BR-VT Customs: Solving problems of oil and gas enterprises

	The Laws on specialized management on the basis of risk management modified
	The information connection model will be built for Customs management
	Customs recommends importers and exporters to strictly control their digital signatures

Customs officers at the BR-VT Department of Customs check goods at the port. Photo: Nguyen Hue.

Specifically, in response to the question that whether temporarily imported machinery and equipment for re-export to serve the operations of oil and gas drilling are regulated by Circular 23/2015/ TT-BKHCN of November 13, 2015 of the Ministry of Science and technology on imports of used machinery, equipment and technological lines? Because provisions in this Circular may cause a lot of difficulties for enterprises in the implementation of procedures for the operation of petroleum imports and in fact, more than 90% of machinery, equipment and technological lines to serve the exploration and development of mining are second-hand equipment. However, the BR-VT Department of Customs affirmed that temporarily imported machinery and equipment for re-export to serve the operations of oil and gas drilling must be regulated under this Circular.

Regarding the difficulties of enterprises, the BR-VT Department of Customs has requested enterprises to comply with the provisions of Circular 23/2015 / TT-BKHCN and at the same time, the BR-VT Department of Customs has submitted recommendations to the Ministry of Science and Technology for handling of difficulties and problems of enterprises.

Regarding a recommendation of enterprises that it is not necessary to apply regulations on energy labelling for electrical appliances imported by contractors which are directly used on the rig, because these electrical appliances are not sold for business in the market, not attached to the national grid. Accordingly, the BR-VT Department of Customs said, under Official Dispatch No. 3854 / BCT-TCNL of April 21, 2015 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Official Dispatch No. 2125/ TCNL-KHCN of October 19, 2015 of the General Department of Energy, the goods which are regulated by Decision 78/2013 / QD-TTg do not depend on the purpose of use. Therefore, the imported goods of enterprises must comply with regulations on energy labelling.

On the other hand, under the instructions in Official Dispatch 1786 / TCHQ-GSQL of March 11, 2016 of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the goods in the process of import do not require energy labelling. Thus, Customs officers will require a Certificate of the minimum energy efficiency issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to carry out Customs clearance of goods for enterprises.

Regarding the provisions on issuance of a permit by the Ministry of Public Security for fire prevention equipment and fire fighting equipment, the BR-VT Department of Customs said that imported fire prevention equipment and imported fire fighting equipment must undertake procedures for quality control; and sequences, procedures, records, content inspections and verification for fire prevention and fire fighting equipment must be implemented under provisions of Government Decree 79/2014 / ND-CP of July 31, 2014 guiding the Law on Fire Protection and the Ministry of Public Security’s Circular 66/2014 / TT-BCA of December 16, 2014.

Regarding concerns of enterprises that the name of many goods is so general that when enterprises implement procedures to import some specialized goods such as wellhead valves, back pressure valve and safety valves, they cannot be exempt from tax because Customs officers cannot distinguish. This also makes it difficult for enterprises in defining the tax payment. The BR-VT Department of Customs has consulted the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the answer is on the basis of Official Dispatch No. 4888 / BKHĐT-KTCN of June 23, 2016, the list of goods in the field oil and gas must be regulated by the Ministry of Planning and Investment for tax exemption.

Regarding the regulations on fluid and drilling chemicals, enterprises have proposed that after a month of inspections, if enterprises do not receive the analysis results of samples, Customs officers must accept the declaration of enterprises and release the goods. In addition, during the time waiting for the results of analysis, enterprises recommend to transport their goods to their own warehouses for storage to reduce the time and costs.

According to the BR-VT Department of Customs, the above-mentioned problems were regulated in provisions of Circular 38/2015 / TT-BTC of March 25, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance (Circular 38), so the above recommendation of enterprises are inconsistent with provisions of the current Law. However, Customs authorities will try their best to reduce the time of implementation of Customs procedures in the near future.

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In addition to the problems mentioned above, the BR-VT Department of Customs also answered 8 other problems related to the implementation of Circular 38, including: import tax and VAT in the contract of duty-free goods; costs for analysis and classification of goods at the request of Customs authorities; tax assessment for the declaration of temporarily imported goods for re-export after Circular 38 took effect and other problems related to procedures for the import-export of goods; Customs valuation, taxable value of temporarily imported goods for re-export; re-export procedures, and provisions for used goods which are prohibited to import under Circular 04/2014 / TT-BCT of January 27, 2014 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.