THE MINISTRY OF TRADE
THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS
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SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom – Happiness
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No.
09/2000/TTLT-BTM-TCHQ
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Hanoi, April 17, 2000
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JOINT CIRCULAR
GUIDING
THE IDENTIFICATION AND CHECKING OF GOODS ORIGIN
Pursuant to the Ordinance on
Customs of February 20, 1990;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 94/1998/ND-CP of November 17, 1998
detailing the implementation of the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of
Articles of the Law on Export Tax and Import Tax;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 16/1999/ND-CP of March 27, 1999
stipulating the customs procedures, customs supervision and customs fees;
In order to ensure compliance with the Law on Export Tax and import Tax, other
relevant tax laws as well as the commodity management policy of the State;
In order to ensure compliance with the international agreements related to
export and import activities, which Vietnam has signed or recognized;
After consulting the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the
Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Planning and
Investment;
The Ministry of Trade and the General Department of Customs hereby jointly
provide the following specific guidance on the identification and checking of
the origin of imported and exported goods:
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The origin of imported or
exported goods is identified on the basis of the actual goods, the certificates
of origin of goods, the customs declaration forms and documents of the customs
dossiers.
2. The certificates of origin of
imported or exported goods (hereinafter called C/O for short) prescribed in
this Joint Circular are documents issued by the competent agencies or
organizations certifying the origin of a lot of imported or exported goods.
3. The country of origin of
goods is a country where the goods are manufactured or processed in compliance
with the provisions on goods origin in the appendix enclosed herewith.
4. The third country is a
country where the goods are in transit, gathered, transshipped, or transported
cross-border for further transportation to the importing country (including
goods which are imported in such country for re-export). The origin of the
goods going via a third country shall not be changed if in this country only
several simple activities relating to goods preservation or packing are
performed (the appendix enclosed herewith).
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6. The exporters and importers
shall be accountable before law for the legality and validity of the C/Os they
present. All acts of fraudulence related to C/Os committed by importers or
exporters shall be dealt with according to current provisions of law.
II. CHECKING THE ORIGIN OF EXPORTED GOODS
1. Vietnamese agencies competent to issue C/Os:
a/ Ordinary C/Os are issued by
the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry or other competent agencies
according to the provisions of law.
b/ C/Os of goods entitled to
preferential treatment under the treaties or agreements between Vietnam and
foreign countries, groups of countries or international economic organizations,
are issued by the Ministry of Trade or agencies designated by the Government.
c/ C/Os of goods manufactured in
industrial parks or export processing zones are issued by the management boards
of these industrial parks or export processing zones.
2. C/Os are required for the following cases:
a/ Exported goods related to
commitments stated in the international agreements with foreign countries or
international organizations, which Vietnam has signed or acceded to.
b/ Other goods, if there is a provision
on the C/O requirement in their commercial contracts.
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a/ The customs offices shall
check C/Os only when they doubt the authenticity of the C/Os which might be
used to abuse the preferential treatment regime for goods subject to
commitments on mutual preferential treatment signed between Vietnam and foreign
countries, groups of countries or international economic organizations.
b/ The checking procedures shall
be jointly effected by the customs offices and the agencies competent to issue
C/Os.
4. Time for presentation of C/Os:
a/ The time for presentation of
C/Os for checking is the time when the customs office receives the dossier of
exported goods to carry out the procedures for registration of customs
declaration forms.
b/ If, at the time the customs
office receives the dossier of the exported goods for carrying out the
procedures for registration of customs declaration forms, the exporter does not
have a C/O, it may produce it later within 60 days after the date of registration
of the customs declaration form. Pending the C/O, the customs office may carry
out the export procedures if the exporter makes a written commitment and be
responsible before law for the origin of the goods lot.
III. CHECKING THE ORIGIN OF IMPORTED GOODS
1. C/Os must be submitted to the customs offices in the following
cases:
a/ Goods of origin from those
countries offered by Vietnam the preferences in terms of import tariffs or
other management regimes according to the Vietnamese laws or international treaties
or agreements signed between Vietnam and foreign countries, groups of countries
or international economic organizations and the importers wish to enjoy such
preferences.
b/ Those kinds of goods which
are announced by the State or international organizations to be then likely to
cause harm to the community health or environmental hygiene.
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a/ Imported goods of origin from
countries not on Vietnam’s list of countries enjoying preferential import
tariffs.
b/ Imported goods for which the
importers do not ask for Vietnam’s preferential import tariffs.
c/ Non-commercial imported
goods; non-quota imported goods; imported used goods; some agricultural produce
being fresh flowers and fruits imported from countries sharing land border with
Vietnam and other imported lots of commercial goods with a total value not
exceeding 60 USD. The identification of the origins of the goods in these cases
shall be based on the actual goods, the relevant documents and customs declarations
forms filled in by the importers themselves, but the customs officers must
clearly write the bases for identifying the goods origins and the countries of
origin in the customs declaration forms. Where there are not enough bases for
identifying the goods origins, the customs procedures shall be carried out
according to the normal prescribed regime.
d/ Goods subject to an import
tariff rate of 0% at the time they are imported and exempt from value added
tax.
e/ Goods in transit.
3. Time for submission of C/Os
a/ The time for submitting C/Os
to the customs office is the time the customs office receives the dossiers of
imported goods for carrying out the procedures for registration of the customs
declaration forms.
b/ At the time of carrying out
the procedures for registration of the customs declaration forms, if the
importers have no C/Os to submit to the customs offices, they must make a
written request for late submission of C/Os. Pending the C/Os, the customs
offices shall carry out the customs procedures according to the normal regime.
c/ The time for submission of
the written requests for late C/O submission is the time of registration of the
customs declaration forms. The maximum time for late C/O submission is 60 days
from the date of registration of the customs declaration forms.
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a/ C/Os submitted to the customs
offices must be the originals containing in full the following principal
contents:
- The issuance number of the C/O
- The name and address of the
exporter; the exporting country.
- The name and address of the
importer; the importing country.
- Information on goods
transportation (place of loading goods onto the transport means, place of
destination).
- The trademark and label; the
number and type of packs; description of goods.
- Weight.
- The goods origin.
- The enterprise requesting the
issuance of C/O (the enterprise’s name, the date of request for issuance)
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b/ Where a C/O is not made in
English or French, it must be enclosed with a translation either notarized or
signed and stamped by the company’s director who shall be responsible for it.
If a C/O contains some correction or erasure, the agency or organization that
issues the C/O must affix a stamp attesting to such correction or erasure.
c/ C/Os must be issued by the
competent agencies as prescribed by the C/O-issuing countries (the Ministry of
Trade, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Finance, the Customs
Service...) or other organizations designated by the State (normally the
Chamber of Commerce or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Where a C/O is
issued by the manufacturer, it must be certified by the concerned competent
agency or organization of the issuing country.
d/ The date of issuance of C/O
may be before or after the date of loading the goods onto the transport means,
but must comply with the provisions on the prescribed time for late submission.
e/ A C/O may be issued to
certify the origin of several goods items of the same lot of imported goods and
valid only for that lot.
f/ A C/O which is re-issued due
to loss or misplacement must be inscribed with the words "Sao y ban
chinh" in English "Certified true copy".
g/ For C/Os presented not at the
prescribed time due to force majeure events or a plausible reason, the
directors of the provincial/municipal Customs Departments shall consider on the
case-by-case basis and direct the settlement according to their competence.
h/ C/Os already submitted to the
customs offices cannot be changed or amended. The consideration of the goods
origins shall be based on the submitted C/Os. The customs office where the
import/export procedures are carried out shall accept a new C/O only in cases
where there are mistakes attested to by the C/O-issuing organizations.
5. Checking C/Os:
a/ C/Os must be checked to
ensure their compliance with the provisions stated at Point 4 above; the
principal contents of a C/O must match the documents accompanying the goods lot
as well as the goods already going through customs inspection. If the contents
of a C/O contains some disparities with the other documents but the customs
offices deem that such disparities do not affect the identification of the
goods origin, they can accept such C/O and proceed with the customs procedures.
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c/ For goods imported from
countries and territories of countries that enjoy the most favored nation (MFN)
status, when carrying out the importing procedures, if the goods owners produce
C/Os of the normal form issued by the competent organizations or agencies of
the exporting countries, the customs offices shall accept such C/Os without
checking and comparing the organizations’ names, specimen stamps and signatures
with those on the C/Os.
6. C/O requirements for goods imported via a third country:
a/ For goods manufactured in a
country eligible for preferential treatment but imported from a third country
which is also eligible for preferential treatment, the customs offices shall
accept the C/O issued by the third country.
b/ For goods of origin from a
country eligible for preferential treatment but imported from a third country
not eligible for preferential treatment, the customs offices shall accept the
C/O issued by the third country, which is enclosed with the copy of the C/O of
the country of origin.
c/ Where the goods are sold
through several countries before coming to the importing country, the last
country from which the goods come to the importing country is regarded as third
country.
d/ The sale and purchase of
goods via a third country as an intermediary but the goods are transported
directly from the manufacturing country to Vietnam without going through the
intermediary country, the customs offices shall accept the C/O of the
manufacturing country given that such C/O matches with such documents as bill
of lading, goods descriptions.
7. Other cases:
a/ Where the importer has a C/O
for the whole lot of goods but only part of the goods lot is imported, the
customs offices shall accept the C/O, which is issued for the whole lot of
goods, for the actually imported volume of goods.
b/ Where the goods have their
components and/or spare parts made in different countries and assembled in one
country, the customs offices shall accept the C/O issued by the country where
the products are completely assembled. The assembling country shall be
recognized as the country of origin of goods if the assembling activities are
not on the list of simple activities prescribed in the attached Appendix;
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8. The customs offices
only consider and settle problems related to goods origin within one year from
the date of registration of customs declaration forms.
IV. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION
1. This Joint Circular takes effect
15 days after its signing. All earlier guiding regulatory documents on the
origin of exported and imported goods are hereby annulled (with the exception
of the documents prescribing the goods origin under the international treaties
or agreements which Vietnam has signed or acceded to).
2. The provincial/municipal
Customs Departments and Trade Services shall base themselves on the above
provisions for implementation and jointly report any arising problems to the
General Department of Customs and the Ministry of Trade for direction on their
settlement.
FOR THE MINISTER OF TRADE
VICE MINISTER
Luong Van Tu
FOR THE GENERAL DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMS
DEPUTY GENERAL DIRECTOR
Nguyen Ngoc Tuc
APPENDIX
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1. Goods of pure origin:
Products of natural origin or
products which are worked or processed without imported materials and raw
materials or those of unclear origin, are called goods of pure origin. These
products include:
a/ Articles of minerals
exploited from the subsoil, from the water areas of the country or from the
seabed or ocean.
b/ Articles of origin from
vegetation planted in the country.
c/ Species of animals born and
raised in the country.
d/ Articles processed from
animals living in the country.
e/ Products of hunting and
fishing, which are processed in the country.
f/ Products of marine fishing
and other products exploited from the sea, which are aboard ships of the
country.
g/ Articles made aboard ships
with the processing function, of the country, for products stated at Item (f)
only.
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i/ Discarded material and waste
materials from processing activities and useless articles gathered in the
country, which may be only recycled for use as initial materials.
j/ Goods manufactured in the
country, only from products stated from Items (a) to (i) above.
2. Goods of impure origin:
- Goods of impure origin are
those being manufactured or processed or worked from materials and raw
materials or by labor of two or more countries participating in the creation of
these products.
- Goods of impure origin are
recognized as being of origin from the country where they are processed or
worked at the final stage and such processing activities are other than the
following simple operations:
a/ Goods preservation during the
transportation and storage process (air ventilation, spreading, drying,
freezing, soaking in salt, sulfuric smoking, or adding with other additives,
removal of damaged parts and similar work).
b/ Simple job like dusting,
sorting, selecting, categorizing (including set arranging), cleaning, painting
and portioning.
c/ i. Changing wrappings,
unloading or assembling of goods lots;
ii. Bottling, packing and other
simple packing work.
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e/ Simple mixing of products,
including different components, if one or more constituents of the mixtures
fail to meet the prescribed conditions for consideration of being of origin
from the place where this work is carried out.
f/ Simple assembling of parts to
create complete products.
g/ Combination of two or more
jobs listed from a to f.
h/ Animal slaughtering.-