What are regulations on failure to have documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes imported within territorial waters of Vietnam?

What are regulations on failure to have documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes imported within territorial waters of Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 4 Article 9 of the Circular 105/2022/TT-BQP stipulating transport of cargoes without documentary evidences for the legitimacy within territorial waters, islands and continental shelf of Vietnam as follows:

Violations against regulations on illegal transport, trading or ship-to-ship transfer of cargoes within territorial waters, islands and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam specified in Article 15 of Decree No. 162/2013/ND-CP, amended by Clause 2 Article 1 of Decree No. 23/2017/ND-CP

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4. Transport, trading and ship-to-ship transfer of cargoes that are not subject to conditions for transport and trading without valid documents or with insufficient documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes prescribed in Clause 2 Article 15 of the Decree No. 162/2013/ND-CP, amended in Clause 2 Article 1 of the Decree No. 23/2017/ND-CP. To be specific:

a) Failure to have documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes imported, transported from the checkpoint of import to inland prescribed in Article 4 of the Joint Circular No. 64/2015/TTLT-BTC-BCT-BCA-BQP dated May 08, 2015 of the Minister of Finance, Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Public Security and Minister of National Defense on invoices and documents for imported products in circulation on the market.

b) Transport of cargoes for export without a declaration of exports that have been granted customs clearance and certified that cargoes have passed through the customs controlled area prescribed in Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Minister of Finance on customs procedures, customs supervision and inspection, export duty, import duty, and tax administration applied to exports and imports; Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018 on amendments to some Articles of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Minister of Finance on customs procedures, customs supervision and inspection, export duty, import duty, and tax administration applied to exports and imports.

c) Imports in transit to a customs place with insufficient documents that must be submitted to follow customs procedures prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5 Article 16 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Minister of Finance on customs procedures, customs supervision and inspection, export duty, import duty, and tax administration applied to exports and imports; Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018 on amendments to some Articles of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015 of the Minister of Finance on customs procedures, customs supervision and inspection, export duty, import duty, and tax administration applied to exports and imports.

Failure to have documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes imported, transported and sold in domestic market prescribed in Article 5 of the Joint Circular No. 64/2015/TTLT-BTC-BCT-BCA-BQP dated May 08, 2015 of the Minister of Finance, Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Public Security and Minister of National Defense on invoices and documents for imported products in circular on the market.

d) Transport of cargoes that are forest products without a valid dossier or with a valid dossier which is not relevant to the forest products that are actually being transported; timber without a forest ranger’s hammer mark with regard to the timber required by law to have a forest ranger’s hammer mark.

A valid dossier on forest products shall be determined as prescribed in Circular No. 27/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 16, 2018 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on management and tracing of forest products, Official Dispatch No. 53/KL-DT dated January 28, 2019 of Forest Protection Department/Vietnam Administration Forestry on guidelines for implementation of Circular No. 27/2018/TT-BNNPTNT.

dd) Cargoes that are manufactured, transported and traded in domestic market other than cargoes specified in Points a, b, c and d of this Clause, without or with insufficient documentary evidences for the legitimacy, including:

Invoices specified in Article 08 of Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 on invoices and records; Circular No. 78/2021/TT-BTC dated September 17, 2021 of the Minister of Finance on guidance on Law on Tax Administration dated June 13, 2019 and Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 on invoices and records; Government’s Decree No. 41/2022/ND-CP dated June 20, 2022 on amendments to Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP and Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP dated January 28, 2022 of the Government of Vietnam on tax exemption and reduction under Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly of Vietnam on fiscal and monetary policies for supporting socio-economic recovery and development program

Documents that are printed, issued, used and managed as invoices including delivery and internal consignment notes and delivery notes for goods sent to sales agents prescribed in Appendix 1A issued together with Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 on invoices and records; Article 4 and Appendix II issued together with Circular No. 78/2021/TT-BTC dated September 17, 2021 of the Minister of Finance on guidance on Law on Tax Administration dated June 13, 2019 and Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 on invoices and records. The use of illegal invoices and illegal use of invoices shall be determined as prescribed Clause 9 Article 3 of Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 on invoices and records

e) Transport, trading and ship-to-ship transfer of other cargoes without valid documents or with insufficient documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes according to regulations of the law.

As regulations above, transport of cargoes without documentary evidences for the legitimacy within territorial waters, islands and continental shelf of Vietnam shall include:

- Failure to have documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes imported, transported from the checkpoint of import to inland.

- Transport of cargoes for export without a declaration of exports that have been granted customs clearance and certified that cargoes have passed through the customs controlled area in accordance with the law.

- Imports in transit to a customs place with insufficient documents that must be submitted to follow customs procedures.

- Failure to have documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes imported, transported and sold in domestic market in accordance with the law.

- Transport of cargoes that are forest products without a valid dossier or with a valid dossier which is not relevant to the forest products that are actually being transported; timber without a forest ranger’s hammer mark with regard to the timber required by law to have a forest ranger’s hammer mark.

- Cargoes that are manufactured, transported and traded in domestic market other than cargoes without or with insufficient documentary evidences for the legitimacy.

- Transport, trading and ship-to-ship transfer of other cargoes without valid documents or with insufficient documentary evidences for the legitimacy of cargoes according to regulations of the law.

What are the fines for transporting cargoes with a total value of 20.000.000 VND without valid documents for the legitimacy within continental shelf of Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2.c Article 15 of the Decree 162/2013/NĐ-CP (amended by Clause 2 Article 1 of the Decree 23/2017/NĐ-CP) stipulating the fines for transporting cargoes with a total value of 20.000.000 VND without valid documents for the legitimacy within continental shelf of Vietnam as follows:

Violations against regulations on transport, trading and ship-to-ship cargo transfer within territorial waters, islands and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

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2. The following fines shall be imposed for transport, trading and ship-to-ship transfer of cargoes without valid documents or with insufficient documents proving the legality of cargoes, or failure to provide or insufficient provision of documents proving the legality of cargoes subject to conditional transport and trading:

a) A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed if the cargo is worth from VND 10,000,000 to less than VND 20,000,000;

b) A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed if the cargo is worth from VND 20,000,000 to less than VND 50,000,000;

c) A fine ranging from VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed if the cargo is worth from VND 50,000,000 to less than VND 70,000,000;

d) A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 25,000,000 shall be imposed if the cargo is worth from VND 70,000,000 to less than VND 100,000,000;

dd) A fine ranging from VND 25,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed if the cargo is worth more than VND 100,000,000 but the violating entity must not face the criminal prosecution.

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Pursuant to Clause 2 Article 3 of the Decree 162/2013/NĐ-CP (amended by Clause 3.a Article 3 of the Decree 37/2022/NĐ-CP) stipulating as follows:

Fines and power to impose fines

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2. Fines for administrative violations prescribed in Chapter II herein are imposed on individuals. The fine incurred by an organization is twice as much as that incurred by an individual for the same administrative violation.

As regulations above, the fines for transporting cargoes with a total value of 20.000.000 VND without valid documents for the legitimacy within continental shelf of Vietnam are:

- A fine ranging from VND 10.000.000 to VND 15.000.000 shall be imposed on individuals.

- A fine ranging from VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 shall be imposed on organizatioons.

Do the ship masters have the obligation to prevent illegal carriage of goods aboard ships in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 5 Article 53 of the Vietnam Maritime Code in 2015 stipulating as follows:

Obligations of the ship master

1. Manage and operate a ship in accordance with laws.

2. Take charge of ensuring that the ship fully meets maritime safety and security requirements, and necessary conditions for assurance of maritime labor and environmental pollution prevention, and conforms to professional standards and regulations relating to equipment, ship hull, storage and quality of crew members and other matters relating to maritime safety and security, conditions for assurance of maritime labor and environmental pollution prevention for ships and humans aboard a ship before and during the time when the ship is underway at sea.

3. Regularly carry out supervisory activities to ensure that freight are loaded aboard the ship, stowed and stored onboard the ship, unloaded from the ship in a proper manner, even though such work duties have been assigned to responsible persons.

4. Employ methods of preventing freight onboard ships from any damage or loss; apply necessary measures to protect interests of persons who are offered benefits from such freight; summon up all of his capabilities of notifying persons who are granted relevant benefits of special events in relation to such freight.

5. Apply all necessary measures to protect ships, humans and other property aboard ships; prevent illegal carriage of humans or goods aboard ships.

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As regulations above, the ship masters have the obligation to prevent illegal carriage of goods aboard ships in Vietnam.

Best regards!