Solving difficulties in the implementation of export procedures for wood

Source: Internet

Specifically, some local customs units reported problems arising when implementing Article 7 of Decree 102/2020/ND-CP. According to the regulations on granting FLEGT license in Article 14 of Decree No. 102/2020/ND-CP: the FLEGT license is granted to a legal wood shipment under Appendix III issued together with this Decree of an owner exporting or temporarily import and re-export to the first import border gate into the EU market; one shipment of timber exported to the EU market is only granted one FLEGT license and issued before the time of registration of the customs declaration.

However, according to the provisions of Article 7 of the Decree, the consignment imported from a country that has signed a Legal Timber Agreement with the EU and is operating the FLEGT licensing system, must submit a copy of the FLEGT license for export issued by the authorised agency of exporting country.

So, is it understood that wood imported into Vietnam from all countries (14 countries) that signed the agreement must submit a FLEGT license or only imported from EU countries?

Currently, there is no list of countries that have signed a legal timber agreement with the EU and are operating the FLEGT licensing system in order to take as a basis to implement Clause 2b, Article 7 of Decree 102/2020/ND-CP by Customs authorities.

Responding to the above problem, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said that, according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 102/2020/ND-CP on import wood dossiers, the submission of copies of export FLEGT licenses issued by the competent authority of the exporting country only applies to timber imported from a country that has signed a Legal Timber Agreement with the EU and is operating the FLEGT licensing system.

The list of countries that have signed legal timber agreements with the EU and are operating the FLEGT licensing system is currently being developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and will be issued in the near future. Therefore, in the immediate future, the Customs Departments of provinces and cities should comply with the instructions of the General Department of Vietnam Customs in Official Dispatch No. 7131/TCHQ-GSQL dated November 6, 2020.

Local customs reflected that, Section C of Form No. 03 stipulated that wood owners must declare one of the documents about the legal origin of the exploitation and present it together with the specific declaration documents. However, at present, there is no information or guidance on the above documents for the Customs authorities to compare and check.

To answer these questions, the General Department of Vietnam Customs requested the unit to check and compare the compatibility between the declared contents of the customs declarant with the documents declared and submitted by the customs declarant.

Customs declarants are responsible before law for the authenticity of declared contents and documents submitted and presented to the customs authority.