Amendment of Various Circulars Guiding the Ministry of Industry and Trade

many regulations have been amended, supplemented, and abolished as follows:

1. Amendments and Supplements to Article 6 of Circular 38/2014/TT-BCT:

This article stipulates the administrative procedures for granting licenses, confirmations, and certificates by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Departments of Industry and Trade:

- Adding detailed procedures for specific administrative processes conducted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Departments of Industry and Trade;- Clearly stipulating the time limit for considering, appraising, and inspecting the practical capacity to issue licenses, confirmations, and certificates by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which is 30 working days from the date of receiving complete and valid dossiers. For the Departments of Industry and Trade, the time limit is reduced to 20 working days.

2. Amendments, Supplements, and Abolishments of Certain Provisions of Circular 48/2011/TT-BCT:

This circular regulates the management of the quality of group 2 products and goods under the management scope of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Accordingly:

- Adding Article 10b: Requirements for Designated Conformity Assessment Organizations

“1. Registered in the field of activity as stipulated in Article 5, Article 9, Article 13, and Article 17 of Decree 107/2016/ND-CP dated July 1, 2016, of the Government of Vietnam, stipulating conditions for the business of conformity assessment services and certified by a competent authority to operate conformity assessment services.

2. Possessing adequate technical documents, necessary standards, and appropriate testing processes in accordance with the relevant technical regulations issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.”

- Abolishing Articles 11, 12, 13, and 14.

3. Amendments, Supplements, and Abolishments of Certain Provisions of Circular 33/2015/TT-BCT about the technical safety inspection of electrical equipment and instruments:

- Amending the time limit for periodic inspection: For electrical equipment not covered under point a, clause 2, Article 6, periodic inspection is conducted according to the manufacturer's regulations but not exceeding 36 months for electrical equipment and instruments stipulated in Section II and Section III, Appendix I, issued with Circular 33/2015/TT-BCT.

- Amending Article 7: Detailed regulations on the inspection of electrical equipment and instruments conducted by inspection organizations meeting the conditions stipulated in Decree 107/2016/ND-CP;

- Amending point b, clause 1, Article 10;

- Amending point h, clause 4, Article 10 as follows: Adding: "Training materials include content on measurement, quality of product goods according to legal regulations, and inspection content as stipulated in Circular 33/2015/TT-BCT";

- Abolishing clause 2 of Article 3, clause 9 of Article 5, Articles 8, 9, point a clause 4 of Article 10, Section I of Appendix I, Appendices IV, V, VI, VII, VIII issued with Circular 33/2015/TT-BCT.

4. Amendments and Supplements of Certain Provisions of Circular 12/2016/TT-BCT:

- Removing the phrase “certified by the import Customs authorities” in clause 2, Article 1;

- Replacing the phrase “Authenticated copy as prescribed” with “Copy from the original book or authenticated copy or copy presented with the original for comparison” in clause 3, Article 1.

5. Amendments and Supplements of Certain Provisions of Circular 15/2013/TT-BCT:

Adding clause 2a to Article 5 as follows:

“2a. The documents stipulated in points a and b, clause 2, Article 5 of this Circular are copies from the original book or authenticated copies or copies presented with the original for comparison.”

6. Abolishing Certain Circulars:

- Chapter IV of Circular 44/2010/TT-BCT regulating the leasing of storage facilities and rice milling infrastructure to meet the conditions for rice export business.

- Circular 20/2011/TT-BCT and Circular 04/2017/TT-BCT about supplementing procedures for importing passenger cars with fewer than 9 seats.

Note: Application dossiers for licenses, certificates, and confirmations received by the administrative procedure-executing agency before the effective date of this Circular (January 1, 2018) shall follow the procedures in effect at the time of dossier acceptance.

More details can be found in Circular 28/2017/TT-BCT, effective from January 1, 2018.

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