Laws of Vietnam

THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

CIRCULAR No.42-TCHQ/GSQL OF MARCH 22, 1997 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 10 OF DECISION No.28-TTg OF JANUARY 13, 1997 OF THE PRIME MINISTER ON THE IMPORT OF NON-COMMERCIAL COMMODITIES

Non-commercial import commodities are commodities imported not for commercial purposes, including those in the form of personal gifts, personal belongings of State cadres, officials and employees who return from overseas mission, study and work, and commodities in service of officials and employees of diplomatic missions, representative offices and foreign organizations and movable assets... Commodities of these kinds, when being imported, shall still be subject to the State’s regulations on management of import commodities.

After consulting the Ministry of Trade, the General Department of Customs guides the import of non-commercial commodities as follows:

I. Commodities in the form of personal gifts

- Eligible non-commercial imports in the form of gifts are single objects counted according to counting units of the list of export and import commodities of Vietnam (for example a single, a pair, a set...) or counting units set by the General Department of Customs (if such units have not been defined in the list of export and import commodities of Vietnam) and valued at not more than 20 million VND/lot. Such import commodities shall be subject to import duty and income tax as prescribed by law. For the excess value, in addition to the payment of prescribed taxes, administrative sanction shall be imposed in accordance with Decree No.16-CP of the Government.

The local customs departments shall complete the procedures for commodity lots with value equal to or 10% higher than the above-said value. In cases where it is more than 10%, it must be reported to the General Department of Customs, which shall consider and handle case by case, but the permitted value must not exceed 100% of the prescribed value (20 million VND).

- Commodities sent to State organizations, agencies or enterprises of Vietnam shall be considered non-refundable humanitarian aids and managed in accordance with current regulations of the Ministry of Finance.

II. The import of cars of various kinds, two-wheeled motorized vehicles

The provisions in Document No.343-KTTH of January 20, 1996 of the Government on non-commercial import vehicles shall apply.

III. Some other forms of non-commercial import

- Personal belongings: The import thereof shall comply with Decree No.17-CP of February 6, 1995 of the Government and guiding documents of the General Department of Customs.

- Commodities of the diplomatic missions and the international organizations based in Vietnam shall be governed by Decree No.73-CP of July 30, 1994 of the Government; export and import activities conducted by foreign economic representative offices in Vietnam shall comply with Decree No.82-CP of August 2, 1994 of the Government and guiding Circulars of various branches.

IV. Organization of Implementation

This Circular takes effect from the date of its signing, the earlier stipulations which are contrary to this Circular are now annulled.

The Director of the Department of Customs Control and Management, the Directors of the provincial/municipal Customs Departments shall have to guide and organize the implementation. If problems arise, they shall be reported to the General Department for guidance and direction.

The General Department of Customs

General Director

PHAN VAN DINH