3,500 tons of TISCO waste steel cleared

Illustration photo. Source: Internet.

On July 14, in an exchange with a Customs News’ reporter, one staff of TISCO informed that about 3,500 tons of the corporation’s imported waste steel as material for manufacture was cleared by Customs.

On the same date, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien – Chief of the customs checkpoint under Hai Phong’s region No.1 seaport confirmed that TISCO’s steel had been cleared after receiving the General Department of Customs’ new guidance.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, the fact that TISCO’s consignment had not been cleared was not the matter between Customs and the trader but the regulations by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) on waste importation for production (including waste steel).

As customs news released, relating to implementation of regulations on dossiers of waste importation for production, the General Department of Customs informed that the General Department of Environment has issued a document to allow certain traders to import waste while waiting for meeting environmental conditions to be granted with Certificate of environmental condition.

However, Circular No. 41/2015/TT-TNMT by MONRE stipulates the Certificate is the compulsory document of waste importation customs dossiers.

On the other hand, according to research conducted by the General Department of Customs, the above circular No. 41 does not regulate that traders’ goods can be cleared whilst waiting for the Certificate (as some cases allowed by the General Department of Environment)

It is necessary to note that Circular 41/2015/TT-TNMT by MONRE has higher legal value than MONRE’s documents that permit traders to import waste whilst waiting for the Certificate.

Therefore, the General Department of Customs was right to guide local customs to undertake procedures in line with regulations of the Circular No. 41 by MONRE.

So to assist traders, the General Department of Customs requested the General Department of Environment to speed up issuing certificates for traders so that they can have sufficient documents of customs dossiers as stipulated in the Circular No. 41.

After the General Department of Customs released document No. 5577/TCHQ-GSQL, some traders and customs units reflected their problems of waste importation dossiers having arisen before document No. 5577.

In order to solve the problems, on June 30th the General Department of Customs issued document No. 6077/TCHQ-GSQL to give guidance to traders and local customs.

In the light of the latter document, if a trader satisfies 2 conditions: having a document by the General Department of Environment that allows the trader to temporarily import waste (as regulated in the document No. 2598/TCMT-KSON dated November 19, 2015) and the trader has actually imported one part of the consignment before the date of releasing the document No. 5577 (June 15, 2016), provincial customs departments will continue to undertake the customs clearance procedures for imported waste consignments for production.

After traders are granted with Certificates, local customs will guide them to perform regulations of Circular No. 41.