Vietnam Customs ready to listen, receive feedback about draft circular on customs procedures

More than 40 enterprises, business associations participate in the seminar. Photo: N.Linh

At the workshop, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh said this draft circular had a wide scope, receiving many concerns and opinions of the business community. Therefore, the amendments in the circular had closely followed the spirit of modernisation and reform, at the same time provide specific and clear regulations to aid enterprises in their implementation.

With the spirit of openness and reform, the Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh suggested businesses give specific comments on each issue that still faces difficulty, issues that are still conflicting, difficult to understand and overlapping, and even multiple-meanings in reality. Customs authority are ready to listen and receive feedback from firms.

According to the drafting board, implementing programmes of developing legal documents of the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Vietnam Customs drafted a circular amending and supplementing Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC and Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC and received comments of units throughout the construction process via workshops and documents.

The Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh suggested businesses give specific comments on each issue. Photo: N.Linh

However, due to the change of related legal documents, some contents of the draft circular need to be amended and supplemented.

To comply with guidance of the leaders of Ministry of Finance, to ensure compliance with the process of elaborating legal documents, promptly guiding all arising problems of enterprises and comply with legal documents, at the seminar, the General Department of Vietnam Customs recorded comments from businesses and customs departments of provinces and cities on the draft circular.

The draft circular is expected to amend and supplement many regulations related to customs procedures, customs supervision and inspection, such as: additional declaration after clearance in case of a shortage of goods when sending; cases of canceling customs declarations; checking export and import licenses, results of specialised inspections; checking name of goods, codes, and tariff rates; customs procedures for cases where exported goods have been cleared or released changing port of receiving goods and loading; customs procedures and customs supervision for goods subject to customs supervision during transportation that change mode of transportation; customs declaration of goods of independent transport; and customs procedures for goods temporarily imported and re-exported.

Regarding issues related to supervising export and import goods brought into and taken out of ports, warehouses, yards and locations, the draft circular also amended and supplemented regulations on customs supervision of imported goods brought into, stored, brought out to ports, warehouses, yards or locations connected to customs electronic data processing system; regulations on customs supervision for export goods brought in, stored, brought out to ports, warehouses, yards and points connected to the customs electronic data processing system; regulations on customs supervision for goods exported and imported through border gates, ports, warehouses, yards and locations where the system has not been connected yet; basis for identifying exported goods.

With the issues of management of warehouses, yards, locations, the draft also amended regulations on management of goods deposit into and taken out of bonded warehouses; establishing inspection sites at the foot of works or production establishments and factories; customs procedures for on-spot export and import goods.

Besides that, part of the important content in the draft circular amending regulations on export duty, import duty and tax management for export and import goods. The issue of customs valuation that was expected to be amended and supplemented on the subject of inspection of customs declaration and valuation, identifying suspicious signs of declared value, order of inspection and handling of inspection results, consultation and principles and methods of customs valuation of exported goods.

For issues on tax collection, payment and management, it was expected to amend and supplement on the exchange rate for tax calculation of export and import goods, amending and supplementing currency of tax payment; amending and supplementing on deadline for tax payment and amending and supplementing the guarantee of payable tax amount.