Deadline for issuing decision on administrative sanctions and seizure of infringing goods

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In order to effectively implement the provisions of Law No. 67/2020/QH14 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on handling of administrative violations and related legal documents, the General Department of Vietnam Customs requires municipal and provincial customs departments, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, the Post Clearance Audit to comply with the Law on handling administrative violations.

The departments need to review and study regulations related to the deadline for issuing a decision on imposing fines and seizing for infringing goods to apply to specific cases.

The time limit for issuing the decision on administrative sanctions for explained cases will comply with the provisions of Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 66 of the Law on handling administrative violations, and Article 17 of Decree 118/2021/ND-CP.

Officers of Ha Nam Customs Branch inspect goods at warehouses. Photo: H.N

The General Department of Vietnam Customs said if violators fail to send a written explanation or an application for extending the explanation deadline as per regulations in Clause 2, Article 61 of the Law on handling administrative violations, or state their opinions in the record for failing to implement the right of explanation, the person with the competence of administrative sanctions will issue the sanctioning decision as per Point a, Clause 1. Article 66 of the Law on handling administrative violations.

If the violator fails to send a written explanation within 7 days from the date of making the administrative violation record or 10 days from the date of making the administrative violation record, the person with competence of administrative sanctions will make decisions on administrative sanctions.

If violators send a request for explanations as prescribed in Clauses 2, 3 and 4, Article 61 of the Law on Handling administrative violations, the authorized person will issue the decision as per Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 66 of the Law.

The GDVC cities Point b, Clause 1, Article 66 of the Law on Handling administrative violations as saying that: “If individuals or organizations request explanations or verification for related circumstances specified in Article 59 of this Law, the sanctioning decision will be issued within one month from the date of making the administrative violation records.”

For complicated circumstances that are not subject to explanation or subject to an explanation as prescribed in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 61 of this Law, the deadline for issuing the decision is not later than 30 days from the date of making the record.

Point c, Clause 1, Article 66 stipulates that “for the case specified at Point b of this Clause, which is particularly serious and contains many complicated circumstances, more time is required for verification and collection of evidence. The time limit for issuing the sanctioning decision is two months from the date of making the record.”

In addition, for the case required an explanation but by the last day of the explanation deadline, the authorized person does not receive a written explanation from the violator, the authorized person will issue a sanctioning decision within the time limit specified at Point a, Clause 1, Article 66 of the Law on Handling administrative violations.

After issuing a sanctioning decision, the authorized person receives a written explanation, the authorized person may consider to amend or supplement or cancel the issued sanctioning decision.

Clause 8, Article 125 of the Law on Handling administrative violations also stipulates the time limit for the temporary seizure of infringing goods. Accordingly, upon the expiry of the prescribed period of temporary seizure, if such material evidence of violation are not confiscated, the authorized person must return them to individuals or organizations.