VietNamNet Bridge – Many foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) said they were concerned that the new regulations on prohibiting old imported equipment would cause major difficulties for their businesses.

Under the new decision by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), only machines, equipment and production lines used for no more than five years and have no less than 80 percent of the initial quality can be imported into Vietnam.

The decision will take effect as of September 1, 2014.

Explaining the decision, an official of MST said in principle that Vietnam only allows the import of brand new machines, equipment and advanced technologies, in an attempt to prevent old machines and backward technologies from entering Vietnam.

Experts have applauded the MST’s decision, saying that stricter control over imported machines must be kept to protect the environment and prevent Vietnam from turning into the world’s rubbish dump.

However, businesses, especially FIEs, have complained that the new regulation would badly affect their operations.

Le Xuan Vinh, a senior executive at Datalogic Vietnam, which has a factory that makes bar code readers in the HCM City Hi-tech Park, said the company usually has to import used production lines and equipment for repair in Vietnam. Providing repair and maintenance services is one of the registered business fields of the company in Vietnam.

Therefore, once the MST’s decision takes effect, slated for September 1, the company would find it difficult to import old equipment, especially most of the imports, which are older than five years.

An official from the HCM City Industrial Zone and Export Processing Zone Management Board said Vinh was not alone.

“Many enterprises in the industrial zones have been operating in Vietnam for more than five years. This means that if their production lines and equipment break down, they would have to replace the machines with the imports. And the imports must be older ones to be compatible with the ones being used at their factories,” he explained, adding that the next-generation equipment may be useless for existing production lines.

He also was doubtful about the feasibility of the regulation that the import equipment must have the quality of 80 percent of the brand new product quality.

Vinh of Datalogic Vietnam commented that the regulation cannot be brought into life because of technical matters. It would be impossible for competent agencies or other manufacturers to assess the value of the equipment made by Datalogic, especially the specific equipment designed to serve the group’s production.

According to Au Anh Tuan, a senior official at the General Department of Customs, MST had once required that used imported machines must have least 80 percent of the initial quality. However, it was nearly impossible to obey the regulation because MST did not point out which agencies would assess the quality of the imports.

TBKTSG