Heavy fines for offenses against regulations on customs inspection in Vietnam applied from October 19, 2020

According to Article 11 of the Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, fines for offenses against regulations on customs inspection are specified as follows:

- A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

+ Making erasures or alterations on the documents included in the customs dossier submitted, produced or sent to the customs authority according to the registered customs declaration other than the cases specified in Point a Clause 7 of this Article, Articles 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 hereof;

+ Preparing the statement inconsistently with the accounting books, accounting documents or customs declaration and the taxpayer realizes the mistake and adjusts the statement behind schedule other than the case specified in Point e Clause 1 or Point c Clause 2 Article 9 hereof.

- A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 4,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

+ Failure to assign employees or provide instruments serving physical inspection of goods or vehicles at the request of the customs authority;

+ Violating regulations on preparation and retention of documents, books, files and electronic data.

+ Preparing the statement inconsistently with the accounting books, accounting documents or customs declaration other than the cases specified in Point b Clause 1 of this Article, Point e Clause 1, Point c Clause 2 Article 9 hereof.

- A fine ranging from VND 4,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

+ Failure to present the goods under customs supervision or goods in storage which must undergo post-clearance inspection at the request of the customs authority in accordance with regulations of law on customs;

+ Failure to provide sufficient documents, files or electronic data on exports, imports of vehicles entering or leaving Vietnam to the customs authority as prescribed by law or providing them behind schedule.

- A fine ranging from VND 8,000,000 to VND 12,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to comply with the inspection decision issued by a customs authority.

- A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

+ Swapping goods that have undergone customs inspections and goods that have not;

+ Failure to provide documents, files or electronic data on exports, imports of vehicles entering or leaving Vietnam to the customs authority as prescribed by law.

- Penalties for selling goods of legal origin at duty-free shops without sticking the “Vietnam duty not paid” stamp as prescribed are as follows:

+ A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth less than VND 10,000,000;

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

+ A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth from VND 20,000,000 to less than VND 30,000,000;

+ A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth from VND 30,000,000 to less than VND 50,000,000;

+ A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth VND 50,000,000 or more.

- A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 80,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

+ Use of forged documents; submission or presentation of illegal documents to the customs authority without initiating criminal prosecution;

+ Illegal use of another entity’s account or digital signature to follow customs procedures;

+ Illegal access, falsification or destruction of the customs information system;

+ Selling goods banned from export, banned from import or suspended from export or import, goods which have not yet been allowed to be sold in Vietnam as prescribed at duty-free shops.

- Penalties for exporting or importing goods inconsistently with the customs declaration in terms of quantity, names and categories without any document for additional declaration in accordance with regulations of law on customs regarding additional declaration, except for the cases specified in Articles 15 through 22 hereof are as follows:

+ A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth less than VND 30,000,000;

+ A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth from VND 30,000,000 to less than VND 50,000,000;

+ A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth from VND 50,000,000 to less than VND 70,000,000;

+ A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth from VND 70,000,000 to less than VND 100,000,000;

+ A fine ranging from VND 60,000,000 to VND 80,000,000 shall be imposed if the exhibit is worth VND 100,000,000 or more but below the value that is liable to criminal prosecution.

View more details at the Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from December 10, 2020.

Le Vy

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