Take advantage of EVFTA: Enterprises need to strictly implement issue of origin

Director of the Customs Control and Supervision Department (General Department of Vietnam Customs) Au Anh Tuan talked at the seminar. Photo: T.Bình

Comprehensively understanding the policy

Au Anh Tuan said that on June 15, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular 11/2020/TT-BCT stipulating the rules of origin of goods in the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA). The circular guided rules of origin, as well as checks for certificates of origin for enjoying preferential treatment in accordance with the commitments of the EVFTA.

It stipulated the form of certifying origin of goods; rules of origin applying to goods exported from Vietnam to the EU and vice versa; form of certificate of origin of goods, time of validity, as well as submission of certificates of origin to customs authorities for enjoying preferential treatment.

The validity of certificates of origin is regulated in Circular 11/2020/TT-BCT and Protocol No. 1 of the agreement is specified that certificates of origin are valid for one year from the date of issuance and must be submitted to Customs authorites within the effective time. This provision is similar to other agreements Vietnam has signed.

“In Article 27 of Circular 11/2020/TT-BCT stipulating specifically on the submission of certificates of origin to enjoy preferential treatment. Specifically, to enjoy the preferential tariff of EVFTA, certificates of origin must be submitted to customs authorities of the importing country in accordance with the regulations of that country. Customs authorities can request a translation if the certificate of origin is not in English,” Tuan said.

Besides that, regarding determination of origin of import and export goods, it is currently prescribed in Circular 38/2018/TT-BTC amending and supplementing Circular 62/2019/TT-BTC. Recently, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 47/2020/TT-BTC guiding the submission of certificates of origin, as well as form of certificate of origin in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those circulars, businesses should pay attention to some contents. Specifically, Circular 38/2018/TT-BTC stipulated enterprises must submit a certificate of origin at the time of implementing customs procedure when registering declarations. If there is no certificate of origin at the time of registration of the declaration, late submission is allowed within 30 days.

“In particular, Circular 47/2020/TT-BTC removed obstacles related to the origin of goods during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the registration declaration in the current period, it allowed enterprises to submit within the validity period. It means that at the time of registering a declaration, if enterprises had not gotten certificate of origin of goods yet due to social distancing, enterprises could submit it within the validity period. In other words, it was not only limited to 30 days but within one year from the date of issuance of the certificate of origin," Tuan said.

Avoid violating rules of origin

To effectively implement the EVFTA, Tuan said enterprises need to carefully consult the provisions in Circular 11/2020/TT-BCT, Circular 38/2018/TT-BTC, Circular 62/2019/TT- BTC and Circular 47/2020/TT-BTC to take advantage of the agreement for goods that have a deeply tax rate reduction compared to the current MFN commitment level.

Also related to the origin of goods, Au Anh Tuan said that Customs authorities recently discovered several situations where businesses took advantage of origin of Vietnamese goods to export to other countries while the goods were ineligible for rules of origin in accordance with the agreement.

“Vietnam has implemented many free trade agreements. Vietnamese goods would enjoy preferential tariff rates when imported into countries that have signed free trade agreements Vietnam has joined. Meanwhile, Vietnam is located right next to China, but China does not have a free trade agreement with some partners. For example, China has not participated in the CPTPP and does not have a free agreement with some major partners. In the context that Chinese goods are subject to high tariff rates, Customs authorities discovered the number of enterprises taking advantage of transporting goods illegally, labelling Vietnamese origin for exporting to other countries. The cases were detected and prevented in time by Customs authorities,” Tuan said.

Tuan suggested that enterprises carefully study the rules of origin as stipulated in free trade agreements, especially the EVFTA. Customs authorities would continue to coordinate with other competent authorities to monitor imported and exported goods to markets, especially the EU, to promptly detect abnormal signs.

For example, if there is a sudden increase, excess of production capacity, or unusual signs to apply strict inspection and control measures to avoid cases of applying coercive measures on tax for goods originating from Vietnam when detecting fraud by the EU.