According to the Joint Circular No.44 issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Ministry of Science and Technolog (MoST), imported steel must be sampled for quality inspection to be eligible for customs clearance. The Joint Circular No.44 officially took effect on March 21, 2016.
Specifically, steel would be subject to inspection of metal components and mechanical and physical quality before being imported into Vietnam. The customs agency will use this inspection results for customs clearance process and compare these results to standards. Therefore, the authorities will decide whether the consignments are eligible for import to Vietnam or not. Products with conformity announcements or certificates would be exempted from inspection. Meanwhile, domestic producers would be required to apply quality management systems to assure product quality. In addition, to regular inspections, quality inspection would be carried out when there is a claim or information in the press about poor-quality products.
Steel under the HS code of 7224.10.00 and 7224.90.00 is required to have a declaration paper on imported steel certified by the MoIT. For special kinds of steel, export-import companies must show a product list issued by the Department of Heavy Industry under the MoIT and a copy of an import certificate issued by the ministry.
The Customs Department and the Departments of Industry and Trade and the Departments of Science and Technology in major cities and provinces are responsible for handling imported steel products which failed to meet the Vietnam’s quality standards. These departments must also pay attention to imported steel and provide the number of products imported into Vietnam. Meanwhile, steel importers will be held accountable for the quality which must meet the standards of Vietnam.
According to the Ministry of Finance, there was a tariff difference in imported steel. Instances of trade fraud have been noticed in imports as businesses importing rolled steel, containing 0.0008 percent boron (Bo) element, were labelled as metal to enjoy a tax preferential of zero percent. Some exporters took advantage of the tariff levels to avail tax arrears. Around 1 million tonnes of steel billets was imported as metal into Vietnam with reference tariff rate.
Vietnam Steel Association made a proposal about this issue in October, 2015. The association asked for stricter check-ups and control on the steel billets imported from China. The ministries affirmed that the tightening on imported steel has been a non-tariff solution to limit import of cheaper products.
The MoIT has issued a temporary decision against imported steel billets and coated steel to protect domestic companies on March 4, 2016. This decision was made after domestic manufacturers sent their appeal to the ministry which claims that imported coated steel sheets are being sold at cheap prices in Vietnam, causing huge losses to local steel producers. Steel billets and coated steel will be imposed a tariff of 23.3 percent and 14.2 percent, respectively, within 200 days. The anti-dumping import duty will not be imposed on commodities originating from an underdeveloped country if total volume of its imported goods into Vietnam do not exceed 3 percent of the whole investigated goods.
