Govt promises to ease metal scrap imports hurdles
The government has assured the domestic metals trade and industry of removing
the hurdles on imports of major non-ferrous metal scrap. The ministry of
environment & forests (MoEF) has agreed to relax the norms set for imports of
metals scrap, particularly non-ferrous, and will issue a notification shortly in this
regard.
“Considering the genuine problems of the trade and industry, the MoEF officials have
agreed to relax the set norms and promised to amend the said notification as early
as possible,” Rohit V Shah, director of the Bombay Metal Exchange (BME), told FE.
The trade and industry in the non-ferrous metal scrap sector had been importing
scrap freely as per the exim policy.
Shah said the ministry had agreed to simplify the Form 9. The new form will be
issued by the department concerned. Till then, all imports are free from Form 9
formalities. There would not be any need to submit pre-shipment testing certificates.
Import of any ash, dross, residues other than lead metal would be allowed as per the
current practice without test certificates.
The pre-inspection certificate was a must for import of lead scrap, importers were
requested to apply and obtain special permission from the MoEF ministry for
clearance of consignments which had arrived or were yet to arrive, he added.
The government made pre-shipment inspection certification (PIC) compulsory for
imports of shredded metal scrap, including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, with
effect from March 23, 2009. The entire trade had been facing severe problems owing
to the stringent norms laid down under the said notification and hundreds of
containers piled up at the port at Nhava Sheva were incurring heavy demurrages,
Shah said.
The MoEF has recently issued notification on Hazardous Waste (management,
handling and trans-boundary movement) Rules 2008, under which it is now
mandatory for all importers to follow the procedure as the per current notification
and submit Form 9 along with the pre-shipment testing certificates while claiming
the cargo from the customs.
"The ministry is wrongly considering all non-ferrous metals scrap as hazardous
wastes. The BME has taken up this matter with the commissioner of customs and the
ministry of environment and forests," Shah said.
It can be noted that on Saturday, a meeting of MoEF officials discussed the issue of
clearance of import of non-ferrous metals scrap. Besides Shah, the meeting was
attended by Robin Weiner of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Ikbal
Nathani of the Bureau of International Recycling Dale & Yash, deputy commercial
councilor, US Embassy, Ranjana Chowdhary, appraising officer from the office ofcommissioner of customs (import), and other representatives from the DGFT
Source: The Financial Express
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