Vietnam: There are only 04 cases in which penalties for administrative customs offenses are exempt from December 10, 2020

Specifically, according to Article 6 of the Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, cases in which penalties for administrative customs offenses are exempt include:

(1) The cases in which penalties are not imposed according to Article 11 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 of Vietnam, including:

- Commit acts of administrative violations in emergency circumstances;

- Commit acts of administrative violations due to legitimate defense;

- Commit acts of administrative violations due to unexpected events;

- Commit acts of administrative violations due to force majeure;

- The violators do not have administrative liability capacity; the violators commit administrative violations when are not sufficient age to be administratively sanctioned as regulated in point a, clause 1, Article 5 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 of Vietnam.

Customs authority or other competent authorities must be notified of the goods and vehicles that are imported to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam due to an unexpected event or force majeure event; such goods and vehicles must be removed from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after the event is over.

(2) Cases in which the additional declaration is permissible within the time limit specified in Clause 4 Article 29 of the Law on Customs 2014 of Vietnam, including.

- For goods undergone customs formalities: Before the customs authority notifies the direct examination of the customs document;

- For goods granted clearance: Within 60 days from the date of customs clearance and before the day on which customs authority decides to conduct post-customs clearance inspection, unless additional declaration are related to the import or export permit; specialized inspection in terms of quality, health, culture, animal quarantine, plant quarantine and food safety.

(3) Cases in which customs declarants comply with guidelines and decisions of tax authorities and/or competent authorities on determination of their tax liabilities.

(4) Cases in which goods sent to Vietnam are not conformable with the contract as prescribed in Article 39 of the Law on Commerce 2005 of Vietnam (except for goods banned from import, goods suspended from import, counterfeit goods, and waste which are not included in the List of waste permitted for import as production materials) but have been notified in writing (with reasons clearly specified) and enclosed with relevant documents by the consignor, the carrier and the consignee or legal representative of such consignor, carrier and consignee to the Director of the Sub-department of Customs where goods are stored before the customs declaration is registered.

In comparison with Article 5 of Decree No. 127/2013/NĐ-CP amended by Decree No. 45/2016/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, this new regulation only retains 02 cases and has removed 05 old cases related to false declaration, incorrect information and cases of incorrect declaration, violations but low value goods.

Thereby, it can be seen that this new regulation is more stringent, only not sanctioning administrative violations for 04 certain groups of cases. Therefore, individuals and organizations involved in the field of customs must be very careful in the implementation process, especially with regard to customs procedures to avoid unnecessary mistakes.

Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government will take effect from December 10, 2020 and completely replace Decree No. 127/2013/NĐ-CP and Decree No. 45/2016/NĐ-CP. Relevant organizations and individuals should pay attention to the correct application of the law on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of customs.

Hoa Hong

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