Revising Decision 78/2013/QD-TTg: Are obstacles on energy efficiency inspection removed?

	Time of the energy efficiency examination will be implemented after Customs clearance
	4 groups of vehicles and equipment must be energy efficiency labeled.
	Cases exempted from energy efficiency examination

Continuously removing inefficient energy equipment. In the photo; Customs officers at Hai Phong Customs Department inspected imported and exported goods. Photo: T. Binh

Inadequacies for Customs clearance

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the implementation of Decision 78/2013 / QD-TTg has actively promoted the removal of inefficient energy equipment and low-efficiency generators, which are not built new in the country, contributing to energy savings. This provision also limits the problem of technology waste in the import of low-efficiency energy equipment that needs to be removed from the Vietnamese market.

However, the shortcomings in the implementation of Decision 78/2013 / QD-TTg also cause many difficulties for importers. Imported equipment for test and measurement of minimum energy efficiency, equipment for repair, and equipment temporarily imported for re-export or in transit without using energy in Vietnam market are not cleared due to the lack of minimum energy efficiency certificates. This has caused obstacles in the production of enterprises, which also need to be amended.

Equipment that is required to be installed on the lines to be eligible for a test of minimum energy efficiency (eg high-pressure boilers) is also not clear due to the lack of minimum energy efficiency certificates.

Therefore, comments on the draft focus on obstacles in the Customs clearance for imported equipment for test and measurement of minimum energy efficiency, temporarily imported equipment for re-export; equipment for repair and replacing and equipment ineligible for inspection at border gate, which has obstructed the production of enterprises.

According to the Ministry of Finance, at Point đ, Clause 1, Section III of Resolution No. 19-2016 / NQ-CP of the Government clarifies: carry out post-customs inspections of food safety, quality and energy efficiency instead of inspection in customs clearance (except for quarantine of imports with highly potential risks under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s regulations)”. Inspect imported materials for domestic production and consumption in the process of manufacture and prior to sale on the market; inspect exports manufactured from imported materials at manufacturing facilities prior to export.

Therefore, according to the instruction of Government in Resolution 19-2016 / NQ-CP, the specialized inspection of energy efficiency for imported goods must be implemented after the Customs clearance instead of in Customs clearance as current. The specialized inspection in the Customs clearance will be applied in very urgent cases, for example, goods with a high risk of directly affecting the human health.Therefore, the Ministry of Finance proposed that the draft Decision amending and supplementing Decision No. 78/2013/QD-TTg specifies the post-Customs inspection in accordance with Resolution No. 19/2016/NQ-CP. Special cases required to be inspected in the Customs clearance time must be clarified in the draft Decision.

Also, the Ministry of Finance proposed that the list of goods mentioned in the draft Decision, which is defined by Vietnam standards (TCVN) is very complicated and difficult for search, causing difficulties for enterprises and Customs inexact determination of the goods subject to the minimum energy efficiency inspection. Therefore, in order to ensure the state management on Customs and have the basis for unified implementation, the Ministry of Finance proposed to supplement the draft Decision and assigned the Ministry of Science and Technology to host and collaborate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance to promulgate the list of goods subject to the minimum energy efficiency inspection with name, description and specific HS code.

Remove obstacles in Customs clearance

Receiving comments from relevant agencies, Ministry of Science and Technology said that this revised Decision 78/2013 / QD-TTg would respond to the progress of science and technology. The equipment and vehicles have been constantly innovated on technology and improved products with the trend of saving more energy and using more effectively. Moreover, in the past two years, a number of new standards on minimum energy efficiency have been developed and issued for vehicles and equipment in the category of energy vehicles and equipment subject to removal and low-efficiency generators, which are not built new under Decision 78/2013 / QD-TTg. For example, Electric motors with standard 2013 replace the standard 2005; compact fluorescent bulbs with standard 2015 replace standard 2008; Washing machines with standard 2013 replace the standard 2010.

The case of exemption from checking energy efficiency VCN – To deal with problems of the General Department of Customs in the process of handling ...

In particular, this revised Decision 78/2013 / QD-TTg would overcome some shortcomings that had arisen in the recent time. For example: imported vehicles and equipment for test and measurement, experiment, repair and replacing (not for business) are not necessary to have a certificate of minimum energy efficiency; and large equipment such as boilers which are required to be installed in the production line to test the minimum energy efficiency also has not to submit the certificate. It is necessary to clarify the process of receiving, processing and returning the results of the dossier in order to avoid troubles for registered enterprises; a number of checks for one sample and the implementation roadmap of removal for each type of equipment.