Vietnam: When is royalty/license fee considered relating to the imported goods?

According to Circular No. 60/2019/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, royalty/license fee is considered relating to the imported goods if:

- Royalty/license fee must be paid directly or indirectly by the buyer for use of product trademarks appropriating to the documents relating to the agreement on and payment of royalty/license fee if all of the following requirements are satisfied:

+ Imported goods are resold in the same conditions as when imported to Vietnam’s market or simply processed after importation;

+ Imported goods bear trademarks when they are sold in Vietnam.

- Royalty/license fee is paid directly or indirectly by the buyer for use of patents, trade secrets, industrial designs, layout-designs of semiconductor integrated circuits or the right to use other subject matters of intellectual property rights specified in the sale/license contract or other agreements on transfer of the right to use the subject matters of intellectual property rights in any of the following cases:

+ Patents, trade secrets, layout-designs of semiconductor integrated circuits or the right to use other subject matters of intellectual property rights are/is used for producing the imported goods;

+ The imported goods bearing inventions, industrial designs or the right to use other subject matters of intellectual property rights;

+ The imported goods are machines or equipment created or manufactured for the application of patents, trade secrets, layout-designs of semiconductor integrated circuits or the right to use other subject matters of intellectual property rights.

Examples of royalty/license fee satisfying the “relating to imported goods” condition are provided in Appendix I of Circular No. 60/2019/TT-BTC.

View full text at Circular No. 60/2019/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, effective from October 15, 2019.

Thu Ba

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