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Prevent containers of ineligible waste, scraps

The General Department of Customs requests the local customs units to review, classify and list backlogged shipments through verifying and notifying to look for the owners; listing and classifying backlogged goods; and gathering statistics of backlogged goods. Photo: HUY KHAM

Specifically, the General Department requires that Customs units must request their Customs branches to propagate and disseminate to shipping lines, shipping agents, port operators and importers of scraps to seriously abide by the Prime Minister’s Directive No 27 / CT-TTg on urgent solutions to strengthen the management of import and use of scrap as raw materials for production.

Continuing to carry out the customs procedures for used scraps and used goods with the characteristics of imported scraps according to the guidance in Official Letter No. 4202 / TCHQ-PC of July 17th, 2018, and guiding documents of General Department of Customs. Strengthening the analysis of information declared on the manifest to prevent the discharge of goods to the port for containers of waste, scraps that do not meet the conditions and regulations on environmental protection in a timely fashion.

Mobilizing and arranging human resources to implement the Customs clearance in quick manner and in accordance with the regulations for imported scrap shipment by enterprises which have been granted certificate or valid confirmation of imports, and enterprises which have complied with the provisions of Customs law and environmental protection law.

In addition, the General Department of Customs also requires local customs units to review, classify and list backlogged shipments through verifying and notifying to look for the owners; listing and classifying backlogged goods; and gathering statistics of backlogged goods.

Accordingly, for shipments which were backlogged at border gate in excess of 90 days from the date of arrival and beyond the notice period in accordance with Article 8 of Circular No. 203/2014/TT-BTC and have not been received yet, the provincial and municipal Customs Departments shall transfer them to the Council for the handling of backlogged goods for statistics and classification under the guidance by the General Department of Customs.

For shipments that were backlogged at border gate in excess of 90 days from the date of arrival and of which owners are in process of notification under the Article 8 of Circular No. 203/2014 / TT-BTC, the provincial / municipal Customs Departments shall continue to monitor. If there is a company to receive the goods, that company shall be required to submit legal dossiers and documents for the imports and shall be fined for administrative violation in the Customs field and the Customs shall assign Customs officers to support the company to carry out the import procedures quickly in accordance with the law.

For shipments that were backlogged at border gate in excess of 90 days since the date of arrival and of which owners have not yet been notified for looking for under Article 8 of Circular No. 203/2014 / TT-BTC, the provincial / municipal Customs Departments shall direct border gate customs branches to review and promptly notify to look for the owners.

The provincial / municipal Customs Departments shall direct the customs control divisions to coordinate with the police authorities to investigate and look for the goods owners for cases mentioned above at points a, b, c of this section. In case of detecting signs of criminal offense and enterprises that are not headquartered at the address declared on the E-manifest system, the information on those goods shall be transferred to the competent agencies for investigation.

For shipments stored at port warehouses and yards from 60 to 90 days after arrival date at the border gates, the provincial / municipal Customs Departments shall request shipping companies to provide information on enterprises that do not receive goods according to the provisions of Article 167 of the Maritime Code in 2015; border gate Customs branches shall be directed to notify the enterprises to visit the Customs office to carry out the import procedures.

For backlogged shipments that are being investigated and handled by competent agencies (Police authority, Anti-smuggling and investigation department), the provincial / municipal Customs Departments shall not carry out the verification or notification of goods owners; and only closely monitor and coordinate with the competent agencies upon request.

On the statistics and classification of backlogged goods, the General Department of Customs guide: only implementing for shipment that were backlogged in excess of 90 days since the arrival date and beyond the notification deadline as described in Article 8 of Circular 203/2014/TT-BTC without receivers.

The statistics and classification shall be carried out as follows: The Council for handling of backlogged goods shall be responsible for inviting representatives of the provincial / municipal Natural Resources and Environment Departments, representatives from shipping companies, port and warehouse operators, and assigning tasks for their staff in accordance with the provisions.

The statistics and classification shall comply with the provisions of Article 12 of Circular No. 203/2014 / TT-BTC. After the statistics and classification, minutes to confirm the participants and note the statistics result will be made, which clarifies: plastic scrap, paper scrap, iron, steel and metal scraps, other scraps, wastes and other goods.

For scraps, it is required to clarify that whether the scraps meet the import conditions or not. If the identification cannot be implemented by eye, it is required to take sampling to send to the verification organizations and report the results to the General Department of Customs.

After finishing the statistics and classification, the Council for handling of backlogged goods shall assign the Customs Branch where the goods are stored to closely monitor and report to the General Department of Customs as prescribed in Term 3, Article 7 of Circular 57/2018/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance.

The General Department of Customs also assigns local customs units to make statistics on the number of backlogged shipments and send the report to the General Department of Customs.

To closely implement the tasks, the General Department of Customs requests the Directors of the provincial and municipal customs departments; the Director of the Inspectorate Department is to advise and organize the regular inspection of the observance of the directions of the competent levels in strict management of the import scraps and handling of violation cases in timely fashion.

Source: Customs News