A number of logistics services providers have bemoaned that they would have to continue to struggle with a burdensome rule governing the area of bonded warehouses as it is added to a draft government decree.
The draft has prepared by the Ministry of Finance. Article 10 of the draft regulates that the minimum area of a bonded warehouse should be 5,000 square meters and its storage facility alone should be at least 1,000 square meters.
Meanwhile, a special-purpose warehouse must be at least 1,000 square meters or have a minimum goods storage capacity of 1,000 cubic meters. The special-use area of a 1,000-square-metre warehouse at ports must be 10,000 square meters.
The area requirement is the same as that in the government’s currently Decree 08/2015/ND-CP, according to bonded warehouse operators.
Since the decree took effect one year and a half ago, bonded warehouse operators have many times complained at their meetings with the customs in HCM City that the area requirement is no longer appropriate in the sector.
Logistics firms proposed the government allow them to build bonded warehouses depending on their capacity and demand as in previous years.
A couple of customs units acknowledged that it is easy for logistics firms to find areas of 1,000-5,000 square meters in provinces where land remains abundant. However, it is hard for logistics firms in HCM City to meet this requirement.
At a recent conference held in HCM City to collect comment on the draft, logistics firms said it would be impossible for them to observe the area rule in the draft decree.
The HCM City Department of Customs said it will forward comments of logistics enterprises on the area requirement to the general Department of Customs under the Ministry of Finance to find a way out.
At a government meeting on law making in Hanoi last month, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered ministries and agencies to stop the bad practice of copying some contents in old circulars and legal documents, and paste them onto new ones.
Source : http://english.thesaigontimes.vn
Keyword : Burdensome rule, on bonded warehouse area kept, in draft decree.
