Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The General Department of VietnamCustoms will study and submit to the Ministry of Finance a proposal to theGovernment to restrict imports of scrap materials and move towards a ban onscrap imports to Vietnam.

According to Au Anh Tuan, acting director of the CustomsSupervision and Management Department, after China banned the import of 24types of scrap, the amount imported to Vietnam in 2017 and the first fivemonths of 2018 has increased. Additionally, some enterprises had forged scrapimport permits.

Domestic companies have imported scrap from many differentcountries for production demand.

Remarkably, in the first five months of this year, the volumeof imported plastic scrap surged nearly 200 per cent over the entire 2017, Tuantold Thoi bao kinh doanh (Business Times).

A report from the General Department of Vietnam Customs saidthere were 3,579 scrap containers held up at Cat Lai Port in HCM City and 1,485containers at Hai Phong Port.

Tuan said that many shipments of imported scrap did not meetenvironmental criteria.

The customs department refused many shipments and a number ofenterprises had not carried out customs procedures when they were detected bycustoms officers, resulting in the large amount of scrap at seaports around thecountry, he said.

At a recent press conference, responding to questions aboutthe handling of scrap containers at ports and preventive measures for thefuture, Mai Xuan Thanh, Deputy General Director of the General Department ofVietnam Customs, affirmed that the department would not accept any importedscrap shipments that did not meet the conditions for environmental protectionand had no clear origin.

Owners have to remove the imported scrap from Vietnam if sucha shipment is still held up at port 90 days from the date of arrival, accordingto Thanh.

Particularly, for illegal scrap importers, the departmentwill resolutely transfer the cases to investigation agencies to handle inaccordance with the law.

Tuan said the department is proposing the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment to publish a list of eligible enterprises to importscrap into Vietnam.

They would submit to the Finance Ministry a proposal to theGovernment to amend and supplement the regulations on sanctions in case thetransport owners do not remove scrap which causes environment pollution inaccordance with Article 58 of the Customs Law of 2014.

Earlier, at a recent Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc called for solutions for the thousands of imported scrap containersheld up at major seaports around the country.-VNS/VNA