HCMC Customs prevents dozens of substandard imported shipments

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Substandard imported foods detected by the HCMC Customs at Cat Lai Port. Photo: T.H

100 tons of substandard tamarinds

In April 2017, L.V. Import-export and Service Co., Ltd (Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City) re-exported 50 tons of substandard imported tamarinds under penalty Decision No. 05 / QD-HQKV1 of the Saigon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch under the HCMC Customs Department. This shipment was imported from Indonesia to Cat Lai port. According to the company's declaration, the shipment included 50 tons of peeled natural tamarinds, worth nearly 340 million VND. Under the regulation, these goods must be quarantined. After quarantine, the Regional II Plant Quarantine Sub-Department announced that the goods were not eligible for import and required to be re-exported.

Earlier, the Saigon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch has also discovered and forced to re-export 50 tons of peeled natural tamarinds, which fails the import quality standards as prescribed. This shipment was originated from Indonesia and imported by T.Q Investment and Import Export Trade Co., Ltd. (Binh Thanh District - Ho Chi Minh City). All tamarinds were packed in 1,000 bags, worth 330 million VND, subject to plant quarantine. From the results of the quality inspection, the Regional II Plant Quarantine Sub-Department had issued a decision on arresting the goods and handling entities subject to plant quarantine for this shipment. Accordingly, the imported goods were infected by Caryedon Serratus Olivier (live), which is subject to plant quarantine of group I of Vietnam, so the company was forced to re-export all the above shipment.

In addition, among substandard imported shipments forced to be re-exported, there are many imported food shipments. KD Trading Co., Ltd (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) has carried out the procedures to import over 1,400 cartons (over 13 tons) of fruit juice, the crushed fruit of all kinds originating from India. This shipment was subject to quality inspection. Based on the results of physical inspection and verification of the Quality Assurance and Testing Center 3 and Saigon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch all this shipment did not meet the standards according to the provisions of law. Saigon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch fined the company 30 million VND and requested to re-export the infringing goods.

The smuggling case of ivory discovered on 6 September 2017 was criminally prosecuted by Sai Gn Port Zone 1 Customs Branch. Photo: T. H

Hundreds of companies delaying to submit the inspection results

According to the HCMC Customs Department, in addition to the control against smuggling and trade frauds, the Department also paid attention to the quality inspection under the state specialized management to prevent the substandard imported shipments. Only Cat Lai port border gate, among over 600 Customs violation cases recorded by the Saigon port zone 1 Customs Branch from the beginning of 2017 till now, there were more than 50 imported cases of substandard goods as prescribed. The substandard imported goods were food, beverages, machinery, equipment, supplementary foods, and fertilizers.

Over the past time, besides food, the substandard fertilizers have been found in Cat Lai port. In the past 10 months, the Sai Gon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch has made a written administrative violation as a basis for a penalty for 6 cases with the amount of substandard imported fertilizers of nearly 300 tons.

The Customs has imposed an administrative sanction on these cases and force to re-export. In particular, there were many imported cases in large amounts. For example, VTD Import Export and Trading Co., Ltd (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) in March and April 2017 was fined administratively and forced to re-export over 160 imported NPK fertilizers by Sai Gon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch.

According to the violation records, the company declared that two shipments of imported NPK fertilizers originated from Belgium, worth nearly 2 billion VND. But the notice of inspection results of goods quality showed that both shipments were not eligible for import as prescribed. Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 34 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality, the Customs agency made written records of administrative violations for enterprises; fined 60 million and forced the company to re-export all the above goods.

Seized container of smuggled supplementary foods VCN - A container of smuggled goods declared as chemicals have been inspected by Customs Enforcement Unit ...

According to leaders of the Sai Gon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch, currently, many companies are delaying to submit the results of specialized inspection after being permitted to bring their goods to the storage, causing a lot of time for monitoring, urging and failing to complete the dossiers for Customs clearance. According to statistics, there are still over 300 cases of late submission, including cases from 2015 and cases that companies no longer operate at their registered business places. Customs declarations which have not cleared have been handled in compliance with Article 32 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance for following processes.