Environmental Legislation
The GoL has made substantial progress towards developing policies, strategies and
legal frameworks to protect the environment and conserve the natural resource base of
the country. The principal legal instrument covering environmental matters for the
mining industry of Lao PDR is the Environmental Protection Law (EPL) of 1999. The
EPL specifies necessary principles, rules and measures for managing, monitoring,
restoring and protecting the environment in order to protect the public, natural
resources and biodiversity, and to ensure the sustainable socioeconomic development
of the nation. However, developing a legal framework and capacity specific to the
management and monitoring of the mining sector has lagged behind the development
of the industry.
Current State of Environmental Consideration and Environmenta