Chương II Nghị định 102/2020/NĐ-CP quy định về Hệ thống bảo đảm gỗ hợp pháp Việt Nam: Quản lý gỗ nhập khẩu, xuất khẩu

Chapter II

MANAGEMENT OF IMPORTED AND EXPORTED TIMBER

Section 1. MANAGEMENT OF IMPORTED TIMBER

Article 4. General provisions

1. Imported timber must be legal, undergo all import procedures, be inspected and monitor by the customs in accordance with customs laws.

2. Risk management principles shall apply to management of imported timber to prevent, discover, stop and deal with violations of law, ensuring timber is imported legally while encouraging organizations and individuals to comply with law.

3. Imported timber shall undergo risk management according to the criteria specified in Article 5 and Article 6 of this Decree on determination of low risk and high risk countries, low risk and high risk timber.

4. The timber importer shall be legally responsible for:

a) Legal origins of the timber according to relevant laws of the country of harvest;

b) Comply with the request for information according to the criteria for evaluation of exporting countries prescribed in Article 5 of this Decree and the criteria for determination of risk category of imported timber prescribed in Article 6 of this Decree.

c) In the cases specified in Point c Clause 2 Article 7 of this Decree: Provide documents; declare the origin of imported timber; take responsibility for the accuracy of the documents provided and information declared.

5. Documents for sale, transfer of imported timber:

a) In case the importer sells all or part of the import shipment to one or more than one buyers, the importer shall prepare a packing list by extracting information from the packing list for imported timber, make copies of the timber dossier for import bearing the importer’s signature and seal (if any), provide them for the buyers and retain the original copies;

a) In case the buyer mentioned in Point a of this Clause sells all or part of the import shipment to another buyer, the seller shall prepare a packing list by extracting information from the previous packing list, make copies of the timber dossier for import bearing the seller’s signature and seal (if any), provide them for the buyer and retain the original copies;

c) In case the imported timber is sold to another buyer, the seller shall follow the instructions specified in Point b of this Clause;

d) Regulations of Point a, b or c of this Clause shall apply to other forms of ownership transfer.

Article 5. Criteria for determination and authority to announce low risk countries

1. Countries are considered low risk if:

a) They have an operative TLAS in place issuing FLEGT licenses; or

b) They have binding national regulatory frameworks on due diligence for timber legality covering the whole supply chain to the country of harvest recognized by Vietnam as meeting the VNTLAS criteria; or

c) The indicator for effectiveness of government according to World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) is from 0 and above. The regulatory system on for CITES implementation is rated I-level as announced by the CITES Secretariat and one of the two following are met: Vietnam has a bilateral agreement on timber legality with these countries, or countries have a national regulatory timber certification scheme recognized by Vietnam as meeting timber legality criteria prescribed by this Decree.

2. A country will be considered high risk if the criteria specified in Clause 1 of this Article are not satisfied.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall cooperate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant ministries and central authorities in issuing and updating the list of low risk countries in accordance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.

The list of low risk countries shall be published on www.kiemlam.org.vn.

Article 6. Criteria for determination and authority to announce risk category of imported timber species

1. Imported timber species are considered high risk if:

a) The species are listed in any of the Appendices of CITES;

b) The species are critically endangered precious and rare species in Category IA and Category IIA; on Vietnam’s List of controlled species;

c) The timber species are imported into Vietnam for the first time;

d) The species are threatened with extinction in the country of harvest or illegally traded as determined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant ministries, central authorities and the organizations specified in international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.

2. Low risk species are defined as those not satisfying any of the criteria specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take charge and cooperate with relevant authorities in updating and announcing the list of imported types of timber every 6 months on June 30 and December 31.

The list of imported types of timber, including their scientific name, common Vietnamese names and English names (if any), shall be published on www.kiemlam.org.vn.

Article 7. Timber dossier for import

While following customs procedures for the import shipment, in addition to the customs dossier prescribed by customs law, the importer shall submit the following documents to the customs authority where the declaration is registered:

1. Original copy of the packing list for imported timber (Form No. 01 or 02 in Appendix I hereof).

2. One of the following documents:

a) In case the timber is listed in a CITES Appendix: Copy of the CITES permit for export or re-export issued by a CITES authority of the exporting or re-exporting country; Copy of the CITES permit for import issued by a CITES authority of Vietnam;

b) In case timber is imported from a country that has entered a Timber Legality Agreement with EU and has an operative FLEGT licensing system: Copy of the FLEGT license to export issued by a competent authority of the exporting country;

c) In cases other than those specified in Point a or Point b of this Clause: Declaration of imported timber origin (Form No. 03 in Appendix I hereof).

Section 2. MANAGEMENT OF EXPORTED TIMBER

Article 8. General provisions

1. Exported timber must be legal, undergo all export procedures, be inspected and monitor by the customs in accordance with customs laws.

2. Exported timber shall be managed by types, importing countries and classification of timber processors and exporters.

3. Exported timber shall have CITES permits, FLEGT licenses or packing list prescribed by this Decree.

4. A shipment of exported timber that has been granted a FLEGT license will be prioritized while following customs procedures as prescribed by customs laws.

Article 9. Verification of timber origin before export

1. Subject of verification: Shipments of timber for export of owners other than Category I enterprises.

Verification is not required for shipments of timber derived from domestic cultivated forests for export to non-EU markets

2. Verifying authority: domestic forest protection authority.

3. An application for verification of timber origin for export shall consist of:

a) Original copy of Form No. 04 in Appendix I hereof;

b) Original copy of the packing list for exported timber (Form No. 05 or 06 in Appendix I hereof);

c) Copies of the timber dossier for import specified in Article 7 of this Decree or documents about origin of domestically harvested timber according to regulations on the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on management and tracing of forest product origins.

4. The owner shall sent submit the application in person, by post, by email or through the enterprise classification system.

5. Procedures:

a) The owner shall submit 01 application prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article to the domestic forest protection authority (verifying authority). Within 01 working day from the receipt of the application, the verifying authority shall carry out the verification or, if the application is invalid, instruct the owner in person or in writing to supplement the application;

b) The verifying authority shall complete the field check within 03 working days from the receipt of the valid application in accordance with Clause 6 of this Article and grant the certification. In case certification is not granted, the verifying authority shall send a written notification and provide explanation within 01 working day from the day on which the verification record is issued.

6. Inspecting export shipments of timber:

a) Inspection time: before the shipment is loaded onto the means of transport;

b) Inspection location: The warehouse/depot where the shipment is stored as requested by the owner;

c) Inspection contents: compare documents prepared by the owner with the actual weight, quantity, specifications, types and origin of timber; legality of the shipment; issue inspection record according to Form No. 07 in the Appendix hereof and certify the packing list;

d) 20% of the timber shipments shall undergo field check. When informed of violations, forest protection officials shall propose increase in this percentage and extension of inspection period for up to 02 more days to the head of the forest protection authority, who will be legally responsible for his/her decision.

Article 10. Timber dossier for export

While following customs procedures for the export shipment, in addition to the customs dossier prescribed by customs law, the importer shall submit one of the following documents to the customs authority where the declaration is registered:

1. a) If the timber is listed in a CITES Appendix: Original copy or electronic copy of the CITES permit for export issued by a CITES authority of Vietnam.

2. If the timber is not listed in any CITES Appendix:

a) In case timber is exported to EU market: Original copy or electronic copy of the FLEGT license;

b) In case timber is exported to non-EU markets:

If the owner is a Category I enterprise: Original copy of the packing list prepared by the owner.

If the owner is not a Category I enterprise: Original copy of the packing list prepared by the owner and certified by a domestic forest protection authority in accordance with Article 9 of this Decree.

3. In case the owner has completed the dossier for export and entrust another enterprise to export, the authorized enterprise shall enclose the entrustment contract with the documents mentioned in Clause 1 or Clause 2 of this Article.