Thông tư 42/2005/TT-BTC

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT’S DECREE No. 48/2005/ND-CP OF APRIL 8, 2005 ON THE REDUCTION OF IMPORT TAX RATES OF A NUMBER OF COMMODITY ITEMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN VIETNAM AND THAILAND CONCERNING VIETNAM’S POSTPONEMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASEAN COUNTRIES’ AGREEMENT ON COMMON EFFECTIVE PREFERENTIAL TARIFFS FOR MOTORBIKE SPARE PARTS AND ACCESSORIES AND LIGHT TRUCKS IN COMPLETE UNITS

In implementation of the Protocol on the accession of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the Agreement on Common Effective Preferential Tariffs (CEPT) for the realization of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) (hereinafter referred to as the CEPT/AFTA Agreement), signed on December 15, 1995 in Bangkok;
In implementation of the Protocol on the implementation of the provisional exclusion list under the CEPT program of the ASEAN member countries, signed on November 23, 2000 in Singapore;
In furtherance of the Government’s Decree No. 48/2005/ND-CP of April 8, 2005, on reduction of import tax rates of a number of commodity items for implementation of the Agreement between Vietnam and Thailand concerning Vietnam’s postponement of implementation of the ASEAN countries’ Agreement on Common Effective Preferential Tariffs for motorbike spare parts and accessories and light trucks in complete units;
The Finance Ministry hereby guides the implementation as follows:

I. APPLICATION SCOPE AND CONDITIONS

To be eligible for application of CEPT preferential import tax rates (hereinafter referred to as CEPT tax rates for short) prescribed in Article 1 of the Government’s Decree No. 48/2005/ND-CP of April 8, 2005, imported commodities must satisfy the following conditions:

1. Being on Vietnam’s list of commodities and tax rates, promulgated together with the Government’s Decree No. 48/2005/ND-CP of April 8, 2005.

2. Being imported and transported directly from the Thai Kingdom into Vietnam according to the principle of direct transportation provided for in the Trade Minister’s Decision No. 1420/2004/QD-BTM of October 4, 2004.

3. Satisfying the requirement on ASEAN origin, with certificates of ASEAN goods origin – form D (referred to as C/O form D for short) issued by the Trade Ministry of the Thai Kingdom or an authorized agency of the Thai Kingdom, defined in Part III of this Circular.

4. Being stated in import customs declarations registered with the customs authorities at any time between April 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007.

II. APPLICABLE IMPORT TAX RATES

1. Import tax rates applicable to imports eligible for CEPT tax rates according to the provisions of Part I of this Circular are CEPT tax rates for each year, specified in CEPT tax rate column of such year in Vietnam’s list of commodities and tax rates, promulgated together with the Government’s Decree No. 48/2005/ND-CP of April 8, 2005.

2. CEPT tax rates defined in Part I of this Circular shall apply to commodity items imported from the Thai Kingdom.

Commodities imported from other ASEAN member countries (including Brunei Darussalam; the Kingdom of Cambodia; the Republic of Indonesia; the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos; Malaysia; the Federation of Myanmar; the Republic of the Philippines; and the Republic of Singapore), which are on the list of commodities promulgated together with the Government’s Decree No. 48/2005/ND-CP of April 8, 2005 shall continue to enjoy the tax rates promulgated together with the Government’s Decrees No. 78/2003/ND-CP of July 1, 2003, No. 151/2004/ND-CP of August 5, 2004 and No. 13/2005/ND-CP of February 3, 2005 if they satisfy all the conditions for application of the CEPT tax rates.

III. CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN AND INSPECTION OF CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN

1. C/O form D must have signatures and stamps accordable with official signature specimens and stamps, issued by the Trade Ministry of the Thai Kingdom or an authorized agency of the Thai Kingdom.

2. The rules for commodities to be recognized as having ASEAN origin are provided for in the Regulation on issuance of Vietnam’s certificates of ASEAN goods origin - form D, promulgated together with the Trade Minister’s Decisions No. 1420/2004/QD-BTM of October 4, 2004 and No. 151/2005/QD-BTM of January 27, 2005.

3. In cases where they have doubts about the truthfulness and accuracy of C/O form D, customs offices shall have the rights:

- To recheck C/O form D. Customs offices shall send their requests to the Trade Ministry of the Thai Kingdom or the agency authorized to issue C/O form D for the latter’s confirmation.

- To stop the application of CEPT tax rates and provisionally collect import tax at the rates specified in the current preferential or common import tariff.

- To request importers to additionally supply documents (if any) to prove that their goods actually have ASEAN origin within 01 (one) year.

- Pending the rechecking results, to carry on the procedures for goods release according to common import regulations.

- When acquiring sufficient documents proving ASEAN origin of goods, issued by the Trade Ministry of the Thai Kingdom or the authorized agency, customs offices shall have to carry out procedures for reimbursement to importers of the differences between the tax amount provisionally collected according to the current preferential or common import tariff and the tax amount calculated at the CEPT tax rates prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 48/2005/ND-CP of April 8, 2005.

The re-checking order and procedures shall comply with the provisions of the Regulations on issuance of Vietnam’s certificates of ASEAN goods origin - form D, promulgated together with the Trade Minister’s Decisions No. 1420/2004/QD-BTM of October 4, 2004 and No. 151/2005/QD-BTM of January 27, 2005.

IV. OTHER REGULATIONS

For goods stated in import customs declarations registered with customs offices during the period from April 1, 2005 to the effective date of this Circular, for which import tax has already been calculated at the preferential or common import tax rates, C/O form D may be additionally submitted for reimbursement of import tax, provided that such goods satisfy the other conditions specified in Part I of this Circular.

Regulations on tax calculation bases, tax collection and payment regime, tax exemption, tax reduction, tax reimbursement, tax retrospective collection, handling of violations and other regulations shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Export Tax and Import Tax and current guiding documents.

V. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in “CONG BAO.”

Any difficulties or problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Finance Ministry for appropriate additional guidance.