Import and export of waste disposal and components

In April 2015, in a letter to the General Department of Customs,  the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) takes the view that:

• Waste and other disposal arising from production activities of a foreign invested enterprise (FIE) can be exported by the FIE without having to include export of such waste and disposal in the Investment Certificate (IC) of the FIE;

• An FIE which has been licensed to import machinery and equipment may import components of such machinery and equipment to meet its warranty obligations without having to include the HS codes of such components in the FIE’s IC; and

• Notably, the MOIT takes the view that waste and disposal arising from production activities of a FIE is property of the FIE and can be disposed by the FIE without having to amend the FIE’s IC. Other authorities have taken the view that in certain circumstances an FIE still needs to have a proper IC in order to deal with its own property.