Consultation on the draft Circular amending and supplementing Circular 38/2015 / TT-BTC

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The Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh speaks at the seminar. Photo: Ngoc Linh.

Speaking at the seminar, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh said that the Ministry of Finance's Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC had been officially implemented for nearly two years. This Circular is the basis for all Customs and tax administration activities, which facilitates trade activities, helps Customs and other authorities manage import and export activities in line with State regulations, ensuring State budget revenues.

However, the amendment and supplementation of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC in the current period is a necessary requirement to harmonize a series of new legal documents: the Law on Import and Export Duty; the Law on VAT, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, the Law on Investment, and the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents. Along with that, in recent times, Vietnam has participated in many commitments on trade facilitation, which requires modification of procedures to conform to the above changes.

In addition, the amendment and supplementation of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC is to resolve shortcomings and inadequacies in the practical implementation of regulations related to Customs procedures. Thus, it is necessary for authorities to revise a number of provisions to ensure transparency and balance between trade facilitation and State management and create a fair environment for enterprises, including regulations on Customs procedures and dossiers of Customs declarants to be stored in service of Customs inspection, amendment and supplementation of declaration and Customs classification of declaration.

As a result, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh suggested that seminar participants should contribute specific comments on the contents of the draft, ensuring legality of regulations on Customs procedures to further improve the investment environment and trade facilitation in line with Government Resolution 19/NQ-CP as well as the conclusion of the Government on the implementation of the National Trade Facilitation Committee.

Regarding specific contents of the draft Circular amending and supplementing Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh said that the provisions on Customs procedures must ensure the clarity of time, transparency and consistency with the principles of Resolution 19/NQ-CP, as well as the current policies of the Government in reduction of administrative procedures. The general principle in the Circular is that administrative procedures should not be added and if they are added, there must be clear reports and explanations. For example, regulations on Customs dossiers need to be clearer in order to reduce unnecessary disputes between enterprises and Customs officers. Accordingly, in addition to dossiers as prescribed in the Law, there will not be any paperwork to be submitted.

Experts from the USAID GIG Project proposed that principles for amending and supplementing Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC should facilitate cross-border trade and improve the management capacity of the Government. State management should be implemented on the principle of risk management. Enterprises which have tried to minimize the risks and facilitate State management should be respected. State management should be enhanced to ensure equality for enterprises, contributing to reducing costs and time for export and import activities.

At the seminar, representatives of the Customs Supervision and Management Department and the Department of Import-Export Duty introduced contents of the draft Circular amending and supplementing Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC as follows: Modification of Customs procedures on inspections and supervision of imported and exported goods; revised contents on the management of processed goods and goods to be produced for export; revised contents on import - export duty and tax administration on imported and exported goods. The contents of the draft Circular on inspections and determination of origin of imported and exported goods were also introduced to delegates at the seminar.

Specifically, related to Customs procedures, there are many new provisions on Customs dossiers such as listing all the documents that Customs declarants must have when carrying out Customs procedures for imports and exports. Customs declarants shall be responsible for keeping all documents and procedures as prescribed in the Law and must present them to Customs officers when conducting post-clearance inspections or specialized inspections. According to the drafting agency, such regulations will make it easy for Customs declarants and Customs officers to know exactly which documents should be kept to be checked and inspected.

Some provisions on Customs post-clearance audits will be amended VCN- In order to reduce trouble for Customs declarants when they have to be subject to Customs ...

In order to facilitate and save time for Customs declarants, the Drafting Committee proposed to modify the regulations on electronic Customs procedures. According to current regulations, Customs declarants may choose to submit Customs dossiers (in the case where Customs officers examine dossiers) in paper or electronic form through the Customs system. However, enterprises have not received benefits when submitting electronic Customs dossiers because some Customs Branches still require paper dossiers. Thus, regulations on electronic Customs dossiers will be amended and supplemented as follows: "The Customs declarants shall send Customs dossiers specified in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article to Customs officers. The enclosed documents may be in the form of electronic data or paper documents upon registration of Customs declaration”.