New regulations on trading duty-free goods

Duty-free shop at Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: N.Linh

Regarding subjects and conditions for buying duty-free goods (Article 3), the decree supplements the provisions at Point d, Clause 1: “d, besides the place of receipt of goods specified in this clause, the customer purchases goods should comply the provision specified at Points a, b and c of this clause (except customers buying goods on international flights exiting Vietnam) may receive goods from aboard.”

Regarding tax policies for goods sold at duty-free shops, it has been amended as follows (Article 4): Tax policies for goods sold at duty-free shops and duty-free warehouses need to comply with regulations on tax laws and management.

Regarding selling goods at duty-free shops, Decree 167/2016/ND-CP does not have regulations on taking goods from non-tariff areas or from bonded warehouses to duty-free shops. Therefore, Clause 1 of Article 6 of Decree 100/2020/ND-CP stipulates two flows of goods taken into duty-free shops: goods temporarily imported from abroad, from non-tariff zones, from bonded warehouses and domestic goods (including domestically produced and imported goods that have completed import procedures).

Besides that, in Clause 2, Article 6 stipulates that goods from inland are allowed to be circulated in accordance with Vietnamese law and sold at duty-free shops and supervised by customs authorities on the basis of notifying the list of goods brought into duty-free shops and warehouses of enterprises operating duty-free goods.

Regarding the handling of broken, damaged and low quality of goods, Clause 6, Article 6 stipulates that before carrying out destruction, the enterprise must issue a specific notification on the destruction plan and send to the Customs department and does not stipulate about the cancellation must be done before the time limit of temporary import and re-export of the declaration expires.

Regarding currency used in transactions of selling duty-free goods (Article 7), besides Vietnamese Dong, the currency of the country sharing the same border, in Article 7 specifies: the foreign currency is the USD or the EUR.

A new point in Decree 100/2020/ND-CP is a supplement of Article 12 stipulating customs procedures and customs supervision for goods transported between duty-free warehouses of the enterprise and an aircraft for sale on international flights departing or arriving in Vietnam if the aircraft entering the country at the international airport which is different from the international airport the aircraft leaving the country.

In addition, the decree supplemented procedures for selling duty-free to buyers who are on exit, in transit, passengers on the aircraft leaving the country, tourists travelling via seaway and seafarers who purchase duty-free goods for their needs while the ship is anchored at a Vietnamese seaport (Article 13); procedures for selling duty-free goods to buyers who are people waiting for exit buying goods at domestic duty-free shops (Article 16); and procedures for selling duty-free goods for seafarers who are working on board in the international voyages (Article 18).

Besides that, the decree has a number of new points related to procedures for goods sold to customers on leaving the country, such as delivered goods abroad as the request of customers (except for customers buying on international flights leaving from Vietnam) and procedures for changing the use purpose, transferring the domestic consumption, re-export; about the settlement report.