To: Departments of provinces and cities,

Through its inspection and audit, although the General Department of Customs has found that certain importing enterprises liable for the CIC/EIS charge (this charge is defined as a maritime shipping surcharge collected by the shipper for the purpose of offsetting costs incurred by transporting empty containers from other places to points of embarkation), D/O charge and container cleaning charge, etc. qualifying for being aggregated with customs value, these enterprises have yet to declare such charges and pay relevant taxes in accordance with regulations in force.    On this issue, the General Department of Customs, by this document, gives the following opinions:

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 providing details and measures of implementation of the Customs Law on customs procedures, customs inspection, monitoring and control;

Pursuant to the provision laid down in Article 5 of the Circular No. 39/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance, customs value is defined as the actual price at which importing enterprises have to pay at the first importing checkpoint and is determined according to the calculation formula specified in Clause 2 of this Article;

Pursuant to the provision laid down in Article 6 of the Circular No. 39/2015/TT-BTC , transactional value is defined as the actual price at which importing enterprises has paid or have to pay for imported goods after all necessary adjustments are made as per Article 13 and 15 of this Circular.

Pursuant to the provision laid down in Clause 1 Article 13 of the Circular No. 39/2015/TT-BTC , increasing adjustments shall be permitted only to the extent that (1) These increased amounts are paid by the buyer and have not been included in the actual or future payment; (2) These adjustments are related to the imported goods; (3) There are objective and quantifiable data conformable to the relevant documents.;  

Pursuant to the provision laid down in Point g, Clause 2 Article 13 of the Circular No. 39/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance, transportation costs and any costs relating to the transportation of imported goods to the first importing checkpoint are amounts that must be aggregated with the dutiable value, exclusive of costs for loading, unloading and handling of goods taken from the transport vehicle to the first importing checkpoint. This means that CIC/EIS, D/O and container cleaning charges relating to transportation of imported goods and qualifying for being aggregated shall be deemed as increasing adjustments upon determination of dutiable value of imported goods.

Therefore, in order to ensure sufficiency in declaration of costs related to transportation of imported goods to the first importing checkpoint as mentioned above, the General Department of Customs requests Departments of Customs of provinces and cities to comply with the aforesaid provisions and the actual importing documents to:

1. Guide importing enterprises to make full declaration of costs related to transportation of imported goods to the first importing checkpoint in conformity with the abovementioned requirements for increasing adjustments.

2. Strengthen examination carried out at the cargo clearance checkpoint to promptly detect costs related to transportation of imported goods to the first importing checkpoint and qualifying for the aforesaid requirements for increasing adjustments which enterprises fail to declare in full for adding them to dutiable value of imported goods, in which case enterprises are requested to make supplementary declaration in accordance with regulations in force.

3. With respect to declaration sheets on which goods have passed the customs clearance procedures, carry out post-clearance examination and inspection to detect costs related to transportation of imported goods to the first importing checkpoint and qualifying for the aforesaid requirements for increasing adjustments which enterprises have yet to declare in full and add them to dutiable value of imported goods, in which case particular measures should be taken to collect taxes and penalties in full for the state budget in accordance with regulations in force.

For your information and compliance./.