DECISION No.2019/1997/QD-BKHCNMT OF DECEMBER 1st, 1997 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.

Article 4.- This Decision takes effect from February 1st, 1998. All organizations and individuals engaged in the import of used equipment shall have to implement this Decision.

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.

Used equipment temporarily imported for re-export for the performance of goods production sub-contracts and for the construction of projects by bid-winning contractors shall not be subject to this Regulation.

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.

In case of any complaint about differences of the expertise results, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment shall be the agency to issue final decision.

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:

- Forcible re-export;

- 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.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Environment

CHU TUAN NHA

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.

- Equipment used in phases decisive to products' quality in industry or food processing.

- 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.-

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

CIRCULAR No.91/1997/TT-BTC OF DECEMBER 19, 1997 AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CIRCULAR No.86/1997/TT-BTC OF NOVEMBER 26, 1997 OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE GUIDING THE PAYMENT OF TAX ON THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SURCHAGE COLLECTED AT HOTELS

In furtherance of Decision No.477-TTg of July 3, 1997 of the Prime Minister on the telecommunications surchage collected at hotels, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No.86/1997/TT-BTC of November 26, 1997 guiding the implementation thereof. In order to ensure the full implementation of such Circular in strict compliance with law and the above-said Prime Minister's Decision, the Ministry of Finance hereby provides the following amendments and supplements to Circular No.86/1997/TT-BTC of November 26, 1996:

1. The Circular's legal ground is supplemented with the following:

"- Pursuant to the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam of November 12, 1996; Pursuant to Decree No.12-CP of February 18, 1997 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam."

Item b, Point 2 of the Circular is supplemented with the following:

"For foreign-invested enterprises and the foreign parties to business cooperation contracts under the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam, the profit tax shall be paid at the profit tax rate prescribed in their investment licenses. In cases where the investment licenses do not prescribe the profit tax rate, the provisions of the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam shall apply".

2. Other guiding provisions of Circular No.86/1997/TT-BTC of November 26, 1997 of the Ministry of Finance shall continue to apply.

This Circular takes effect from August 3, 1997. Any problems arising in the course of implementation shall be reported to the Ministry of Finance for timely supplements

For the Minister of Finance

Vice Minister

LE THI BANG TAM