The Ministry of Finance has just issued Circular 33/2023/TT-BTC regulating the determination of origin of exported and imported goods. Circular 33 takes effect from July 15 and replaces circulars No. 38/2018/TT-BTC, 62/2019/TT-BTC, 47/2020/TT-BTC, and 07/2021/TT-BTC.

Specifically, Circular 33 provides specific provisions on dossiers, an inspection of pre-determination of origin, declaration and submission of documents certifying the origin of exported and imported goods, procedures and contents of inspection, identification, verify the origin of imported and exported goods.

The new Circular stipulates that the customs declarant must submit to the customs office documents certifying the origin of goods in the following cases:

Customs declarants want to enjoy special preferential tax rates for imported goods originating from countries, groups of countries or territories that have agreements on preferential tariffs in trade relations with Vietnam and goods from non-tariff zones imported into the domestic market that satisfy the conditions of origin from countries, groups of countries or territories that have agreements on preferential tariffs in trade relations with Vietnam;

Goods, as notified by competent Vietnamese authorities, must have proof of origin to prove that the goods are imported from a country, group of countries or territories that are not on the list of embargoes according to the Resolution of United Nations Security Council;

Goods specified in the List in Appendix V issued together with this Circular or as notified by ministries and branches must have proof of origin to determine that the goods are not originating from countries that pose a risk of causing harm to social safety, public health or environmental sanitation should be controlled;

Goods on the List under the Decision of the Minister of Industry and Trade announcing that they are at the time of applying anti-dumping tax, anti-subsidy tax, safeguard measures, tariff quota measures, and evasion measures from trade remedies and quantitative restrictions.

If goods are exempt from submitting proof of origin under an international treaty to which Vietnam is a contracting party, the customs authority does not require the declarant to submit proof of origin. Regarding the time of origin submission of imported goods that want to enjoy special preferential tax rates as prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 10, Circular 33 clearly states: that the customs declarant submits the export certificate. Origin of goods at the time of customs clearance.

In case there is no proof of origin of goods during customs procedures, imported goods must apply preferential or normal tax rates and be cleared according to regulations. If a credit institution guarantees the tax difference, a special preferential tax rate will be applied, and customs clearance will be granted as prescribed.

“Customs declarants declare and submit additional documents certifying the origin of goods within one year from the date of customs declaration registration”, Circular 33 stipulates.

For imported goods with proof of origin applying the Vietnam - European Union, Vietnam - United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Free Trade Agreements, the customs declarant shall submit additional documents from the certificate of origin within two years from the date of registration of the customs declaration.

When additionally submitting proof of original documents within the prescribed time limit, imported goods will be entitled to a special preferential tax rate, and the customs office will handle the overpaid tax amount as prescribed if the amount of the paid tax is greater than the payable tax amount.

If a credit institution guarantees the tax amount difference between the special preferential tax rate and the preferential import tax rate or the normal tax rate, the customs authority shall update the processing results on the system and notify the credit institution.

The Circular stipulates that proof of origin documents submitted to the customs office must remain within the validity period, including newly issued certificates of origin, replaced, corrected, reissued, back-to-back or a certified copy following the respective Free Trade Agreement provisions.

For goods specified at Points B and c, Clause 1, Article 10 of Circular 33, the customs declarant shall submit proof of origin of goods at the time of customs clearance; in case there is none, the goods will not be cleared from customs and will be handled according to the provisions of law.

For goods specified at Point d, Clause 1, Article 10 of Circular 33, the customs declarant shall submit proof of origin at the time of customs clearance. In case there is no proof of origin of goods during customs procedures, imported goods must apply the tax rate according to the measures decided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. If a credit institution guarantees the payable tax amount, the tax rate declared by the customs declarant shall be applied, and the goods shall be cleared according to regulations.

The customs declarant shall declare and submit additional documents certifying the origin of goods within 30 days from the date of registration of the customs declaration to apply the tax rate according to the measures decided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and be handled the overpaid tax amount as prescribed in case the paid tax amount is larger than the payable tax amount; in case a credit institution guarantees the payable tax amount, the customs authority shall update the handling results on the system and notify the credit institution.

Source: Customs News