CIRCULAR

CATEGORIZATION OF APPLICANTS FOR PREFERENTIAL CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

Pursuant to Decree No. 98/2017/ND-CP dated August 18, 2017 of the Government on functions, duties, rights and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP dated March 08, 2018 of the Government on elaboration of the Law on Foreign trade management regarding origin of goods; At the request of Director of the Import and Export Department,

The Minister of Industry and Trade promulgates a Circular on categorization of applicants for preferential Certificate of Origin.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

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Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to:

1. Traders applying for the preferential C/O;

2. Issuers of preferential C/O as prescribed in the international agreement (hereinafter referred to as “issuers")

3. Relevant organizations and individuals

Article 3. Definition

1. “green channel trader” means a trader that is exempted for providing necessary documents or allowed to submit those documents after the prescribed deadline and may receive the C/O sooner than usual as well as be exempted from physical inspection of goods when applying for the preferential C/O.

2. “red channel trader” means a trader that is required to submit proof of origin of all shipments and might be required to have their goods undergo physical inspection when applying for the preferential C/O;

3. “ordinary channel” refers to ordinary procedures for issuance of preferential C/Os prescribed in Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP dated March 08, 2018 of the Government on elaboration of the Law on Foreign trade management regarding origin of goods (hereinafter referred to as “Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP") and relevant guiding documents.

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GREEN CHANNEL

Article 4. Identification of green channel traders

A trader applying for preferential C/O will be eligible for green channel if such trader:

1. is certified as a prestige exporter by the Ministry of Industry and Trade; or

2. is certified as eligible for preferential customs treatment by the Ministry of Finance; or

3. satisfies the following requirements:

a) The trader has not violated the rule of origin in the last 2 years before the day applying for preferential C/O through the green channel;

b) The trader has a document archiving system (both physical and electronic documents) as proof of the authenticity of the C/Os and origin of goods during the archiving period specified in Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP;

c) The trader has applied for at least 30 preferential C/Os per year on www.ecosys.gov.vn

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1. With regard to application for preferential C/O

a) A green channel trader will be exempted from providing some documents in the application for preferential C/O prescribed in clause 1 Article 15 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

- Only the physical documents prescribed in point a and b in clause 1 in Article 15 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP are required;

- Electronic documents prescribed in point c through e in clause 1 in Article 15 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP may be submitted;

- Other documents prescribed in point g through i in clause 1 in Article 15 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP are not required.

2. With regard to late submission of documents

A green channel trader may submit the documents prescribed in clause 3 in Article 15 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP within 45 working days from the day on which the C/O is issued.

3. With regard to time for issuing preferential C/O

A physical application for preferential C/O submitted by a green channel trader will be processed within 6 working hours from the moment the satisfactory application is received.

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 Green channel traders are exempted from physical inspection of goods and site inspection of production facilities when applying for preferential C/O.

Chapter III

RED CHANNEL

Article 6. Identification of red channel traders

1. Traders that commit the violations prescribed in Article 29 of Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP within the last 2 years before the date of application;

2. Traders that fail to provide necessary documents to verify origin of goods or the origin of goods is considered ineligible by the customs authority of the importing country within the last 2 years before the date of application;

3. Green channel traders who export red channel goods as prescribed in Article 7 herein without any production facility or adequate capacity for production of exported goods.

Article 7. Identification of red channel goods

1. Red channel goods include:

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b) Goods whose C/Os which are subject to investigation and verification of origin of goods increases considerably and extraordinarily in quantity as required by the importing country

2. The Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) shall publish and update the list of red channel goods.

Article 8. Red channel requirements

1. With regard to application for preferential C/O

A red channel trader must submit both a physical and electronic application including the documents prescribed in clause 1 in Article 15 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP.

2. With regard to time for issuing preferential C/O

An application for preferential C/O shall be processed within 3 working days as prescribed in clause 3 in Article 29 of Decree No.31/2018/ND-CP from the day on which the satisfactory physical application is received .

3. With regard to physical inspection of goods and site inspection of production facilities

The issuer shall carry out the physical inspection of goods and site inspection of production facilities if the preferential C/O is applied for the first time or there is suspicion of fraudulent misrepresentation of origin of goods when receiving the application for preferential C/O from the trader.

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IMPLEMENTATION

Article 9. Initiation of categorization of applicants for issuance of preferential C/O

Issuers shall categorize applicants for preferential C/Os in accordance with the criteria in Article 4, Article 6 and Article 7 of this Circular. Applications for preferential C/Os shall be automatically categorized. The Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) and issuers shall publish the list of green channel traders, red channel traders and ordinary traders on www.ecosys.gov.vn.

Article 10. Rules for transferring channel

1. A red channel trader that does not commit any of the violations prescribed in Article 6 and 7 herein may transfer from the red channel to the ordinary one.

2. An exporter of red channel goods prescribed in Article 7 herein may transfer from the red channel to the ordinary one if the result of site inspection and production capacity inspection carried out by the issuer is satisfactory.

Chapter V

RESPONSIBILITIES OF RELEVANT AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 11. Responsibilities of the Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade)

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2. Announce the list of goods going through red channel prescribed in Article 7 herein and cooperate with the Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy in posting such list on the system of management and issuance of e-C/O.

3. Preside over and cooperate with relevant agencies and organizations in managing and solving problems as well as inspecting the categorization of applicants for preferential C/O.

Article 12. Responsibilities of the Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade)

1. Implement electronic categorization of applicants for preferential C/O on www.ecosys.gov.vn;

2. Establishing and adjusting technical infrastructure serving the electronic categorization;

3. Cooperate with relevant agencies and organizations in timely solving problems arising during the categorization

Article 13. Responsibilities of issuers

1. Carry out categorization and instruct traders to make applications for preferential C/O and participate in the pilot categorization program;

2. Submit quarterly reports on categorization by issuers to the Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade);

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4. Cooperate with the Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) in carrying out physical inspection of goods and inspection visit to production facilities and deal with questions arising during the inspection Where necessary, issuers shall notify the inspection visit to production facilities of traders as the basis for categorization to the Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) for consultancy.

Article 14. Responsibilities of traders

1. Strictly comply with laws and acquire knowledge about origin of goods;

2. Take legal responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of the registered information;

3. Provide all documents as required in case the Ministry of Industry and Trade and issuer carry out inspection visit to head offices and production facilities of traders.

Article 15. Effect

This Circular comes into force from August 15, 2018./.

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MINISTER




Tran Tuan Anh