Representatives of both local and foreign enterprises have opposed regulations in draft circular on import of used machines, equipment and production lines, saying it hinder business development and foreign investment flows into the country.

Nestor Scherbey from AmCham speaks at the seminar in HCMC on March 18.

The objection was raised at a seminar held in HCMC Tuesday to collect comments on draft Circular 20/2014. Participants objected to the two main points that say used machines imported into Vietnam must be less than ten years old and the quality of used machines should be equal to 80% of new ones.

Do Phuoc Tong, vice chairman of the HCMC Association of Mechanical Engineering, said many machines still work well up to 100 years after they were manufactured. Besides, most engineering firms are small and lack funding to invest in new technologies.

“We need to promote development of the mechanical engineering industry, not to create more barriers,” Tong said.

Nguyen Van Dong, chairman of the Vietnam Printing Association, said the regulation on the ages of machinery and equipment is inappropriate. Many electronic and digital tools are only ten years old but too old to use while many mechanical devices manufactured by Germany, Japan and the United States still work well in their 20th year.

Therefore, the regulation on importing used machines of less than ten years old is unjustifiable and impracticable, according to Dong.

According to Nestor Scherbey from the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Vietnam, more foreign enterprises tend to move their production facilities from developed countries and markets with high labor costs to developing countries like Vietnam. Therefore, the draft circular would hinder foreign investment flows into Vietnam.

A representative at Intel Products Vietnam said the company is moving its technologies overseas to Vietnam. As these technologies are imported from three or four different countries, it is difficult to assess their quality.

Japanese enterprises also said the rule would affect Japanese investments in Vietnam.

Truong Quoc Tuan, general director of T.A.T Machinery Corporation, said the third version of the draft circular has been much improved but is not realistic enough.

According to Tuan, Vietnam has not developed national standards concerning machinery quality, and thus there is no basis to identify the remaining quality of used machines. Each country has its own quality standards and the quality of new machines imported from China may not be as good as second-hand equipment made in Japan or Germany.

Tuan warned that the circular would affect administrative reform in the customs sector if it comes into force.

Scherbey said the circular is aimed to encourage imports of new machines, equipment and production lines, but its shortcomings may bring about counter effects.

SGT