Untangling procedures for companies to import new products

The specialized activities of the officials of the Hoa Khanh - Lien Chieu Industrial Park Customs Sub-Department (Da Nang Customs Department). Photo taken by: N.Linh

Removing obstacles in the analysis and classification of goods 

Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd. stated that in the process of developing new products, the company needs to import many new types of chemicals. To be able to determine the accurate HS code and implement the specialized regulations on chemical import management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, especially for complex chemicals, in addition to confirming the Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDS), some types of organic compounds need to be analyzed for new components to be identified. However, according to the regulation of Article 9 of Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BTC, the analysis is carried out by the customs authority, businesses do not have the function to propose analysis.

To facilitate companies to voluntarily comply and declare goods accurately, companies recommend that the Customs Department expand the conditions for companies to voluntarily request to analyze the composition of chemicals with complex components, information about commercial chemical analysis companies. Regarding the recommendation of the companies, Da Nang Customs Department inform that about expanding conditions for companies to request collecting samples for classification analysis, at Article 3 of Circular No. 14/2015/TT-BTC stipulate: in case the customs authority does not have enough basis to determine the accuracy of the classification of goods declared by the customs declarant, it will carry out analysis to classify goods.

The Customs Inspection Sub-Departments (under the Customs Inspection Department - General Department of Customs) only accept samples for classification analysis at the request of the customs sub-departments, serving the internal management work of the Customs sector. However, in case companies need to analyze and inspect to determine the composition and content of some types of chemicals, companies can proactively carry out procedures to determine the code in advance or take samples of goods before declaring customs. In case the customs declarant requests the customs authority to determine the code in advance for goods expected to be exported, imported, the customs declarant provides information, related documents, samples of goods expected to be exported, imported to the customs authority to determine the code in advance.

In case it is impossible to provide samples of goods expected to be exported, imported, the customs declarant must provide technical documents related to those goods. The notice of advance-ruling of the code is the basis for customs declaration when carrying out customs procedures and has a maximum validity period of not more than 3 years from the date the General Director of the General Department of Customs signs the issuance. Therefore, companies can send a dossier to the General Department of Customs to request the advance ruling of the code.

About taking samples of goods before declaring customs, at point c, clause 1, Article 18 of the Customs Law; Article 17 and Article 31 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC stipulate: the customs declarant is allowed to take samples of goods under the supervision of customs officials before declaring customs to ensure accurate customs declaration (Inspection fee in case of taking samples of goods before declaring customs is paid by companies). Businesses can look up companies and organizations that have the function of chemical inspection on the website of the General Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality (Ministry of Science and Technology). 

The case of supplementing customs declaration documents 

In addition, Da Nang Customs Department has received feedback from some companies about the situation that the classification of goods that are imported for the first time are often inaccurate, leading to the incorrect declaration of the HS code. The companies are questioning whether the incorrect determination of HS code and making adjustments according to the directive of the Customs authority would lead to penalties?

In the case where goods have been cleared through customs, and the company later discovers errors in the HS code, how long is the period for supplementary declaration and will there be administrative penalties? In relation to this issue, according to the Da Nang Customs Department, currently, Decree No. 128/2020/ND-CP of the Government stipulates penalties for administrative customs offenses does not stipulate the case where companises “declare the correct name of the actual exported and imported goods but declare the wrong code, tax rate for the first time”. This belongs to the cases in which administrative penalties for customs offenses are exempt as stipulated in Decree No. 127/2013/ND-CP previously. The cases in which administrative penalties for customs offenses are exempt stipulated in Article 6 of Decree No. 128/2020/ND-CP include cases of supplementing customs declaration documents within the time limit  as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 29 of the Customs Law 2014. The cases of supplementary declaration stipulated in Article 20 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015, as amended and supplemented at Clause 9, Article 1 of Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018, of the Minister of Finance stipulates the supplementation of customs declaration documents, accordingly, for goods that are carrying out customs procedures, the customs declarant is allowed to supplement customs declaration documents before the time the customs authority announces the results of the declaration routing.

In the case where the customs declarant detects errors in customs declaration after the time the customs authority announces the results of routing but before clearance, they are allowed to supplement customs declaration documents and be handled according to the provisions of the law. In the case where the customs declarant carries out the supplementation of customs declaration documents at the request of the customs authority when the customs authority detects errors, inconsistencies between the actual goods, customs declaration documents with the declared information during the process of checking documents and actual inspection of goods, they will be handled according to the provisions of the law.

For goods that have been cleared, except for the content of supplementary declaration related to export and import licenses; specialized inspection of goods quality, health, culture, animal quarantine, animal products, plants, food safety, the customs declarant carries out supplementary declaration after clearance in the following cases: the customs declarant determines that there are errors in customs declaration, they are allowed to supplement customs declaration documents within a period of 60 days from the date of clearance but before the time the customs authority decides to inspect after clearance, inspection; beyond the 60-day period from the date of customs clearance and before the Customs authority decides to conduct post-clearance inspection, if the customs declarant or the taxpayer discovers errors in the customs declaration, they should make a supplementary declaration and will be handled according to the provisions of the law. Therefore, based on the above regulations, in the case where businesses declare the wrong goods code for the first imported goods and carry out supplementary declarations outside the time limit , they will be subject to administrative penalties.