Circular 74/2021/TT-BTC amending Circular 261/2016/TT-BTC on maritime charges and fees

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 261/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 of the Minister of Finance on prescribing maritime charges and fees and the tariff thereof

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Pursuant to the Law on Charges and Fees dated November 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016 on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees;

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

Pursuant to the Resolution No. 124/2020/QH14 dated November 11, 2020 of the National Assembly on the socio-economic development plan for 2021;

At the proposal of the Director of the Tax Policy Department;

The Minister of Finance promulgates the Circular on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 261/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 prescribing maritime charges and fees and the tariff thereof.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 261/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 of the Minister of Finance on prescribing maritime charges and fees and the tariff thereof

1. To add Clause 3, Article 3 as follows:

“3. When entering and leaving maritime areas, inland waterway vehicles (except for those bearing VR-SB class notations with a total capacity of 500 GT or more each) that involve in domestic transportation operations; inland waterway vehicles that involve in transportation operations on waterway routes according to the Agreement between the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Royal Government of Cambodia on Waterway Transportation shall pay charges and fees as specified the Circular No. 248/2016/TT-BTC dated November 11, 2016 of the Minister of Finance prescribing collection rates of charges and fees applied at inland waterway ports and berths and the collection, remittance, management and use thereof. Inland waterway vehicles that operate on routes of waterway transportation from a mainland shore to an island shall pay fees and charges according to Chapter III of this Circular.”

2. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses in Article 7 as follows:

a) To add Points d and dd, Clause 2 as follows:

“d) Tankers transshipping oil at Van Phong – Khanh Hoa bay shall be subject to payment of the charge rates as follows:

dd) Ships with a total capacity of 50,000 GT or more each, carrying exported, imported or transshipped containers upon entering or leaving ports alongside Cai Mep - Thi Vai river shall be subject to payment of the following collection rates:

b) To amend and supplement Clause 3 as follows:

“3. The charge payers shall be exempted from the tonnage charges in the following cases:

a) Ships entering or leaving a maritime area to: (i) shelter from storm, bad weather conditions that may risk their safety, or provide medical emergency services to patients without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers; (ii) disembark persons, property or ships rescued at sea without involving in commercial transactions as verified by a maritime administration; (iii) participate in search and rescue, prevention and control of floods, hurricanes or natural disasters, protection of sovereignty of the sea and islands according to the dispatching call or consent from competent state agencies.

b) Ships of overseas armed forces arriving in maritime areas to transport weapons, equipment, supplies, spare parts for procurement or goods for aid for the people's armed forces; pay an official or courtesy visit to Vietnam at the invitation of its State; ships carrying foreign youths and teenagers to maritime areas to attend cultural or sports exchange programs at the invitation of ministerial or ministry-level bodies of Vietnam's Government.

c) Boats or canoes of passenger-carrying mother ships anchored at water zones, water areas that transport passengers to or from a port.

d) LASH barges operating together with LASH at a maritime area;

dd) Ships en route for Cambodia;

e) Ships departing for Cambodia across Vinh Xuong – Thuong Phuoc border gate that the inland waterway port authority has cleared at the departure inland waterway port or terminal, and for which this authority has already collected charges and fees applicable at the departure inland waterway port or terminal, according to the Circular No. 248/2016/TT-BTC.

g) Ships on their way to medical quarantine or isolation locations in other maritime areas (where medical quarantine conditions are met the requirements of a competent agency) according to the dispatch of a maritime administration for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency.”

3. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses in Article 8 as follows:

a) To add Points d and dd, Clause 2 as follows:

“d) Tankers transshipping oil at Van Phong – Khanh Hoa bay shall be subject to payment of the charge rates as follows:

dd) Ships with a total capacity of 50,000 GT or more each, carrying exported, imported or transshipped containers upon entering or leaving ports alongside Cai Mep - Thi Vai river shall be subject to payment of the following collection rates:

b) To amend and supplement Clause 3 as follows:

“3. The charge payers shall be exempted from the maritime safety assurance charges applicable to ships in the following cases:

a) Boats or canoes of passenger-carrying mother ships anchored at water zones, water areas that are allowed to transport passengers to or from a seaport.

b) Ships entering or leaving a maritime area to: (i) shelter from storm, bad weather conditions that may risk their safety, or provide medical emergency services to patients without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers; (ii) disembark persons, property or ships rescued at sea without involving in commercial transactions as verified by a maritime administration; (iii) participate in search and rescue, prevention and control of floods, hurricanes or natural disasters, protection of sovereignty of the sea and islands according to the dispatching call or consent from competent state agencies; (iv) ships underway at sea that request permission to enter a seaport to shelter from storms without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers.

c) Ships operating within a maritime area that have to move to another maritime area according to the dispatching call given by a maritime administration to shelter from storms in case of emergency:

- Where they have to sail back to the original maritime area after sheltering from storms to resume their cargo handling activities, they shall be entitled to exemption from the maritime safety assurance charge for the entrance or departure movement at the maritime area where they arrive to shelter from storms; for the departure movement made at the maritime area where they depart to shelter from storms and the entrance movement in the original maritime area where they return to resume their cargo handling activities.

- Where they do not have to sail back to the original maritime area after sheltering from storms to resume their cargo handling activities, they shall be entitled to exemption from the maritime safety assurance charge for the entrance or departure movement at the maritime area where they arrive to shelter from storms; for the departure movement made at the maritime area where they depart to shelter from storms.

d) Ships of overseas armed forces arriving in maritime areas to pay an official or courtesy visit to Vietnam at the invitation of its State; ships carrying foreign youths and teenagers to maritime areas to attend cultural or sports exchange programs at the invitation of ministerial or ministry-level bodies of Vietnam's Government.

dd) Ships departing for Cambodia across Vinh Xuong – Thuong Phuoc border gate that the inland waterway port authority has cleared at the departure inland waterway port or terminal, and for which this authority has already collected charges and fees applicable at the departure inland waterway port or terminal, according to the Circular No. 248/2016/TT-BTC.

e) Ships on their way to medical quarantine or isolation locations in other maritime areas (where medical quarantine conditions are met the requirements of a competent agency) according to the dispatch of a maritime administration for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency.”

4. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses in Article 9 as follows:

a) To add Point e, Clause 1 as follows:

“e) Tankers transshipping oil at Van Phong – Khanh Hoa bay shall be subject to payment of the charge rates as follows:

b) To amend and supplement Point h, Clause 1 as follows:

“h) The charge payers shall be exempted from the charges for anchorage position use in the following cases:

- Wait tides within port waters before arrival to a port.

- Wait until dawn according to the command of a maritime administration under regulations on imposition of restriction on ship underway at night.

- Shelter from storm, bad weather conditions that may risk safety for their journey, or provide medical emergency services to patients, or disembark persons rescued at sea, without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers as verified by a maritime administration.

- Ships participating in search and rescue, prevention and control of floods, hurricanes or natural disasters according to the dispatching call or consent from competent state agencies from the time at which they were mobilized to get involved in these cases to the time at which these cases come to an end.

- Ships being anchored to wait to perform the medical quarantine before entering piers for handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers or being forcibly anchored for isolation at the designated location at the request of a competent agency for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency.”

5. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 12 as follows:

“3. The charge payers shall be exempted from the tonnage charges in the following cases:

a) Ships entering or leaving a maritime area to: (i) shelter from storm, bad weather conditions that may risk their safety, or provide medical emergency services to patients without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers; (ii) disembark persons, property or ships rescued at sea without involving in commercial transactions as verified by a maritime administration; (iii) participate in search and rescue, prevention and control of floods, hurricanes or natural disasters according to the dispatching call or consent from competent state agencies.

b) Boats or canoes of passenger-carrying ships anchored at water zones, water areas that transport passengers from ships to the shore and vice versa.

c) LASH barges operating together with LASH at a maritime area;

d) Fishing ships and ships intended for sport of Vietnam.

dd) Ships dispatched by a maritime administration to move to another maritime area to perform the medical quarantine or isolation work at the request of a competent agency for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency.”

6. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 13 as follows:

“3. The charge payers shall be exempted from the maritime safety assurance charges applicable to ships in the following cases:

a) Boats or canoes of passenger-carrying ships anchored at water zones, water areas that transport passengers from ships to the shore and vice versa.

b) Ships entering or leaving a maritime area to: (i) shelter from storm, bad weather conditions that may risk their safety, or provide medical emergency services to patients without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers; (ii) disembark persons, property or ships rescued at sea without involving in commercial transactions as verified by a maritime administration; (iii) participate in search and rescue, prevention and control of floods, hurricanes or natural disasters, protection of sovereignty of the sea and islands according to the dispatching call or consent from competent state agencies; (iv) ships underway at sea that request permission to enter a seaport to shelter from storms without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers.

c) Ships operating within a maritime area that have to move to another maritime area according to the dispatching call given by a maritime administration to shelter from storms in case of emergency:

- Where they have to sail back to the original maritime area after sheltering from storms to resume their cargo handling activities, they shall be entitled to exemption from the maritime safety assurance charge for the entrance or departure movement at the maritime area where they arrive to shelter from storms; for the departure movement made at the maritime area where they depart to shelter from storms and the entrance movement in the original maritime area where they return to resume their cargo handling activities.

- Where they do not have to sail back to the original maritime area after sheltering from storms to resume their cargo handling activities, they shall be entitled to exemption from the maritime safety assurance charge for the entrance or departure movement at the maritime area where they arrive to shelter from storms; for the departure movement made at the maritime area where they depart to shelter from storms.

d) Ships dispatched by a maritime administration to move to another maritime area to perform the medical quarantine or isolation work at the request of a competent agency for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency.”

7. To amend and supplement Clause 6, Article 14 as follows:

“6. The charge payers shall be exempted from the anchorage charges in the following cases:

a) Wait tides within port waters before arrival to a port.

b) Wait until dawn according to the command of a maritime administration under regulations on imposition of restriction on ship underway at night.

c) Shelter from storm, bad weather conditions that may risk safety for their journey, or provide medical emergency services to patients, or disembark persons rescued at sea, without handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers as verified by a maritime administration.

d) Ships participating in search and rescue, prevention and control of floods, hurricanes or natural disasters according to the dispatching call or consent from competent state agencies from the time at which they were mobilized to get involved in these cases to the time at which these cases come to an end.

dd) Ships being anchored to wait to perform the medical quarantine before entering piers for handling cargoes, picking up or dropping off passengers or being forcibly anchored for isolation at the designated location at the request of a competent agency for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency.”

Article 2. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on October 12, 2021. Regulations on exemption (from tonnage charges of ships, maritime safety assurance charges, charges for anchorage position use) applicable to ships being anchored or on their way to medical quarantine or isolation locations for the prevention, control and medical quarantine of an epidemic during the epidemic announcement by a competent state agency as prescribed at Point b Clause 2, Point b Clause 3, Point b Clause 4, Clause 5, Clause 6 and Clause 7, Article 1 of this Circular shall be applied from August 27, 2021.

2. To repeal Point b Clause 2, Clause 4, Clause 5, Point a Clause 6, Clause 7, Point b Clause 8, Article 1 of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 90/2019/TT-BTC dated December 31, 2019 on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 261/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 prescribing maritime charges and fees and the tariff thereof; and the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 17/2017/TT-BTC dated February 28, 2017 guiding the collection, remittance, management and use of maritime charges and fees.

3. In case legal normative documents mentioned herein are amended, supplemented or replaced, these amending, supplementing or replacing documents shall be applied.

4. Any problem arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for research and additional guidance./.