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MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF VIETNAM
GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF VIETNAM CUSTOMS
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SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom – Happiness
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No. 1399/QD-TCHQ

Hanoi, July 15, 2022

 

DECISION

Promulgating a pilot program FOR ENCOURAGING voluntarY COMPLIANCE with customs laws BY ENTERPRISES

THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

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

Pursuant to Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 of the Government of Vietnam providing detailed regulations and guidance on the Law on Customs providing for customs procedures, inspection, supervision and control procedures;

Pursuant to Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP dated April 20, 2018 amending certain Articles of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 of the Government of Vietnam providing detailed regulations and guidance on the Law on Customs providing for customs procedures, inspection, supervision and control procedures;

Pursuant to Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Minister of Finance of Vietnam on customs procedures; customs inspection and supervision; export and import tariffs and management thereof;

Pursuant to Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018 of the Minister of Finance of Vietnam amending certain articles of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 23, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam on customs procedures; customs inspection and supervision; export and import tariffs and management thereof;

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Pursuant to Decision No. 1386/QD-BTC dated June 20, 2016 of the Minister of Finance of Vietnam on function, tasks, powers and organizational structures of the Risk Management Department affiliated to the General Department of Vietnam Customs;

At the request of the Director of Risk Management Department.

HEREBY DECIDES:

Article 1. Promulgating the pilot program for encouraging voluntary compliance with customs laws by enterprises.

Article 2. This Decision comes into force from the day on which it is signed.

Article 3. Heads of units affiliated to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Directors of Customs Departments of provinces, inter-provinces and central-affiliated cities are responsible for implementation of this Decision./.

 

 

PP. DIRECTOR GENERAL
DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL




Hoang Viet Cuong

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PILOT PROGRAM

FOR ENCOURAGING VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE WITH CUSTOMS LAWS BY ENTERPRISES
(Issued together with Decision No. 1399/QD-TCHQ dated July 15, 2022 of the Director Generals of General Department of Vietnam Customs)

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Purposes, requirements and objectives of the Program

1. Purposes

a. Achieve trade facilitation and cost reduction of enterprises as a result of the improvement of legal compliance degrees of such enterprises and the reduction in frequency of physical inspection of imports and exports.

b. Support enterprises in limiting and overcoming difficulties in the implementation of customs procedures, proactively prepare measures for prevention and control of customs offences, improve the self-compliance with laws of enterprises.

c. Establish a trusted partnership between customs authorities and enterprises in import, export and transit as a basis for trade facilitation and competitiveness improvement of enterprises.

2. Requirements and objectives of the Program

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- Over 80% of enterprises participating in the Pilot Program for encouraging voluntary compliance with customs laws by enterprises (hereinafter referred to as "the Program") are expected to increase their legal compliance degrees or keep their existing high compliance degrees.

- Over 80% of participating enterprises are expected to be satisfied with supporting measures of customs authorities.

b. Requirements:

- After 2 years of executing the Program, 100% of participating enterprises shall not commit customs offences to be handled as specified in Appendix VI Circular No. 81/2019/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2019, be assessed as the second-degree compliance with the law (high compliance), third-degree compliance (medium compliance) according to regulations specified in Circular No. 81/2019/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2019.

- After 2 years of executing the Program, information data and criteria related to the management, monitoring and report of executing the Program as well as the interaction with enterprises participating in the Program must be basically shown on a digital platform, meet requirements of digital transformation in professional services of customs procedures according to Decision No. 707/QD-TCHQ dated May 4, 2022 approving the Plan for digital transformation of customs procedures by 2025 with orientation to 2030.

- After 5 years of executing the Program, over 20% of total import/export enterprises shall be assessed as second-degree or third-degree compliance as a result of the support and voluntary compliance of enterprises.

Article 2. Definitions

1. “Support in customs compliance” means counseling, response to difficulties, provision of information and warnings against risks of customs authorities at all levels (prescribed specifically in Article 5 herein) for enterprises in the process of import, export and transit for the purpose of trade facilitation, support for prevention of customs offences and encouragement to improve voluntary customs compliance degrees of such enterprises.

2. “trusted partners” means member enterprises of the Program which are assessed and recorded as having a volunteer for increasing compliance, and having effective contributions to and cooperation with customs authorities within the Program.

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4. “supply chain security risk trend” means a trend of security threats, terrorism, theft of imports and exports, piracy, epidemics and environmental safety, etc. in the global freight supply chain that is recommended and warned by the United Nations, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the World Customs Organization (WCO), etc. and other relative international and domestic agencies and organizations to help enterprises in cooperating with customs authorities and other state agencies and proactively take measures to prevent and control them in order to ensure security for the global freight transportation.

Article 3. Principles and scope of implementation

A customs authority shall support an enterprise participating in the Program in the customs compliance according to principles, scope and forms as follows;

1. Execution principles

a. During the execution of the Program, the customs authority and participating members must comply with procedures and regulations of laws.

b. Activities within the Program shall not result in other administrative procedures, damages and unnecessary tasks for the enterprise.

c. Within 24 hours from the time at which the customs authority receives a request for support from a member enterprise, the information shall be transferred to a professional unit for consideration and response as soon as possible. In case of force majeure that the support cannot be provided, the official assigned to handle must send a notification with reasons for the rejection to the enterprise.

2. Program scope

a. The customs authority shall provide guidance and support to the member enterprise of the Program on contents related to fields applying risk management, customs compliance and implementation of customs procedures for exports, imports and goods in transit.

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c. The Program shall be executed in 2 phases;

c.1. Pilot phase: the Program is executed within 2 years from the date on which it is issued; in the end of the pilot phase, a pilot summary shall be made for assessment of and amendments to  the Program to meet realistic requirements.

c.2. Official execution phase: the Program is executed after the pilot phase ends, preliminaries shall be organized for 1 time every year within 5 years and the Program shall organize a summary to assess the result of the Program and orientation to execute the Program in the next phase.

3. Execution forms

Within the Program, the customs authority may perform the following activities:

a. Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an enterprise which applies for participating in the Program in order to commit to perform the cooperation, support and improvement on legal compliance and prevention of customs offences.

b. Organize programs for partnership and cooperation with business associations, functional agencies, relative organizations and import-export enterprises to exchange and provide information, support improvement on the legal compliance and prevention of customs offences.

c. Organize conferences, seminars and training programs for enterprises to actively improve legal compliance and prevent risks in terms of customs offences.

d. Provide guidance and support for the member enterprise of the Program by phone, email or in writing depending on the enterprise’s requirements and the nature of the case. The result of the performance of such activities must be fully recorded and reported to ensure the monitoring and quality assessment of the Program.

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Article 4. Participants and requirements for participating in the Program

1. Participants

a. A customs authority that takes charge of management and organization of the Program.

b. Export-import enterprises which have headquarters in Vietnam and are selected by the customs authority or voluntarily register the Program to be members (hereinafter referred to as "the Program member enterprises).

c. Export-import business associations participating as honorary members for support and counseling for the Program.

2. Requirements for the participation

a. Enterprises fully update information as prescribed in Circular No. 81/2019/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2019 and the information is verified by the customs authority and updated on the customs information system.

b. Export-import enterprises run their operation for over 365 days and are assessed to be necessary for encouragement to improve compliance degrees by the custom authority.

c. Enterprises and business associations to which the customs authority sends a letter of invitation to participate in the Program and those which voluntarily register the Program.

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Article 5. Specific activities of the customs authority

1. Supporting activities

a. Provide counseling and guidance according to commitments in the MoU for member enterprises of the Program if required.

b. Record the member status and process for participating in the Program on the enterprises’ dossiers and customs information systems of the customs authority applicable to participants of the Program for ensuring the performance of supporting activities in a manner that is prompt, effective and appropriate.

c. Assign customs officials and professionals at all levels to provide direct support or counseling for contact in order to handle difficulties during the process of implementation of customs procedures applicable to exports, imports and goods in transit of member enterprises. 

d. Exchange information and warnings about factors causing reduction in compliance degrees of the enterprises; warn enterprises about supply chain security risk trends, infringement of intellectual property rights in importing and exporting, internal risks of enterprises in importing and exporting according to recommendations from international and domestic competent authorities and relative organizations.

e. Cooperate with community businesses and relevant agencies in organizing seminars on the contents mentioned in point d above as well as counseling and supporting measures for enterprises to cooperate with the customs authority, proactively prevent customs offences, avoid risks in the import-export supply chain, and ensure the maintenance or improvement of compliance degrees.

g. In special cases, at the requests of enterprises, the customs authority may cooperate with relevant agencies in providing support and counseling for the enterprises concerning measures for controlling and minimizing consequences of errors and violations of the enterprises in the process of implementing customs procedures to ensure the legal compliance.

h. Organize cooperative programs and advanced training programs for enterprises to promptly update, grasp and comply with new regulations related to the customs risk management in particular and export, import and transit in general.

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a. Cooperate with organizations and business associations in organizing conferences for dissemination and introduction of the Program.

b. Periodically organize preliminaries, summaries and dialogue meetings to measure and assess satisfaction, absorb recommendations and additional comments to amend commitments made within the Program.

c. Disseminate on mass media, popularize and post activities and results of the Program on the customs websites such as: https://customs.gov.vn and https:// haiquanonline.com.vn

3. Other activities

a. Monitor and assess the process of carrying out activities within the Program. Organize commendations for enterprises that comply well, make positive contributions to the Program, and warn, remind, and revoke the Program member status in cases of failure to fulfill commitments or breach thereof.

b. Participate in international research and cooperation in terms of the partner program and enterprise facilitation.

Article 6. Mechanism for recognition and revocation of the Program member status

1. On the basis of analysis and assessment of information about import-export enterprises, the customs authority shall select enterprises in need of encouragement to improve compliance degrees in each specific scope and phase to proactively invite such enterprises to participate in the Program.

2. In case an enterprise agrees to participate in the Program, the enterprise shall notify the customs authority of cooperating in signing the MoU and recognizing the Program member status.

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4. During the execution of the Program, the customs authority shall revoke the member status and rights of the participating enterprise in the following cases:

a. The enterprise is assessed as having high risks related to criminal activities, smuggling, tax evasion and environmental offences.

b. The enterprise is handled for customs offences according to Appendix VI of Circular No. 81/2019/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2019.

c. The enterprise does not fulfill commitments or breach them as specified in the MoU.

d. The enterprise does not have awareness of cooperating with the customs authority in improving the compliance causing offences although the customs authority has repeatedly warned and reminded.

e. The enterprise is dissolved, bankrupted, suspended or has a written request not to continue participating in the Program.

5. In case the enterprise whose Program member status is revoked has an application for registration of participating again, the customs authority shall only consider accepting it after 1 year since the enterprise's member status is revoked. The re-recognition of member status is based on the assessment of the enterprise's process of self-correction of breaches of commitments and compliance with customs laws.

III. Organizing execution

Article 7. Task assignment and mechanism for inspection and assessment thereof

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a. The Risk Management Department:

a.1. Take charge in receiving and regulating relative information and cooperate in performing activities specified in Articles 4, 5 and 6 hereof.

a.2. Conduct researches on formulating criteria and reviewing them to select and propose enterprises eligible for participating in the Program.

a.3. Organize conferences for introducing, sending invitation, receiving, appraising information and notify results of the participation in the Program to enterprises.

a.4. Carry out procedures for signing the MoU, publicizing and revoking the Program member status of enterprises via customs representatives.

a.5. Develop a process and guideline for performing activities within the Program.

a.6. Monitor and assess the operation of enterprises as well as the performance of supporting activities of departmental and sub-departmental agencies within the Program.

a.7. Periodically report the monitoring, consolidation of data on assessment of the compliance degrees and classification of risk degrees of member enterprises of the Program.

a.8. Propose and organize the inspection and periodic guidance for execution units.

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- Manage data of enterprises participating in the Program on the basis of digital transformation; ensure the management of the operation and production process of such enterprises from the beginning to the end (business lines, owners, legal representatives, import, production and export, domestic consumption, treatment of wastes, workers, production lines, partners, scale, factories, material storage, production capacity, energy consumption, compliance with customs and other relevant laws).

- On the basis of the above contents, digitalize the process for managing, receiving information and responding to enterprises’ requests for support; research and apply technology to automatically monitor, analyze and assess the voluntary compliance process of enterprises as a basis for the customs authority to invite enterprises to participate, recognize and revoke the Program member status of enterprises.

b. Legal Department, Customs Control and Supervision Department, Import-Export Duty Department, Department of Customs Inspection.

b.1. Receive and process information and directly guide enterprises according to information of enterprises in need of support transferred from the Risk Management Department and process it according to fields that they are in charge.

b.2. Cooperate with the Risk Management Department in assessing the legal compliance and the fulfillment of the commitments of enterprises participating in the Program.

b.3. Cooperate in organizing periodic inspection and guidance for execution units.

b.4. Cooperate with the Risk Management Department in formulating training documents, guiding and organizing conferences and seminars as prescribed in clause 2 of Article 5.

c. Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, Post-Clearance Audit Department, Inspectorate Department.

c.1. Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department

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c.2. Post-Clearance Audit Department

Exchange and provide information on plans and results of post-clearance audit to the Risk Management Department related to enterprises participating in the Program for management and assessment.

c.3. Inspectorate Department

- Discuss and provide inspection conclusions with the Risk Management Department related to enterprises that have been inspected participating in the Program.

- Support training in disseminating knowledge related to the law on inspection and settlement of denunciations.

d. Customs Reform and Modernization Board.

Cooperate with the Risk Management Department and execution units in:

d.1. Researching and proposing participants in the Program.

d.2. Informing and disseminating to business associations about the contents of the Program.

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e. Customs Information Technology and Statistics Department

Cooperate with the Risk Management Department in ensuring the information infrastructure for execution of the Program.

f. General Department Office, Customs Newspaper, Vietnam Customs School

Cooperate in organizing conferences, seminars, trainings and partnership activities and dissemination as prescribed in Article 5 of this Program.

2. Customs Department of provinces and cities

A responsible risk management units playing the role of focal points at Sup-Departmental agencies:

a.1. Receive, process and regulate information, monitor and urge reports on assessment of the execution of the Program at departmental areas.

a.2. Propose Group Leaders in charge of specific types, fields and enterprises invited to be members according to the requirements and conditions of the Program.

a.3. Promptly grasp and report the situation of import, export, transit and violation of enterprises participating in the Program if required.

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b. Relative professional units:

b.1. Cooperate with, direct and guide Sub-Departmental agencies to: provide support and counseling to member enterprises on difficulties and recommendations in professional areas when they receive requests from Departmental risk management units or directly responsible for doing them.

b.2. Cooperate with the Departmental risk management units in proposing the implementation of the contents specified in points a.2 and a.4 of clause 2 above-mentioned.

c. Customs Sub-Department:

c.1. Be responsible for monitoring and urging the fulfillment of requirements for supporting the Program member enterprises of focal points at the General Department level and the Department level by leaders and officials assigned.

c.2. Set up a periodic report consolidation regime within the Program.

c.3. Receive, appraise and update enterprises’ information of forms of additional enterprise profile information on the professional system by member enterprises on the Online Public Service System HQ36a, at https://pus.customs.gov.vn.

c.4. Promptly propose plans to handle and solve difficulties directly related to imports and exports of enterprises participating in the Program on the spot when there is a situation that member enterprises of the Program need to be supported beyond its competence or difficult to handle.

Article 8. Program Execution Group

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1. Group leader: 01 Leader of Risk Management Department in charge of activities of the Group is responsible for organizing, regulating, inspecting and guiding the performance of supporting activities in the whole sector according to Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the Program.

2. Members:

a. Risk Management Department: Compliance Management Department is the focal point to receive information, monitor, consolidate and report the execution of the Program.

b. Legal Department and Customs Reform and Modernization Board: 01 Departmental Leader and 01 responsible official.

c. Customs Control and Supervision Department, Import-Export Duty Department, Customs Department of Goods Verification: Each unit has 01 leader of the professional department and 01 responsible official.

d. Customs Departments of provinces and cities of Vietnam:

- 01 Departmental Leader in charge of the regulation and execution of the Program in such Department's area.

- Heads of units in charge of risk management, officials in charge of compliance management.

Program Execution Group will be established according to the Decision of the General Department and it will dissolve when the Program ends.

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1. Customs units and officials that perform well their duties within the Program and are highly appreciated by the community businesses will be commended and rewarded according to regulations.

2. In case customs units and officials assigned to receive information, provide support and counseling for enterprises are found to have harassed actions or intentionally errors or failures to fully and properly fulfill their responsibilities causing consequences, they will be examined and disciplined according to the customs regulations and laws./.