Customs of Ho Chi Minh city discussed, and removed obstacles for Export-Import enterprises

Enterprises raised obstacles at the dialogue conference with the Saigon Port Customs Branch Region 1 in the morning of October 12th. Photo: T.H.

At Cat Lai port, the Saigon Port Customs Branch Region 1 held adialogue conference with over 100 businesses regularly implementing export-import procedures. At the conference, the Customs authority allocatedtime for businesses to mention problems and shortcomings in the implementation of Customs procedures in goods importing and exporting. In particular, the problems which the enterprises stated focused on problems about policies and procedures, such as: C/O declaration, taking samples for specialized inspection, and tax payment. However, much of the problem questions of enterprises related to the C/O. Freight Trading Service Co., Ltd Song Anh said that the cases of C/O Form E had a full range of C/O criteria and were issued by a third party, however, in cell No. 10 of the C/O represented two bill numbers, including one bill number issued by a third party. In this case, is the C/O valid?

To answer the concerns of enterprises, the representatives of the Saigon Port Customs Branch Region 1 said, based on Article 23 of Annex II of the Circular 36/2010/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade dated November 25th, 2010, theCustoms authority of the importer must accept the C/O form E, in the case where a commercial invoice is issued by a company based in a third country. The invoice number of the third party must be written on the cell No. 10 of C/O form E. The headquarters of the exporter and the consignee must be based in countries participating in the Agreement; a copy of the invoice of the third party must be submitted with C/O to the Customs authorities of the importer. Thus, according to the regulations, only the number of the third party recorded in the cell No. 10 of C/O should be considered as valid.

Also related to the C/O problems, Trading Co., Ltd. Ngoc Son asked, the declaration of this company assigned Green line to clear Customs procedures, at present, the company wants to add C/O form D, which records to include? According to Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC of the Finance Ministry dated March 25th, 2015, the case had not submitted certificates of origin at the time of the Customs declaration, the Customs declarant declared under the import preferential tax rate of Most Favored Nation (MFN), or common C/O. When the company adds C/O document in the prescribed period, the Customs declarant declares additionally under the special preferential tax rate, and will be refunded the paid differential tax. In case where consignments are exempted from inspection, the Customs declarant mustpay additional Customs dossiers as prescribed.

The representative of the Customs agents,Saigon Tan CangCorporation outlined some proposals to the Saigon port Customs Branch Region 1, in which, the business recommended a number of import declarations showing the destination port as Cat Lai port, but the ship went to CaiMep port in Vung Tau, goods came to Cat Lai after an interval of time, but, the duration of the declarations were counted as arriving atCaiMep port, they recommended that the Customs authorities counted the time from when the goods arrived at Cat Lai.

Answering suggestions of enterprises, the Deputy Head of the Saigon port Customs Branch Region 1, Le Van Nhien said, according to regulations, Customs declarations overdue for 15 days since the companies opened the declaration but had not implemented Customs procedures, and goods had not arrived at the port, these declarations would be canceled

Answering the concerns of businesses related to specialized inspections, the Customs agency said that for goods ofspecialized inspectionsas prescribed, companies must proactively implement when doing Customs procedures, no regulations stipulated thatCustoms authorities had to write professional notes to appoint agencies to implement specialized inspections.

The representative of Intimex Company said that thecompany often imported commodities of Inox, stainless steel, and had to have permits and certificates as prescribed when importing these goods. However, when the company imported from acountry near Vietnam, the time that goods arrived was fast, while the time waiting for permits took from 5 to 7 days, so that, in order to avoid the waiting costs incur at ports, could Customs offices could give businesses debt permits? Answering the question of company, the Deputy Head of Branch said that, based on regulations, the enterprises were not owed permits when importing. At the time of declaration registration, the enterprises must have permits in the dossier. The Customs Department of Hochiminh city would record the recommendation of the company. However, they also noted enterprises for automatic license, enterprises must pay at the time of Customs declaration registration.

On the same day, the goods processing management Customs Branch, the Export Processing Zone Customs Branch Tan Thuan and the Saigon port Customs Branch Region3 implemented dialogue, and answered concerns for businesses.

At the Saigon port Customs Branch Region 3, the Leaders of the Branch and some departments and sections of the Customs Department of HCM City discussed with over 40 export-import companies implementing procedures through VICT and Ben Nghe port.

Attending the conference, most enterprises were importers of iron and steel products. At the conference, in addition to problems related to Customs procedures for supervising and signing declarations of imported car and motorcycle origin, companies mentioned many difficulties for port enterprises.

In particular, the companies thought that, becausemostimport goods werebulk iron and steel items, but the ports lacked forklifts at present, it affected the process of goods Customs clearance of enterprises. Besides, the companies also complained that the cost of port services remained high, and preservation of goods at the port has not been good.