commander or the lead agency.

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Article 26. Cooperation in fire and explosion safety in response to oil spills

1. Response to oil spills must conform to fire and explosion safety regulations.

2. Fire control authorities shall advise local authorities on fire and explosion prevention and control measures in oil spill response activities.

3. Commanders of fire safety forces while on duty at the incident scene shall directly command fire and explosion prevention and fighting activities involved in response to oil spills.

Article 27. Temporary suspension and termination of oil spill response activities

1. Decisions on temporary suspension of oil spill response activities can be made when an unsafe situation, ongoing accidents or serious incidents may occur, or response activities are proven ineffective.

2. Decisions on close monitoring and observation of developments of the oil spill can be made as a basis to take further action as conditions permit.

3. Decisions on continued response activities can be made when the unsafe situation is eliminated, or response activities have been proven effective.

4. Decisions on termination of oil spill response activities can be made when the spilled oil is cleaned up, or the continued response activities at the scene have been proven ineffective.

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Chapter IV

OIL SPILL RECOVERY AND CONSEQUENCE MITIGATION

Section 1. OIL SPILL INVESTIGATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CAUSES OF OIL SPILLS

Article 28. Oil spill investigation, identification of causes of oil spills

1. If any establishment causes an oil spill under the management of any specialized regulatory authority, that authority must lead or cooperate with concerned agencies in investigation activities.

2. The investigation into establishments and projects causing oil spills under the local management shall be conducted by the provincial People's Committees.

3. During the investigation process, in case of detecting any act constituting a crime, the investigating police agency must be reported for cooperation in investigation. In case where the investigating police agency requests the transfer of records, documents and material evidence related to an accident or incident causing an oil spill, they must be scanned or photocopied for specialized investigation activities; the transfer of records, documents and material evidence must be documented in the form of handover minutes according to regulations.

4. A comprehensive report on investigation and identification of causes of an oil spill must be sent to the National Committee for Search and Rescue, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant local authorities. In case where necessary, the National Committee for Search and Rescue and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment may request the agency in charge of the investigation to provide documents and reports during the investigation process.

Article 29. Investigation, identification of causes of oil spills in certain particular circumstances

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2. Inland waterway authorities in conjunction with Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and other competent authorities shall investigate and identify the causes of ship-source oil spill accidents and incidents in internal waters.

3. Investigating and identifying the causes of oil spill accidents and incidents at establishments fall within the remit of any ministry or central authority, specialized agencies or inspectors of that ministry or central authority shall preside over and cooperate with concerned agencies in implementation of these tasks.

4. Investigating and identifying the causes of oil spill accidents and incidents due to unknown causes fall within the scope of the provincial authority, Departments of Natural Resources and Environment shall preside over and cooperate with concerned local agencies in giving counsels to provincial People’s Committees on implementation of these tasks.

5. In case where an oil spill is caused due to unknown causes and occurs on a large area in many provinces, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall preside over and cooperate with relevant ministries and central authorities in investigating and identifying the causes of that oil spill.

6. In case where an oil spill causes extremely serious consequences, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall preside over and cooperate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, relevant ministries and central authorities in directing investigation and determination of the causes of that oil spill.

Article 30. Temporary arrest or detention of ships for investigation and identification of causes of oil spills

These actions must comply with the provisions of Articles 114, Article 115 and Article 116 of the 2015 Vietnam Maritime Code, amended and supplemented in 2018, and the Government’s Decree No. 58/2017/ND-CP dated May 10, 2017, detailing a number of articles of the Vietnam Maritime Code on management of maritime activities.

Article 31. Temporary suspension of business of establishments for accident, incident recovery, investigation and identification of causes of oil spills

1. The National Committee for Search and Rescue, governing ministries, central authorities or provincial People's Committees can make decisions on temporary suspension of business of establishments for accident, incident recovery, investigation and identification of causes of oil spills.

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Section 2. OIL SPILL CONSEQUENCE MITIGATION

Article 32. Measurement and quantification of damage caused by oil spills

1. Damage caused by an oil spill (briefly called damage) is any human, property, economic and environmental damage, including:

a) Damage resulting in physical injuries or death;

b) Damage to property of an entity or person;

c) Damage to the environment, fishery, aquaculture, tourism and ecology;

d) Response costs and expenses incurred by entities or persons participating in response to oil spills;

dd) Costs and expenses incurred from carrying out reasonable measures for environmental remediation;

e) Loss of earnings due to impacts caused by oil spills.

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3. Identifying and measuring damage and making application packages for compensation shall be subject to laws.

Article 33. Determination of compensation liabilities

1. Owners of establishments or owners of ships causing oil spills must be liable for compensation, response costs and economic and environmental damage. The party liable for compensation shall cooperate with the competent authority to handle compensation.

2. In case the damage caused by an oil spill has impacts within a province, the People's Committee of the province shall take charge of determining damage and compensation liabilities, and shall establish a provincial Steering Committee for mitigation of consequences of the oil spill which is composed of representatives of a number of advisory agencies assisting the province in response actions, consequence mitigation and environmental remediation.

3. In case of a large oil spill causes damage affecting many provinces, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall take charge of cooperating with relevant ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local authorities in dealing with the consequences of the oil spill.

4. In case where the oil spill is particularly serious or affects many countries, the National Committee for Search and Rescue shall report to the Prime Minister to set up the Government’s Steering Committee to handle consequences of the oil spill.

Article 34. Regulations on compensation claims

1. Organizations and individuals that suffer damage due to oil pollution shall have the right to directly or authorize a lawyer to file a complaint against owners of establishments, projects or ships that cause oil spills to claim their compensation.

2. The Steering Committee for handling of consequences of oil spills shall prepare dossiers on and determine the total value of damage caused by the oil spill to request the Party responsible for compensation to ensure payment of compensation.

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Article 35. State budget allocations for emergency response activities

1. Competent state authorities shall be responsible for paying costs of participation in oil spill response activities to mobilized organizations and individuals and, at the same time, requesting the responsible party to reimburse the prepayment.

2. The temporary payment of costs of response to oil spills shall comply with the Regulations on financial management of search, rescue and response to natural disasters and calamities. Compensation shall be covered by the responsible party.

3. In case the competent state authority recovers the compensation amount less than the prepayment amount as prescribed by law, the state budget will pay the remaining deficit.

4. In case where the person causing the oil spill has not been identified yet, the state budget will fully reimburse the prepayment for response activities at the request for mobilization of state authorities.

Chapter V

RESPONSIBILITIES OF ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN OIL SPILLS

Article 36. National Committee for Search and Rescue

1. Acting as the lead agency to direct and organize the implementation of the National Plan to respond to oil spills nationwide.

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3. Direct and mobilize forces and equipment of ministries, central authorities, regional oil spill response centers and local authorities to respond to oil spills occurring under the authority decentralized as specified in Article 6 of these Regulations.

4. Direct provision of specialized and professional training and coaching courses in response to oil spills for full-time, semi-full-time and part-time forces; organize drills, enter into synergies and cooperation with forces; propagate, educate the community in and disseminate knowledge about risks and dangers of oil spills to proactively take preventive and response actions.

5. Direct the investigation and verification of oil spills at the request of ministries, central and local authorities, establishment owners or competent authorities; recommend measures to prevent and minimize damage caused by the oil spill to the Prime Minister and relevant state agencies.

6. Cooperate with competent agencies of relevant countries to deal with oil spill incidents occurring on the seas or waters contiguous to other countries and report to the Prime Minister.

7. Send periodic general reports to the Prime Minister on oil spill response activities of the forces of ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local authorities, and make sudden reports in case of any oil spill that occurs.

Article 37. Ministry of National Defense

1. Cooperate and agree with the National Committee for Search and Rescue to develop and implement plans to combine the use of forces and means of the Navy, Air Force, Border Guard, Coast Guard and other forces of the Army for performing the tasks of the Ministry of National Defense with the monitoring and detection of oil spills, and get ready to participate in activities of responding to oil spills occurring under their respective remit.

2. Approve the oil spill response plan of the establishment under its authority; collaborate with local authorities to inspect the compliance of establishment owners with regulations to prevent and minimize the likelihood of any oil spill.

3. Direct regional oil spill response centers under their authority and mobilize military forces and means to participate in oil spill response in case of emergency and at the request of the National Committee for Search and Rescue and provincial People's Committees.

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Article 38. Ministry of Public Security

1. Cooperate with relevant ministries, central and local authorities in dispatching forces and means to participate in response to, recovery and mitigation of consequences of oil spills.

2. Direct public security forces of units and local authorities to set up scene security forces; ensure political security, social order and safety, and cooperate with localities in evacuating people and property from the area where an oil spill occurs under their jurisdiction.

3. Cooperate with ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local authorities in investigating and clarifying causes of an oil spill; initiate the process of investigation into signs of offences against law related to an oil spill.

Article 39. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

1. Preside over, and cooperate with concerned ministries, central and local authorities in, promulgating or requesting competent authorities to promulgate documents on supervision, risk assessment, remedy and mitigation of consequences of oil spills, regulations on instructions about the use of oil spill dispersants, and issuing a list of dispersants permitted for use in the sea of ​​Vietnam.

2. Take charge of guiding ministries, central and local authorities to develop and update environmental sensitivity maps within respective areas under their management and periodically update the system of environmental sensitivity maps of coastal areas and islands of Vietnam for oil spill response purposes.

3. Cooperate with the National Committee for Search and Rescue and relevant ministries, central and local authorities in perform the tasks of response to, recovery and mitigation of consequences of oil spills.

4. Guide local authorities to investigate, assess, determine damage and prepare compensation dossiers for environmental damage, develop and implement plans to remediate the environment deteriorated by oil spills; direct the cooperation with provincial-level People's Committees in organizing the implementation thereof within two or more provinces or centrally-run cities.

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Article 40. Ministry of Transport

1. Take charge of, and cooperate with concerned ministries, central and local authorities in, promulgating or requesting competent authorities to promulgate documents on technical standards and regulations on maritime environment protection, prevention and response of specialized oil spills.

2. Take the lead in guiding the formulation and approval of the implementation of emergency response plans for petrol and oil establishments under their management, oil tankers, and plans for oil transshipment between ships at sea according to regulations.

3. Assume the prime responsibility for organizing the creation and publication of nautical charts of seaport waters and navigational channels, areas posing risk of causing oil spills to ensure maritime safety and oil spill response activities.

4. Announce on-the-watch and emergency frequencies (channels) of the Vietnam Coastal Radio, methods of communication with Vietnam's contacts about oil spills, centers and maritime search and rescue cooperation stations, maritime and inland waterway administrations to cooperate in oil spill response and rescue.

5. Cooperate with the National Committee for Search and Rescue, direct maritime, aerial and internal-waters search and rescue systems to effectively cooperate in response to oil spills, rescue and salvage activities on rivers and at sea.

6. Directing maritime authorities to guide port authorities to closely monitor oil transfer operations at ports, offshore oil and gas ports and ports, and between ships at sea to be ready to take response actions in case of any incident occurring.

Article 41. Ministry of Industry and Trade

1. Cooperate with the National Committee for Search and Rescue, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Transport and the provincial People's Committees in directing the units involved in oil exploration, extraction, processing, trading, transportation, transshipment, storage and use of oil to have measures to respond to oil spills and protect the environment.

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Article 42. Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1. Direct ministries' agencies and overseas Vietnamese representative agencies to cooperate in completing required procedures for Vietnam's oil spill response units to participate in international support and foreign response support forces in Vietnam at the request of the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

2. Cooperate with the National Committee for Search and Rescue, ministries and ministerial-level agencies through diplomatic channels in exchanging information, requesting cooperation or offer assistance in responding to incidents if any oil spill occurs within an overseas territory or sea, affecting Vietnam, or an oil spill occurring within Vietnam's territory or sea affecting foreign countries.

3. Cooperate with the National Committee for Search and Rescue and relevant ministries and central authorities in international cooperation in oil spill response operations.

Article 43. Relevant ministries and central authorities

1. Collaborate with local authorities and regional oil spill response centers to inspect owners of establishments under their jurisdiction to prevent and minimize the likelihood of any oil spill.

2. Direct agencies and units under the control of ministries and central authorities to submit plans for use of forces and means according to the National Plan for oil spill response to the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

3. Direct agencies and units under the control of ministries and central authorities to promptly organize forces and means to participate in oil spill response activities when they are requisitioned by the National Committee for Search and Rescue and competent authorities.

4. Report on oil spills occurring under the management of ministries and central authorities; annually report on the situation and results of implementation of oil spill response tasks of ministries and central authorities to the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

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1. Provincial People’s Committees shall be responsible for implementing provincial oil spill response plans according to the provisions of Article 7 and 11 in these Regulations.

2. Approve oil spill response plans of local facilities and ports according to regulations; inspect and supervise the implementation of local oil spill response plans.

3. Promptly direct and report on response to oil spills that may occur within the provinces; take charge of assessing and measuring damage, preparing complete legal documents, and requesting the owners of facilities or ships that cause oil spills to pay compensation.

4. Direct training and coaching courses in response to and mitigation of consequences of oil spills within their remit; propagate, raise public awareness, disseminate knowledge about risks and dangers of oil spills to protect the marine environment, proactively prevent and take response actions within their jurisdiction.

5. Report to the National Committee for Search and Rescue on the situation and results of implementation of local oil spill response plans on a 6-month and annual basis.

Article 45. Responsibilities of regional oil spill response centers

1. Act as a specialized and key force to respond to oil spills occurring at the areas within their remit; implement oil spill response activities under their delegated authority and oil spill response contracts with facilities; get ready for response to oil spills occurring nationwide under the direction of the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

2. Implement and guide provincial authorities to develop oil spill response plans under the direction of the National Committee for Search and Rescue, and participate in the panel for assessment of the incident response plan of the facility.

3. Develop regional oil spill response plans on land, at sea and submit them to the National Committee for Search and Rescue for its review and approval.

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5. Organize specialized and professional training courses, seminars and workshops on oil spill response according to the plan approved by the National Committee for Search and Rescue, or the governing body.

Article 46. Responsibilities of ports, establishments/facilities

1. Ports and facilities should formulate and submit their own oil spill response plans to competent authorities for their review and approval and organize effective implementation thereof after being released and get ready to participate in joint response activities at the mobilization request or under the command of competent authorities.

2. On an annual basis, plan training sessions or send officers or staff members directly participating in response activities to training courses on improvement of response skills. On a 6-month basis, organize practice and exercise sessions in response to oil spills at the scene.

3. Have plans to invest in equipment and supplies to gradually improve the autonomous response capacity of ports and facilities as prescribed; sign agreements and contracts on preparedness for oil spill response with agencies and units having response competence to execute these plans in case of emergency.

4. Proactively launch response activities, mobilize resources to respond promptly and effectively to any oil spill likely to occur.

Article 47. Responsibilities of entities and persons

1. Domestic and foreign organizations and individuals should invest in infrastructure and equipment used for oil spill response and environmental protection activities in accordance with Vietnamese law.

2. Organizations and individuals providing response services should participate in oil spill response and recovery plans.

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4. If any organization and individual is named in the list of resources ready to be requisitioned, mobilized for response to oil spills in a plan for response to an oil spill at a particular level, they must comply with the mobilization order of the agency in charge of implementing the emergency plan for response to the oil spill at that level.