How are sand exports managed?

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Two vessels named JS Bandol and Sheng Wang Hai carried sand from Phu Quoc to Singapore in January 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Newspaper.

The problem related to management and exploitation of sand exports, especially salty sand has been attracting public attention. So how are sand exports managed?

According to the understanding of the Customs Newspaper, currently, the export of sand is implemented under guidance of Circular 04/2012 / TT-BXD. Accordingly, sand exports must meet the criteria specified in Appendix I of this Circular.

Notably, for salty sand, in addition to meeting the criteria in Appendix 1, it must also meet the conditions in the projects permitted by the Prime Minister or in the projects which localities have not implemented.

In the past few years, in order to closely control the exploitation and export of salty sand, in November 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Hoang Trung Hai issued Official Letter 8176 / VPCP-KTN to stop all activities related to export of salty sand from June 2010.

However, in December 2012, the Vietnam Government Office issued 407/TB-VPC. Accordingly, the Prime Minister agreed to permit the export of salty sand of dredging projects on rivers and the Ministry of Construction was responsible for coordinating with relevant State agencies in inspections and determination of sand export volumes for each specific project.

Based on the Direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Construction established inspection teams in localities to collect salty sand in rivers for export. On the basis of the inspections, the Ministry of Construction reported to the Prime Minister and allowed enterprises to export salty sand.

For example, Duc Long Production and Trading Construction Co., Ltd exported 1 million m3 of salty sand during the implementation of the project on dredging the port of Region 5 in Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) from the 5th July 2013 to the end of 31st December 2013 (under the Ministry of Construction’s Official Letter 1341/BXD-VLXD of 5th July 2013).

At the end of the time, the Ministry of Construction issued 4 official dispatches (45/BXD-VLXD of 9th January 2014, 1460/BXD-VLXD of 3rd July 2015 and 1070/BXD-VLXD of 3rd June 2016; and 32/BXD-VLXD of 6th January 2017) to permit Duc Long Production and Trading Construction Co., Ltd to export salty sand.

According to the Law, sand exports have a tax rate of 30%. Regarding trade fraud in the value of salty sand exports, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has instructed local Customs Departments to carry out procedures for this commodity. Specifically, the Customs force has conduct Customs post-clearance audits and Customs valuation in accordance with Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC and Circular 39/2015/TT-BTC.

Also, the General Department of Vietnam Customs is collecting information and documents to adjust the reference price of salty sand on the list of risk management in value. On the other hand, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has directed the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department to investigate and verify cases of price fraud in order to handle such violations under current regulations.

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