Circular No. 07/2021/TT-BTC the time of submitting documents certifying the origin of imports under EVFTA

CIRCULAR

Prescribing the time of submitting documents certifying the origin of imports in the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union^[1]

Pursuant to the June 23, 2014 Customs Law;

Pursuant to the April 6, 2016 Law on Import Duty and Export Duty;

Pursuant to the June 12, 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management;

Pursuant to the June 13, 2019 Law on Tax Administration;

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

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 134/2016/ND-CP of September 1, 2016, detailing a number of articles of, and measures to implement, the Law on Import Duty and Export Duty;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP of March 8, 2018, detailing the Law on Foreign Trade Management regarding origin of goods;

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

In furtherance of the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union which was concluded on June 30, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam;

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

The Minister of Finance promulgates the Circular prescribing the time of submitting documents certifying the origin of imports in the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union.

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Circular prescribes the time of submitting documents certifying the origin of imports in the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA).

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Customs declarants.

2. Customs offices and customs officers.

3. Agencies and organizations issuing certificates of origin; and traders making self-certification of the origin of goods.

4. Other organizations and individuals that have rights and obligations related to the inspection and identification of the origin of imports.

Article 3. Time of submitting documents certifying the origin of imports

1. Time of submitting documents certifying the origin of imports:

a/ Customs declarants shall submit documents certifying the origin of imports at the time of performance of customs procedures under Point a, Clause 1, Article 7 of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 38/2018/TT-BTC of April 20, 2018, prescribing the identification of the origin of exports and imports.

b/ In case documents certifying the origin of imports are not yet available at the time of performance of customs procedures for application of special preferential duty rates according to the EVFTA, customs declarants shall declare the late submission of documents certifying the origin of goods on import customs declarations and additionally declare and submit such documents within 2 years after registering import customs declarations and within the validity period of these documents.

c/ In case customs declarants submit documents certifying the origin of imports after the validity period of these documents specified at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article due to force majeure reasons or other legitimate reasons beyond importers’ control or in other cases of late submission, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) shall consider and decide on the application of special preferential import duty rates in specific cases according to the EVFTA. For other cases of late submission, the goods must be imported within the validity period of documents certifying the origin of such goods.

2. The inspection and identification of the origin of goods for the application of special preferential import duty rates under the EVFTA must comply with the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 38/2018/TT-BTC of April 20, 2018, prescribing the identification of the origin of exports and imports and the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 62/2020/TT-BTC of September 5, 2020, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 38/2018/TT-BTC and relevant guiding documents.

Article 4. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on March 11, 2021.

2. For imported goods having customs declarations registered in the period from August 1, 2020, to the day before the effective date of this Circular, in case such goods fully meet conditions for application of special preferential import duty rates under the EVFTA and Government’s Decree No. 111/2020/ND-CP of September 18, 2020, on Vietnam’s Preferential Export Tariff and Special Preferential Import Tariff to implement the EVFTA during 2020-2022 and customs declarants have paid duties at a rate higher than those prescribed in the EVFTA and Decree No. 111/2020/ND-CP, customs declarants shall submit documents certifying the origin of imports to customs offices for the latter to handle the overpaid duty amounts in accordance with the law on tax administration.

3. Should legal documents referred to in this Circular be amended, supplemented or replaced, the amending, supplementing or replacing ones shall prevail.-

For the Minister of Finance
Deputy Minister
VU THI MAI