Five issues related to goods in transit studied for revisions

	Tay Ninh Customs: Strict control and management of goods in transit
	Control goods in transit to prevent offences
	HCM City Customs: Closely control goods in transit across border gates

Customs forces supervise means of transporting fruit in transit through Bac Luan II Bridge, Mong Cai.

The first group of problems is to add regulations on the first import border gate and the last export border gate.

Current regulations in Clause 1, Article 43 of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Clause 19, Article 1 of Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP) stipulate that goods in transit must carry out procedures at the first import border gate and the last export border gate, but there is no regulation on these gates to apply in case of goods in transit.

Meanwhile, in Article 21 of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Clause 9 Article 1 of Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP) there are regulations on the first import border gate and these provisions apply to customs valuation; if applied to goods in transit, they are not appropriate. During the implementation of the provisions of Article 43 above, there are different interpretations of the first import border gate and the last export border gate (the place of discharge/port of destination indicated on the bill of lading).

To ensure transparency and clarity, the draft decree will specify the first import border gate and the last export border gate.

The second issue studied and revised is the customs declaration in the case of trans-shipment, storage, change of mode of transport, means of transport, and the method requested by the declarant to the Customs office when performing these tasks.

Article 43 of Decree 08/2015/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Clause 19, Article 1 of Decree 59/2018/ND-CP) stipulates cases of trans-shipment, storage, division of shipments, change of mode of transport, means of transport, the customs declarant must make a customs declaration for each transport route; when requesting to perform these tasks, the customs declarant must submit an application (paper copy) to the Customs office.

It is not appropriate to require enterprises to perform declarations according to each route of transportation, and to submit applications manually. Enterprises must declare many times, increasing costs as well as time for procedures.

Therefore, the General Department of Customs is expected to amend in the direction of not stipulating the declaration of each route in the case of trans-shipment, storage, change of mode of transport or means of transport.

Accordingly, enterprises and relevant Customs Sub-Departments shall carry out customs procedures according to regulations of the Ministry of Finance for goods subject to customs supervision; at the same time, stipulate the submission of applications, receipt and response of applications through the E-customs data processing system.

The third problem about customs records is that the current system does not support detailed customs declarations for goods in transit, but this is a non-taxable commodity, so it is necessary to declare details of goods so that Customs authorities as well as relevant agencies have information to carry out inspection and supervision.

In the future, the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Customs) will build a smart customs system, whereby the customs declaration will have information criteria for the customs declarant to declare in detail.

Therefore, in the draft decree, the content of the detailed declaration of goods will be revised in the following direction: A detailed list of goods in transit according to the form issued by the Ministry of Finance, unless the customs declarant has declared the detailed information about the goods on the customs declaration.

The fourth issue is that the conditions for customs supervision and inspection for vehicles transporting goods in transit are also revised.

According to the General Department of Customs, in Article 43 of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Clause 19, Article 1 of Decree 59/2018/ND-CP), the responsibility of the customs declarant is transporting goods according to the correct route and border gate, ensuring the original condition of the goods, ensuring the customs seal, ensuring the original seal of the carrier, no regulations on supervision conditions for means of transport of goods in transit.

Problems arise in the process of implementation, because goods in transit are not subject to tax, goods need to be closely monitored to ensure that they are not smuggled inland, supervision on goods and means of transport must be associated, therefore, based on the provisions of Article 71 of the Customs Law, it is necessary to prescribe the conditions for supervision by the Customs.

Therefore, the draft decree will add regulations that means of transport of goods in transit must meet the conditions of customs supervision as prescribed by the Minister of Finance.

The fifth issue is that regulations for transit goods separated and packed with import goods and export goods also must be revised and supplemented to ensure management.

According to the General Department of Customs, it is not necessary to allow goods to be separated and packed in areas which are not in border-gate areas, especially in the context that goods in transit have many potential trade fraud risks. The separation and packing outside the border gate area is difficult to manage, easily leading to taking advantage of smuggling goods inland. In addition, in the ASEAN customs transit model, which is internalized in Decree No. 46/2020/ND-CP, there is no mechanism for packing or separating, the goods must be transferred in the original state of the shipment according to each means of transportation from the exporting country to the importing country.

Therefore, in the draft Decree, the regulations on separation and package of goods in transit with exported and imported goods will be removed at locations which are not the first import border gate and the last export border gate.

Accordingly, goods in transit can only be separated (transit shipments or goods in transit are separated with imported goods) at the first import border gate, goods in transit are packed together with exported goods at the first import border gate.

Therefore, to reduce administrative procedures in this case, the customs declarant is not required to make a written request for the separation and packing because these works are being carried out in the border gate area under supervision of the Customs (similar to goods separated in CFS at the border gate).