THE MINISTRY OF CONSTRUCTION -------- SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence– Freedom – Happiness --------------Hanoi, September 20, 2012 No. 04/2012/TT-BXD CIRCULAR GUIDING THE EXPORT OF MINERALS AS BUILDING MATERIALS Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 17/2008/NĐ-CP dated February 04, 2008, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction; Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 15/2012/NĐ-CP dated March 09, 2012, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Mineral; Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 105/2008/QĐ-TTg dated July 21, 2008, approving the Planning for the exploration, extraction, and use of minerals for cement production in Vietnam by 2020; Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 152/2008/QĐ-TTg dated November 28, 2008, approving the Planning for the exploration, extraction, and use of mineral for building material production in Vietnam by 2020; At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Building materials; The Minister of Construction promulgates this Circular to guide the export of minerals for producing building materials. Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application 1. This Circular guide the activities related to the export of minerals for producing building materials, minerals for producing cement, and minerals for producing common building materials, (hereinafter referred to as minerals for producing building materials). 2. This Circular is applicable to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals eligible for participating in the export of minerals for producing building materials in Vietnam (except for minerals for producing building materials brought in non-tariff zones for building, repairing, or maintaining constructions in non-tariff zones). Article 2. Interpretation of terms The terms in this Circular are construed as follows: 1. State management agencies competent to issue mineral extraction licenses are the agencies prescribed in Article 82 of the Law on Mineral No. 60/2010/QH12. 2. Mineral processing is the classification and enrichment of minerals, or other activities to meet the norms of materials or products for various purposes: 3. Building sand is natural sand in mines, rivers, and streams, of which the SiO 2 content < 85% (except for silicon white sand and salted sand) in the list of minerals for producing common building materials and sand from crushed stone used for construction 4. Building stone is natural stone in the list of minerals for producing common building materials that is crushed and classified by sized, and used as aggregate to make concrete, build embankments, foundations, walls, and roads. 5. Stone blocks are natural stone that is not processed into a finished products, of which the volume ≥ 0.5 m 3 . Chapter II PROVISIONS ON THE EXPORT OF MINERALS AS BUILDING MATERIALS Article 3. The list of minerals allowed to export 1. Minerals allowed to export are specified in Annex 1 of this Circular. 2. The Ministry of Construction shall report the demand for exporting minerals not in the list of minerals allowed to be exported to Prime Minister for decisions Article 4. Requirements for exporting minerals for producing building materials 1. The minerals in the list of minerals allowed to be exported must satisfy the conditions in Annex 1 of this Circular, and not in the list of minerals for producing building materials banned from export in Annex 2 of this Circular (except for minerals temporary imported for re-export). 2. The origins of minerals: a) Minerals extracted from the mines of which the mineral extraction licenses issued by competent State management agencies are unexpired at the time of extraction. b) The minerals confiscated and liquidated by competent State management agencies with valid sale or auction invoices. c) Minerals temporary imported for re-export, or imported to process and then export, must comply with the Law on Trade and its guiding documents. In this case, the enterprise must present the import declaration proving that the minerals processed for export are produced from imported materials. Article 5. The dossier of mineral export includes: 1. The goods export documents as prescribed by the Law on Customs. 2. The results of the tests on the mechanical, physical, and chemical norms of the minerals in accordance with Annex 1 of this Circular, and certified by LAS-XD laboratories or the equivalent (except for paving stones, ashlars, bituminous shale) 3. The documents proving the origins of minerals: a) Enterprises extracting and processing minerals, or authorized to extract, process, and export minerals must present the notarized copy of the mineral extraction licenses and Investment certificates of the mineral processing projects. If the mineral extracting unit does not have a processing factory, it must provide the Investment certificate of the processing unit hired to process minerals, and the mineral processing contract. b) Enterprises purchasing minerals to process and export must present the notarized copy of the mineral extraction licenses, VAT invoices, and Investment certificates of the mineral processing projects of the sellers. c) Enterprises purchasing minerals to process and export must present the notarized copy of the mineral extraction licenses, VAT invoices, and Investment certificates of the mineral processing projects of the sellers. d) Enterprises importing minerals to process and export must present the import declaration proving that the minerals processed for export are produced from imported materials. Chapter IV IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION Article 6. Reports on the export of minerals for producing building materials 1. Enterprises exporting minerals must make and send reports to provincial People’s Committees under the form in Annex 3 of this Circular before January 15 every year. Provincial People’s Committees shall make and send reports to the Ministry of Construction before January 30 every year for summarizing and sending reports to the Prime Minister. A report is made annually, starting from January 01 until the end of December 31 of the reporting year. 2. Apart from implementing the reporting regime as prescribed, exporters must make irregular reports on the export of minerals at the request of relevant State management agencies to serve their management. Article 7. Inspection and handling of violations 1. The Ministry of Construction shall cooperate with relevant Ministries and sectors to organize periodic and irregular inspection of the adherence to law provisions on exporting minerals for producing building materials in localities. 2. Provincial People’s Committees must direct functional agencies to carry out periodic and irregular inspection of the export of minerals for producing building materials as prescribed by law. 3. Organizations and individuals that violate this Circular must incur to administrative penalties, pay compensations, or liable to criminal prosecution as prescribed by law. Article 8. Effects This Circular takes effect on November 06, 2012, and supersedes the Circular No. 18/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009 of the Minister of Construction, guiding the export of minerals for producing building materials. Organizations and individuals are recommended to send feedbacks on the difficulties arising during the course of implementation to the Ministry of Construction for consideration and settlement./. FOR THE MINISTER DEPUTY MINISTER Nguyen Tran Nam ANNEX 1 LIST OF MINERAL EXPORTED AS BUILDING MATERIALS (promulgated together with Circular No. 04/2012/TT-BXD dated September 20, 2012 of the Ministry of Construction) No. List of minerals Export standards 1 Sand 1.1 White sand SiO2 content ≥ 99 % 1.2 Yellow sand for making casts and filtering water SiO2 content ≥ 95%. Grain diameter ≤ 2.5mm 1.3 Ground sand Grain diameter ≤ 5mm 1.4 Salted sand Cl- content ≥ 0.05 % TiO2 content ≤ 1000 ppm 2 Limestone: materials for Grain diameter ≤ 200 mm producing building glasses, metallurgy, lime burning… 3 Paving stones Thickness ≤ 100 mm 4 Stone (limestone, Grain diameter ≤ 20 mm marble…) 5 ashlars, bituminous Condition The project is allowed by the Prime Minister and not used by the locality Not in the Planning of minerals for producing cement and building materials Processing, polishing decorative surfaces Thickness ≤ 50 mm shale 6 Building stone Grain diameter ≤ 60 mm 7 dolomite MgO content ≥ 18%. Grain diameter ≤ 60 mm 8 Quartz Grain diameter ≤ 1 machinery, SiO2 ≥ 85% The mines outside South-East and South-West provinces. 9 Kaolin Al2O3 ≥ 28 %, Fe2O3 ≤ 3 % Grain diameter ≤ 1 mm 10 Pyrophyllite kaolin Al2O3 ≥ 17 % Grain diameter ≤ 100 mm ANNEX 2 LIST OF MINERAL AS BUILDING MATERIALS BANNED FROM EXPORT (promulgated together with Circular No. 04/2012/TT-BXD dated September 20, 2012 of the Ministry of Construction) No. List of minerals 1 Limestone and additives in the Planning of minerals for producing cement 2 Building stone from the mines in South-East and South-West provinces. 3 Stone blocks 4 Salted sand 5 Building sand (natural sand) 6 Gravel 7 Felspat 8 Clay,