DECISION

ON THE EXPORTATION OF WOOD AND FORESTRY PRODUCTS

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;
Pursuant to the Law on Protection and Development of Forests of August 19, 1991;
At the proposal of the Minister of Forestry made in Presentation Paper No.1295-CNR of May 20, 1995,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- The main products mentioned in this Decision are products processed from wood or wood combined with other materials. They comprise the following:

1. Artcraft goods (including artcraft goods made by hand or machine, or by hand combined with machine) are products processed by the technologies of carving, engraving, cutting, surface decoration or pumice lacquer of a high cultural and artistic value.

2. High-grade wooden furniture (including tables of various types, including altars, chairs, beds including ornate beds, wardrobes of various types including wall wardrobes, shelves and racks). These are goods elaborately wrought and processed, decorated with carvings, engravings, inlays, cuttings, or with surface decorative designs or in pumice lacquer...

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4. The extent of the fashioning and processing of the groups of products mentioned in Items 1,2 and 3 is applicable to both wood of natural forest trees or planted forests (except for the paper material group of timber stipulated in Item 3, Article 3 below).

Article 2.- It is forbidden to export the following kinds of timber and forest products, and products processed from the timbers and forest products:

1. The kinds of timber, forest products, and products processed from the timbers and forest products in Group IA on the list attached to Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

2. Logs of various kinds and of all sizes, whether still in the form of tree trunk, or having its bark removed or having been planed.

3. Sawn timber in all forms and of all sizes, whether unplaned or having been planed on all sides.

4. Laminated timber used as material for the production of plywood.

5. Cane and rattan used as raw material.

6. Firewood and charcoal made from timber or firewood.

7. Refined floor board belonging to timber groups IA and IIA on the list attached to Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government) and semi-processed floor board belonging to other groups of timber.

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Article 3.- The following forest products and products processed from wood can be exported but only with the permission of the Minister of Forestry who shall also define the procedure for issuing the permit for production to export:

1. Artcraft articles, high-grade wooden furniture, forest products in Group IIA on the list attached to Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

2. Finished products which are not artcraft articles or high-grade furniture processed from other precious timbers in the country (except the timbers belonging to Groups IA and IIA defined in Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992). The Ministry of Forestry shall determine and make public the list of groups of rare and precious timbers stipulated in Item 2 of this Article.

3. Truncated logs of eucalyptus, styrax and acacia timber which have matured and lie outside the areas which have been marked off as paper material zones, and which the paper industry in the country does not yet need as raw material.

4. Products made from roots of natural forest trees which are lawfully dug up.

5. The products processed from the legally imported timbers.

Article 4.- The following wood and forest products can be registered for direct export at the customs offices in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, according to the import-export business licenses of the enterprises and the quota for timber export allocated annually by the Ministry of Forestry:

1. Finished products made of wood or wood combined with other materials, which are artcraft goods, high-grade furniture, or other wooden articles which are finished products made of ordinary timbers (outside the kinds of timber already defined in Items 1 and 2 of Article 3 of this Decision).

2. Chip board, fibre board, hard board, planks, boards made of assembled bamboo or planks processed from ordinary timbers mentioned in Item 1, Article 4 and the products processed from whole planks, or the above-mentioned planks in combination with other materials.

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4. Wood chips, paper power and paper pulp, incense powder... processed from wood, and bamboo of various species, or bark of forest trees not belonging to Groups IA and IIA on the list attached to Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992.

5. Essential oils, aromatic resines and resines of forest trees.

6. Non-processed forest products belonging to the family of bamboo.

Article 5.- The Ministry of Forestry shall have to strictly control the targets for exploitation of timber from natural forests, especially the rare and precious timbers in Groups IA and IIA defined in Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 already ratified by the Prime Minister annually, and to allocate the quotas for the exploitation of timber of natural forests in the country reserved for the processing of export goods, according to the following provisions:

1. The enterprises provided with permits to process wood and forest products issued by the authorized forestry agency under Decision No.14-CT of January 15, 1992 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Prime Minister), and the export-import business permit for wood and forest products issued by the Ministry of Trade.

2. The enterprises with foreign investment licensed by the State Committee for Cooperation and Investment to operate in the domain of processing wood and forest products in accordance with the provisions of this Decision.

Article 6.- The Prime Minister assigns the following tasks to the Ministries, the relevant branches and the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government:

1.The Ministry of Forestry shall have to study and make proposals, and together with the Ministry of Trade work out the plan for the importation of timbers. It has to regularly coordinate with the concerned provinces, cities and branches in controlling the exploitation of natural and planted forests in the country in conformity with the ratified targets, and the processing and exportation of the wood and forest products from the timber sources in the country and imported timbers as provided for in this Decision.

2. The Ministry of Trade shall have to closely direct the granting of permits for the import and export business in wood and forest products at the enterprises according to the provisions of this Decision.

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4. The Ministry of Finance shall have to coordinate with the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Forestry and the related State agencies in redefining the export tax for each group of wood and forest products mentioned in Article 3 and Article 4 of this Decision in order to make them compatible with the Law on Export and Import Taxes.

5. The People's Committees in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to organize the implementation of this Decision under the guidance of the specialized ministries and branches, and to prevent in time the illegal stockpiling and clandestine exportation of timber, wood and forest products.

Article 7.- This Decision takes effect from the date of its issue and replaces Decision No.624-TTg of December 29, 1993 as well as the list attached to that Decision.

The Ministry of Forestry shall coordinate with the Ministry of Trade, and the General Customs Department in guiding the implementation of this Decision, and setting the deadline for the exportation of the products which have got the permission under Decision No.624-TTg of December 29, 1993 but which run counter to the provisions of this Decision.

The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People's Committees in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decision.

FOR THE PRIME MINISTER
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER




Phan Van Khai

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