Proposal to change the application time of new regulations on construction materials import

Businesses are concerned about the difficulty in choosing a conformity assessment unit. Photo: Internet

In early November 2024, the Ministry of Construction issued Circular No. 10/2024/TT-BXD regulating the management of quality of construction material products and goods (Circular 10), being effective from December 16, 2024.

Applicable subjects include: state management agencies of construction materials, organizations and individuals producing, trading, importing, exporting and using construction material products and goods, conformity assessment organizations and judicial appraisal organizations on the quality of construction material products and goods.

In the "List of construction material products and goods that can cause unsafety in group 2, Appendix II", it is stipulated that products No. 9, from No. 21 to No. 31 must be inspected before customs clearance according to method 5 before being allowed to import goods into Vietnam.

According to regulations, method 5 is that experts will conduct typical sample testing and evaluate the production process; supervise through testing samples taken at the production site or on the market combined with evaluating the production process.

With the above regulation, many enterprises on importing construction materials believe that Circular 10 stipulates that goods are inspected before customs clearance must be based on the certification results of a designated certification organization, but the Circular does not have regulations and currently there is no document guiding or designating units that are allowed to certify conformity according to method 5.

While the effective date of the Circular is less than 1 month, importing enterprises will face many difficulties in choosing a unit to assess and certify conformity.

Furthermore, a representative of a business said that the process of implementing conformity certification under method 5 for imported goods is carried out through many steps.

That is from the stage of registering documents, making an assessment plan, establishing an inspection team, checking documents directly at the Supplier's factory, selecting samples, transporting samples to Vietnam and assessing quality, so it takes a lot of time to implement.

However, the effective date from December 16, 2024 is too urgent to meet the process of certifying conformity under method 5.

Talking to reporters of Customs Magazine on this issue, Mr. Le Nam Hai, Vice President of the Vietnam Construction Ceramics Association, highly appreciated the regulations of Circular 10, which helps strengthen the management of imported construction materials.

Thereby, it will regulate floating goods of unknown origin of enterprises and business households importing through unofficial channels.

However, Mr. Le Nam Hai also acknowledged the difficulties of enterprises importing construction materials regarding the time when Circular 10 takes effect.

Accordingly, goods that have been signed contracts, or even are in transit, do not have enough time to work with the factory in the host country, do not have inspection certificates, which can waste time and costs in warehousing and storage to wait for completion of procedures, and then be cleared through customs, etc.

Therefore, the Vice President of the Vietnam Construction Ceramics Association said that enterprises can request an extension of the application period of the provisions in Circular 10 from 3-6 months. However, how to respond must wait for the opinion of the management agency.

On the part of enterprises, some enterprises have proposed that the Ministry of Construction consider changing the effective period of Circular 10 by 1 year so that enterprises have time to prepare and comply with the provisions of the Circular most effectively.

Because businesses also believe that if applied too quickly, it could lead to a shortage and scarcity of supply, causing the selling price of domestic construction materials to increase.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, in the 0.34% increase in CPI in October 2024 compared to the previous month, there were 10 groups of goods and services with increased price indexes, of which the group of housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials increased by 0.11% compared to the previous month.