On June 16, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular 17/2014/TT-BCT, abolishing Circular 23/2012/TT-BCT regulating the application of automatic import licensing regime for a number of steel products.

According to Circular 17, items including iron, steel and iron or steel products, specifically: Flat-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products, regardless of width, cold-rolled (cold-pressed), not clad, plated or coated; flat-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products, not clad, plated or coated; iron or non-alloy steel, in bars and rods, in irregularly wound coils, hot-rolled; other iron or non-alloy steel in bars and rods, only forged, hot-rolled, hot-drawn or hot-extruded, including the twisting stage after rolling; flat-rolled stainless steel products… will not be subject to the automatic import licensing regime.

Previously, Circular 23 stipulated that the above items, when imported, must have an automatic import license issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the trader in the form of confirmation of the import registration application for each shipment.

The automatic import license is valid for 30 days from the date of confirmation by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In case the license is lost, misplaced or damaged, the trader can submit a written explanation requesting the Ministry of Industry and Trade to reissue the license, along with the registration application.

In addition, traders can also choose to register for import under the automatic import licensing regime via the Internet by declaring information about the trader’s profile via the Internet according to the software system prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and sending the trader’s profile to the automatic import licensing registration location when requesting the automatic import license for the first time.