Hanoi (VNA) - Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has issued a directiveon enhancing State management of scrapimports in order to implement the Prime Minister’s guidelines onstrengthening the management of the import and use of scrap.

The Department of Export and Import under the Ministry of Industry and Trade(MoIT) said this is towards ensuring safety for the environment and sustainableand effective economic development.

Accordingly,units, departments of industry and trade, and trade associations managed by theministry as well as groups, corporations and companies under the ministry weredirected to focus on well managing the import of scrap.

Departments under the ministry are required to coordinate with relevantministries and sectors in examining legal regulations on scrap imports, thusenhancing the management in the field.

They are also responsible for submittingto the MoIT a proposal to issue a circular, aiming to suspend temporaryimport and re-export for some types of scrap, while reporting to the PrimeMinister on measures to strictly manage transit activities under the goodstransit agreements that Vietnam signed with other countries.

Theminister asked the departments of industry and trade of central-level provincesand cities to collaborate closely with the local departments of natural resourcesand environment in guiding enterprises to implement regulations on the importof scrap and in dealing with arising problems related to scraps imports in thelocalities.

Enterprises under the ministry were asked to strictly comply with legal provisionson import and use of scrap as raw materials for production, and on environmentaltreatment.

According to the Customs Supervision andManagement Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, afterChina banned the import of 24 types of scrap, the amount imported to Vietnam in2017 and the first five months of 2018 has increased. Additionally, someenterprises had forged scrap import permits.

Domestic companies have imported scrap from manydifferent countries for production demand.

Remarkably, in the first five months of thisyear, the volume of imported plastic scrap surged nearly 200 per cent over theentire 2017.

A report from the General Department of VietnamCustoms said there were 3,579 scrap containers held up at Cat Lai Port in HoChi Minh City and 1,485 containers at Hai Phong Port.

At a recent press conference, responding to questionsabout the 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.

Earlier, at a recent Cabinet meeting, PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for solutions for the thousands of importedscrap containers held up at major seaports around the country.-VNA