BR-VT Customs: proposed removal of problems related to imported scraps

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Professional activities at Ba Ria - Vung Tau Customs Department. Photo: Nguyen Hue

Specifically, regarding the management and monitoring of scrap imports, BR-VT Customs said that during the Customs clearance for imported scraps, the Department has encountered problems when receiving copy notifications of imported scrap shipments for inspection and clearance according to the form described in Appendix 12 attached to Circular No. 41/2015 / TT-BTNMT.

Pursuant to the provisions in the Circular, the Notifications shall be sent to the organization, individual, and customs authority by fax or email. However, the Notification for multiple consignments imported at one or many different Branches only shows the volume of each consignment, but does not specify the number of bills of lading, container number, contract number or criteria for Customs authority to have a basis to check and compare with the declaration by the enterprise on the Customs declaration. In this regard, BR-VT Customs has reported to the General Department of Customs and received a guiding letter from the Department of Pollution Control under Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (together with the Dispatch of Customs Control and Supervision Department). However, the guidance of the Department of Pollution Control was not specific.

In order to ensure strict management of imported scraps and avoid the case where enterprises take advantage of the Notification to import scraps in excess of permitted volume, BR-VT Customs suggested that the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment should add the criteria of number of bill of lading, container number, contract number ... of each imported consignment. When importing the first consignment according to the Notification, the appointed Customs Branch shall grant the monitoring sheet, and in cases of many branches, a notification for coordination will be made.

Another problem is the delivery of goods for preservation while waiting for inspection results. According to Circular No. 41/2015 / TT-BTNMT: ‘Procedures for inspection of eligibility of environmental protection, physical inspection for imported scrap consignment for clearance are carried out at Customs authority at import border gate’.

According to the initial understanding, the goods as imported scraps must carry out customs procedures at the Customs Branch at import border gate, the transfer of border gate is not allowed,

With this understanding, importers after registering their declarations at the Customs Branch import border are permitted to carry their goods for preservation while waiting for specialized inspection results if meeting the provisions of Decree No. 08/2015 / ND-CP, which was amended and supplemented in Decree No. 59/2018 / ND-CP and Circular No. 38/2015 / TT-BTC, which was amended and supplemented in Circular No. 39/2018 / TT-BTC.

The second understanding is that imported scraps must be stored at the border gate to check the eligibility of environmental protection and physical inspections.

With this understanding, the storage of imports at the border gate will increase more costs for businesses. BR-VT Customs Department said that a huge volume of backlogged scraps have not been released, including 626 containers of metal scraps, 76 containers of plastic scraps and 27 containers of paper scraps.

The Ministry of Finance reports to the Prime Minister on measures to manage imported scraps VCN- Scraps are a sensitive commodity that has many environmental risks and within which it is easy ...

In this regard, BR-VT Customs Department has requested in writing the General Department of Customs to have a unified understanding of the above regulations. At the same time, in order to create favorable conditions for enterprises, BR-VT Customs proposed that the General Department should guide the unified understanding in the direction of allowing enterprises to carry goods for preservation if they meet conditions prescribed by law