Circular No. 11/2012/TT-BTC dated February 4, 2012 of the Ministry of Finance guiding export duty exemption for construction materials brought from the domestic market into non-tariff areas for construction, repair and maintenance of common technical and social infrastructure in non-tariff areas

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Circular No. 11/2012/TT-BTC of February 4, 2012, guiding export duty exemption for construction materials brought from the domestic market into non-tariff areas for construction, repair and maintenance of common technical and social infrastructure in non-tariff areas

Pursuant to the June 14, 2005 Law on Import Duty and Export Duty;

Pursuant to the November 29, 2006 Law on Tax Administration and guiding documents;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 87/2010/ND-CP of August 13, 2010, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Import Duty and Export Duty;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 29/2008/ND-CP of March 14, 2008, on industrial parks, export-processing zones and economic zones;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 33/2009/QD-TTg of March 2, 2009, promulgating financial mechanisms and policies applicable to border-gate economic zones, and Decision No. 93/2009/QD-TTg of July 10, 2009, amending and supplementing Clause 4, Article 21 of Decision No. 33/2009/QD-TTg;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 100/2009/QD-TTg of July 30, 2009, promulgating the Operation Regulation of non-tariff areas in economic zones or border-gate economic zones;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 118/2008/ND-CP of November 27, 2008, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organi-zational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

In furtherance of the Prime Minister’s instructions in the Government Office’s Official Letter No. 5579/VPCP-KTTH of August 15, 2011;

The Ministry of Finance guides export duty exemption for construction materials brought from the domestic market into non-tariff areas for construction, repair and maintenance of common technical and social infrastructure in non-tariff areas as follows:

Article 1. Scope and subjects of application

This Circular applies to construction materials brought (exported) from the domestic market into non-tariff areas for construction, repair and maintenance of common technical and social infrastructure in non-tariff areas.

Article 2. Export duty

1. Goods defined in Article 1 of this Circular are exempt from export duty.

2. Goods being construction materials exported into non-tariff areas for purposes other than those specified in Article 1 of this Circular are subject to export duty under current regulations.

Article 3. Duty exemption dossiers and procedures

1. Dossiers and procedures for registration of lists of duty-free exported goods

Goods defined in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular must be registered in lists of duty-free exported goods as follows:

a/ Registration procedures

- Persons registering lists of duty-free exported goods: Owners of projects to build, repair and maintain common technical and social infrastructure in non-tariff areas shall register lists of duty-free exported goods. In case principal contractors or sub-contractors directly export duty-free goods, they shall use lists of duty-free goods and reconciliation monitoring slips which have been registered by project owners when registering duty-free goods export declaration forms with customs offices;

- Project owners shall make lists of duty-free exported goods, enclosed with reconciliation monitoring slips, and, before registering export declaration forms for the first time, register them with customs offices of localities in which non-tariff areas are located;

- The list of duty-free exported goods and reconciliation monitoring slip shall be made once for the whole project or each phase or each work item of the project if the investment license or certificates granted by a competent agency or the project’s econo-technical studies or technical design documents shows/show that the project is implemented by phase or work item;

- In case the registered list is detected to contain errors or needs to be modified, the customs declarant may modify it provided that he/she submits papers and documents to the customs office before exporting goods to prove that such modification meets the project requirements;

- The list of duty-free exported goods shall be registered at a provincial-level Customs Department of the locality in which a non-tariff area is located. In case such provincial-level Customs Department performs customs management in some provinces, its director shall consider and decide to assign a district-level Customs Department performing customs management of the non-tariff area to register the list of duty-free goods for projects to  construct, repair and maintain common technical and social infrastructure in such area.

b/ Registration dossiers

When registering a list of duty-free exported goods with a customs office, the registering person shall submit and produce a dossier comprising:

- A written request for registration of the list of duty-free exported goods, indicating the quantity of goods and reason for export duty exemption (made according to form No. 01 provided in the Appendix to this Circular, not printed herein).

- A list of duty-free exported goods: 02 originals, enclosed with a reconciliation monitoring slip (made according to form No. 02 provided in the Appendix to this Circular, not printed herein).

- The list of documents and dossiers of registration of the list of duty-free exported goods: 1 original.

- The project’s technical design documents: 1 original.

c/ Responsibilities of persons registering lists of duty-free exported goods

- To determine by themselves their goods use needs and make their lists of duty-free exported goods.

- To take responsibility before law for the accuracy and truthfulness of their declaration of exported goods on the duty-free list and for the use purpose of such goods.

d/ Responsibilities of customs offices that receive, examine and process dossiers

d.1/ If a dossier is incomplete, within 3 working days after receiving the dossier, to give a written reply (clearly stating the reason).

d.2/ If a dossier is complete, within 10 working days after receiving the dossier, to examine and compare documents in the dossier to find whether they comply with Articles 1 and 2, and Points a and b, Clause 1 of this Article, in order to identify the goods eligible for export duty exemption, the consistency and accuracy of the dossier, and:

- If the goods are ineligible for duty exemption under regulations, not to certify the list of duty-free exported goods, and to give a written reply to the person registering the list.

- If the goods are eligible for duty exemption and the dossier is valid, to record this in the monitoring book, sign and append a certification seal in 2 copies of the list of duty-free exported goods and 1 reconciliation monitoring slip (to be handed to the person registering the list for production to the customs office for reconciliation when carrying out customs procedures for actually exported goods) under regulations.

- Customs offices with which lists of duty-free exported goods are registered shall report to the General Department of Customs cases of registration of lists of duty-free exported goods under Point b, Clause 8, Article 102 of the Finance Ministry’s Circular No. 194/2010/TT-BTC of December 6, 2010, guiding customs procedures; customs inspection and supervision; export duty, import duty and tax administration for exports and imports (below referred to as Circular No. 194/2010/TT-BTC).

2. Duty exemption dossiers and procedures

a/ Customs dossiers

When carrying out customs procedures, customs declarants shall submit and produce to customs offices dossiers specified in Clause 1, Article 11 of Circular No. 194/2010/TT-BTC.

b/ Duty exemption procedures

- Pursuant to Articles 1 and 2 and based on dossiers specified at Point a, Clause 2 of this Article, the customs office shall update the quantity and value of export duty-free goods in the customs declarant’s original reconciliation monitoring slip and sign for certification under regulations, keep 1 copy of the list of duty-free exported goods and reconciliation slip together with the export dossier.

- When the goods quantity indicated in the list has been fully exported, a leader of the district-level Customs Department at which final procedures are carried out shall certify in the customs declarant’s original reconciliation monitoring slip within 3 days, send a copy (appended with a true-copy seal) to the provincial-level Customs Department with which the list is registered as a basis for post-customs clearance inspection of the use of duty-free exported goods.

- The customs office may grant export duty exemption only in case a customs declaration form is registered after the list of duty-free exported goods is registered.

Article 4. Finalization of export and use of duty-free goods

1. For export duty exemption-eligible cases specified in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular, persons registering lists of duty-free exported goods shall, apart from using duty-free goods under regulations, finalize the export and use of duty-free goods on the list already registered with customs offices (made according to form No. 03 provided in the Appendix to this Circular, not printed herein) for management, monitoring and examination of the export and use of all duty-free goods.

2. Finalization time limit and contents

a/ Within 45 days after completing the export of goods on the duty-free list already registered with the customs office, the person registering such list shall finalize with the customs office the export and use of export duty-free goods, specifically as follows:

- Quantity of duty-free exported goods;

- Wastage rate of actually exported goods;

- Quantity of duty-free exported goods which have been used;

- Quantity of duty-free exported goods which have been used for other purposes.

b/ Persons registering lists of duty-free exported goods shall:

- Submit to the customs office a finalization report on the use of duty-free exported goods under Point a, Clause 2 of this Article and take responsibility before law for such report.

- Fully pay duty and fine (if any) under regulations for goods which are eligible for duty exemption as declared but are used for improper purposes or for goods which are ineligible for duty exemption but are declared to be eligible for duty exemption and have been cleared from customs procedures as declared by the customs declarant.

c/ Customs offices shall:

- Based on the dossiers submitted by persons registering lists of duty-free exported goods under Point a, Clause 2 of this Article, fully collect duty and fine (if any) for the cases specified at the second em rule, Point b, Clause 2 of this Article.

- Based on the project owner’s finalization dossier, information in the risk management system and collected information, the director of the provincial-level Customs Department shall decide to conduct post-customs clearance at the enterprise’s head office when necessary.

- Assess duty and fully collect duty and fine for late payment (if any) if the enterprise is detected through inspection to have failed to declare under regulations the change of the use purpose of duty-free goods; goods which are ineligible for duty exemption but are declared to be eligible for duty exemption and have been cleared from customs procedures.

- Issue administrative sanctioning decisions in case administrative violations are detected.

Article 5. Organization of implementation

1. For construction materials brought from the domestic market into non-tariff areas for continued construction, repair and maintenance of common technical and social infrastructure in non-tariff areas from the effective date of this Circular, project owners shall make duty exemption dossiers and procedures under Article 2 and finalize the export and use of duty-free goods under Article 4 of this Circular for the quantity of duty-free construction materials.

2. Customs offices competent to conduct customs clearance, inspection and supervision shall grant duty exemption and perform tax administration under current regulations and this Circular.

3. Management boards of border-gate economic zones or economic zones in which non-tariff areas are located shall coordinate with customs offices and relevant state management agencies in inspecting and supervising tax administration and duty exemption under current regulations and this Circular.

4. Related organizations and individuals that fail to perform their responsibilities under this Circular shall, depending on the nature and severity of their violations, be administratively handled or examined for penal liability under law.

Article 6. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on March 20, 2012.

2. For non-tariff areas eligible for export duty incentives under the Prime Minister’s regulations other than those guided in this Circular, the Prime Minister’s regulations on export duty policies and guiding documents continue to apply.-

For the Minister of Finance
Deputy Minister
VU THI MAI