To:
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
In recent times, the Ministry of Finance has
received complaints filed by the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association
(VCOSA) (via Official Dispatch No. 276/2023/CV-VCOSA dated November 22, 2023
and Official Dispatch No 239/CV-VCOSA dated September 15, 2023) and the Customs
Department of Hai Phong City (Official Dispatch No. 12493/HQHP-GSQL dated
December 20, 2023) on import of “Carded cotton noil”, to be specific:
The VCOSA reports difficulties faced by open-end
yard (OE yarn) enterprises in import of “Carded cotton noil” as a result of
customs authority placing these commodities under heading 5202 - Cotton waste
(10% duty rate). The placement of “Carded cotton noil” in heading 5202 - Cotton
waste causes OE yarn enterprises to be susceptible to high duty rate and
policies applicable to import wastes. According to the VCOSA, cotton noil is
not waste but primary material for production of OE yarn. The VCOSA hereby requests
that “Carded cotton noil” should also be placed under 5203 and imported in the
same manner as “Combed cotton noil” according to guidelines under Official
Dispatch No. 2947/TCHQ-TXNK dated June 13, 2012 of the General Department of
Vietnam Customs.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
For the purpose of processing import of combed
cotton noil in a law-compliant manner and resolving propositions made by the
VCOSA, the Ministry of Finance remarks:
1. Legal basis
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
In order to determine whether or not the goods are
waste, definition provided under Clause 27 Article 3 of the Law on
Environmental Protection: “Wastes are materials recovered, classified,
selected from materials, products via production, sale, service, or consumption
activities for use as materials for other production process”. Where goods
are categorized as wastes, only wastes mentioned under the List of waste
permissible for import from foreign countries for use as production materials
attached to Decision No. 13/2023/QD-TTg dated May 22, 2023 of the Prime
Minister are allowed to be imported.
- Regarding goods classification:
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
Code
Description
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
5201.00.00
Cotton, not carded or combed
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
5202
Cotton waste (including yarn waste and
garnetted stock)
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
5202.10.00
- Yarn waste (including thread waste)
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
- Other
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
5202.91.00
-- Garnetted stock
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
5202.99.00
-- Other
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
5203.00.00
Cotton, carded or combed
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
- Explanation of heading 5202 - Cotton waste
(including yarn waste and garnetted stock):
“In general, this Heading consists of
waste cotton collected in preparation for yarn threading or during yarn
threading, weaving, knitting, etc. or garnetted from cotton goods.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
Wastes collected from combing process usually
are comb linters; linters collected from rolling shaft of combing or carding
process; linters produced in yarn spinning process; sliver and roving linters;
linters produced in carding process; waste yarn or other waste yard; yard and
linters produced in rags recycling process, etc.
These wastes may be contaminated with grease,
dust, or other contaminants or cleaned, bleached, or dyed. They can be used in
yarn spinning or other purposes.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
(a) Cotton linters (Heading 14.04).
(b) Textile yarn, cotton (Heading 30.05 or
56.01).
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
- Explanation for Heading 5203 - Cotton, carded
or combed.
“This Heading consists of cotton
(including garnetted cotton or other cotton waste) that has been combed or
carded, whether or not have undergone preparation for spinning.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
Combing is a primary process for spinning from
filaments. Impurities and staple yarn are removed as wastes through the combing
process; only parallel filaments are kept”.
As such, corresponding ton article description and
explanation above, cotton (carded and combed) falls under Heading 5202 of the
code 5202.99.00.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
In 2012, on the basis of complaints filed by the
Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) and the VCOSA in response to
classification of “combed cotton”, governing ministries remark:
- Remarks of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
under Official Dispatch No. 1168/BCT-CNN dated February 20, 2012:
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
1. To permit import of combed cotton noil for
use as material of OE yarn production and benefiting from import duty
applicable to cotton.
2. To study and adopt HS code for combed cotton
noil accordingly; preferably keep previous code 5203.00.00 for consistency and
convenience in management and to prevent combed cotton noil from falling under
list of waste imports that require import permit issued by the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment”.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
“Combed cotton noil, if classified from
preparation stage of initial cotton as a type of material cotton (of a lower
quality) for use directly as production material, is not considered
waste”.
As a result, both Ministry of Industry and Trade
and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment agree that “combed cotton
noil” is not considered waste as per the Law on Environmental Protection. In
addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade propose categorizing “combed
cotton noil” under Heading 5203 in order to allow enterprises to benefit from
preferential tariff rate (0%).
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
3. Proposed handling for
“carded cotton noil”
a. Pursuant to Clause 27 Article 3 of the Law on
Environmental Protection, consulting the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment under Official Dispatch No. 731/BTNMT-TCMT dated March 16, 2012
regarding combed cotton noil, which reads: “Combed cotton noil, if
classified from preparation stage of initial cotton as a type of material
cotton (of a lower quality) for use directly as production material… is not
considered waste” and description of “cotton noil” articles proposed by
the VCOSA under Official Dispatch No. 42/2024/CV-VCOSA, the Ministry of Finance
deems “cotton noil” similar to instructions provided by the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment under Official Dispatch No. 731/BTNMT-TCMT, to be
specific:
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
- The remaining 6 headings of “cotton noil” have
higher impurities relative to “combed cotton noil” where the impurities are
similar to those in the initial cotton material. According to information
provided by the VCOSA, impurities primarily consist of leaves, branches,
husks/seeds of cotton trees which are organic and not harmful to the
environment in general.
- Conversely, according to the Ministry of Industry
and Trade under Official Dispatch No. 427/CN-CNHT dated August 26, 2019:
“Standards on distinguishing cotton waste in general and combed cotton noil in
specific have not been promulgated in Vietnam… Identification of cotton
waste is not solely carried out on the basis of impurity percentage”. As a
result, despite having less than 1% impurity in case of “combed cotton noil” or
10-40% impurity in case of other cotton noil articles due to spinning process,
the lack of specific standards, regulations, and values for determining whether
the article qualifies the definition of cotton “waste” according to the Law on Environmental
Protection serves as the basis for prohibiting such imports into Vietnam.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
Given the legal basis, information and analysis
under Points a and b above, the Ministry of Industry and Trade deems cotton
noil (including carded cotton noil and combed noil) produced in initial
preparation process a type of cotton material (of a lower quality) used as
material for OE yarn production which is in line with guidelines provided by
the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment under 731/BTNMT-TCMT dated
March 16, 2012 and not wastes as per the Law on Environmental Protection.
However, physical inspection of imports conducted
by customs authorities and description provided by the VCOSA indicate extremely
high percentage of impurities in cotton noil (10% to exceeding 40%) while
standards, regulations, and limit values pertaining to impurity percentage and
type permitted in this article have not been promulgated. For the purpose of
developing sustainable development policies for textile and apparel industry in
the long-term, the Ministry of Industry and Trade hereby requests the Ministry
of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to
review, develop specific regulations pertaining to impurity percentage and type
permitted in imported cotton noil for production of OE yarn.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
For your cooperation./.
(Enclosed with Official Dispatch No.
42/2024/CV-VCOSA of the VCOSA. Contact liaison: Nguyen Thi Ha Thanh - Customs
Control and Supervision Department, telephone: 0984117777)
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER
Nguyen Duc Chi
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.