Serious violations discovered in the import of used machinery

In 2025, through information collection and understanding of the local situation, a representative of the Customs Department said that the import of used machinery, equipment, and technological lines directly serving the production of domestic enterprises has many potential risks of violations.

Some businesses have taken advantage of the State's policies in importing used machinery for commercial sale. Photo: Customs Department

Information on the morning of December 2 from the Customs Department said that the inspection results of the functional forces showed serious violations in the import of used machinery, specifically, enterprises do not have factories for production, do not have production activities but use tricks to legalize import documents through false declarations about the purpose of importing used machinery on customs declarations.

“There are also units that are dishonest when they have a written commitment with the Customs agency where the declaration is registered about the purpose of importing machinery to directly serve the production of the enterprise or create fake import authorization contracts to present and submit to the Customs agency to get customs clearance of goods, and when imported, they are sold domestically to gain illegal profits,” said a representative of the Customs Department.

There are businesses that take advantage of State management policies on importing used machinery, equipment and production lines to carry out smuggling activities.

Through investigation, the Anti-smuggling Investigation Department (Customs Department) discovered that from 2021 to 2025, an enterprise opened 19 import declarations for 325 used machines (metal cutting machines, wire cutting machines using electric sparks, punching machines using electric discharge method, electric pulse cutting machines for metal, CNC drilling machines and CNC machining centers), with a total customs declaration value of over 18 billion VND. This enterprise then sold 235 used machines to 140 enterprises with a total value of over 23 billion VND, illegally profiting over 8 billion VND.

Continuing to expand the investigation, the Anti-smuggling Investigation Department also discovered that in 2025, an enterprise opened 3 import declarations for 48 used machines (metal cutting machines, wire cutting machines using electric sparks, punching machines using electric discharge method and CNC machining centers), with a total customs declaration value of 4.4 billion VND. Then, 13 used machines were sold to 13 enterprises, with a total value of 1.39 billion VND, illegally profiting nearly 600 million VND.

According to the Customs Department, realizing that the above two cases had signs of crime, the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department discussed with the Supreme People's Procuracy (Department 3) to handle the case according to the provisions of law. As a result, the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department has issued two decisions to prosecute criminal cases for the crime of Smuggling under Article 188 of the Penal Code (BLHS) 2015 related to the above two enterprises.

The above incident shows that, according to the Customs Department, some businesses have taken advantage of the State's policy in importing used machinery for commercial sale. This not only violates the State's import goods management policy but also creates an unhealthy business environment and competition among domestic businesses trading used machinery.

“In addition, used machinery and equipment imported into Vietnam may also be outdated technology, not meeting the requirements of capacity, efficiency, consumption of raw materials, energy and not meeting safety standards, energy saving, environmental protection according to current laws. This increases the risk of Vietnam becoming an industrial waste dump, causing environmental pollution,” said a representative of the Customs Department.

In order to avoid taking advantage of the State management policy in importing used machinery, equipment and production lines to carry out smuggling activities, the Customs Department will continue to direct regional Customs Branches, Customs where declarations are registered, Control Team, Post-clearance Inspection Team, and Risk Management Department to strengthen inspection, control, information collection, and risk assessment from all stages.

Accordingly, it is necessary to strengthen detailed inspection of customs dossiers; physical inspection of goods; storage of goods; customs clearance and post-clearance of goods; risk assessment and consideration of post-clearance inspection for enterprises that have imported used machinery, equipment and technological lines.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/phap-luat/phat-hien-sai-pham-nghiem-trong-trong-nhap-khau-may-moc-da-qua-su-dung-20251202105612896.htm