DECISION

PROMULGATING THE REGULATION ON GENERAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IMPORT OF USED EQUIPMENT

THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Pursuant to Decree No.22-CP of May 22, 1993 of the Government on the tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment;
At the proposal of the Head of the Department for the Management of Technologies,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the "Regulation on general technical requirements for the import of used equipment".

Article 2.- This Decision shall not apply to equipment and means which are subject to separate stipulations of the Government.

Article 3.- This Decision shall replace Decision No.1762/QD-PTCN of October 17, 1995 and Decision No.2183/QD-PTCN of December 16, 1995 of the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment.

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THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT




Chu Tuan Nha

REGULATION

ON GENERAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IMPORT OF USED EQUIPMENT

(Issued together with Decision No.2019/1997/QD-BKHCNMT of December 1st, 1997 of the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment)

1. All organizations and individuals engaged in production, business and service activities on the Vietnamese territory, when importing used equipment, shall have to comply with this Regulation.

2. Subject to this Regulation are machines (single units or in complete lines) for the manufacture of production means and goods; transport means, loading and unloading means, vehicles and machines in service of the construction of projects and other specialized equipment, which have been used.

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3. Project owners shall decide and take responsibility for economic-technical efficiency and all consequences of the import of used equipment.

The import of used equipment must be carried out through goods import contracts under the stipulations of the Ministry of Trade and with the approval of the involved ministry, branch or People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government.

4. Basing itself on the State's policies and orientations for economic, scientific, technological development and environmental protection, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment shall consult other ministries and branches to periodically promulgate the list of used equipment to be banned from import. For the immediate future, the list made in the appendix attached to this Regulation shall apply.

5. The used equipment to be imported must meet the following general technical requirements:

5.1. Their remaining quality must represent 80% or more of the original one,

5.2. Their present fuel and energy consumption level must not exceed 10% of the original level;

5.3. They must ensure labor safety and hygiene and must not pollute the environment.

6. The above-said general technical requirements must be explained by organizations and individuals importing used equipment in their applications for the import permits.

The certification of the used equipment's quality conformity with the general technical requirements as mentioned in Item 5 above shall be made by a foreign or Vietnamese expertizing organization with full legal person status. Such expertizing organization shall take responsibility before Vietnamese agencies for any untruthful expertise results.

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7. In case of necessity, for equipment with specialized peculiarities, the ministries and branches may issue more detailed guidances, after consulting the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

8. For exceptional cases, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, basing itself on the written proposals of the ministries, branches or People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, shall consider and make separate decisions.

9. When importing used equipment, apart from filling the prescribed import procedures and customs procedures, the importing organizations and individuals shall have to submit certificates of goods expertise granted by the expertizing organization mentioned in Item 6 of this Regulation and documents certifying the legal person status of such expertizing organization, issued by the functional agency of its native country, allowing it to practice technical expertise (copies of such documents must be notarized).

10. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment shall conduct by itself or in coordination with the ministries, branches, People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, the State examination and inspection of the observance of this Regulation.

The inspection shall be conducted after the installation and operation of the used equipment in one of the following forms:

- Compulsory inspection with regard to big equipment, lines and enterprises with the total value of a goods purchase contract being 1 million USD or more;

- Inspection when there are signs of violations;

- Probability inspection according to the management requirements.

11. The import of used equipment that breaches the provisions of this document shall, depending on the seriousness of the violation, be dealt with in one of the three following forms:

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- Suspension of operations;

- Requirement for upgrading.

For serious violations, the organizations and/or individuals importing used equipment shall be handled in accordance with the current provisions of law.

Organizations and individuals importing used equipment shall have to implement the above-said handling decisions.

APPENDIX I

LIST OF USED EQUIPMENT TO BE BANNED FROM IMPORT

(Issued together with Decision No.2019/1997/QD-BKHCNMT of December 1st, 1997 of the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment)

- Equipment used in oil and gas industry, electricity industry, cement production lines, ore sorting and metallurgy. Equipment used in the production of basic chemicals, fertilizers and insecticides.

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- Equipment used in production branches that require high preciseness, such as measuring equipment, equipment used for experiments and inspection and on post and telecommunications networks.

- Equipment requiring high level of safety, such as boilers, elevators, nuclear reaction controllers, and equipment for safety system inspection and control.

- Equipment affecting a large area, such as waste treatment equipment, sluice gates, production line equipment used in phases where accidents may occur, causing serious pollution to the environment.-