VCCI proposes to abolish the National Standard on stainless steel

 

The Vietnam Confederation of Trade and Industry (VCCI) sent a petition to the Ministry of Science and Technology, in which, mentioned 2 specific contents. One is to abolish the National Technical Regulation on Stainless Steel (QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN). The second is to remove stainless steel from the List of Group 2 goods of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

 

“Through research, VCCI found that the inclusion of stainless steel in the list of group 2 goods and subject to state inspection according to Regulation 20 is not consistent with the Law on Product Quality. In addition, this Regulation currently restricts the freedom of choice of consumers and is detrimental to domestic goods manufactured from stainless steel compared to imported goods of the same type," VCCI explained. reason in the document signed by Deputy Secretary General Dau Anh Tuan on July 18.

 

According to VCCI, the management of stainless steel under the List of Group 2 Commodities is not appropriate. Article 3.4 of the Law on Product Quality 2007 stipulates that “group 2 products and goods are products and goods that, in conditions of transportation, storage, preservation, reasonable and proper use, still have hidden potential. potentially harmful to people, animals, plants, property, the environment”.

 

Meanwhile, stainless steel is a raw material for the production of other goods, which have many purposes that do not pose a risk of unsafety such as making decorations, tables, chairs, picture frames, windows, etc. Trash cans, stair handrails…

 

“The management of stainless steel used for these purposes under the category of group 2 goods is contrary to Article 3.4 of the Law on Quality of Commodities”, VCCI clarified.

 

There are a number of products using stainless steel that can pose a safety risk such as food contact utensils (risk of contamination), parts of other potentially unsafe goods such as transport facilities, labor machinery, elevators... However, VCCI emphasized that these products all have technical regulations corresponding to each product (for tools in contact with food, cars, etc.) , motorbikes, elevators…).

 

"Thus, if you think that Regulation 20 is built to ensure the safety of these products, it will cause overlap and duplication of management functions", VCCI proposed to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

 

QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN restricts consumers' right to choose goods

 

In particular, VCCI believes that QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN infringes on the interests of consumers when restricting the right to choose goods that are suitable for their needs.

 

“Probably, the state agency thinks that Regulation 20 helps to eliminate low-quality steel from the market, helping consumers to use better quality goods. However, along with the quality, the cost of the product also increases. Previously, consumers were able to choose goods with quality and price suitable to their needs, but now, Regulation 20 has eliminated some cheap steels, forcing consumers to spend a lot of money. more to buy products made from stainless steel with higher quality than their needs”, VCCI further analyzed.

 

Even with the option of having QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN to relieve concerns of state management agencies about the situation that some businesses deceive consumers, supply poor quality steel but advertise as good quality. , VCCI believes that, in this case, the legal system has sufficient regulations to handle acts of fraud, deceiving customers, false advertising, production and sale of counterfeit goods and poor quality goods according to regulations. administrative and criminal law. State agencies should strictly penalize violating enterprises, not issue technical regulations to ban an item just because its quality is inferior to another.

 

Regulations create more favorable conditions for imported goods

 

Regarding the impacts of Regulation 20, VCCI also found that this Regulation is creating favorable conditions for imported goods instead of domestically produced goods of the same type.

 

Specifically, the regulations in QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN make stainless steel unable to be imported to be used as raw materials for processing domestic goods. However, goods using this steel do not need to be inspected according to QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN and are imported normally. Thus, QCVN 20:2019/BKHCN is reverse protection, causing businesses to prioritize importing finished goods instead of importing raw materials for production.

 

Many domestic stainless steel processing enterprises reflect that they lost their entire market share to imported goods because they could not import raw materials for production.