Many regulations on facilitation of duty-free goods business supplemented

	The General Department of Vietnam Customs removes obstacles for enterprises
	VCCI proposes simplifying the determination of customs value for duty-free goods
	Revision of Decree 134/2016 / ND-CP: Amending the regulations on establishments to determine duty-free goods for processed goods

A duty-free shop at Tan Son Nhat international airport, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: ST

Facilitate customers on entry and exit

The draft Decree replacing Decree 167 supplements regulations on selling goods to customers waiting for exit, in transit but delivering goods to customers abroad at their requests. Inthe current regulations, sellers shall deliver goods to customers waiting for exit, on exit or in transit and seafarers at sterile areas of exit border gates. However, sellers proposed to sell goods to customers waiting for exit or on exit and deliver those goods to the customers abroad, because it is one kind of service in the duty-free goods business to raise services and attract buyers in cases where the customers want to buy Vietnamese duty-free goods but do not want to bring them ontheir flights.

In this regard, the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Customs) said that goods delivery to customers overseas has not been stipulated in Decree No. 167/2016/ND-CP. Yet, this is a service forduty-free goods business (instead of delivering goods to customers at exit border gates or sterile areas, goods will delivered abroad), sointhe draft Decree, the Government is proposingto allow this service for customers waiting for exit, on exit, in transit or seafarers (those who will bring bought goods overseas).

To manage and deploy this service, regulations on documents to prove the relationship between buyers and exported goods to implement the delivery to buyers abroad must be supplemented. Specifically, upon customs clearance, the buyer must declare information related to the buyer (if goods aredelivered in Vietnam, the sellers do not open export declarations and deliver goods to buyers based on sales invoices and vouchers related to the purchaseunder the customs management at sterile areas at border gates).

Accordingly, a regulation on subjects and conditions of purchasing and a regulation on exports to customers abroad shall be supplemented.

Removing difficulties in destruction of samples

Regarding the destruction of samples, Clause 8 of Article 6 of Decree 167/2016/ND-CP stipulates that damaged, degraded, low-quality or expired goods shall not be sold for consumption.The trader must make awritten record of status of goods with certification of the Customs Branch in charge of the trader’s duty-free shop or warehouse, and destroy such goods under the supervision of customs agency. The destruction must be performed before the expiry date of temporary importation, exportation declaration form (including the extension of temporary importation, exportation).

The above regulation raises difficulties for enterprises because goods in the expiry date of re-exportation forced to be destroyed is raised monthly, and the amount of goods is not significant, such as perfume and cosmetics, while destruction procedures arecomplicated, which require a destruction unit and supervision of concerned parties, raising costs for enterprises. Therefore, to create favorable conditions and save costs, enterprises propose to seal and collect these goods to warehouses and then perform destruction one-time to reduce costs and enterprises shall be responsible for destroying such goods before the annual settlement deadline as described.

According to the Drafting Committee, the above proposals are appropriate. Accordingly, if the declaration is expired and the goods must be destroyed, it will make it difficult and raise costs for enterprises while the goods areunder customs supervision and enterprises still report sufficient import or export amount (selling to customers, re-exportation or destruction) in the settlement report. Thus, to harmonizecurrent regulations and management and solve problems of enterprises and facilitate enterprises in goods destruction, the Drafting Committee plans that the Draft Decree will stipulate:

8. Damaged, degraded, low-quality or expired goods shall not be sold for consumption; the trader must make the written record of status of goods with certification of the Customs Branch in charge of the trader’s duty-free shop or warehouse, and destroy such goods as described. Before the destruction, enterprises must be sent a notice on the destruction plan to the Customs Branch in charge of the trader’s duty-free shops and warehouses to manage the destruction.

In addition, the Draft Decree replacing Decree 167 also supplements the regulations on management of imported bags and packages for duty-free goods. Under the current regulations, Clause 9, Article 6 stipulates that goods that are samples brought into duty-free shops for testing, enterprises shall manage these goods separately in proper purpose and must make a settlement report to the customs agency. Procedures for samples are prescribed in Clause 2, Article 19 of Decree No. 167/2016 / ND-CP.

In fact, for goods that are imported bags and packages to hold duty-free goods, enterprises now manage them in the following way: when selling goods, enterprises enter data on imported bags and packages on each sale invoice, leading to difficulties for the customs agencyin determining the actual used quantity compared to the actual import quantity, for enterprisesin counting the packages taken by customers to update to sale invoices.

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According to the Drafting Committee, based on enterprises’ proposals and considering that the current regulations are complicated and unfavorable for enterprises and the customs agency, the Drafting Committee proposes that the management of imported bags and packages to hold duty-free goods is similar to samples specified in Clause 9, Article 6 of the draft decree.