Circular No. 15/2018/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam officially takes effect from August 15, 2018, providing regulations on categorization of procedures for issuance of preferential C/O, which are similar to customs declaration. The issuance of preferential C/O is categorized into 3 channels, including green, red and ordinary. Criteria for categorization are specified as follows:
Article table of contents
1. Identification of green channel traders
A trader applying for preferential C/O will be eligible for green channel if such trader:
- is certified as a prestige exporter by the Ministry of Industry and Trade; or
- is certified as eligible for preferential customs treatment by the Ministry of Finance; or
- satisfies the following requirements:
+ 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;
+ 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 of Vietnam’s Government;
+ The trader has applied for at least 30 preferential C/Os per year on www.ecosys.gov.vn.
Priority: A trader eligible for green channel shall be eligible for priority in application for preferential C/O, late submission of documents, have the application for preferential C/O be processed within 6 working hours and be exempted from physical inspection of goods and site inspection of production facilities when applying for preferential C/O.
2. Identification of red channel traders
- 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;
- 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;
- Green channel traders who export red channel goods as prescribed in Article 7 of Circular No. 15/2018/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam without any production facility or adequate capacity for production of exported goods. The Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) shall publish and update the list of red channel goods.
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.
3. Identification of ordinary channel traders
According to Clause 3 Article 3 of Circular No. 15/2018/TT-BCT, ordinary channel traders shall be issued C/O according to current regulations in Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP.
A red channel trader that does not commit any of the violations prescribed in Article 6 and 7 of Circular No. 15/2018/TT-BCT may transfer from the red channel to the ordinary one.
The Import-Export Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for developing documents to implement channel classification in the preferential C/O issuance process.
