Decision No. 65/1998/QD-TTg On Exporting Wood Products and Forest Products and Importing Raw Wood Materials and Forest Products

DECISION OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Regarding the export of wood products and forest products and the import of raw wood materials and forest products

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PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Forest Protection and Development Law dated August 19, 1991;

Considering the proposals from localities, units, and production establishments following the issuance of Decision No. 1124/1997/QĐ/TTg dated December 25, 1997;

Considering the proposals of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Minister of Commerce, and the Director General of the General Department of Customs;

DECISION:

Article 1. In this Decision, the following terms are understood and defined as follows:

1. Finished wood product: is a wood product manufactured through technological processes with clear usage value and ready for immediate consumption, not to be used as raw material for further processing into other products.

2. Product components: are parts that constitute complete products.

3. Artistic wood product: is a finished wood product produced by manual or machine methods, or a combination thereof; it is completed using carving, engraving, inlaying, polishing, surface decoration techniques such as lacquer painting, gold plating, various types of surface coating.

4. Various types of artificial boards: include glued laminated panels, particleboards, fiberboards, composite boards, with or without surface coating, with or without surface decoration.

5. Group I.A and Group II.A timber: refers to rare and precious timber species from natural forests belonging to Groups I.A and II.A in the plant list issued together with Decree No. 18/HĐBT dated January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

6. Timber groups from 1 to 8: refers to timber species from natural forests classified according to wood quality, based on the classification list issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

7. Planted timber: refers to timber harvested from planted forests funded from various sources, including reclaimed rubber wood, garden wood, and scattered tree planting wood.

8. Imported raw timber: refers to imported timber in the form of round logs, sawn timber, various types of artificial boards, and recycled timber from imported packaging.

9. Legal timber source: refers to imported timber and domestic timber authorized by competent authorities for importation and harvesting.

Article 2. Wood products permitted for export from legal timber sources:

1. Artistic wood products processed from natural forest timber (excluding those from Group I.A), imported timber, and planted timber, including the following types:

1.1 Lacquerware products.

1.2 Wooden statues, root and branch products.

1.3 Wooden carvings: carved paintings, mother-of-pearl inlays, wooden mosaic paintings, wooden screens.

1.4 Decorative, souvenir, and advertising products such as: cups, bowls, plates, trays, spoons (spoons), fans, bottles, vases, swords, vase stands, lamps, slippers, memorial tablets, bead mats, prayer beads, various boxes, badges, symbols, frames, decorative moldings, model ships, decorative curtains, decorative stands.

1.5 Musical instruments, children's toys, badminton rackets, tennis rackets, table tennis rackets, billiard cues, shepherds' crooks, prosthetic hands and feet, wooden umbrella handles, broom handles, paintbrush handles.

1.6 Tables, chairs, beds, cabinets, stools, bookcases, tea cabinets, temple cabinets, clock cabinets, mirror cabinets, ancestral worship tables, high-end cabinets, high-end coffins. All these products must have carvings, engravings, inlays, lacquer painting, or combinations of these finishing processes.

1.7 Artistic wood products combined with bamboo, rattan, willow, and other materials.

2. Complete products made from artificial boards of all origins.

3. Complete wood products made from planted timber and imported timber.

4. Product components made from imported timber and planted timber.

5. Packaging products made from planted timber and imported timber.

6. Sawn timber and semi-finished products made from planted timber and imported timber.

7. Products combining bamboo, rattan, willow, and other materials with planted timber, imported timber, and domestic timber from Groups 3 to 8. 8. Wood chips (wood shavings), planed wood, artificial boards, glued laminated wood (composite boards) made from planted timber and imported timber.

9. In addition to the exportable products specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 above, if new products arise, enterprises shall report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for submission to the Prime Minister for decision.

The above export products may be disassembled for export.

Other forest products: All other forest products are permitted for processing and export, except those belonging to Group I.A as stipulated in Decree No. 18/HĐBT dated January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

Article 3. The export of wood products by foreign-invested enterprises must comply with the provisions of the investment license already granted, and they are allowed to use planted timber as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 to produce export wood products.

Article 4. Management regulations for raw wood materials and forest products for producing export products:

Article 5. 1. Natural forest timber:

1.1 Domestic natural forest timber can only be used to produce export artistic wood products in accordance with the provisions of Clause 1, Article 2 and the products specified in Clause 7, Article 2 of this Decision.

1.2 Annually, based on the annual logging quota for natural forest timber assigned by the Prime Minister, after balancing domestic production and consumption needs and the capacity to process artistic wood products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall submit to the Prime Minister for approval the limit of domestic natural forest timber for producing export artistic wood products.

Based on the approved limit of natural forest timber for producing export artistic wood products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall allocate the limit of natural forest timber to relevant ministries, sectors, and provincial people's committees with production of export artistic wood products. On this basis, the Minister and the Chairman of the provincial people's committee shall assign specific limits of timber to enterprises and units directly engaged in the production and business of export artistic wood products under their jurisdiction, including foreign-invested enterprises.

1.3 Customs at border gates shall base on the list provided in Article 2 of this Decision and the timber limits allocated by the Minister and the Chairman of the provincial people's committee to handle the export procedures for artistic wood products.

1.3. The customs at the border gate shall base on the list provided for in Article 2 of this Decision and the quota of timber allocated by the Minister, Chairman of the People's Committee of the province to handle the export procedures for handicraft wooden products.

1.4. Documents to determine the legal origin of wood for export procedures:

If domestic natural forest wood is used, a certificate of legal wood from the Forest Protection Sub-department where the product is completed must be submitted to the customs office.

The documents required for the Forest Protection Sub-department to confirm include:

A timber history with confirmation from the Forest Protection Sub-department where the wood was sold or a check report from the Forest Protection Sub-department where the wood was sold.

Payment invoices issued by the Ministry of Finance.

For Group II.A wood under Decree No. 18/HĐBT dated January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government) and Groups I and II according to the classification table of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, an additional special transportation permit from the Forest Protection Sub-department where the wood was sold or a copy of such permit from the Forest Protection Sub-department where the wood was sold is also required.

Specifically, products made from artificial boards do not need to have a confirmed wood origin; only the purchase and sale contract and payment invoice issued by the Ministry of Finance need to be submitted to the customs office for export procedures..

2. Planted forest wood:

Necessary documents for export procedures: If the exported product originates from planted forest wood, a document confirming it as planted forest wood from the Forestry Inspection Station where the planted forest is located must be submitted to the customs office.

3. Wood raw materials and imported forest products:

3.1. Enterprises of all economic sectors with import and export business registration certificates may import various types of wood raw materials and forest products for production and business purposes.

3.2. Imported roundwood, sawn timber, forest products, and wooden products, forest products manufactured from imported wood raw materials and forest products shall be subject to the lowest rate within the current import tariff range.

The Ministry of Finance adjusts the import tax rates on wood and forest products to encourage the importation of raw wood and forest products.

3.3. Based on the legal origin confirmation document for imported wood and forest products permitted by the customs office, which has completed import procedures, and the confirmation document from the Forest Protection Sub-department, the customs office will handle export procedures for products made from imported wood and forest products.

Specifically, for imported artificial boards and rubber wood, there is no need for a confirmation document from the Forest Protection Sub-department; only the purchase and sale contract and payment invoice issued by the Ministry of Finance need to be submitted to the customs office for export procedures.

3.4. Import sources of wood from Cambodia shall be implemented in accordance with specific regulations of the Prime Minister.

4. Other forest products: The customs office shall base its export procedures on Article 3 of this Decision.

5. Raw material consumption quotas: The enterprise's quota council establishes raw material consumption quotas for wood and forest products to produce exported wooden products for their own enterprises. The enterprise director is responsible under the law for the practicality and accuracy of determining the quotas.

The Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development guides and supervises the establishment of raw material consumption quotas for wood and forest products for exported wooden products of enterprises.

Article 6. Implementation Provisions:

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall coordinate with provincial people's committees directly under the central government and relevant sectors to inspect wood extraction, prevent illegal extraction, and inspect the production and export of wooden and forest products in accordance with the provisions of this Decision.

2. Central ministries and departments, and provincial people's committees directly under the central government shall regularly submit quarterly reports to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the results of exporting wooden and forest products, importing wood, raw materials, and forest products so that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development can compile and report to the Prime Minister.

3. Processing of wooden products, temporary import re-export, transshipment, and transit of wood and wooden products of all kinds shall be carried out in accordance with current state regulations on processing, temporary import, re-export, transshipment, and transit, and are not within the scope of adjustment of this Decision.

4. This Decision takes effect fifteen days after the date of signature and replaces Decision No. 1124/1997/QĐ-TTg dated December 25, 1997 of the Prime Minister.

All previous regulations contrary to the provisions of this Decision are abolished.

5. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of agencies under the Government, Chairmen of provincial people's committees directly under the central government are responsible for implementing this Decision./.