Decision No. 2968/QD-BCT dated July 18, 2016, on application of safeguard measures

DECISION

ON APPLICATION OF SAFEGUARD MEASURES

THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE

Pursuant to the Ordinance No. 42/2002/PL-UBTVQH10 dated May 25, 2002 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on safeguards in the import of foreign goods into Vietnam;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 150/2003/ND-CP dated December 08, 2003 detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on safeguards in the import of foreign goods into Vietnam;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 95/2012/ND-CP dated November 12, 2012, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to the Decision No. 848/QD-BCT dated February 05, 2013 of the Minister of Industry and Trade defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA);

At the request of the Director General of the Vietnam Competition Authority,

DECIDES:

Article 1.To apply official safeguard measures to the import of steel billets and long steel products from different countries/territories into Vietnam with contents detailed in the Notice enclosed to this Decision.

Article 2.Procedures for applying global safeguard measures shall comply with the law on safeguards in imports of foreign goods into Vietnam.

Article 3.This Decision comes into force after 15 days from the day on which it is signed.

Article 4.This Decision replaces Decision No. 862/QD-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade dated March 7, 2016 on application of provisional safeguard measures.

Article 5.The Director of Vietnam Competition Authority and Heads of relevant units and interested parties shall implement this Decision./.

NOTICE

OF APPLICATION OF OFFICIAL SAFEGUARD MEASURES
(Issued together with Decision No. 2968/QD-BCT dated July 18, 2016 of the Minister of Industry and Trade)

Pursuant to the Ordinance No. 42/2002/PL-UBTVQH10 dated May 25, 2002 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on safeguards in imports of foreign goods into Vietnam and the Government’s Decree No. 150/2003/ND-CP dated December 8, 2003 detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on safeguards in the import of foreign goods into Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade does announce detailed contents of applying global safeguard measures against steel billets and long steel products imported from countries/territories into Vietnam as follows:

1. Basic information

On December 25, 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has promulgated Decision No. 14296/QD-BCT on investigation into safeguard measures against the import of steel billets and long steel products from different countries/territories into Vietnam.

On March 7, 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has promulgated Decision No. 862/QD-BCT to impose provisional safeguard duties of 23,3% on steel billets and of 14.2% on long steel products in the form of import surcharges.

2. Imported goods against which safeguard measures are applied

Imported products against which safeguard measures are applied include alloy and non-alloy steel billets, and alloy and non-alloy long steel products (including coils and bars of steel) that are imported into Vietnam with the following HS codes: 7207.11.00; 7207.19.00; 7207.20.29; 7207.20.99; 7224.90.00; 7213.10.00; 7213.91.20; 7214.20.31; 7214.20.41; 7227.90.00; 7228.30.10; 9811.00.00.

With regard to HS code 9811.00.00, the safeguard measure is only applied to the imported goods referred to the following 3 original HS codes: 7224.90.00; 7227.90.00; 7228.30.10; and not applied to the imported goods referred to other original HS codes.

Steel billets and long steel products that have one of the following specifications shall be excluded from the application of the safeguard measure:

(1) Steel billets of non-rectangular (including square) cross-section, the width measuring exceeding twice of the thickness and average dimensions of width and thickness not exceeding 100mm or exceeding 180mm;

(2) Steel billets containing one of the following elements in the specified proportions (%) as follows: C > 0.37%; Si > 0.60%; Cr > 0.60%; Ni > 0.60%; Cu > 0.60%; (3) Plain round bars of steel whose nominal diameter exceeds 14 mm;

(4) Steel products containing one of the following elements in the specified proportions (%) as follows: C > 0.37%; Si > 0.60%; Cr > 0.60%; Ni > 0.60%; Cu > 0.60%; (5) Alloy wire rods of a kind used for producing soldering sticks (solder).

For being exempted from safeguard measures, importers of steel billets and long steel products specified in section (1), (2), (3) and (4) must provide documents proving that their imported goods have satisfied requirements for being exempted from safeguard measures as stated above to the customs authorities.

Importers of wire rods specified in section (5) should refer to Appendix 1 of this Notice to take necessary procedures for exemption from the aforesaid safeguard measures.

3. Official safeguard duties

3.1. Safeguard duties applicable to steel billets

The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall apply safeguard measures in form of import surcharges to steel billets imported into Vietnam as follows:

The safeguard duty of 23.3% in the form of import surcharge shall be imposed on steel billets imported to Vietnam with specific HS codes as follows:

3.2. Safeguard duties applicable to long steel products

The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall apply safeguard measures in form of import surcharges to long steel products imported into Vietnam as follows:

The safeguard duties in the form of import surcharges shall be imposed on long steel products imported to Vietnam with specific HS codes as follows:

4. Countries/territories that are exempted from safeguard measures

Pursuant to Article 13 of the Government’s Decree No. 150/2003/ND-CP dated December 08, 2003 detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on safeguards in the import of foreign goods into Vietnam, provisional safeguard measures shall be imposed on products imported from all countries/territories to Vietnam, except for developing countries and underdeveloped countries whose quantity of products exported to Vietnam does not exceed 3% of total quantity of products imported to Vietnam from all countries/territories provided that total imports of such country/territory account for not more than 9% of total imports of the product concerned in Vietnam. A list of countries/territories eligible for exemption from safeguard measures is provided in Appendix 2 of this Notice.

5. Duration of application of safeguard measures

The safeguard measure shall be applied in 4 years from the effective date of the Decision on application of the provisional safeguard measure.

6. Grounds for applying safeguard measures

Based on the information provided by relevant parties and the last analysis report on this matter, the investigation authority gives assessments as follows:

- Domestic industry is composed of domestic manufacturers of steel billets/long steel products that account for more than 50% of total production of those products.

- Domestically produced steel billets and long steel products are like products as those imported into Vietnam.

- Quantity of steel billets and long steel products imported to Vietnam manifests the increase in both absolute and relative terms during the investigation.

- Domestic industry has incurred serious injury such as reduction of market share, capacity, revenue, profits, workforce and increase of inventories in the period 2012 - 2015, especially in 2015.

- The increase of import volume of goods causes serious injury to the domestic industry.

- The China’s excess of production capacity and real output associated with the large amount of Chinese steel inventories are considered as “unforeseen developments" and resulted in sudden increase of the import volume of steel billets and long steel products into Vietnam.

7. Subsequent procedures

After the official safeguard measure comes into force, the General Department of Customs shall initiate the collection of import surcharges from taxable goods as prescribed in Section 2 according to the duties specified in Section 3 from countries/territories, excluding countries/territories in the list of Appendix 2.

In case where any organization/individual has reasonable grounds to prove that the Decision on application of such safeguard measure violates regulations of law in force, it/he/she may file a complaint against this Decision in accordance with the Law on complaints No. 02/2011/QH13 dated November 11, 2011.

8. Contact information

The information about the Decision on application of official safeguard measures against the import of steel billets and long steel products is available at the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (http://www.moit.gov.vn) and the website of the Vietnam Competition Authority (http://www.vca.gov.vn or http://www.qlct.gov.vn).

Concerned information and comments should be sent to:

The Trade Remedies Investigation Division - the Vietnam Competition Authority - the Ministry of Industry and Trade

Address: 25 Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi City, Vietnam

Telephone: (+84 4) 222.05002 (Ext. 1035) (Ms. Phan Mai Quynh) or (+84 4) 222.05018; Email: [email protected]: [email protected].

ANNEX 1

NOTICE OF APPLICATION OF OFFICIAL SAFEGUARD MEASURES
(Issued together with Decision No. 2968/QD-BCT dated July 18, 2016 of the Minister of Industry and Trade)

PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF EXEMPTION FROM APPLICATION OF SAFEGUARD MEASURES AGAINST IMPORTERS OF WIRE RODS USED FOR PRODUCING SOLDERING STICKS

Regarding importers of products specified in Part 2 of Section 5: the products are exempted from the application of safeguard measures. For the purposes of enjoying the exemption, the procedures below shall be followed:

-Step 1 (Registration of exemption): Importers of wire rods with HS code 7227.90.00 of a kind used for producing soldering sticks shall send documents on production capacity and the need of material import to the investigation authority (Vietnam Competition Authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade) and a request for exemption of those products from the application of safeguard measures.

The documents on production capacity must be recognized by the Service of Industry and Trade of the province where the importer has its production premises located (in accordance with Article 13 of Circular No. 12/2015/TT-BCT dated June 12, 2015 on automatic issuance of import permit to some of steel products).

- Step 2 (Verification): Upon receipt of sufficient documents of the importer, the investigation authority shall request the Minister of Industry and Trade to establish a group to verify and assess the importer’s documents. A verification visit may be conducted at the importer’s premises (if necessary). The investigation authority shall, after the verification, request the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider approving the exemption from application of safeguard measures granted to wire rods with HS code 7227.90.00 of a kind used for producing soldering sticks, and then request the customs authorities to grant the importer an exemption from safeguard duties according to quota monitoring method in accordance with the Decision of the Minister of Industry and Trade. The Minister of Industry and Trade shall issue a decision within 60 days from the date on which sufficient documents of the importer are submitted.

- Step 3 (Periodical report): Any importer producing solder that is eligible for safeguard tariff exemption shall submit quarterly reports on actual imports of wire rods with HS code 7227.90.00 to the investigation authority. If the importer fails to submit the report on schedule to the investigation authority, the Ministry of Industry and Trade may revoke the above decision.

- Step 4 (Post-exemption inspection): The investigation authority may carry out annual inspection of actual yearly production capacity and imports that are exempted from safeguard measures of every importer. The investigation also may conduct irregular inspection of any of those importers if it has reasonable doubts about improper use of the imported products eligible for exemption.

- Step 5 (Actions against violations): If the investigation authority gives a conclusion that imported products eligible for exemption are used improperly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall revoke the decision on exemption and the violating importer shall be collected import duty arrears previously exempted as prescribed by law.

APPENDIX 2

NOTICE OF APPLICATION OF OFFICIAL SAFEGUARD MEASURES
(Issued together with Decision No. 2968/QD-BCT dated July 18, 2016 of the Minister of Industry and Trade)

LIST OF COUNTRIES/TERRITORIES EXEMPTED FROM OFFICIAL SAFEGUARD MEASURES

1. Sub-Saharan Africa

2. Asia Pacific

3. Europe and Central Asia

4. Latin America and Caribbean

5. Middle East and North Africa

6. South Asia