Analyzing cargo information on manifest for means of transport of scrap material

Customs officials checked the shipment of imported scrap. Photo: M.Hùng

Accordingly, Customs branch where receiving and processing customs procedure for dossiers of entrance ship, have been analyzing cargo information declared in manifests in accordance with the provisions of Clause 1, Article 67 of Decree No. 08/2015/NĐ-CP dated 21/1/2015 of the Government stipulating on the detail and implementing measures according to Customs Law on customs procedures, inspection, supervision and control (amended and supplemented in Item 38 Article 1 of Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP dated 20/4/2018 of the Government).

Accordingly, the Customs Branch where the goods are received and implement customs procedure must thoroughly check the information about the enterprise (name, tax code, address, number of the certificate of environmental protection qualification in import scrap materials for production ...); Goods (scrap type, HS code must be at least 4 digits ...) declared on the manifest.

For example, if it is not declared as "scrap", it must be declared as plastic scraps, paper scraps ...; Not declare generic terms such as general cargo, freight of all kinds, FAK, said to contain, STC,...

In the case of a declaration with no details on the import enterprise and goods as above, the authority should not accept the declaration and inform the reason for not receiving, and request the customs declarants to make additional declarations through the National Single Window Portal.

At the same time, the Customs Branch where receiving and handling the information should review and analyze the information on the manifest within 4 working hours since the time of receiving information declared on the e-manifest system.

In the case that has a basis for determining the cargo carried on seagoing vessel was scrap in accordance with the provisions in Clause 12, Article 3 of the Law on Environmental Protection, to promptly notify the shipping company and the port enterprise about not allowing discharging the cargo to the port; and at the same time requesting the shipping company to transport the goods out of the Vietnamese territory and handle the violations in accordance with regulations.

On the other hand, the cases where the ship has not arrived at a Vietnamese port yet or has docked at a port of Vietnam but it has not yet unloaded cargo, and the cargo information declared on the e-manifest system is scrap, so the customs authority must compare the importer's information on the manifest with the list of enterprises that have been granted certificates of eligibility for environmental protection in the importing of scrap materials to produce raw materials which is valid on the V5 electronic customs clearance system of the General Department Vietnam Customs.

If the importer on the manifest is not on the list, customs authorities should immediately notify the shipping company and port enterprise to not discharge that shipment to the port and ask the carrier to take the goods out of the territory of Vietnam.

If the importers on the manifest was on the list of enterprises which have been granted the environmental protection eligibility certificate in the import of waste materials as raw materials for production and the goods declared on the manifest are waste materials which has national technical standards on environment, it should be carried out in accordance with the regulations.

Particularly, if the ship has not yet arrived at a Vietnamese port or has docked at a port of Vietnam but has not yet unloaded it at the port facility, the information of goods declared on the manifest are used goods, but it was not declared as scrap while goods have the characteristics of the scrap (example: USED woven jumbo bags, USED p.e film, USED tyres ...) and the importer was not included in the list of enterprises that have been granted certificates of eligibility for environmental protection for importing scrap materials to produce raw materials which is valid on the V5 electronic customs clearance system. Also the commodities are scrap but have not been granted national technical standards on the environment, so the container should be put into the key control area; Carrying out customs procedures under Item 2, Section III of Official Letter No. 4202 / TCHQ-PC dated 17/7/2017 of the General Department of Vietnam Customs guiding the management of import scraps from abroad into Vietnam.