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PROHIBITED MEDICAL EQUIPMENT IMPORTS ARE SEIZED

VCN- On 3rd May 2017, the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport said that a shipment of prohibited medical equipment imports was discovered when perpetrators camouflaged them in goods in transit.

prohibited medical equipment imports are seized
A used CT scanner was camouflaged in goods in transit.

The shipment was found and seized by the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in coordination with the Department of Anti-smuggling and Investigation under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Police Crime Department on smuggling (C74) under the Ministry of Public Security and the Police Crime Investigation Division of Economic Management and Positions (PC46) under the Police of Ho Chi Minh City.

Reportedly, this shipment was detected by the competent force when it was in transit to Cambodia through Xa Mat border gate. The prohibited medical equipment imports included a used CT scanner (declared as Japanese origin, new 100%) with 10 bales weighing 5.7 tons and worth over 3.2 billion vnd.

Con Ong Transport Joint Stock Company which was located at 39B Truong Son Street, Ward 4, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City directed by Mr. Dinh Huu Thanh (born in 1975), residing in Cam Thuong Ward, Hai Duong City declared the imported goods as 100% new in order to avoid the application for permits of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

A few days ago, the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport also issued a decision on criminal prosecution for smuggling of Olympic Science and Technology Company Limited at 1/54 Lu Gia, Ward 15, District 11, Ho Chi Minh City directed by Mr. Nguyen Kien Hung, born in 1987, ID No. 385384231 issued on 8th January 2016 at 423 Hamlet 1, Gia Rai Town, Gia Rai District, Bac Lieu province due to the import of medical equipment of 50 electronic heart measuring machines with wrong declaration of goods in order to avoid the application for import license of the Ministry of Health with the value of the shipment of over 500 million vnd.

According to the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, many perpetrators have taken advantage of the transit route to Cambodia for smuggling, which was a new smuggling trick. Customs authorities have intensified inspection and strictly controlled this route, detected many smuggling cases, seized contraband goods on the way of transportation to Cambodia and then back through routes among Cambodia, Tay Ninh, An Giang or Binh Phuoc, etc to be smuggled into Vietnam for consumption.

By Le Thu/ Hoang Anh

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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ORIGIN OF IMPORTED ALUMINUM CLOSELY INSPECTED

VCN- This is requested by the General Department of Vietnam Customs for provincial and municipal Customs departments to strengthen the inspection of origin for imported aluminum subject to special preferential tax rate.

origin of imported aluminum closely inspected
Operational activity at North Hanoi Customs Branch Photo: N.Linh

Specifically, the General Department of Vietnam Customs required local Customs units to strictly comply with the provisions of the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No.38/2015/TT-BTC, the circulars of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on C/O enjoying special preferential tax rate; and verification procedures of origin issued together with Decision No. 4286/ QD-TCHQ of the General Department of Vietnam Customs and guiding documents of the Ministry of Finance.

In case of suspicion on the validity of the C/O, the information declared on C/O, or the actual origin of the imported goods (such as signs of forged signature and C/O seal, and the inconsistency between information declared on the C/O and the documents under Customs dossiers, and suspicion on the origin criteria declared on the C/O or through the physical inspection (if any), the origin is different from declarations and regulations on direct transport …), the provincial and municipal Customs Departments have to send reports and relevant dossiers to the General Department of Customs for verification.

During waiting for the verification results, the import goods shall not enjoy the special preferential tax rates but shall enjoy the MFN preferential tax rates.

Besides, the General Department of Vietnam Customs directed the units to review the C/O of the imported aluminum shipments, which were enjoyed special preferential tax rate from January 1st, 2016 to the end of April 2017. If detecting signs of violation, actively implementing post clearance audit and reporting the results to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

By Ngoc Linh/Ngoc Loan

Source: http://customsnews.vn

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OCEANIA CUSTOMS ORGANISATION ACTS ON IMPLEMENTING HS 2017

The WCO attended a Regional Workshop to assist OCO members with the uniform application and implementation of the Harmonized System (HS) 2017. The Workshop was held in Nadi, Fiji, from 24 to 28 April 2017.

oceania customs organisation acts on implementing hs 2017

It was attended by seventeen Customs officers representing fifteen Customs Administrations of the OCO and was facilitated by experts from the WCO, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), New Zealand Statistics, the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies (CCES – Australia) and the OCO Secretariat.

The main objective of the Workshop was to assist OCO members in the uniformity in the implementation, interpretation, and application of HS 2017. Moreover, it was also aimed at assisting members to implement their obligations under a number of free trade agreements currently under negotiation.

The Workshop was officially opened by Mr. Seve Paeniu, the Head of the Secretariat of the OCO. He highlighted the importance of implementing HS 2017 given a number of international and regional conventions/instruments that are being implemented or currently under negotiation. Mr. Paeniu further highlighted the OCO initiative to build up a pool of regional experts in the Pacific through a long-term capacity development program with the aim to ensure that there is capacity available at the national level to sustain the HS implementation and any subsequent amendments in the future. He also acknowledged the work of the OCO Technical Working Group on HS, a partnership with WCO, SPC and NZ Statistics and the financial assistance provided by Australia and New Zealand to enable the Workshop to occur and to support the implementation of the HS 2017.

The participants noted presentations by the WCO on the HS Convention and HS 2017 amendments including the WCO tools and instruments developed to assist members with the application of the HS and to modernize tariff classification and related infrastructure. The WCO also made presentations on the materials developed under the WCO Revenue Package to respond to the Members’ needs in respect of fair, efficient and effective revenue collection.

Three member countries, Fiji, Vanuatu and Nauru, presented their national experiences on HS 2017 implementation. The key issues that were highlighted in the presentations included the process of adoption of the HS 2017 and this included the need for establishment of a project team, the use of WCO HS 2017 tools, the correlation exercise, drafting of the new tariff, approval process for the legislation and the internal and external awareness of the changes.

The update on the work on Pacific Tariff Framework was provided by SPC (the Secretariat of the Pacific Community) and it was noted that most of the OCO member administrations had not implemented HS 2017 since its effective date on 1 January 2017. To assist members, the Pacific Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (PACHS) 2017 was being developed and would be completed by June 2017.

Throughout the Workshop, the participants discussed key challenges and opportunities regarding their implementation of HS 2017 and shared experiences in improving their classification work and capacity. The participants also developed the OCO Action Plan for implementation of HS 2017 clearly identifying national capacity building needs. As part of members’ capacity building initiative, the participants supported the need to establish the OCO Training of Trainer Programmes aimed at enhancing the delivery techniques of a pool of regional trainers and to prepare them to conduct training within their respective Customs administrations.

The WCO supports the initiatives and is prepared to further assist with the implementation of HS 2017 in the Pacific and to establish a pool of expert trainers in the region.

By M.Hung

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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IMPORTED GOODS TO CONTRIBUTE CAPITAL ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PAY VAT

VCN- Enterprises which contribute capital to establish are not required to declare and pay VAT in accordance with Point a, Clause 7 of Circular 219/2013 / TT-BTC.

imported goods to contribute capital are not required to pay vat
Customs operations at Cai Lan port, Quang Ninh province. Photo: Thu Trang.

That is a response of the General Department of Vietnam Customs for the proposal of Nghi Phong Joint-Venture Company Limited to import machinery and equipment to Vietnam to contribute capital without paying VAT on import.

According to analysis of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Article 2 of Circular 219/2013 / TT-BTC guides the implementation of the Law on Value Added Tax as follows: The taxable objects are goods and services used for production, business and consumption in Vietnam (including goods and services purchased from organizations and individuals overseas), excluding those not subject to VAT as provided in Article 4 of this Circular.

In addition, Article 3 of Circular 219/2013 / TT-BTC also stipulates: “VAT payers are organizations and individuals producing and trading goods and services subject to VAT in Vietnam, without discriminating types of business, form, and organization of business (hereinafter referred to as business establishments) and organizations and individuals importing goods or purchasing services from abroad which are subject to VAT (hereinafter referred to as importers), including … “.

Accordingly, under Article 2 and Article 3 of Circular No. 219/2013 / TT-BTC, when importing goods into Vietnam, enterprises must pay VAT on import, excluding those not subject to VAT guided in Article 4 of this Circular. Then, enterprises which contribute capital such as fixed assets to establish are not required to declare and pay VAT under Point a, Clause 7, Article 5 of Circular No. 219/2013 / TT-BTC.

By Thu Trang/ Hoang Anh

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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COAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY NEARLY 7 TIMES IN QUANTITY

VCN- This is noteworthy information related to export activities Vietnam in the first months of 2017.

coal exports increased by nearly 7 times in quantity
Coal exports increased by nearly 7 times in quantity.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, from the beginning of 2017 to 15th April 2017, the total coal exports reached 504,663 tons with the total value of $US 79.438 million.

Thus, compared to the same period in 2016, the total volume and value of coal exports have increased strongly. In particular, the total coal export volume increased by 6.7 times and the value of coal exports increased by more than 13 times.

With the total value of exports increased more than the output, the average export price of this commodity also increased compared to the same period last year.

Specifically, the average price of coal exports in the same period in 2016 was only $US 79 per ton, while in 15th April 2017, coal exports soared to over $US 157 per ton.

Notably, many years ago, China was one of the major markets importing Vietnam’s coal. However, from early 2017 to date, China has been no longer import market of Vietnam.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, by the end of first quarter of 2017, the major import markets of Vietnam’s coal had been Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea.

By Thai Binh/ Hoang Anh

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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HCM CITY CUSTOMS AND TCS SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR IMPORT-EXPORT ENTERPRISES

VCN- On 24th April 2017, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong and the delegation of the HCM City Customs Department had a meeting with the Board of members, Board of Directors of Tan Son Nhat Cargo Services Company Limited (TCS) to solve problems for TCS and import-export enterprises.  

hcm city customs and tcs solve problems for import export enterprises
The Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong speaks at the meeting with TCS. Photo: Thu Hoa.

The Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong said that during the implementation of Government’s Resolution No. 35 / NQ-CP in 2016 and Government’s Resolution 201-2017 / NQ-CP of 2017 on the implementation of the main tasks and solutions to improve the business environment, enhance national competitiveness in 2017, towards 2020, the HCM City Customs Department has been implementing the Action Plan “The business community and Customs are trusted partners to accompany and develop”. Accordingly, the HCM City Customs Department has actively come to businesses to recognize difficulties, obstacles, as well as business plans to support enterprises.

Till now, the HCM City Customs Department has directly worked with more than 20 enterprises, and it will directly work with the remaining enterprises in the second quarter of 2017. At the meeting, some enterprises reflected the problem when receiving goods at the warehouse of TCS. In order to solve difficulties for import-export enterprises and facilitate related parties, the Customs force and TCS shall discuss solutions to support import-export activities of enterprises as much as possible. Thereby, enterprises will accompany the Customs force and TCS to bring the best effect.

The Director General of TCS, Mr. Nguyen Cao Cuong said that TCS was one of the leading companies with 20 years of experience in air cargo services, with the capacity of 350,000 tons per year, serving 32 airlines. The total cargo volume from early 2017 to 19th April 2017 reached nearly 39,000 tons.

According to Mr. Cuong, with the high volume of cargo, the imported area is currently overloaded, which leads to local blockages. In order to solve these inadequacies, TCS has improved delivery schedules from the end of 2016, conducting delivery on Sundays, free warehousing and overtime charges for delayed TCS shipments, reducing waiting time from 160 minutes to 75 minutes (a decrease of more than 50%), while reducing the proportion of shipments with high delivery time.

“In order to further improve the procedures and facilitate the customers, TCS will implement complex building projects; 3 more cold storage warehouses for pharmaceutical products; applying IT to the exploitation of goods, implementing procedures to receive goods online, providing more human resources for receiving goods in line with the provisions of Circular 38”, the Director General Nguyen Cao Cuong shared.

hcm city customs and tcs solve problems for import export enterprises
The Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong checks the operations of TCS. Photo: T.H.

The Manager of the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Mr. Do Thanh Quang said that in recent times, the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport and TCS had been very well coordinated. TCS has provided timely support to the Customs office in arranging office space and in the process of facilitating enterprises in receiving goods. In order to solve the feedback and recommendations of enterprises, TCS has committed to support enterprises, especially 53 enterprises on the list of priority of Tan Son Nhat international airport.

At the end of the meeting, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong also highly appreciated the support of the Board of members and the Board of Directors of TCS, which facilitated the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department and the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in accomplishment of State management task in the area.

The Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong also appreciated TCS’s efforts in reducing over 50% of receiving time and shared with TCS’s difficulties. “With an increase in cargo volumes, TCS needs to plan for inventory in advance and review the procedures of exported and imported goods to see what steps can be simplified and what procedures can be simplified in order to reduce the time for receiving goods for enterprises”, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong proposed.

Regarding coordination, the Customs office has created favourable conditions for TCS in the process of production and business, and together with TSC to overcome difficulties to create the most favourable conditions for export and import activities of the business community. Through creating favourable conditions for TCS to support people and enterprises to carry out import and export procedures through the air; the Customs force shall strengthen coordination in processing procedures for imported and exported goods, especially the peak time with the viewpoint of “doing all the tasks regardless of working time”.

* Prior to joining the meeting of TCS Board of members and Board of Directors, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong and his delegation visited the operations at TCS’s export warehousing and warehouses as well as the process of supervision and management of the Customs force for imports and exports.

By Le Thu/ Hoang Anh

Source: http://customsnews.vn

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CUSTOMS OFFICERS CLEARING CONTAINERS WITHOUT CHECKING AT TUGHLAKABAD (INDIA)

Corrupt Customs officials are allegedly clearing containers at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Tughlakabad (TKD), without scrutiny, thereby putting national security at high risk, according to experts on internal security. ICD comes under Ministry of Finance.

customs officers clearing containers without checking at tughlakabad india
CBI and DRI launched a month-long ‘investigation and examination’ of the containers on 1 March 2016.

Santosh Kumar Jain, a former officer of the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) and an expert on internal security, said: “The Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Tughlakabad, a dry port, has turned into a den of corruption and shady Customs officials are allowing the clearance of containers without examination, thereby compromising national security. There are cases where Customs officials did not examine containers despite being prompted by the Electronic Data Interchange system for 100% examination of containers.”

“Just for earning a few extra bucks, some Customs officials are not only compromising national security, but their activities are leading to huge losses in revenue for the exchequer,” Jain, who has been in several committees formed to curb corruption in inland ports, said.

Evidence accessed by The Sunday Guardian shows that after sensing rampant corruption and illegal trade at the ICD-TKD port, premier investigative agencies in the country, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), launched a month-long “investigation and examination” drive on 1 March 2016, to check all suspicious containers, mostly originating from China, Dubai and Thailand, among other countries.

However, the agencies involved in the investigation have not made their findings public as to whether any unwarranted goods were found during the course of “investigation and examination”, but sources said that banned Indian currencies of higher denominations were found in several containers.

A spokesperson of Karol Bagh Traders Federation (KBTF), on the condition of anonymity, said: “Customs officials have joined hands with several importers involved in illegal trade. These officials have set up a parallel system at the ICD-TKD and have even appointed their own personnel who help them in collecting bribe money during office hours.”

Instead of stopping illegal trade practices, Customs officials are helping the touts, the KBTF spokesperson alleged, adding that these officers even harass importers-exporters not willing to pay bribes.

Despite action against some senior officials, the Customs Department has failed to bring an end to the prevailing corruption at the Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad or introduce any mechanism to stop the illegal activities.

“In 2015, the CBI had arrested Atul Dixit, Commissioner of Customs at ICD-TKD and Nalin Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Customs, ICD-TKD, for their alleged involvement in a case of fraudulent garments export and dubious transfer of drawback incentives,” the KBTF spokesperson added.

However, Nilank Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Customs, ICD-TKD, denied all allegations of rampant corruption at ICD-TKD.

“I am not aware of any corruption here in ICD-TKD. If any complaint comes, we will take action against those responsible,” he said.

Source: sundayguardianlive.com

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ENTERPRISES COMPLAIN ABOUT SPECIALIZED INSPECTIONS

VCN- At a meeting with the delegation of the HCM City Customs Department in March 2017, most enterprises reflected difficulties and obstacles in specialized inspections for imported goods, which affected the opportunities of enterprises.

doanh nghiep tiep tuc phan nan ve kiem tra chuyen nganh
Customs officers of Tan Son Nhat International Airport check imported pharmaceutical products. Photo: T.H.

“Obstacles” in specialized inspections

Mad. Le Thi Van, the Director General of Dai Tan Viet Joint Stock Company said that her company had been one of the leading importers and distributors of food ingredients in Vietnam for 20 years. The company has a huge volume of imports, with high quality, but it takes the company a lot of time and money to carry out specialized inspections in Vietnam. “The products of the company are mainly cheese, milk, foie gras, etc. imported from European countries, strictly controlled in the process of farming, distribution and certification. However, when these producted are imported into Vietnam, they must be quarantined before clearance. In fact, Customs clearance is very fast, but it takes the company about 6 to 7 hours to take the goods, due to the waiting time for receipt of goods, samples, shipping papers, etc. The delay in one of these stepss can extend the time and increase costs”, Mad. Van shared.

As a result, the General Director of Dai Tan Viet Joint Stock Company recommended that the authorities should accept the certificates of developed countries. In the case where the authorities detect violations, enterprises shall be strictly punished.

Exchanging with the delegation of the HCM City Customs Department, Mad. Pham Xuan Thu, the Supply Chain Manager of Saigon Paper Joint Stock Company said that the biggest difficulty of enterprises in import and export activities was not Customs procedures but specialized inspections. Accordingly, the company imports raw materials to produce paper products in the domestic market and export with the amount of about 100-120 containers per month. However, imported paper materials have the same HS code with scraps, so they are classified into the Red Channel, subject to physical inspections. Accordingly, before opening Customs declaration, the company must send the dossier to the specialized inspection agency and wait 2-3 days, or even up to 1 week for response of the authorities. “For an imported shipment, the company must pay VAT of 10% to the State budget, but it takes the company up to 20% of revenues for specialized inspections. Then, the profit is only 2-3%”, Mad. Thu explained.

Regarding pharmaceutical area, Mad. Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, the Deputy Director General of Central Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company No. 2 said that the company’s export and import volume was very huge. If the company does not reform procedures to reduce the time of certification of specialized inspections, it will negatively affect the time of Customs clearance and costs of enterprises.

The Customs will provide maximum support

Regarding difficulties of enterprises, at the meeting, the leader of the HCM City Customs Department said that as the leading agency in the implementation of the project on reform of specialized inspection procedures, the HCM City Customs Department had many solutions to support enterprises. In particular, it has submitted many proposals to the Government and the National Assembly to solve many inadequacies related to the implementation of specialized inspections at border gates of HCM City.

The leader of the HCM Customs Department suggested that enterprises should continue to have specific reports on each imported items subject to specialized inspections which face obstacles. Accordingly, these obstacles shall be resolved based on the legal documents of Ministries, proposals of enterprises and Customs agencies.

In order to facilitate enterprises in specialized inspections, the HCM City Customs Department has coordinated with specialized inspection agencies to put two specialized inspection stations at Lai port and Tan Son Nhat International Airport with the participation of many relevant forces. In addition, the HCM City Customs Department has also put the portal on specialized inspections into operation with the participation of four parties, including: Customs, specialized inspection agencies, port business enterprises and import-export enterprises. Therefore, enterprises should take advantage of these supports as soon as possible. Agreeing with the recommendations of enterprises in the field of specialized inspections, the leader of the HCM City Customs Department said that the Customs force had been also proposing to accpet mutual results among developed countries; apply risk management for enterprises and apply probability method for each shipment.

In order to facilitate enterprises in specialized inspections, Mr. Tran Ngoc Anh, the Deputy Manager of the Customs Branch of Tan Son Nhat International Airport said that currently, for consignments to be refrigerated, Customs officers shall conduct physical inspections at the warehouse, so enterprises do not need to transport goods into specialized inspections stations, which saves time and costs for businesses. Thus, quarantine agencies should have similar regulations to create favourable conditions for enterprises. At the warehouses of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Customs officers and staff of specialized agencies shall carry out sampling at the warehouse without transporting goods to specilized inspection stations as before.

By Le Thu/ Hoang Anh

Source: http://customsnews.vn/