To: Customs Departments of provinces.

The General Department of Customs has recently received complaints from some Customs Departments of provinces and enterprises on implementation of Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC dated March 30, 2021 of the Ministry of Finance on guidelines for printing, issuance, management and use of e-stamps for alcohol and tobacco products. To ensure effective implementation, the General Department of Customs provides guidelines as follows:

1. Scope:

The management and use of e-stamps according to Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC only applies to the imported alcohol and tobacco for domestic sale. The application of e-stamps to goods sold in duty-free shops shall comply with regulations of Decree No. 100/2020/ND-CP dated August 28, 2020 of the Government on duty-free business

2. Customs clearance procedures:

According to regulations of Clause 4, Article 3 of Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC, the enterprises must apply e-stamps and take responsibility for application of the imported alcohol e-stamps to the imported alcohol products prior to market circulation. Therefore, after completion of customs procedures, the Customs Sub-department shall grant customs clearance to the import shipment and transfer e-stamps to the enterprise corresponding to the actual quantity of imports. The transfer of stamps shall be recorded. The record shall be certified by the representative of the enterprise.

3. Formulation of the Plan for use of e-stamps:

- According to regulations of Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC, enterprises shall be responsible for preparing and registering plans for using e-stamps on customs electronic data processing system before April 30 of the year preceding the planning year according to their demands for use of e-stamps. In case of any change, prepare and register revisions to plans before August 31 of the implementation year. To ensure that the enterprises register to purchase e-stamps according to their demands and avoid wasting resources, the Customs Departments of provinces shall direct the Customs Sub-Departments to carefully review the registration of purchase of e-stamps by enterprises when approving the plans for purchase of e-stamps on the System.

...

...

...

- In case, after preparation and registration of plans at the Customs Sub-Departments where the procedures are expected to be carried out, the imports arrive to the border checkpoint under the management of other Customs Sub-Departments, according to the actual situation, the Customs Department shall transfer the quantity of e-stamps between the Customs Sub-Departments under the Customs Department. In case of arising problems between 02 Customs Departments of provinces, the General Department of Customs will carry out the transfer.

4. Procedures for temporary export and re-import of e-stamps:

- In case of transport of e-stamps to overseas manufacturing facilities in order to application of e-stamps to products and goods, according to the time limit for delivery stated in sale and purchase contracts, the enterprise shall declare the time limit for temporary export and re-import and complete procedures for temporary export at the Customs Sub-departments where the import is expected to be carried out.  After completion of the procedures for temporary export, the Customs Sub-departments shall transfer e-stamps to the enterprises for transport to foreign countries.

- In case of import of goods that already have e-stamps, in addition to completion of procedures for import of products and goods according to the corresponding types, the enterprises shall complete customs declarations and carry out procedures for re-import of the quantity of e-stamps corresponding to the quantity of goods that have e-stamps. In case the e-stamps that have undergone procedures for temporary export have not been used or completely used, the enterprise shall be responsible for storage of e-stamps for use for the remaining quantity of products and goods in the sale and purchase contract. In case of transfer to other purchase and sale contracts, they must re-notify Customs Sub-Department of this transfer and adjust the information on purchase of e-stamps on the System.

- Throughout the process of application of e-stamps at overseas manufacturing facilities, if the symbol of e-stamps cannot be identified due to crease or damage, the enterprises shall determine the quantity and the number of symbol of e-stamps that have not been used and update the reporting information on the management software system according to the actual quantity and serial numbers of e-stamps transferred from the Customs Sub-Department and the quantity and serial number of e-stamps that have been applied to products. The quantity of the damaged e-stamps that cannot be used shall be confirmed by the overseas manufacturing facilities and notified to the importers.

For your information and compliance./.

PP. DIRECTOR GENERAL
DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL




Mai Xuan Thanh

...

...

...