Hanoi (VNA) - Some 1,000 cars worth 94 million USD were imported tothe Vietnamese market in January, reports the General Statistics Office.

This marks a record drop of 86.2 percent in volume and 38 percent invalue compared to the previous month.

The drop comes after auto businesses, including Toyota Motors Vietnam andHonda, stopped importing autos due to the government’s Decree 116, whichtightens control over quality, technical safetyand environment protection of imported autos.

Speaking at the government’s recent monthly press conference, Minister and Chairmanof the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, said a number of embassies andorganisations had sent letters to the Prime Minister proposing him to directrelevant ministries and sectors to reconsider the decree.

Dung said the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association had submitted fourletters of recommendation to the government to remove difficulties, saying thatthe provisions in the decree were inappropriate.

Meanwhile, several associations, such as Japan Business Association in Vietnam,and foreign direct investment joint ventures have repeatedly proposed thegovernment to delay the implementation of Decree 116 by at least six months.

Dung said there were three major issues arising out of the decree troublingauto businesses and organisations.

The first is that the importers must obtain a Vehicle Type Approval (VTA)certificate issued by authorities in the exporting country. Dung explained thatVTA was not a certificate of the State body but of authorised agencies orassociations of the exporting countries, which aimed to ensure the origin,quality and value of the vehicle.

Such authorised agencies and associations will also be responsible forrecalling the vehicles if they have faults during the production process. Thisis to ensure the rights and interests of automakers and consumers alike, Dungsaid.

As for the second issue, Dung said the decree states that the inspection agencywill randomly select one unit of each batch to check. The check will beconducted on every batch of imported autos. This regulation will prove to bemore costly and time-consuming in testing vehicles. And it is the customer whowill have to incur the cost as businesses will ensure their profit.

Dung said the government was considering the issue.

The third problem posed by Decree 116 is that it requires automakers to have atesting route of 800m, with minimum 400m straight, before rolling out thevehicles in the market. According to automakers, this condition will requirethem to pay more, including registration fee, cost of land and cost of buildingtesting routes.

Dung said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had assigned the Government Officeand relevant ministries and sectors to consider the above-mentioned problems.The recommendations would not only ensure the government’sdemand on domestic auto production but also the country’simplementation of international standards that Vietnam was committed to, Dungsaid.

Decree 116’s regulations are being evaluated as a technical barrier for autoimporters to overcome. Dung, however, said all countries were applyingnecessary measures to ensure the quality of imported products as well as therights and interests of consumers.

Further explaining the issue, Dung said a batch of BMW autos previouslyimported to Vietnam was found with a lot of problems related to procedure andorigin of the vehicles, in addition to the fact that they were used cars. “Ifwe do not check them carefully, the consumers will be the most vulnerable,” hesaid.-VNA