What does the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 stipulate?

Operational activities at the Thai Nguyen Customs Branch (Bac Ninh Customs Department)

According to the Deputy Director of Export-Import Duty Department (under the General Department of Vietnam Customs) Dao Thu Huong, the list of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 will update the changes in the description, technique, technology and commodity classification based on AHTN 2017 in conformity with the actual situation and market demand and unify with the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature and Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) of World Customs on descriptions, notes and codes of goods in the new period to facilitate the integration and trade exchanging process in the region and the world.

The list of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 is an important document to standardize the concepts for the imports and exports classification, and help management agencies and import and export enterprises to use the standard names and codes and assist enterprises to easily classify transactional products, thereby further facilitate import-export activities.

According to the Deputy Director of Export-Import Duty Department Dao Thu Huong, the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 was set up on the entire basis of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature version 2017 (the List of AHTN 2017) which was approved by the Government in Resolution No.109/NQ-CP, including specific codes at chapter, heading and sub-heading 4 digit, 6 digit and 8 digit level ; the names and descriptions of goods, and the legal notes at the beginning of chapters under HS 2017.

The latest contents of AHTN 2017 are updated into the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 to help Vietnam’s enterprises on the commodity classification in the international transactions more accurately, and to facilitate international trade as well as overcome the current shortcomings of commodity classification and reduce disagreements between the Customs authorities and the business community in commodity classification.

Because the List is the legal document to specify the law on the List of AHTN 2017, the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 is applied to update the changes in the description, technology and technique on the basis of AHTN 2017.

The draft list of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 includes 21 Sections, 97 Chapters, and 1,039 headings at the 4-digit level, and 1,859 sub-headings at the 6-digit level and divided into the 10,813 commodity lines at the 8-digit level.

The 10,813 specific commodity lines at 8-digit level in the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods 2017 are being setting up include 7,810 commodity lines which remain as the English description under AHTN 2012 and 2,321 commodity lines having new descriptions under the AHTN 2017.

For 7,810 commodity lines which remain as the English description, they will remain under the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods which is issued together with Circular 103 for commodities without problems in implementation. Concurrently, there will be review of the commodity lines with problems in practice relating to the analysis and classification of goods and propose adjustments.

For the 2,321 commodity lines with the new English description compared to the List 103: The new commodity lines were set up and approved by ASEAN member countries on the basis of consensus to facilitate trade in goods in the region. In the process of submitting the AHTN 2017 to the Government for approval, the Ministry of Finance accessed in detail the new commodity lines in the List and analyzed the impact on Vietnam when it was implemented. The new commodity lines with the new English description were reviewed in the translation of the List AHTN 2017 to exactly ensure the transformation of language, not to change the scope of commodity lines.

In the process of analysis and review, the contents have not yet been unified, the team setting up the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods researched and collected and proposed to ministries, agencies and associations to give their opinions. For each obstacle, the General Department of Vietnam Customs gave the reason for obstacles, and the different comments and understanding, and the proposed plan of the Ministry of Finance and the key contents of each ministry and agency giving comments, which are based on the analysis on structure of headings and sub-headings and the Supplementary Explanatory Notes (SEN), HS Explanatory Notes of WCO, commodity policies and tax rate to the relevant units to have general information when they gave comments.

In the process of drafting this List, the comments of the relevant ministries and agencies and units is an important step. After finishing AHTN 2017 negotiations, the Ministry of Finance conducted 2 batches to gather the comments of ministries, agencies and associations and the People's Committees of provinces and cities in the country for the AHTN 2017; and analyzed and assessed the impact of the new commodity lines and the List. On that basis, the General Department of Vietnam Customs gathered, recorded and explained the comments to complete the List. Especially, in the second batch, the Ministry of Finance took the comments which were submitted by ministries, agencies and associations and the People's Committees of provinces and cities within two months, from August to October 2016, the Ministry received the opinions of 18 ministries, agencies and 10 associations and corporations and companies, and 47 People's Committees of provinces and cities, and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to agree with the AHTN 2017 for approval of the Government in December , 2016.

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The Ministry of Finance expected to issue the Circular promulgating the List of Vietnam’s import and export goods in July, 2017. The construction and completion of the List are being urgently implemented to ensure timely completion.

On February 20, 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued 1 document sent to the relevant ministries, agencies and units for the draft List of Vietnam’s import and export goods for comments, thence, the General Department of Vietnam Customs will collect and complete and submit to the Ministry of Finance before verifying to issue.