Customs authorities have requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to identify four types of scrap and waste materials awaiting import.

The General Department of Customs recently sent document No. 4623/TCHQ-GSQL dated September 26, 2024 to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) regarding difficulties in determining the import of goods subject to management, specifically concerning waste and scrap materials.

According to the document, the General Department of Customs clearly states:

Article 6 of the Law on Environmental Protection stipulates prohibited acts in environmental protection activities, including: "Importing, temporarily importing, re-exporting, or transiting waste from foreign countries in any form."

Currently, four items are awaiting approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for import into Vietnam. (Illustrative photo: Thu Huong)

Based on the provisions of Section 13, Appendix 1 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP, scrap and waste materials are on the list of prohibited imported goods and fall under the management responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

According to Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018: “Based on Appendix 1 of this Decree, ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall publish details of goods prohibited from export and import, along with their commodity codes (HS codes), based on discussions and agreements with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the list of goods and with the Ministry of Finance on the HS codes.”

However, to date, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has not yet published a list of scrap and waste materials with HS codes prohibited from import as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP mentioned above.

To determine whether goods are waste materials, the Customs authorities currently rely on the definition stipulated in Article 3 of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection; the List of waste materials permitted for import from abroad as raw materials for production in Decision No. 13/2023/QD-TTg dated May 22, 2023; and the List of hazardous waste, industrial waste subject to control, and ordinary industrial solid waste in Appendix III issued with Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT dated January 10, 2022, of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment detailing the implementation of some articles of the Law on Environmental Protection.

Based on legal regulations and actual cases that have arisen, the General Department of Customs believes that, currently, there is insufficient basis to determine whether imported and exported goods are scrap or waste according to environmental laws.

The reason is that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has not yet issued the List of Scrap and Waste with HS codes prohibited from import as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 69/2018/ND-CP, leading to a lack of standards and regulations to determine which goods are scrap or waste; and no agency or organization has been assigned to conduct the inspection to determine whether goods are scrap or waste.

The aforementioned shortcomings have caused customs authorities difficulties in determining whether imported goods are scrap or waste for four specific items:

HFO oil products:

Businesses importing HFO350 fuel oil declare it under various different names.

All businesses declare HS code 2710.19.90.

Coal slag

Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. declared the imported goods as "Steel grit for surface cleaning of steel plates", HS code 7205.10.00, and the customs authorities took samples for analysis and classification. The classification result showed the goods to be "Coal slag from coal combustion", HS code 2621.90.90.

Crushed stone made from metallurgical slag.

Do Sung Company and Kumgang Vina Co., Ltd. declared the imported goods as: "Crushed stone from metallurgical slag used to mix with cement for the production of washing machine load balancing," code 2517.20.00, imported from China.

Aerosol products for cleaning metal surfaces.

During customs clearance procedures, the customs authorities discovered that Tan Tai Loc Petroleum Services and Engineering Co., Ltd. declared the goods as "Steel Spray Balls (PS Ball), used for cleaning metal surfaces, sizes 0.6mm-1.0mm-2.0mm. 100% new, origin: South Korea: HS Code: 7205.10.00". However, after the customs authorities took samples for analysis and classification, they determined the goods to be "Fine granulated slag (slag sand) from the iron and steel smelting industry (with the declared particle sizes), with the main component being metal oxides, accounting for over 90%."

HS Code: 2618.00.00.

Customs authorities conducted a review of the electronic customs data system and found that many businesses had imported goods with HS code 7205.10.00 but declared them under various names: iron abrasive grains, steel abrasive grains, granular stainless steel, granular stainless steel pellets, alloy grains, abrasive materials, granular steel, stainless steel sand... At the same time, businesses also declared them for various import purposes such as: cleaning metal product surfaces, cleaning ship hulls/polishing products, pitting stone surfaces, raw materials for stainless steel production, polishing and cleaning ceramic tile surfaces, use in metal casting and fabrication, etc.

Opinion of the General Department of Customs

Based on the above cases, the General Department of Customs observes that, during the process of determining the nature of goods, in some cases, the specialized agency of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Department of Environmental Pollution Control) provided unclear guidance on whether the goods were scrap or waste, while in other cases, the opinion was clear that the goods were waste. Therefore, to ensure the correct implementation of customs procedures and to prevent the import of low-quality scrap, waste, and recycled products that cause environmental pollution into Vietnam, the General Department of Customs requests the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to provide specific guidance on:

Are the aforementioned imported goods (as declared by the enterprise, based on the inspection results of the inspection organization, and the analysis and classification results of the customs authority) considered waste materials as defined by the Law on Environmental Protection? If there is insufficient basis to determine the nature of the goods, please specify the additional information that the customs authority needs to provide or designate a qualified unit to conduct the determination so that the customs authority can send samples for inspection.

In the long term, it is suggested that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment promptly issue guidelines on the above-mentioned issues and designate agencies and organizations authorized to conduct inspections of imported goods classified as scrap and waste according to the Law on Environmental Protection, so that customs authorities have a basis for applying management policies in accordance with the law.

See the full text here!

Source: https://congthuong.vn/hai-quan-yeu-cau-bo-tai-nguyen-va-moi-truong-xac-dinh-4-mat-hang-phe-lieu-chat-thai-cho-nhap-khau-348985.html