Regulations on customs-related administrative penalties specified

	Comment on draft circular on sanctioning administrative violations in field of customs
	Whether is fined for administrative violations due to effect by Covid-19 or not?
	Inadequacies in sanctioning violations on trading, importing and exporting civil cryptography products

Lang Son Customs officers inspect infringing goods Photo: H. Nu

The draft Circular has removed the contents of Circular 155/2016 / TT-BTC which were prescribed in other legal documents, such as: application of legislative documents and penalty imposition rules, guidance on identification of first-time violations, a number of cases in which administrative penalties are not imposed, valuation of material evidences and handling of goods temporarily seized but not confiscated.

According to the Drafting Board, the draft Circular specifies cases in which administrative penalties are not imposed. Specifically, the notification of mistakesspecified in Clause 2, Article 6 of the Decree must be made in writing by the consignee, the carrier, or the legal representative of the consignor and consignee, which clearly states reasons for sending the manager of the customs branch where goods are stored together with documents related to the mistake when the customs declaration has not yet been registered.

The drafting Board has separated section 2 of chapter 1 of Circular 155/2016 / TT-BTC stipulating the application of penalties and fines into chapter 2 of the new draft circular stipulating the application of penalties and fines, which regulates internal contents of act of incorrect declarations of quantity in Articles 8, 9, 11 and 14 of the Decreein the direction of making false declarations of the number of packages, cartons, boxes, weight or unit of goods based on commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading; stipulates the application of penalties for act of incorrect declaration of name and quantity of imported and exported goods specified in Articles 8, 9 and 14 of the Decree in the direction of only sanctioning acts of incorrect declarations when customs declarants have documents for additional declarations according to regulations.

In case of incorrect declaration of goods names and quantities but without vouchers for additional declaration according to regulations, sanctions shall be imposed under Clause 7, Article 11 of the Decree.

At the same time, there is a regulation of the application of Clause 5, Article 8 of the Decree in the direction of: "Failure to export or sufficient export" applicable to cases which have gone through the customs procedures and passed through the supervision area but in fact, exports were not implemented or exports were implemented in lower quantity than declared, except for cases of cancellation of declarations as prescribed.

The draft circular also provides for the application of Point e, Clause 1, Article 9 of the Decree in the direction of not applying the acts specified at this point to sanction cases of unsold inventories without clear cause.

Regarding Articles 5, 8, 9 and 10 of the draft circular, the drafting board inherits the provisions of Circular 155/2016 / TT-BTC including instructions related to violations of time limits for completion of customs procedures and submission of tax documents; violations of tax declarations; violations of customs declarations of people on exit and entry for cash in foreign currencies, cash in Vietnamese currency, negotiable instruments, gold, precious metals and gemstones and violations of customs inspection, supervision and control.

Also, in this chapter, Article 10 deals with penalties for tax evasion prescribed in Article 14 of the Decree in the direction of: violations related to exported goods as products processed and produced for export and products exported abroad of processing enterprises.

In this case, goods have gone through the customs procedures and passed through the supervision area but the fact that the export was not conducted, the penalties shall be imposed under Point d, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Decree.

The determination of tax amount difference for violations prescribed in Article 9 and Article 14 is based on Articles 9 and 14.

The draft circular stipulates the implementation of measures to prevent administrative violations, ensure the penalties of administrative violations, the power to impose penalties and the procedures for imposing administrative penalties; and implementation of decision on administrative penalties.

Accordingly, to guide the determination of the power to impose penalties for violations of tax administration law; to impose penalties for administrative violations in which dossiers are related to many units (units storing goods different from units where customs procedures are carried out; goods subject to independent transport in excess of the prescribed time limit); cases of violations beyond the competence of the director of the provincial/municipal Customs Department, the director of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department, the director of the Post-Clearance Inspection Department; assigning the right to sanction; guide the transfer of dossiers, extend the time limit for issuing sanctioning decisions for cases beyond the sanctioning competence of the directors of the provincial or municipal Customs Departments, the director of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department and the director of the Post-Customs Clearance Department.

This draft circular does not specify the enforcement of administrative decisions in the field of customs.

Dong Nai Customs levies administrative violations of more than VND 6 billion VCN – According to a report of Dong Nai Customs Department, from the beginning of the year ...

After the draft circular is issued and takes effect, Circular 155/2016 / TT-BTC will be abolished. Accordingly, penalties for customs violations that occurred before the effective date of this Circular shall be governed by laws at the time of violations. For acts of violations occurring before the effective date of the circular but later discovered or considered and settled, the provisions of the new circulars shall be applied for consideration and settlement if the provisions of the new Circular are in favor of individuals and organizations committing administrative violations.