Amending regulation on managing temporary import car of subject enjoying privileges and immunities

illustration image. Source: Internet

According to the Ministry of Finance, Decision No. 53/2013/QD-TTg and Decision No. 10/2018/QD-TTg are legal documents that regulated specifically with a full legal basis, and ensure transparency in the implementation and management of car temporarily imported vehicles of subjects enjoying privileges and immunities, ensuring consistency in State management from the date of affirming the status of the subjects enjoying privileges and immunities to the temporary import, the process of vehicle registration, circulation, re-export, transfer or destruction.

Basically, it strictly ensured the management of vehicles, prevented subjects who enjoyed privileges and immunities from selling cars to Vietnamese organisations and individuals but did not carry out transfer procedures in accordance with provisions of law. At the end of their working term, individuals must carry out procedures to revoke registration, circulate and re-export or transfer or destroy the vehicle or authorise the working agency for re-exporting or transferring or destroying.

Besides, the supplement of the regulation requiring to have proof of vehicle ownership when carrying out procedures for temporary import of vehicles in Decision No. 10/2018/QD-TTg limited the situation of some individuals in countries having income is not suitable, but temporarily import luxury cars with high value, then sell them to organisations and individuals in Vietnam for use during the working term of the subjects. At the same time, in Decision 10/2018/QD-TTg supplemented regulations on conditions of transferring vehicle, creating favourable conditions for subjects enjoying privileges and immunities in the transfer of vehicles, avoiding backlogged cars.

However, in implementation, some problems had arisen related to temporary import, transfer or re-export of vehicles need to be modified and supplemented to correspond to reality.

The Ministry of Finance is collecting opinions of ministries, sectors and agencies on the draft decision amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decision No. 53/2013/QD-TTg dated September 13, 2013.

For example, conditions for temporary import of cars and motorcycles related to documents proving vehicle ownership, at Point 3, Clause 1, Article 1 of Decision 10/2018/QD-TTg prescribing conditions when temporarily importing vehicle, whereby the owner must submit documents proving his/her ownership, such as: receipt of payment for purchasing car via a bank or registration certificate or certificate of revoking registration.

Some problems had also arisen in the implementation of the above provisions relating to identifying papers proving vehicle ownership in some cases like name of buyer on the invoice not the subject enjoying privileges and immunities, subject enjoyed privileges and immunities authorised to other individuals to purchase and sell from abroad and transfer back to Vietnam.

Accordingly, the sale and purchase invoice was in the name of the buyer who was authorised, not the subject enjoying privileges and immunities. Temporarily imported cars of a representative agency were cars purchased by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country and then transferred to the representative office in Vietnam. This meant the vehicle purchase and sale documents were in the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance proposed to amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 4 of Decision No. 53/2013/QD-TTg as follows: Subjects as mentioned in Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 2 of this decision about temporarily import cars or motorbike from abroad or buy back motorbikes from other beneficiaries of privileges and immunities, when carrying out procedures for granting license of temporary import of vehicles, vehicle owners should submit proof of ownership under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance”.

In the draft decision, many contents on the conditions for temporarily importing cars and motorbikes; tax conditions and policies when transferring temporarily imported cars were also proposed to be modified.

To ensure the regulations were unified and simple in implementation, the Ministry of Finance proposed drafting the Prime Minister's decision, which was the decision amending and supplementing the Decision No. 53/2013/QD-TTg. At the same time, to revoke Decision No. 10/2018/QD-TTg, the contents specified in Decision 10/2018/QD-TTg inherited and included in the draft decision on amending and supplementing.