Warning to enterprises bringing preserved goods to the market

Inspection of imported goods at Cat Lai port, HCM City. Photo: T.H.

Criminal proceedings of the arbitrary consumption of goods

Within two months from the end of 2017 up to now, two enterprises have deliberately brought imported goods to be stored without waiting for the specialized inspection results for the consumer market, and the Customs authorities are conducting criminal proceedings. This is also the first time this behavior of serious violations has been assessed by the People's Procuracy.

Customs Department of Saigon Port Zone 1 has just issued a decision to institute a criminal case on smuggling related to an enterprise arbitrarily consuming imported goods without customs clearance. According to the case file, on 28th March, 2016, Ngan Sinh Co., Ltd opened customs declarations and imported over 250 tons of organic fertilizers of all kinds, originating from China, and worth 85,840 USD. Pending the inspection of goods quality, enterprises have documents to apply for goods for preservation at their own storehouses and commit to not consuming goods without the consent of specialized agencies. However, during this time, enterprises have arbitrarily put products on the market.

On 23rd April, 2017, with the results of inspection of quality goods, customs officers checked their warehouse two times, but the business did not cooperate. No cooperation was given four times when the customs agency invited the company to their work place, but the business did not go, or went but did not sign the work minutes, or take the minutes for the director to sign, and after that, when the minutes were taken, they did not return them to Customs.

According to the People's Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City, Ngan Sinh Co., Ltd., knew the imported goods were of poor quality but still put them on the consumer market with imported goods that were not compliant with Circular 29 on 30th September, 2014 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The value of infringing goods is over 1.9 billion VND. With the violation of criminal law, the People's Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City agreed with the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City and proposed the unit to issue a decision to initiate a judgment case, and at the same time, transfer the dossiers to the investigating police agencies according to regulations.

Prior to that, in November 2017, Customs Department of Saigon Port Zone 1 also instituted criminal cases of smuggling involving Pet Prince Co. Ltd., (134, Cao Thang, District 3 TP. Ho Chi Minh City) due to intentionally consuming batches of imported dog food while waiting for the results of quality inspection. In 2016, Pet Prince Co. Ltd., opened a customs declaration for importing 10 consignments of complete dog food, subject to registration for quality inspection according to regulations, with a consignment value of over 465 million VND. After being cleared by the Customs Sub-Departments at the port of Saigon No. 1, the goods were allowed to be put into the warehouses of the preservation enterprises, awaiting quality inspection according to regulations so as to fully meet the customs clearance conditions. The company had shipped the whole lot to the market.

To strictly handle violating enterprises

Apart from serious criminal cases, sections c and d, Clause 6, Article 32 of the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC of March 25th, 2015, on handling of late submissions for the results of specialized inspection, the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City has recently listed enterprises violating specialized inspection to local customs units in the country for coordinated implementation. Accordingly, over 500 enterprises that had violated the customs management policy of imported goods for preservation by not waiting for the results of specialized inspection, had been notified by the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City that they were disallowed to bring goods for preservation. Among them, 379 enterprises were not allowed to carry goods for maintenance because of violation of customs management policy for goods that had been put on preservation waiting for the results of specialized inspection (30 days over, in which enterprises failed to submit the specialized examination results); 151 enterprises that had submitted overdue examination results were administratively sanctioned and cannot place goods in storage within 6 months from the date of issuing the sanctioning decision.

According to our understanding, in the number of enterprises violating when carrying goods for preservation, there are many cases of customs inspection and detection where enterprises are no longer operating at registered business addresses, and imported goods that are meant to be taken back for preservation had been launched on the market.

According to the leaders of the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City, at the dialogue meetings with enterprises, the unit always warned enterprises of some violations of customs supervision, such as: Consumption of goods are subject to Supervision of customs or goods brought to the store for preservation but deliberately placed on the market for consumption. However, in recent years, the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City has discovered a number of cases where companies importing goods subject to specialized inspection, the customs allowed them to put goods in the businesses’ storeroom for preservation, waiting for inspection of quality according to regulations to meet the conditions for customs clearance. But some enterprises have been breaking the seal, putting the goods to market for consumption. The Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City will strictly handle cases of deliberate violation, to create a fair business environment among enterprises.