The Indian government has assured the domestic metals trade and industry it will be removing many of the hurdles on imports of major non-ferrous metal scrap. Indiafs Ministry of Environment & Forests 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 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 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.
A recent 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 of commissioner of customs (import), and other representatives from the DGFT.
Source : Express India