The Ministry of Industry and Trade is drafting a Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT dated November 29, 2019 of the Minister of Industry and Trade detailing a number of contents on trade defense measures.
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| Packing cashew nuts for export at LAFOOCO Company. Illustration photo: Minh Hung/VNA |
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, after nearly 4 years of implementing Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT, this is a legal document that helps the Trade Remedies Authority and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have a clear legal basis in handling requests and deciding on exemptions from applying trade defense measures in a timely, reasonable and correct manner, ensuring the effectiveness of the measures in practice.
However, in the process of reviewing to improve the legal system on trade defense in general and Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT in particular, some issues need to be amended in the regulations on the decision to exempt from applying trade defense measures in Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT to suit practical requirements.
Specifically, according to Article 10 of Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT, the Ministry of Industry and Trade considers exemption from trade defense measures in 6 cases; including the case: "Similar goods, directly competitive goods produced domestically do not meet the domestic demand".
However, in recent times, some businesses have cited this provision to submit applications for exemption. Meanwhile, in most cases of investigation and application of trade defense measures, the domestic production industry cannot meet 100% of domestic demand.
This shortage can still be compensated from import sources that are not subject to trade defense measures, but if the exemption is refused, the enterprise requesting the exemption may have questions. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the provision for considering exemption in cases where similar goods or directly competitive goods produced domestically do not meet the domestic demand.
The components of the application for exemption from trade defense measures have been stipulated in Article 14 of Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT. This is the basis for the Investigation Agency to appraise, calculate and determine the amount of imported goods eligible for exemption based on the production capacity and the norms of using raw materials provided by the enterprise according to a unified method. However, in order for the Investigation Agency to appraise and verify the exact amount of imported goods exempted according to the needs, the Investigation Agency needs some additional information such as import-export reports, land lease contracts, factory lease contracts, and tax reports.
This information has not been specifically listed in the dossier components. These specific dossier components are actual requirements when conducting inspections and examinations of enterprises up to now by inspection and examination teams after exemption, serving as the basis for drawing conclusions on inspections and examinations. Therefore, the dossier components for requesting exemption from trade defense measures need to be regulated in more detail so that enterprises can easily comply. In addition, Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT is regulating the dossier components for requesting exemption from trade defense measures in a way that is not specific and separate enough for individuals and organizations requesting exemption to clearly understand their obligations to provide complete documents and information in the dossier.
The reality of submitting exemption application documents shows that individuals and organizations often submit missing documents due to misunderstanding about the list and components of the documents. The revised circular proposes to clarify and detail the required documents and records, which are mandatory and available to enterprises related to production and business activities and exemption procedures, without wasting time or causing inconvenience to enterprises, and without creating additional administrative procedures.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that at present, post-auditing needs to be used regularly and strictly. Experience in general inspection and examination of most developed countries shows that post-auditing will promote compliance with the law at the highest level, increase strictness and eliminate fraudulent behavior of inspected subjects.
The declaration of the subjects to request exemption is the basis for reflecting the compliance with the law, the honesty of the subjects and is the basis for the inspection agency to conduct post-inspection. Regulations The investigation agency in the process of conducting inspection has the authority to assess and calculate the actual norms of consumables and the loss rate of raw materials in production, processing and measures to handle scrap, waste, waste products, raw materials, auxiliary materials, and surplus supplies after production and processing.
The reality of post-exemption inspections in recent times shows that many enterprises do not fully comply with the obligations prescribed in Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT, but the post-exemption inspection procedures and sanctions for violations under this Circular are not specific and noteducational and deterrent enough. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement sanctions corresponding to non-compliance/incomplete compliance with the obligations prescribed, and sanctions will be designed.
Such as revoking the decision to enjoy exemption, not considering continuing to enjoy exemption for a specific period of time or until the applied trade defense measure is terminated, requesting the customs authority to collect tax on part/all of the goods that have enjoyed exemption.
Regarding the exemption period for applying trade defense measures, the current regulations on exemption periods in Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT, the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that it may cause misunderstandings in some cases when explaining the wording.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade annually reviews the exemption period for applications for exemption from trade defense measures to control the overall effectiveness of trade defense measures.
In particular, the purpose of trade defense measures is to protect and encourage the development of domestic manufacturing industries, reducing dependence on imported goods. The exemption from trade defense measures is valid for 12 months, with no limit on the number of requests for additional exemptions, while the total exemption period from trade defense measures remains unchanged.
This requires clarifying the regulations on exemption periods, including unifying the maximum period for one exemption level based on the exemption request of the enterprise and not limiting the number of additional exemptions. Accordingly, it aims to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises as well as ensure the effectiveness of trade defense measures in practice.
In addition to some of the above amendments and supplements, the Circular amending and supplementing Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT also adjusts, amends and supplements some words to unify the way of regulating a common issue or subject in a provision without changing the nature or giving rise to corresponding rights and obligations.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that the development of the Circular amending and supplementing Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT aims to ensure the implementation of the provisions of Decree 10 and overcome the shortcomings and limitations of current regulations.
Inheriting the relevant, advanced and effectively applied provisions of Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT, ensuring to meet the practical requirements of exemption from trade defense measures and overcoming difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing Circular 37/2019/TT-BCT.
In addition, creating a comprehensive, reasonable and feasible legal framework to ensure that the exemption from applying trade defense measures is in accordance with the law, effective and of high quality, effectively contributing to the fight against, preventing and handling violations of trade defense laws in a practical context.
According to Tin Tuc Newspaper
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