To: Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association

The conference held from September 8th to September 10th, 2015 by the General Department of Customs Vietnam (GDCV) provides assessment of compliance with the Customs Law 2014 and guiding documents for customs procedures and tax management applied for imports and imports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In response to Official Dispatch No.206/HHDMVN-HV dated September 05, 2015 regarding certain questions about customs procedures which has been sent by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association to the aforesaid conference, in addition to responses given at the conference by the representative of the General GDCV, below are other opinions from the GDCV: 

1. Regarding physical inspection of goods on customs declaration going through red channel at the request of Sub-department of customs

For the purpose of enabling enterprises to declare goods at the sub-department of customs located outside of the border checkpoint without having to transport goods from border checkpoint to such sub-department of customs for physical inspection if the customs declaration is going through the red channel, the GDCV has instructed the sub-department of customs at which the customs declaration is registered to ask for assistance of the sub-department of customs that is favorable to carry out physical inspection of goods with the aim of saving time and transfer costs for the enterprise and releasing the goods at the border checkpoint (hereinafter referred to as “physical inspection of goods by authorized customs”)0} This is a favorable condition given by the customs department to the customs declarant.

For the purpose of improving communication among customs authorities, previously via physical documents, and facilitating customs procedure processing, the GDCV has been studying exchange of digital information about physical inspection by authorized customs among sub-departments of customs, which results in elimination of physical document transfer and reduction of time for customs clearance.

2. Regarding the procedure for verification of goods exported in reality serving export tax refund

Pursuant to regulations in force, customs authorities no longer verify the exports export of goods in reality (this procedure has been abolished from January 20, 2011, which is the effective date of Circular No.194/2010/TT-BTC). According to regulations in Article 53 of Circular No.38/2015/TT-BTC, relevant management authorities shall determine that goods have been exported in reality if the e-customs export indicates that the goods on the export declaration have been granted customs clearance and released from the customs control area (except for in-country exports and goods exported to the free trade zone within a border checkpoint economy zone or export processing zone or export processing enterprise).  The sub-department of customs that still compares the bill of lading and other documents to verify the export of goods in reality are acting against the applicable regulations.

Pursuant to Article 119 of Circular No.38/2015/TT-BTC, when carry out the procedure for refund of export tax through electronic customs, the customs declarant is only required to prepare a proposal of tax refund. Such proposal must contain the following information: (1) series number of the customs declaration applying for export tax refund, export declaration number, contract number, etc., (2) amount of export tax paid and export tax amount to be refunded, (3) series number of the payment document in case of bank transfer and (4) information on the goods exported as prescribed in Article 53 of Circular No.38/2015/TT-BTC.  According to the Circular, the customs declarant is not required to submit any document other than the proposal of tax refund.  The customs authority shall carry out inspection upon consideration of information provided in the customs system and not request the customs declarant to present other documents such as bill of lading, invoice, packing list, e-customs declaration in printed form, etc for the purpose of tax refund consideration.

Adjusted documents have been issued and all customs authorities must abide by regulations thereof.

3. In reference to verification of less than container load shipments (LCL shipments) going through the customs supervision area:

Hearing petitions of declarants, the GDCV has designed an application on the customs system to notify the customs declarant that goods have gone through the customs supervision area.

4. Expression of “Made in Vietnam” text on exports:

Labeling of exported goods must comply with regulations in Clause 3 Article 5 of Decree No.89/2006/ND-CP dated August 30, 2006 of the Government, according to such Decree, exported goods shall be labeled under provisions in agreements between overseas organizations with the exporter and the phrase “Made in Vietnam” is not required on the product package.

Adjusted documents have been issued and all sub-departments of customs must abide by regulations thereof.

5. Regarding goods description

Customs authorities require that declarants specify whether the goods are new or used for the purpose of product management as regulated by ministries.  As description of more than one product could be provided in one customs declaration under different management policy, the customs authority will allow the customs declarant to make description as follows:

- For new products and unused products: “hàng mới 100%” (“new”) is not required to be put in the goods description.

- For used products: “hàng cũ” or “hàng đã qua sử dụng” (“used”) must be written in description of each product.

6. Regarding customs value consultation:

Pursuant to Article 3 of Circular No.39/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance, the customs declarant shall determine and declare the customs value on their own in conformity with principles and methods for customs valuation prescribed in the Customs Law 2014 and the Government’s Decree No.08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 and take legal responsibility for accuracy and honesty of the aforesaid declaration. 

Pursuant to Article 25 of Circular No.38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance, in case the customs authority finds that the customs value declared is doubtful but does not have enough grounds for rejecting it during inspection of customs value, such authority shall inform the customs declarant.  If the customs declarant submits additional documents required and requests for consultation within 5 working days from the day on which the notification from the customs authority is received, his/her goods will be granted customs clearance as requested.  In case a documents proving accuracy of the value declared is provided or the customs declarant fails to submit additional documents required or ask for consultation by the deadline mentioned above, the goods will be granted customs clearance according to the customs value declared and the goods will have to undergo post-clearance inspection.

Therefore, the enterprise may decide whether to request consultation or not and the customs authority shall not determine the customs value when carrying out customs procedures under applicable regulations.

7. Proposals concerning time for quarantine and fumigation of textile materials, appraisal time and costs for implementation of Circular No.32/2009/TT-BCT regarding content of formaldehyde and procedure for import of desiccant for processing products:

The Ministry of Finance – GDCV has no authority to handle the aforesaid proposals.  However, such proposals will be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for consideration.

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