Quyết định 54/2008/QD-BTC

DECISION

ON THE IMPORT DUTY RATES APPLICABLE TO IMPORTED GOODS OF
LAO ORIGIN

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Pursuant to June 14, 2005 Law No. 45/2005/QH11 on the Import Duty and Export Duty;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 77/2003/ND-CP of July 1, 2003, on the tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;
Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s directing opinions in the Government Office’s Official Letter No. 1724/VPCP-QHQT of March 19, 2008, and the memorandums of understanding of July 28, 2005, December 19, 2006, and March 19, 2008, between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos on goods items entitled to preferential import duty rates of Vietnam and Laos in 2008;
After obtaining the Industry and Trade Ministry’s opinions in Official Letter No. 2675/BTC-KV1 of April 3, 2008, requesting the issuance of a decision on goods items entitled to Vietnam-Laos import duty rates in 2008;
At the proposal of the director of the Tax Policy Department,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To issue together with this Decision:

1. A list of imported goods entitled to a 50% reduction of the import duty rates specified in the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs (CEPT) of the ASEAN countries in the 2006-2013 period, issued together with the Finance Minister’s Decision No. 36/2008/QD-BTC of June 12, 2008 (List I). Goods items outside the CEPT list are entitled to a 50% reduction of the most favored nation (MNF) preferential duty rates issued together with the Finance Minister’s Decisions No. 106/2007/QD-BTC of December 20, 2007; No. 17/2008/QD-BTC of April 17, 2008; No. 25/2008/QD-BTC of May 13, 2008; No. 28/2008/QD-BTC of June 12, 2008, No. 29/2008/QD-BTC of May 19, 2008, No. 37/2008/QD-BTC of June 12, 2008, and other amending decisions.

If the duty rates applicable to a number of goods items under the CEPT are higher than the MFN preferential duty rates specified in the current Preferential Import Table of rates, a reduction of 50% of the MFN duty rates is applied.

2. A list of goods items ineligible for reduction of preferential import duty rates under the Vietnam-Laos preferential program (List II).

Article 2.- Imported goods originated from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic which are not included in the two lists mentioned in Article 1 of this Decision are subject to the import duty rate of 0% (zero percent).

Article 3.- To be entitled to the import duty rates specified in List 1, Article 1, and Article 2 of the Decision, imported goods must meet the following conditions:

- Being imported under customs declarations registered with customs offices from January 1, 2008 (or customs declarations registered with customs offices from the effective date of the Industry and Trade Ministry’s decision on the import of goods of Lao origin under the 2008 tariff quotas at the import duty rate of 0%, for goods on the list of those subject to tariff quotas);

- Having a certificate of origin (C/O) of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos (under the Regulation promulgated together with Decision No. 0865/QD-BTM of June 29, 2004, and Decision No. 06/2007/QD-BTM of February 6, 2007, of the Ministry of Trade, now the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on the grant of certificates of goods origin and guiding documents);

- Having been cleared from customs procedures at a border gate identified in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Appendix I).

The disparity between duty amounts already paid and duty amounts calculated according the import duty rates specified in this Decision will be refunded.

Article 4.- For goods subject to tariff quotas (Appendix II to this Decision), to be entitled to the import duty rates specified in this Decision, apart from satisfying the conditions defined in Article 3 of this Decision, they must be within quotas as guided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Goods imported in excess of quotas are entitled to a 50% reduction of duty rates as prescribed in Article 1, for goods items in List I, or the MFN preferential duty rates, for other goods items subject tariff quotas. Particularly, tobacco complies with the following:

- For tobacco leaves imported in excess of the import volume prescribed in Appendix II but still within the total quota and satisfying the conditions specified in the Industry and Trade Minister’s Decision No. 14/2007/QD-BTC of December 28, 2007, on the volume of the 2008 tariff quotas for imported goods and other relevant documents, the excessive volume is subject to the import duty rate specified in the current Preferential Import Table of rates.

- For tobacco leaves imported in excess of the import volume prescribed in Appendix II as well as the total quota specified in the Industry and Trade Ministry’s Decision No. 14/2007/QD-BTC of December 28, 2007, on the volume of the 2008 tariff quotas for imported goods and other relevant documents, the excessive volume is subject to the non-quota duty rate applicable to tobacco leaves specified in the Finance Ministry’s Decision No. 77/2006/QD-BTC of December 29, 2006, promulgating a list of goods items and their import duty rates for the application of tariff quotas and relevant documents on import duty rates for the application of tariff quotas.

Article 5.- This Decision takes 15 days after its publication in CONG BAO and replaces the Finance Ministry’s Decision No. 30/2007/QD-BTC of May 7, 2007.