Laws of Vietnam

In recent years, functional agencies have taken initiative in applying many measures to improve the procedures for management, inspection and control of import/export goods, departing or arriving transport means at border-gates and at customs procedures-clearing places outside the border-gate areas with a view to intensifying the fight against smuggling and trade frauds,. However, the activities of forces with the inspection and control functions at border-gates remain overlapping and inconvenient, thus obstructing the import and export activities; besides, there remains the situation that forces lean on and shift responsibilities on to one another, leading to relaxation of management and the failure to detect acts of smuggling and trade frauds. In order to remedy this situation, the Prime Minister hereby instructs:

1. The inspection and control of import/export goods and transport means on entry or exit at border-gates by functional agencies must strictly comply with law provisions; not causing any troubles, obstacles or harms to goods-exporting/importing organizations and individuals; creating favorable conditions for organizations and individuals to boost goods import, export and circulation. At the same time, the agencies supervising the management, investigation and fight against smuggling and trade frauds under the Customs Service shall have to raise their responsibilities for official work as well as legal responsibilities in their operations.

2. From now on, at border-gates, for all import/export goods and departing or arriving transport means being subject to customs inspection and supervision, only Customs forces are permitted to inspect, and control them and decide handling measures, including prosecution and proposal for prosecution of criminal cases according to law provisions. Other forces shall, when detecting signs of smuggling and/or trade frauds, have to immediately notify the Customs offices thereof for inspection and handling. The Customs offices shall bear full responsibility for letting banned goods or smuggled goods infiltrate through the border-gates.

3. In cases where goods or transport means have been cleared from customs procedures, but not yet been transported out of the border-gate areas while other functional agencies detect violations of regulations on import/export, as well as violations of customs procedures, such agencies shall have to notify the Customs offices thereof and coordinate with the Customs offices in making re-inspection and determining responsibilities of organizations or individuals for the violations.

4. In cases where import goods have been cleared from customs procedures and transported out of the border-gate areas (even when they are transported deep into the territory) or export goods have been cleared from customs procedures but not yet exported, if other functional agencies have grounds to confirm that these cases are smuggling, trade frauds or illegal transportation, they shall have the rights to effect inspection and control, but have to bear responsibility before law, including the responsibility to pay compensation for material losses, if their decisions are wrong.

5. In cases where import/export goods need to be expertised, the organizations functioned to expertise goods must carry out the expertising in an honest and objective manner, and be responsible before law for their expertising results. The border-gate customs offices shall base on the expertising results to handle such cases.

6. The Ministers of Public Security; Defense; Science, Technology and Environment; Trade; Finance; Agriculture and Rural Development; Health; as well as Culture-Information; the Minister-Director of the Government Office; the General Director of Customs and the presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to organize the implementation of this Directive.

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
NGUYEN TAN DUNG