PM extends Euro 4 deadline

Diesel automobiles manufacturers and importers will have to apply the Euro 4 standard from the end of December 31, 2017, as stipulated in the Notice 126/TB-VPCP dated March 10, 2017 by the Prime Minister.

On March 28, 2017, the PM has issued Decision 436/TTg-CN on the implementation of the roadmap for the application of Euro 4 emission standards, as specified in Decision 49/2011/QD-TTg.

Accordingly, firms can continue to import, assemble, and manufacture diesel automobiles by the end of December 31, 2017, as mentioned in Notice 126/TB-VPCP on March 10, 2017 by the PM. For automobiles certified as meeting the emission standards, firms can implement other related procedures.  

These firms should finish carrying out the manufacturing and importing plan as well as other customs and registration procedures and sell the products before December 31, 2017. After this deadline, if firms cannot finish their plans, they will have to export their products and report to the Ministry of Transport (MoT) on this export plan.

The MoT has to cooperate with other involved parties to monitor the process. The Ministry of Finance, Transport, Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Public Security will deal with the procedures in customs and registration and other procedures prescribed by law.

The government also assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to request petroleum enterprises to provide the Vietnamese market with Euro 4 and 5 fuel, so that it can meet the need of firms assembling and importing automobiles as specified in the Decision 49/2011/QĐ-TTg. In the fourth quarter of 2017, petroleum firms should also complete their infrastructure to ensure timely supply of Euro 4 diesel oil on the market. The deadline for the start of supplying is January 1, 2018.

Before this decision, as reported by VIR, on March 14, 2017, the MoT surprisingly submitted the proposal on the application of Euro 4 standards from as early as March 31, 2017. Immediately, the proposal raised wide-scale protest from domestic automobile companies.

Mai Phuoc Nghe, deputy general director of Truong Hai Auto Corporation, said that the firm has 7,000 trucks that had been previously ordered and cannot be delivered because they are not certified by Vietnam Register (VR). He added that customers are growing increasingly irritated.

Thanh Cong Group , which operates in manufacturing, assembling, and importing automobiles, is in the same situation. Le Ngoc Duc, general director of Thanh Cong, said that his firm manufactured H100 trucks with Euro 2 diesel engines, which will be sold in the form of chassis, and it was allowed to be certified by the VR.

Based on the certificate on chassis and designs that the VR ratified in January and February 2017, the firm applied for a stock issue note to deliver 62 vehicles on order. However, since March 6, 2017, the VR has stopped providing stock issue notes for Euro 2 automobiles. Thanh Cong argues that it had finished its products and applied for the stock issue note in November 2016, when Decision 49/2011/QD-TTg was not in effect.

“At present, we have 366 chassis of H100 truck waiting to be packed and delivered. It is a waste and the reputation of our business will be damaged,” Duc said.

Besides, VR cannot speed up the assessment and trial run of Euro 4 engines because there is only one motor vehicle testing centre in Vietnam.

By Hoang Nam