New and notable points in Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP on the scope of Customs operation areas

	In the Customs operation areas: Customs is the host
	Are auxiliary border gates, openings the areas of customs operation?

Customs officers at Pho Bang Customs Branch (under Ha Giang Customs Department) coordinates with the Border Guard Force for border patrol. Photo: Thu Trang

Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP revises and unifies the boundaries of Customs operation areas, uses geographic coordinates (north latitude and east longitude), using the ground coordinate system in 1984 (coordinates WGS-84) under the Agreements and Protocols on the land border demarcation and markers between Vietnam and neighbouring countries. Accordingly, people and officers in charge of Customs supervision are more conveniently placed in determining the specific position of the Customs operation area. As a result, flat coordinates have been unified into geographic coordinates.For example, under Decree No. 01/2015 / ND-CP, the scope of Customs operation areas at Tan Thanh border gate in Lang Son province is defined as border line: From landmark 1088/2 + 120m (coordinates 3485075200) along the border line to landmark 1091 + 140m (coordinates 3404074480), about 1.1 km long (located in Na Lau village, Tan Thanh commune, Van Lang district). However, Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP has been amended to be the border line: From landmark 1088/2 + 120 m (coordinates 22 ° 00'32,053 "north latitude, 106 ° 41 "20, 034" east longitude) along the border line to the landmark 1091 + 140 m (coordinates 22 ° 00'04,071 "north latitude, 106 ° 40'58.561" east longitude), about 1.1 km long. Thus, in the previous, the distance from border marker 1088/2 + 120 was determined in the flat coordinates of 3485075200, it has now been amended into geographical coordinates and people can use the software on smart phones to identify Customs operation areas.

Besides, the specific scope of customs operation areas on land and inland waterway border gates, (Article 3) has amended and supplemented scopes of some border gates in accordance with national boundary marks and clearly defined boundaries in line with the new administrative boundaries; clearly defined the adjacent positions and depths of the areas. Adding some border gates to meet the requirements of State management on Customs such as the Bac Luan border gate in Quang Ninh province; national boundary mark 216 at Thanh Thuy border gate, national boundary mark 450 at San Pun border gate in Ha Giang province; Ta Lung border gate in Cao Bang province, as well as supplementing Customs operation areas at the border gates of boundaries that have not been defined in depth, adjacent boundary positions such as Chi Ma border gate in Lang Son province.

From reality, some border gates have changed and adjusted by expanding the scope of Customs operation areas but some other border gates have narrowed the scope of Customs operation areas. For example, at the Nam Giang border gate, Quang Nam province, according to Decree No. 01/2015 / ND-CP, the scope of Customs operation area is 300m on the right, 300m on the left and has inland depth of 500m along National Highway 14D. However, Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP has revised in direction of expanding the scope to the right by 500m and to the left by 500m and with inland depth of 6km along National Road 14D for the reason that the area at Nam Giang border gate is carrying out many projects such as trade centers, duty-free shops and storage facilities, which are currently outside the Customs operations areas.Therefore, this revision will help the above places to be identified as Customs operations areas.

At Tan Phu border gate in Tay Ninh province, under Decree No. 01/2015/ND-CP, the scope of Customs operation area has an inland depth of 1000m. However, under Decree No. 12/2018/ND-CP, the scope has been adjusted in the direction of narrowing the inland depth to 800m.Regarding the determination of specific scope of Customs operation areas at courier areas of imported and exported goods, under Article 8 of Decree No. 01/2015/ND-CP, the courier area of imported and exported goods is defined in the scope of Customs operation areas at border gate areas. From reality when Decision no. 15/2017/QD-TTg dated 12th May 2017 of the Prime Minister issuing the list of imported goods subject to Customs procedures at import gates, some imported goods shall not be subject to Customs procedures at Customs Branches outside border gates.

These obstacles have been removed in the Decree amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 082015/ND-CP. Therefore, in order to ensure uniformity, when the Government issued Decree amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP, the scope of Customs operation areas at courier areas has been revised in Article 7 of the Decree. Specifically for the, “ specific scope of Customs operation area at international posts for postal service areas for import, export and storage of postal packages with foreign countries under the international conventions of the Universal Postal Union and postal regulations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The specific scope of Customs operation areas in the courier areas for imported and exported goods is the gathering place for centralized inspection and supervision of imported and exported goods via the courier service”.

This amendment and supplement creates cohesion in the process of Customs procedures for imported and exported goods via courier and postal services and concurrently, is to unify with Decree No. 68/2016 / ND-CP and associates with courier activity under the Postal Law 2010 and Article 52 of the Customs Law.

Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP also supplements the area at headquarters of "re-processing establishments" to Customs operation area in Article 8 of the Decree. According to Clause 5, Article 59 of Circular No. 38/2015 / TT-BTC: "If organizations or individuals have multiple manufacturing facilities or subcontracts processing to one, or some manufacturers, the site-inspection shall be carried out to each and every of them to determine the quantity of goods in the inventory". In fact, domestic enterprises receive processing for foreign traders but do not carry out the processing but sublease to other enterprises. The other enterprises in this case are called the re-processing establishments. Therefore, in order to create a legal basis for Customs inspection of raw materials and supplies at these sites, Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP supplemented "re-processing establishments" into the Customs operation area.

Decree no. 12/2018/ND-CP supplements, “separate Customs area” and “non-tariff area”, into Customs operation area. During the past time, the National Assembly had approved the Law on Import and Export Duties (in 2016) and Law on foreign trade management (in 2017) with many new contents such as re-stipulating the non-tariff area and separate Customs area”. Specifically, Clause 1 of Article 4 of Law on Import and Export Duties in 20156 provides that the non-tariff area is the economic area inside Vietnamese territory and established in accordance with the law and has a defined geographical boundary and is separated from the outside by hard fences, so that ensuring the operation conditions for Customs inspection, supervision and control of Customs authorities and relevant authorities for imported and exported goods, vehicles and passengers on exit and entry. The trading relation of goods between non-tariff areas outside is import and export related.

According to Clause 4, Article 3 of the Foreign Trade Management Law: "A separate customs area is a geographical area determined in the Vietnamese territory, which is established in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law and international treaties in which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member; and has trading relations of goods with the rest of the territory and foreign countries as import and export relation”.

In the Customs operation areas: Customs is the host The coordination between Customs and Border Guard has been carried out on a regular, continuous and effective ...

Therefore, in order to comply with the Law on Foreign Trade Management in 2017 and the Law on Import and Export Duties in 2016, Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP added these two areas to the Customs operation area to ensure the uniformity of the legal system.