Fuel management on exit-entry transport vehicles: International experience for Vietnam Customs’references

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In Singapore, the management of fuel on means of transport, customs declarants make declarations similar to the regulations of Vietnam. However, Singapore focuses on training and legal education for people and businesses to be self-aware and absolutely comply with legal regulations, and there is no precedent for smuggling gasoline. Singapore Customs encourages traders to practice governance and implement internal control measures, thereby receiving better business priorities.

Singapore Customs regularly organizes dialogues with the trading community to understand business needs and update them on legal developments. Singapore Customs also conducts outreach to specific traders to support the resolution of issues related to legal compliance. Notably, Singapore Customs has appointed Nanyang Technological University and Republic Polytechnic University (RP) to provide specialized courses on customs and enterprises can register for the corresponding courses when necessary, etc.

In China, customs management and supervision of means of exit and entry transport are regulated by the Customs Law of China 1987 (amended and supplemented for the fifth time in 2017); Order No. 196 dated October 14, 2010 of the Customs General Department of the People's Republic of China stipulating measures to supervise means of transport for inbound and outbound shipments; Notice No. 113/2022 of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China regulating issues related to the management of exit and entry transport and road cargo declarations.

In the 4th and 5th contents of Notice No. 70 (2022) dated August 1, 2022 of Customs General Department of the People's Republic of China, exit and entry means of transport will be transferred to domestic transport. If raw materials and fuel on the ship exceeds the reasonable level for use, customs procedures will be carried out according to relevant regulations on importing goods, or transferred to other incoming and outgoing ships. Raw materials and fuel used for domestic transport after converting operations will no longer enjoy tax exemption incentives as for international ships.

For Canada, people respect the law and comply with the law, therefore, there has not been any fuel smuggling that has been made public by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

CBSA requires that all forwarders involved in imported goods must send information and forward it to CBSA before the goods arrive at Canadian ports. For export goods from Canada, forwarders are required to declare information to CBSA 24 hours before the goods are loaded onto the ship.

In particular, from November 7, 2016, CBSA has stipulated that all forwarders related to imported goods must declare eManifest to the ACI (Advanced Commercial Information) System. Forwarders who do not comply with the regulations will be subject to strict penalties with quite high fines. In particular, forwarders who do not send accurate, complete and timely information to CBSA can be heavily fined with a range from 250 USD to 8,000 USD depending on the level of violation and risk. In addition to fines, non-compliance can lead to refusal of entry, delayed delivery and customer dissatisfaction, etc.

In addition, CBSA does not allow forwarders to authorize carriers to declare on their behalf and carriers are required to declare information themselves. If CBSA determines that there is a risk, the shipment may not be loaded at the port/airport of departure or will be subject to costly and time-consuming customs inspection in Canada.

From the management experience of other countries, Vietnam Customs can refer to develop and perfect legal regulations on customs to ensure monitoring, supervision and control of means of transport from the time of entry (temporary import) to the time of exit (re-export) or from the time of exit (temporary export) to the time of entry (re-entry). Monitoring, supervision and control of vehicles are carried out anytime, anywhere during the process of moving and stopping by professional techniques. In particular, there are specific regulations on detailed declaration of goods and fuel on the vehicle to serve the management, declaration and collection of import and export taxes.

Applying customs procedures; transmit data and information about vehicles, people, and goods on exit and entry means of transportation. In particular, for goods in general and fuel in particular on vehicles, all countries require vehicle owners and customs declarants to declare detailed information about the goods in advance to serve customs management.

For vehicles of Vietnamese nationality, foreign nationality but owned by Vietnamese people or enterprises entering the country, if there is no plan to continue exiting the country and they want to switch to domestic routes, before completing procedures to switch to another port, Vietnam Customs can refer to the management method of China Customs, requiring ship owners and customs declarants to determine the amount of fuel on the vehicle as declared on the declaration, and fulfill tax obligations before operating on domestic routes.

Apply strict sanctions against the act of using means of transport to smuggle and illegally transport people and goods across the border, with the highest form being confiscation of vehicles or destruction of reinforced places, designed tunnels and boxes to hide goods. Vietnam Customs School needs to integrate training, education on law compliance and strict compliance with customs laws in particular, and develop necessary and sufficient criteria in the work of testing and granting practice certificates to those participating in training and testing.