Page 149 - Equipment Import Regulations of Viet Nam for K-V Investment Promotion

Annex X. Background Information for the regulations of
used machinery, equipment, and technological lines

No.187 stated that “the importation of used machinery, equipment, technological lines shall be
abided with the Decree, other relevant legal documents and regulations by MOST following the
Decree”.

On 15th July 2014, MOST signed Circular No.20/2014/TT-BKHCN (Circular 20) on the
importation of used machinery, equipment, technological lines.

After the Circular 20 signed, due to key bottlenecks during its implementation such as very
tight regulations on the remaining utilization period and quality of used equipment, and inade
quate preparation for its implementation from relevant ministries, Prime Minister requested the
Minister of Science and Technology to cancel the implementation of Circular 20 and work with
relevant agencies for further study on feedbacks and comments to provide proper guidelines

with legitimacy and feasibility.

6. Having incorporated recommendations, feedback from organizations and individuals, on 13rd

November 2015, MOST signed Circular No. 23/2015/TT-BKHCN on the importation of used
machinery, equipment, technological lines (following Decree 187/2013/ND-CP), in which are
the following regulations:

Used equipment shall be imported as meeting the following criteria:

* equipment age is not exceeding 10 years;
* equipment production is in accordance with National technical specification (QCVN) or

National Standards (TCVN) or with the G7 standards on safety, energy saving and environ
mental protection.

Other regulations were also stated to regulate the importation of used machinery, equipment,

technological lines in new investment projects, extended investment projects and special cases

of over-10-year-old machinery and equipment.

7. During the implementation of Circular 23/2015/TT-BKHCN, MOST has received feedbacks

from enterprises, business associations reflecting on the inappropriateness of not-exeeding
-10-year-old regulation to all machinery and equipment.

Governmental Resolution No.19/2017/NQ-CP, dated 6th February 2017 on continuous imple
mentation of solutions to enhance business environment and national competitiveness in 2017

and directions towards 2020 assigned MOST to study and amend Circular 23/2015/TT-BKHCN
on the importation of used machinery, equipment, technological lines.

139