From June 15, the import of used machinery and equipment will only be permitted if the importer plans to use it directly for production in Vietnam.

In any case, the machines must not be more than 10 years old and should have been manufactured to Vietnamese standards or the technical standards of one of the G7 countries or South Korea.

The imported machinery should have at least 85 percent of their original capacity and their energy and raw material consumption should not be up by more than 15 percent of their original design. They should also not be on the list of prohibited or discouraged items under Vietnamese law.

The rules also require that the technology in question must be in use at least 3 production facilities in a member state of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Lastly, machinery declared obsolete, of poor quality or causing environmental pollution in the country of origin cannot be imported.

The government has instructed the Ministry of Science and Technology to publish a list of old machinery and equipment whose import is prohibited.

According to the General Department of Customs, Vietnam spent over than $32.1 billion on import of machinery and equipment in 2018, nearly 40 percent of it from China.