Reduce car import procedures

Vehicles imported from markets with emission regulations equivalent to or higher than Vietnam such as EU, Japan... will not need the original Certificate or Inspection Certificate...

This is the latest amendment to the draft Circular regulating the inspection of technical safety and environmental protection quality of imported motor vehicles, which was released by the Vietnam Register for comments on the afternoon of September 12. Compared to the previous content, this draft received high consensus from the business community and associations.

Paperwork barriers to imported cars will be removed.

The most positive change pointed out by Mr. Dau Anh Tuan - Head of the Legal Department of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) is that imported cars will not be bound by the regulation of having to have the original Factory Quality Certificate of the manufacturer or Factory Quality Inspection Certificate.

Specifically, unused motor vehicles of the same type that have been registered for circulation in countries with emission levels equivalent to or higher than those currently in Vietnam (such as the EU, G7...); or vehicles with emission levels equivalent to or higher than those prescribed by Vietnam, of the same type that have been registered for circulation abroad... will not need to have the original copies of the above two types of documents.

“We appreciate the acceptance of the drafting agency when the latest draft Circular has made positive changes. There needs to be a policy so that Vietnamese people in rural and remote areas can also have the right to use high-quality cars at reasonable prices, ensuring the legitimate rights of consumers,” said Mr. Tuan.

However, in this draft, the Ministry of Transport has not included regulations on genuine warranty and maintenance as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade as a condition for abolishing Circular 20/2011.

The leader of the Vietnam Register said that the draft Circular regulating the inspection of technical safety and environmental protection quality of imported motor vehicles is part of the Ministry's annual program of reviewing, amending and developing laws. Regarding the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on genuine warranty and maintenance, this person said that there is currently no direction on its construction. Thus, the fate of Circular 20 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is still unclear, but with the amendments to the regulations on the quality and safety of imported vehicles, businesses have found it easier to "move".

According to Mr. Nguyen Tuan - Director of Thien An Phuc Company Limited, the biggest problem for car import businesses like him is that the original copies of the two types of documents mentioned above have been revised to be more suitable for reality. Specifically, manufacturers often carefully check cars according to technical standards in that country when they ship them off the factory, so the cars shipped off the factory are of course guaranteed to be of good quality and meet requirements. This did not happen before because this was only considered the "birth certificate" of the car. Apart from information about the name, manufacturer... there is no other information. Therefore, this "technical barrier" will be no different from barriers to the business activities of the enterprise.

“We are very happy that the drafting agency has accepted and listened to the opinions of businesses when making this regulation more “open”. Although there are still a few points about emissions and vehicle recalls that need clearer and more detailed regulations, basically businesses feel more at ease,” said Mr. Tuan.

Responding to the expectations of the participating business community, Mr. Tran Ky Hinh - Director of the Vietnam Register affirmed that the draft Circular issued this time aims to create a level playing field among importers, narrowing the gap of "discrimination" between importing and domestic assembling enterprises. Moreover, the regulations are technical and do not hinder the business activities of enterprises.

“With cars, whether domestically produced or imported, before being brought into Vietnam, each country has certain standards issued by the State and requires them to meet technical standards before being allowed to circulate and produce,” said Mr. Tran Ky Hinh.

The Director of the Vietnam Register also emphasized the view that the State controls traffic safety with many tools and this is only one of the "doors" to control the quality and load of imported vehicles.

“We have to control the quality and whatever we control must be in accordance with the situation of Vietnam, which is a small retail market. The market itself is narrowing, if the market becomes large in the future, suppliers will have to come to us themselves,” the Director of the Vietnam Register shared.

The leaders of the Vietnam Register hope that the draft Circular will be completed soon so that it can be issued by the end of 2016 and take effect starting from 2017. "The longer and slower this Circular is issued, the more disadvantaged car import businesses will be," Mr. Ky Hinh expressed./.

According to VOV.VN