Soon report to the Government solutions to tighten scrap management

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Cat Lai Port is in danger of being overloaded because of inventory. Photo: T.Hoa.

Need to overcome loopholes soon

The Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Nguyen Van Can has instructed the units to soon complete the report to the Ministry of Finance to propose the Prime Minister solutions to overcome the limitations, loopholes in the regimes and management policies for imported scraps on the basis of assessing the state management of scraps (both plastic packaging and used plastic films) and the current situation of imported scraps.

Simultaneously, direct and guide the provincial / municipal Customs Departments to handle the shipments which have arrived at ports, clearly stating the responsibilities of transportation enterprises and port business enterprises. Customs offices shall not conduct inspections for goods which have not yet been opened for Customs declarations, except for signs of violation.

Direct the provincial / municipal Customs departments to strictly handle imported scraps (such as used plastic bags and films) without permits or ineligible import conditions.

Continue to request units outside the Examination Sector to report on imported specimens as scrap or suspected imported scraps when the Customs Inspection Department has not yet verified.

Continue the implementation of risk management for imported scraps. Conduct the actual inspections for the shipment of imported scraps which are declared as used goods such as used bags, or used plastic films.

Earlier, in early June 2018, the Prime Minister requested the Ministries of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Transport to review and tighten imported scraps into Vietnam. At the same time, intensify the inspection and examination of trading activities and processing of discarded materials to meet environmental requirements.

The threat for Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations is of becoming a destination for garbage and scraps, which has been warned by Customs officials earlier this year when China implemented the policy of banning the import of garbage, waste from plastic and nylon.

Thousands of container of scraps

This situation has been happening at the port of Tan Cang Cat Lai (TCCL port) - the largest container port in Vietnam. This port is facing stagnation with thousands of containers of plastic / scrap paper.

As of mid-May 2018, TCCL was stockpiling more than 7,000 TEUs of plastics / scrap paper and more than 3000 TEUs of other commodities warehoused over 90 days (this amount accounted for 10% of TCCL’stotal port capacity).

Tan Cang Sai Gon said that according to information from a number of big ships in the world, a large volume of scraps would be transferred to Vietnam's seaports, which had been signed by shipping companies or customers.

This unit argued that if there is no radical solution to address this problem, long-term inventory will continue to increase, causing local congestion at seaports, seriously affecting the economy in general and business activities of ports, shipping lines and import-export enterprises in particular.

Immediately, from 1 June 2018, Tan Cang Corporation will stop receiving imported plastic in containers through Tan Cang Cat Lai and Tan Cang Hiep Phuoc.

Accordingly, since 1 June 2018, Tan Cang Sai Gon Corporation only carried out unloading from the ship after the customer presented sufficient import license of the shipment authorized by the competent authority.

In the case where there are not enough documents as requested, the shipping company and enterprises shall coordinate with the port to transfer these shipments to other ports before the ship arrives at the port to save time and costs for the involved parties.

Hai Phong Customs discovered two scrap containers VCN – In the afternoon of 11/6, the Customs Enforcement Unit (Hai Phong Customs Department) discovered and ...

Especially, from 1 June 2018 to 30 September 2018, Tan Cang Sai Gon Corporation stopped receiving all plastic scrap imports directly at these two ports. After 30 September 2018, based on the real situation at the port, Sai Gon port will have the next solutions for receiving plastic and paper scraps at these two ports.