Official Dispatch 5306/TCHQ-GSQL 2021 inspect imported goods stored at warehouses, ports and border gates

To: Customs Departments of provinces and cities.

In the implementation of the Director General’s directives on strengthening the inspection, control and combating acts of taking advantage of policies and procedures for refusing to receive and re-export goods for smuggling and commercial fraud, and strengthening the management and handling of consignments that have arrived at warehouses, ports or border gates for more than 30 days or 60 days without undergoing customs procedures, and goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates, the General Department of Customs hereby requests Customs Departments of provinces and cities to strictly follow the 2014 Customs Law, Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 (amended and supplemented under Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP dated April 20, 2018), Decree No. 29/2018/ND-CP dated March 05, 2018 of the Government, Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2018 (amended and supplemented under Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018); Circular No. 203/2014/TT-BTC dated December 22, 2014 (amended and supplemented under Circular No. 57/2018/TT-BTC dated July 05, 2018) of the Ministry of Finance, and the following contents:

1. Strengthening the inspection, supervision and control of imported goods stored at warehouses, ports, border gates that have arrived at the warehouses, ports or border gates for more than 30 days, more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures, and goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates:

a) Organizing the scanning of goods at Customs Departments of provinces and cities equipped with scanners:

a.1. Customs Branches of Customs Departments of provinces and cities quipped with scanners shall review and scan containers stored at warehouses, ports or border gates for more than 30 days, more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures (except imported goods of authorized economic operators, multi-national companies, goods declared on E-manifests which are raw materials, supplies and components imported for manufacture; goods unsuitable for scanning such as flat-rack containers, open top containers, oversized cargoes, overweight cargoes, dangerous cargoes such as flammable chemicals, goods in container freight stations (CFS), etc.).

a.2. Each Customs Branch shall send a list of containers requested for scanning according Form No. 01 attached to this Official Dispatch to the email addresses of the Customs Control Teams for cooperation in scanning under Decision No. 3272/QD-TCHQ dated November 24, 2020; at the same time, send to the Risk Management Department ([email protected]) and risk management unit of the Customs Department of the province or city where the scanner is located for monitoring and summarizing.

a.3. Customs Control Teams shall scan the cargoes and report the scanning results on a daily basis to the General Department of Customs according to regulations and instructions in this document.

b) Conducting physical inspection of goods and send copies of dossiers to the General Department of Customs. To be specific:

b.1. With regard to the consignments that have arrived at the warehouse, port or border gate for more than 30 days without undergoing customs procedures. If the enterprise registers the declaration (except for imported goods of authorized economic operators, multi-national companies, goods declared as goods imported for processing, export manufacturing, export processing, etc.), such consignments shall undergo physical inspection. The physical inspection plan shall be announced for online supervision by standing committees of the General Department of Customs and Customs Departments of provinces and cities.

- In case the consignment has already been scanned, the Customs Branch where the declaration is registered shall review and compare the scanning images and scanning conclusion in order to carry out customs procedures as prescribed.

- Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department, Customs Management Supervision Department shall proactively review, check data and information about goods that have arrived at warehouses, ports, border gates for more than 30 days without undergoing customs procedures on VASSCM system, and daily reports of the Customs Departments of provinces and cities, online supervision results. In case of detecting any sign of breaches of law, the Director of the Customs Branch is requested to suspend the transfer of goods through the customs-controlled area and administratively sanction in accordance with law provisions.

b.2. With regard to consignments that have arrived at warehouses, ports or border gates for more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures. If the enterprise registers the declarations (except for imported goods of authorized economic operators, multi-national companies, goods declared as goods imported for processing, export manufacturing, export processing, etc.), after undergoing physical inspection according to instructions at Point b.1 Section 2 of this Official Dispatch, Customs Departments of provinces and cities shall send reports and copies of all relevant dossiers about the consignments to the General Department of Customs (via the Customs Management Supervision Department) for instructions before customs clearance.

c) With regard to areas storing goods:

Enterprises conducting business activities involved in ports or warehouses are requested to prepare a separate area for storage of consignments arrived at the warehouses, ports or border check gates for more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures and goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates under Article 41 of the 2014 Customs Law. They are also requested to have a diagram showing the location for goods storage and notify such to Customs Branches in charge of management for strict control and supervision.

d) Handling backlogged goods:

Customs Departments of provinces and cities shall establish Steering Committees for handling of backlogged goods for monitoring, and urgently handle such goods in accordance with the 2014 Customs Law, the Government’s Decree No. 29/2018/ND-CP dated March 05, 2018, the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 203/2014/TT-BTC dated December 22, 2014, Circular No. 57/2018/TT-BTC dated July 05, 2018; Make daily and monthly reports on the handling results and send them to General Department of Customs (via the Customs Management Supervision Department).

- For goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates, if there is a person showing up to carry out customs procedures within the time limit for finding goods owners, the Customs Department of the province or city shall send a report and copies of all relevant dossiers to the General Department of Customs (via the Customs Management Supervision Department) for instructions.

- For goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates, if past the time limit for notifying and finding the goods owners, the consignee has not yet shown up, the Customs Department of the province or city shall promptly handle them in accordance with law provisions.

dd) With regard to key enterprises and consignments:

Customs Departments of provinces and cities shall provide information and dossiers of key enterprises and consignments to the Risk Management Department for synthesis and review in service of risk assessment and analysis.

e) With regard to the update of information on unloading goods:

By monitoring on VASSCM system, the goods description information is usually not fully declared, left blank or shown as N/A, resulting in failure to meet the management requirements of the Customs offices. Customs Departments of provinces and cities are requested to issue written documents requesting enterprises conducting business activities involved in ports and warehouses, after completing the unloading of goods, to fully update information about imported goods according to the goods names stated on bills of lading in accordance with Point b.1.2, Clause 1, Article 52 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC (amended and supplemented under Clause 31, Article 1 of Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018) of the Ministry of Finance.

2. With regard to consignments proposed for re-export due to mistakenly sent, lost, unclaimed or refused to receive goods, the Customs Departments of provinces and cities are requested to organize to:

a) Carry out the information inspection and verification:

- Check the dossiers of request for re-export; compare them with information on the manifest, information and dossiers about the key enterprises and consignments in order to evaluate customs procedures according to law provisions and international trade practices;

- Work with the consignees on the master bills of lading, the secondary bills of lading to determine the responsibility of the forwarding service, the responsibility of the goods owners and identify the owners of the goods, the responsibilities of the parties involved;

- Request the goods owner to present the entire sale and purchase contract; Packing list; Invoice; insurance; the original secondary bill of lading; insurance purchase vouchers; documents evidencing the payment of goods, freight charges, insurance premiums, payment to shipping lines or forwarding to take delivery orders; commercial correspondence between the seller, the forwarder or the shipping line; Forwarding agency service contracts with foreign, domestic, shipping lines of the forwarding company, Payment documents with domestic and foreign partners when performing forwarding services, commercial correspondence.

- Work with shipping lines on the responsibilities of shipping lines, shipping agents in transporting prohibited goods, goods on the list of Cites, goods causing environmental pollution, etc. to determine the legality and responsibility for paying the costs of storing containers, storing yards, and transporting them out of the territory of Vietnam for such consignments.

b) Organization of handling

b.1. After inspecting, if the actual goods are found to be consistent with information, send a report and copies of all dossiers to the General Department of Customs (the Management Supervision Department). After the General Department of Customs issues a written guidance, the Customs Departments of provinces and cities shall implement the plan for re-export of the goods on the following principles:

- Carry out physical inspection with the entire consignments requested to be re-exported as prescribed; and coordinate with on-duty officials of General Department of Customs in supervising the inspection;

- Goods must be re-exported at the initial border gates of import;

- The consignments must be re-exported in entirety under separate bills of lading. The consignment must not be subdivided, ensuring its original condition; goods packed in containers must not be transferred to another container before re-export;

- The consignments must be re-exported to their initial exporting countries. Only load the goods onto the departing vehicle if the manifest of the departing vehicle indicates that the port of destination is a port of the initial exporting country of the consignment.

b.2. In case of discovery of goods banned from import, goods suspended from import or imported goods subject to licensing or conditions, goods suspected of violations of law, violations shall be handled in accordance with law provisions. Goods owners are not allowed to abandon or act in a manner that indicates abandonment of goods to return or re-export the goods from the territory of Vietnam.

3. Make and report the list of consignments that have arrived at the warehouses, ports, border gates for more than 30 days, more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures, and goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates:

a) Implementation period: From November 15, 2021.

b) Subjects of reporting: Consignments that have arrived at the warehouses, ports, border gates for more than 30 days, more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures, and goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates.

c) Reporting period: from 4 p.m. of the date preceding the reporting date to 4 p.m. of the reporting date.

d) Reporting regime:

- The Customs Branches shall send lists of containers requested for scanning made according to Form No. 01 attached to this Official Dispatch according to instructions specified at Point a.2, Section 1 of this Official Dispatch. It is not allowed to make paper reports; periodic reports shall be made in Excel files according to Form No. 01 and sent to: [email protected];

- Customs Departments of provinces and cities shall review and make the lists of consignments that have arrived at the warehouses, ports, border gates for more than 30 days, more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures according to Form No. 02 attached to this Official Dispatch; lists of goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates according to Form No. 03 attached to this Official Dispatch. It is not allowed to make paper reports; periodic reports must be made in Excel files according to Form No. 02 and Form No. 03 and sent to [email protected];

- Report data on a daily basis, such report must ensure the accumulation, increase, and decrease in accordance with the report of the preceding day. The reported data shows in detail the name of the goods, the number of days in stock, the handling measures, the handling results. Consignments that have not been processed within the day will be included in the next day's report;

- The reports must be sufficient and sent at 4 p.m. every day. If a report is sent after 4 p.m. every day, it will be considered that the Customs Department of a province or city fails to make daily report.

- In the "Goods name" criterion, the specific goods name (on the manifest) must be specified according to its 6-digit or 8-digit HS code. General names are not allowed;

- Title of the email as follows: “Customs Department of province/city…-Report dated…/…./….-Data of goods stored at warehouses, ports or border gates” (“Cục Hải quan tỉnh/thành phố ....-Báo cáo ngày .../.../....-Số liệu hàng hóa tại kho bãi, cảng, cửa khẩu”). Example: Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City-Report dated 10/11/2021- Data of goods stored at warehouses, ports or border gates (Cục Hải quan thành phố Hồ Chí Minh - Báo cáo ngày 10/11/2021 - Số liệu hàng hóa tại kho bãi, cảng, cửa khẩu). If the Customs Department of a province or city has nothing to report, send an email with the following content: “Customs Department of province/city… has no data on goods stored at warehouse, ports or border gates on …/…/…” (“Cục Hải quan tỉnh/thành phố... không phát sinh số liệu hàng hóa tại kho bãi, cảng, cửa khẩu trong ngày …/…/….”);

- Directors of Customs Departments of provinces and cities shall make sure that all reports among Customs Branches are submitted fully and timely, and take responsibility for the accuracy of reporting data in service of the General Department of Customs’ direction and administration;

- This Official Dispatch annuls Official Dispatch No. 5264/TCHQ-VP dated September 10, 2018, Official Dispatch No. 6421/TCHQ-GSQL dated October 01, 2020, Point 4 of Official Dispatch No. 1589/TCHQ-GSQL dated April 07, 2021, of the General Department of Customs guiding on reporting backlogged goods.

4. For the management and application of information technology systems serving the statistics and reporting of backlogged goods, the General Department of Customs assigns the Customs Management Supervision Department to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Customs Information Technology and Statistics Department in, completing, adding functions of making statistics and reporting consignments that have arrived at warehouses, ports or border gates for more than 30 days, more than 60 days without undergoing customs procedures, and goods backlogged for more than 90 days at warehouses, ports and border gates via VASSCM system; provide guidance for the Customs Departments of provinces and cities to make reports after such functions are completely added to the VASSCM system.

The General Department of Customs hereby informs Customs Departments of provinces and cities for strict implementation./.