What are regulations on management of liquefied petroleum gas in Vietnam?

What are regulations on management of liquefied petroleum gas in Vietnam? - image from internet

Pursuant to Section 4 of the National technical regulation QCVN 08:2019/BKHCN issued together with the Circular 14/2019/TT-BKHCN stipulating regulations on management of liquefied petroleum gas in Vietnam:

- Conformity of LPG produced, processed and prepared shall be declared in accordance with Section 2 of this document before being circulated in the market.

+ Conformity of LPG produced, processed and prepared in accordance with the technical requirements specified in Section 2 of this document shall be declared according to the conformity certification result given by a certification body designated as prescribed by law (in case of applying Method 5); according to the certification and assessment result given by the certification body and assessment body designated as prescribed by law (in case of applying Method 7). The declaration of conformity shall be subject to the regulations laid down in the Circular No. 28/2012/TT-BKHCN dated December 12, 2012 and Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BKHCN dated March 31, 2017 of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

+ The testing in support of conformity declaration shall be carried out by a testing body designated by the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality as prescribed by law.

- Imported LPG shall undergo state inspection of quality in accordance with Section 2 of this document before being circulated in the market.

+ The inspection of quality of imported LPG shall be subject to the regulations set out in Clause 2c Article 7 added to the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP (specified in Clause 3 Article 1 of the Government’s Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018).

+ The testing in support of assessment of conformity of imported LPG shall be carried out by a testing body designated by the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality as prescribed by law.

- Conformity assessment methods and rules for application thereof are prescribed in Article 5 and Annex II of the Regulation on declaration of standard conformity and technical-regulation conformity promulgated together with the Circular No. 28/2012/TT-BKHCN dated December 12, 2012 of the Ministry of Science and Technology. To be specific:

+ Conformity of LPG domestically produced, processed and prepared shall be certified using Method 5 (Testing a representative sample and assessment of the manufacturing process; carrying out supervision by testing samples collected from the place of manufacturing or in the market in association with assessment of the manufacturing process) at the production, processing and preparation facility. In case the production, processing and preparation facility fails to satisfy quality assurance requirements according to Method 5, Method 7 “Testing and assessment of a shipment of products/goods” shall be adopted;

+ Regarding imported LPG, each shipment of such imported LPG shall have its conformity certified using the Method 7 “Testing and assessment of a shipment of products/goods”. In case conformity is certified at the production and preparation facility at its request, Method 5 specified in 4.3.1 shall be adopted.

+ The certificate of conformity or certificate of quality assessment for Method 7 shall be only valid for each shipment of imported LPG or batch of products sampled for conformity assessment; for Method 5; the certificate shall be valid for a period of no more than 3 years.

- Rules for recognition of conformity assessment results and use of testing results

+ The conformity assessment body (certification body or assessment body) may consider using the testing result given by a testing body in the exporting country to serve its certification or assessment if such testing body is sufficiently competent and satisfies all regulations laid down in ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.

+ Prior to use of the testing result given by a conformity assessment body in the exporting country, the certification body and assessment body must send a notification thereof to the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality for monitoring and management purposes. Where necessary, the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality shall carry out an inspection (post-inspection) of the use of testing results by the certification body and assessment body.

+ When using the testing result given by a conformity assessment body in the exporting country, the certification body and assessment body must assume responsibility for their certification and assessment results.

- When circulated in the market, LPG produced, processed, prepared and imported must satisfy quality requirements specified in this documents and standards announced by the supplier (which imports, produces, processes or prepares LPG) and undergo state inspection of quality as prescribed by law.

+ An odorant must be added, for leak detection purposes, to LPG used as civil gas, industrial gas and fuel for vehicles when circulated in the market in order to ensure safety during the transport and use.

+ When tested in accordance with Annex A to TCVN 6548:2019, the odor of the gas shall be characteristic (i.e. distinctive and unpleasant), detectable at a concentration in air of 20% of its lower flammability limit (LFL).

Best regards!