Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BTC

CIRCULAR

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF CIRCULAR No. 14/2015/TT-BTC DATED JANUARY 30, 2015 OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE GUIDING THE CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS AND ANALYSIS FOR CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS; ANALYSIS FOR QUALITY INSPECTION AND FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION OF EXPORTED AND IMPORTED GOODS

Pursuant to the Law on Customs No. 54/2014/QH13 dated June 23, 2014;

Pursuant to the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14 dated June 13, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Export Duty and Import Duty No. 107/2016/QH13 dated April 6, 2016;

Pursuant to the Commercial Law No. 36/2005/QH11 dated June 14, 2005;

Pursuant to the Law on Product and Goods Quality No. 05/2007/QH12 dated November 21, 2007;

Pursuant to the Law on Food Safety No. 55/2010/QH12 dated June 17, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Complaints No. 02/2011/QH13 dated November 11, 2011;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 08/2015/NĐ-CP dated January 21, 2015 detailing and providing measures for the implementation of the Law on Customs regarding customs procedures, customs inspection, supervision and control; the Government's Decree No. 59/2018/NĐ-CP dated April 20, 2018 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 08/2015/NĐ-CP dated January 21, 2015;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 134/2016/NĐ-CP dated September 1, 2016 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Export Duty and Import Duty;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 20/2006/NĐ-CP dated February 20, 2006 detailing the Commercial Law regarding commercial assessment services;

Pursuant to Decree No. 120/2011/NĐ-CP dated December 16, 2011 amending and supplementing administrative procedures in a number of Government decrees detailing the Commercial Law; Decree No. 125/2014/NĐ-CP dated December 29, 2014 amending and supplementing the provisions on commercial assessment services in Decree No. 120/2011/NĐ-CP dated December 16, 2011 and Decree No. 20/2006/NĐ-CP dated February 20, 2006;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 132/2008/NĐ-CP dated December 31, 2008 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality; the Government's Decree No. 74/2018/NĐ-CP dated May 15, 2018 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 132/2008/NĐ-CP dated December 31, 2008 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 69/2018/NĐ-CP dated May 15, 2018 detailing a number of articles of the Law on Foreign Trade Management;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 87/2017/NĐ-CP dated July 26, 2017 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree 126/2020/NĐ-CP dated October 19, 2020 detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration;

In implementation of Decision No. 49/QĐ-CTN dated March 6, 1998 of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Vietnam's accession to the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System;

In implementation of the Protocol Governing the Implementation of the ASEAN Harmonised Tariff Nomenclature;

At the proposal of the Director General of the General Department of Customs.

The Minister of Finance hereby promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 14/2015/TT-BTC dated January 30, 2015 of the Minister of Finance guiding the classification of goods and analysis for classification of goods; analysis for quality inspection and food safety inspection of exported and imported goods.

Article 1. Amendments and supplements to a number of articles of Circular No. 14/2015/TT-BTC dated January 30, 2015 of the Minister of Finance guiding the classification of goods and analysis for classification of goods; analysis for quality inspection and food safety inspection of exported and imported goods:

1. Clause 2 of Article 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 6. Classification and application of duty rates in a number of special cases.

2. Where there is a discrepancy between the description of goods in Vietnam's List of Exports and Imports and the description of goods under the HS Nomenclature or the AHTN Nomenclature, the description of goods under the HS Nomenclature or the AHTN Nomenclature shall be applied directly for classification and for guidance on classification, in accordance with the principle of applying the provisions of the international treaties to which Vietnam is a party.”

2. Article 9 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 9. Dossier requesting analysis for classification

The customs authority that requests the analysis of goods shall be responsible for compiling and sending the dossier requesting analysis; the dossier comprises:

1. The request form for analysis of exported or imported goods cum the record of goods sampling (using Form No. 05/PYCPT/2021 promulgated together with this Circular). One request form for analysis of exported or imported goods cum record of goods sampling shall be made for each item of goods.

2. The slip recording the numbers and dates of the documents and vouchers in the customs dossier relating to the goods sample.

3. The goods sample subject to the requested analysis.

4. Technical documentation of the goods. Where there is no technical documentation, the customs authority sending the dossier must clearly state the reason why the goods have no technical documentation in item 12 of Form No. 05/PYCPT/2021 on the request form for analysis of exported or imported goods cum record of sampling promulgated together with this Circular."

3. Clause 1 of Article 10 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 10. Samples of exported or imported goods for analysis for classification

1. Goods sampling.

a) Exported and imported goods from which samples must be taken for analysis in accordance with Clause 14 of Article 1 of Decree No. 59/2018/NĐ-CP dated April 20, 2018. Sampling shall be carried out according to the request form for analysis of exported or imported goods cum the record of goods sampling (using Form No. 05/PYCPT/2021 promulgated together with this Circular). The sample shall be taken from the very shipment to be analysed and shall be representative; it must be sufficient in quantity and volume to serve the solicitation of assessment or the settlement of complaints. Sampling must be carried out in the presence of a representative of the customs declarant. The samples must be signed for certification by the parties, and each sample must be sealed separately. The handover of samples must be recorded in a handover record signed for certification by the parties.

Where sampling is carried out in the absence of the customs declarant, the customs authority shall take the sample in the presence of a State agency in the border-gate area, a representative of the transport enterprise or of the port, warehouse and yard business enterprise, and the witnessing parties must sign for certification.

b) Number of samples: 02 samples.

Where the customs declarant imports only 01 sample, sampling shall not be carried out.

c) Delivery and receipt of samples: The customs authority that requests the analysis shall send the sample directly or send it by post.

A sample shall be legally valid only while its seal remains intact.”

4. Article 11 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 11. Notice of classification results and Notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code

1. Within no more than 5 working days, or, where the analysis time depends on the time required by the technical analysis process or the goods sample is complex, no more than 20 working days from the date of receipt of the complete dossier and analysis sample, the Director of the Customs Verification Department shall issue a Notice of goods classification results (using Form No. 08/TBKQPL/2021 promulgated together with this Circular).

2. Where the analysis results of a goods sample satisfy criteria groups a and c or criteria groups b and c below, the Head of the Sub-department of Customs Verification shall issue a Notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code (using Form No. 10/TBKQPTPL/2021 promulgated together with this Circular); the time limit for issuing the notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code shall not exceed 05 working days, or, where the analysis time depends on the time required by the technical analysis process or the goods sample is complex, shall not exceed 10 working days from the date of receipt of the complete dossier and analysis sample:

a) Name of goods: The name of the goods concluded in the Notice of analysis results according to the criteria of Vietnam's List of Exports and Imports is identical to the conclusion in the section “Name according to composition and use” in the Notice of classification results already issued by the Director General of the General Department of Customs or by the Director of the Customs Verification Department.

b) Nature of the goods: The type, composition and use of the goods stated in the Notice of analysis results are identical to the type, composition and use of the goods stated in the Notice of classification results already issued by the Director General of the General Department of Customs or by the Director of the Customs Verification Department.

c) Commodity code: It is the code stated in the Notice of classification results already issued by the Director General of the General Department of Customs or by the Director of the Customs Verification Department.

3. Where the customs authority sends samples to assessment organizations for solicitation of assessment, within no more than 05 working days, or, where the goods sample is complex and additional time is required, no more than 08 working days from the date of receipt of the goods assessment results, the Director of the Customs Verification Department shall issue a Notice of goods classification results (using Form No. 08/TBKQPL/2021 promulgated together with this Circular).

For a goods sample whose assessment results fall within the scope provided in Clause 2 of this Article, the time limit for issuing the Notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code shall not exceed 05 working days from the date of receipt of the goods assessment results.

4. The Notice of classification results or the Notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code shall serve as the basis for determining the duty rate and for implementing goods management policies; it shall be updated into the database of the customs authority and published on the website of the General Department of Customs.

5. Where the customs declarant disagrees with the Notice of goods classification results or the Notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code, it shall lodge a complaint in accordance with the Law on Complaints or solicit an assessment in accordance with Article 30 of the Government's Decree No. 08/2015/NĐ-CP dated January 21, 2015.”

5. Clause 4 of Article 13 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 13. Analysis for quality inspection and food safety inspection

4. The Director of the Customs Verification Department shall issue the Notice of quality inspection and food safety inspection results (using Form No. 09/TBKQKT-CL-ATTP/2021 promulgated together with this Circular) within the time limit prescribed by the law on quality inspection and food safety inspection.”

6. Clause 3, Clause 4 and Point b of Clause 5 of Article 14 are amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 14. Sources of information for building the Database on the List of Exports and Imports

3. The List of goods banned from export and banned from import, the List of goods exported and imported under licences or subject to conditions, and the List of exported and imported goods subject to specialised management as provided in the Government's Decree No. 69/2018/NĐ-CP dated May 15, 2018;

4. Documents guiding the classification of goods issued by the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs;

5. Other sources of information from:

b) The Notice of classification results of the Director General of the General Department of Customs, the Notice of classification results of the Director of the Customs Verification Department and the Notice of analysis results accompanied by the commodity code of the Head of the Sub-department of Customs Verification.”

7. A number of forms promulgated together with Circular No. 14/2015/TT-BTC dated January 30, 2015 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Form No. 05/PYCPT/2015 is amended into Form No. 05/PYCPT/2021 promulgated together with this Circular.

b) Form No. 08/TBKQPL/2015 is amended into Form No. 08/TBKQPL/2021 promulgated together with this Circular.

c) Form No. 09/TBKQKT-CL-ATTP/2015 is amended into Form No. 09/TBKQKT-CL-ATTP/2021 promulgated together with this Circular.

d) Form No. 10/TBKQPTPL/2021 promulgated together with this Circular is added.

Article 2. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect from April 12, 2021.

2. In the course of implementation, if the legal documents referred to in this Circular are amended, supplemented or replaced, the newly amended, supplemented or replacing legal documents shall apply./.