Government gives directives to solve difficulties in the management of imported scrap

Relevant agencies is proposing solutions to in the management of imported scrap. Photo: Ngọc Linh

Answering the questions of National Assembly Deputy Do Thi Lan - Quang Ninh National Assembly Deputies on solving difficulties in the management of imported scrap, the Prime Minister said the Government issued Resolution No. 09/NQ-CP of February 3, 2019. The Government assigned the Ministry of Finance to coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant agencies in proposing solutions to handle backlogged scrap shipments in port.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, as of June 28, 2019, the number of backlogged scrap containers over 90 days was 4,474 containers out of the total of 9,122 scrap containers stored. Based on the Government's directive in Resolution No. 09/NQ-CP, the Ministry of Finance has developed a plan to handle backlogged shipments as follows:

1: Establish a Council to handle backlogged goods at the provincial Customs Departments, including the participation of representatives of the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

2: Verify and announce to find the goods owner.

3: Classification and counting backlogged goods. In this step, the Ministry of Finance proposed the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment to take responsibility for classification and counting backlogged goods.

4: Determine the form of handling of backlogged scrap. For scrap shipment that did not meet the national technical regulation on environmental protection, the customs officials would issue a notice requesting the shipping line to take goods out of Vietnam's territory within 30 days. After 30 days since the date of notification, if the shipments were not taken out of Vietnam’s territory, they would be destroyed. The expenses for destruction would be deducted from the auction of scrap shipments that met the environmental technical regulations. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for evaluating and providing a list of organizations that are capable of handling and destroying backlogged scrap shipments before the Council organizes the destruction or auction. The remaining money collected from auction activities would be paid to the state budget in accordance with the law.

At the same time, in order to solve the difficulties and problems with the management of imported scrap as well as to fully and strictly update the new regulations, the Prime Minister is preparing to issue the Decision approving the Regulation on interdisciplinary coordination in the management of imported scrap.

Regarding a number of countries that have been determined to return imported scrap such as Malaysia and the Philippines, on June 12, 2019, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to chair and coordinate with research agencies to research and propose solutions on managing the import of plastic scrap by following to the direction of the above countries and report to the Prime Minister in September 2019.

Currently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is working with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport to review relevant laws and international conventions in order to propose a re-export plan for all scrap shipments that did not meet the requirements.