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DECISION

STIPULATING CUSTOMS PROCEDURES FOR SEA-GOING SHIPS ON ENTRY, EXIT, IN TRANSIT AND MOVING FROM PORT TO PORT, AS WELL AS CUSTOMS CONTROL AND SUPERVISION AT SEAPORTS AND SPECIAL-USE PORTS

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

Pursuant to Customs Law No. 29/2001/QH10 adopted on June 29, 2001 by the Xth National Assembly at its 9th session;
Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 101/2001/ND-CP of December 31, 2001 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Customs Law regarding customs procedures as well as customs inspection and supervision regime;
Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP of November 5, 2002 stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structures of the ministries and ministerial-level agencies;
At the proposal of the General Director of Customs,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To issue together with this Decision the Regulation on customs procedures for sea-going ships on entry, exit, in transit or moving from port to port, as well as customs control and supervision at seaports and special-use ports.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette. To annul Decision No. 1548/2001/QD-TCHQ of December 26, 2001, Article 5 of Decision No. 19/2002/QD-TCHQ of January 10, 2002 of the General Director of Customs and other guiding documents contrary to the provisions of this Decision.

Article 3.- The General Director of Customs, the heads of units under or attached to the Ministry of Finance and concerned organizations and individuals shall have to implement this Decision.

REGULATION

ON CUSTOMS PROCEDURES FOR SEA-GOING SHIPS ON ENTRY, EXIT, IN TRANSIT OR MOVING FROM PORT TO PORT AS WELL AS CUSTOMS CONTROL AND SUPERVISION AT SEAPORTS AND SPECIAL-USE PORTS
(Issued together with Decision No. 57/2003/QD-BTC of April 16, 2003 of the Minister of Finance)

A. PROVISIONS ON CUSTOMS PROCEDURES AT SEAPORTS

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS:

1. Within 01 (one) hour after a ship arrives at a mooring place for cargo loading and/or unloading under the designation of the port authority, the ship captain or his/her lawful representative (hereinafter referred collectively as to the ship captains) shall have to carry out customs procedures for the sea-going ship to enter the country.

- The time determined as the time of arrival at a port of a ship and cargo shall be the time the port Customs Office receives and affixes stamps on the customs dossier submitted by the ship captain.

- At least 01 (one) hour before a ship leaves a seaport, the ship captain shall have to carry out customs procedures for the sea-going ship to exit the country. Particularly for passenger ships and ships on fixed itinerary, the deadline therefor shall be the time immediately before the ships are prepared to leave the ports.

- In cases where there are plausible reasons, the above-stated time limits may be shortened, but the ship captains must notify the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments thereof in advance.

2. Places for dossier submission: The ship captains shall have to submit customs dossiers at the head-offices of the port authorities or the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments.

3. Customs procedures for sea-going ships on entry, exit, in transit or moving from port to port:

3.1. Responsibilities of the ship captains:

a) To declare, submit and produce customs dossiers as prescribed in this Decision.

b) To provide information related to cargo and utensils aboard the ships.

c) To abide by decisions and requests of the Customs Offices and Customs officers on the implementation of customs procedures for ships and goods.

d) To fulfill other obligations as prescribed by law.

3.2. Responsibilities of the Customs offices:

a) To receive, check and affix stamps on customs dossiers. The affixture of stamps on the goods manifests shall be as follows:

- For the sets of goods manifests submitted to the Customs Offices, the Customs Offices shall inscribe the total number of pages, affix stamps on the first page and the last page, the remaining pages shall be affixed with overlapping stamps.

- For the sets of goods manifests to be kept by shipping agents or shipping firms, only the first page and the last page shall be stamped.

b) When there are grounds to believe that illegal goods are hidden aboard the ships, and signs of law violation are detected, the directors of the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments shall decide to search the ships in strict accordance with the provisions in Clause 3, Article 51 of the Customs Law.

4. When there are transshipped and/or transferred goods, the shipping firms must notify the directors of the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments thereof in writing.

5. Responsibilities of port enterprises:

5.1. To manage and ensure the original conditions of import/export goods kept at port warehouses and/or yards.

5.2. To allow import/export goods to be transported only through port gates with customs supervision.

5.3. To notify in writing the directors of the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments of the data and situation of:

a) Import goods unloaded into the port warehouses and/or yards.

b) Export goods loaded on board the ships.

c) Broken goods (together with records thereon)

d) Import goods not yet gone through customs procedures upon the expiry of prescribed time limit therefor.

e) Goods kept at the ports without recipients .

6. The port authorities, right after receiving the certified reports of the ship owners, shall have to notify the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments of the time the ships arrive at and leave the ports, the mooring places and the time for cargo loading and unloading.

7. At places where conditions permit, the port authorities, port enterprises and shipping firms' agents hook up their computer networks with the border-gate Customs Sub-Department so as to notify the latter of the situation and data in advance and send documents later.

8. The declaration of crew members' luggage and goods shall be as follows:

- For luggage: It is allowed to declare luggage of the whole crew (luggage of each person shall be declared on one column of the declaration form) on a common declaration form;

- For goods: It is necessary to declare goods of each person separately on the declaration form for non-commercial imports/exports (the declaration form shall comply with current regulations).

II. CUSTOMS PROCEDURES FOR SEA-GOING SHIPS ON ENTRY, EXIT, IN TRANSIT OR MOVING FROM PORT TO PORT

1. For ships on entry:

1.1. Responsibilities of the ship captains:

a) When carrying out entry procedures, the ship captains shall have to submit to the Customs Offices the following papers:

- The manifest of goods carried aboard the ships: 02 originals

- The declaration on the ships' arrival at/departure from ports: 01 original.

- The declaration of goods and luggage of crew members: 01 original.

- The declaration of ships' reserves. It is allowed to declare the ships' properties, including: reserve materials, raw materials, fuels, food, foodstuff, alcohol and cigarettes on this declaration.

- The list of crew: 01 original.

- The list of passengers (if any): 01 original.

The declaration of explosives, inflammables, toxins, anesthetics and weapons on the ships shall be as follows:

+ If they are the ships' properties, they shall be declared on the declaration of ships' reserves.

+ If they are import/export transit goods, they have been already included in the goods manifest.

b) If being requested by the Customs Offices, the ship captains shall have to produce to the Customs Offices the following papers:

- The ship's log.

- The diagram of cargo arrangement on the ship.

c) To fulfill other obligations prescribed at Point 3.1 of Section I above.

1.2. Responsibilities of the Customs Offices:

a) To perform tasks prescribed at Point 3.2 of Section I above.

b) To seal the ships' stores of alcohol, cigarettes, toxins and anesthetics.

c) To enter data into computers or books.

2. For ships on exit:

2.1. Responsibilities of the ship captains:

a) When carrying out exit procedures, the ships captains shall have to submit to the Customs Offices:

- The declaration of ships' arrival at/departure from port: 01 original.

- The manifest of goods carried aboard the ships: 01 original.

- The declaration of the ships' reserves: 01 original

- The declaration of crew members' goods and luggage: 01 original.

b) If being requested by the Customs Offices, the ship captains shall have to produce to the Customs Offices the following papers:

- The customs declaration of goods supplied to sea-going ships.

- The receipt on the purchase of duty-free goods under goods orders (if having purchased goods at duty-free shops in the ports).

c) To perform other tasks prescribed at Point 3.1 of Section I above.

2.2. Tasks of the Customs Offices:

a) To perform the tasks prescribed at Point 3.2 of Section I above.

b) To enter data into computers or books.

3. For ships in transit:

- Ships in transit are ships which only travel through Vietnamese ports and territory to other countries, without unloading of import goods and loading of export goods.

- Ships in transit shall go through entry procedures at the first entry border-gate and exit procedures at the last exit border-gate.

3.1. Procedures at entry border-gates:

a) Responsibilities of the ship captains:

When carrying out procedures for their ships to enter the country, the ship captains shall have to:

- Submit to the Customs Offices 02 manifests of transit goods.

- Perform other obligations prescribed at Point 3.1 of Section I above.

b) Tasks of the Customs Offices:

- To perform the tasks prescribed at Point 3.2 of Section I above.

- To seal and hand over to the ship captains a dossier set including 01 goods manifest and 01 slip on dossier transfer for submission to the Customs Offices of the entry border-gates, and to archive 01 goods manifest.

- To seal the stores of alcohol, cigarettes, toxins and anesthetics and goods stores (if possible and necessary).

- To perform the supervisory tasks prescribed in Section III above.

3.2. Customs procedures at exit border-gates

a) Responsibilities of the ship captains:

When carrying out exit procedures, the ship captains shall have to submit to the Customs Offices of the exit border-gates the dossiers transferred by the Customs Offices of the entry border-gates.

b) Tasks of the Customs Offices of the exit border-gates:

- To perform the tasks prescribed at Point 3.2 of Section I above.

- To compare the dossiers with the exterior conditions of goods.

- To notify the situation to the Customs Offices of the first entry port in cases where the ships violate the provisions of customs legislation.

3.3. While being in transit from the entry border-gates to the exit border-gates, the ship captains shall have to ensure the original conditions of goods and customs seals on goods and customs dossiers.

4. Ships moving from port to port

4.1. Responsibilities of the ship captains:

a) To notify the directors of the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments of the purposes and time of the port transfer. If there are any export goods which have been already cleared from customs procedures and shall be unloaded at the ports of destination, they must clearly inscribe in the written notices the following contents: the names and addresses of the exporting enterprises, the names of goods, the numbers of containers/bales, the goods volumes, the date of export declaration, the number of shipping firms' seals and customs seals and the names of ports where goods shall be unloaded.

b) To submit to the Customs Offices the manifest of import goods transported from port to port, the manifest of export goods already loaded onto the ships and the manifest of transit goods (if any): 01 copy of each manifest.

c) To ensure the original conditions of goods and customs seals en route from port to port.

d) To transfer customs-sealed dossiers to the Customs Offices of the ports of destination.

e) To perform other tasks prescribed at Point 3.1 of Section I above.

4.2. Responsibilities of the Customs Offices of the ports of departure:

a) To carry out procedures for ships moving from port to port.

b) To compile record on dossier transfer, seal and hand over the dossiers to the ship captains for submission to the customs offices of the ports of destination.

c) To perform other tasks prescribed at Point 3.2 of Section I above.

d) In cases where there are export goods carried aboard the ships moving from port to port, which have been cleared from customs procedures and shall be unloaded at the ports of destination then be loaded onto other ships for export, the Customs Offices must compile transfer minutes (made according to the form of minutes on the transfer of goods transported from border-gate to border-gate) and send it to the Customs Offices of the ports of destination for supervision.

4.3. Responsibilities of the Customs Offices of the ports of destination:

a) To perform the tasks prescribed at Point 3.2 of Section I above.

b) To notify the situation to Customs Office of the first entry port in cases where the ships commit acts of violation or any abnormal phenomena occur.

c) To receive the minutes on the transfer of the supervision work and immediately notify the customs offices of the ports of departure that they have taken over the supervision of the ships for cases prescribed at Point 4.2.d above.

III. CUSTOMS INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION AT SEAPORTS

1. Subjects of customs inspection and supervision include:

a) Ships on entry and exit.

b) Goods to be loaded onto and unloaded from ships.

c) Import/export goods kept at the port warehouses and/or yards.

d) Transshipped and transit goods.

e) Import/export goods brought in and out ports.

f) Goods sold at duty-free shops.

g) Goods supplied to ships.

h) Goods and luggage of crew members.

2. Supervision measures of the Customs Offices:

a) To conduct mobile patrol and control and apply other professional measures as prescribed by law in order to detect acts of smuggling and illegally transporting goods across border.

b) Supervision by customs seals.

c) Direct supervision.

d) Supervision by technical means.

Under normal conditions, the Customs Offices shall perform the supervision by measures prescribed in Items a, b and d. In case of necessity, the heads of the border-gate Customs Sub-Departments shall decide on the supervision by the measures stated at Point c. Particularly, the supervision at the port gates must be carried out by the measure stated at Point c.

3. Tasks of the Customs Offices in the control and supervision of warehouses, yards and ships:

a) To carry out procedures for ships on entry and exit, in transit and moving from port to port.

b) To carry out procedures for import goods transported from border-gate to border-gate.

c) To make customs seals on export goods arranged in the same containers at ports.

d) To supervise import/export goods loaded, unloaded and kept at the port warehouses and/or yards.

e) To perform customs inspection over duty-free shops, goods supplied to ships and luggage and goods of the crew members.

f) To conduct mobile patrol and control at the port areas.

g) To receive and process reports of port enterprises on the situation and data on import/export goods as prescribed at Point 5.3 of Section I above.

h) Apart from the above-prescribed tasks, for goods lots transported from border-gate to border-gate, to further carry out the following tasks:

- To sign and affix stamps to certify the actual exportation thereof in Section 27 of the customs declaration forms (for goods lots not yet certified for actual exportation by the outside-border gate Customs Sub-Departments) and immediately return them to the goods owners;

- To receive the hand-over minutes sent by the outside-border gate Customs Sub-Departments and the Customs Offices of other ports, make certification on the hand-over minutes and return them to such units.

4. Tasks of the Customs Offices in the work of supervising the port gates:

4.1. For goods brought in ports for export:

4.1.1. For cases where goods have been cleared from customs procedures at the outside-border gate Customs Sub-Departments:

a) Goods owners or their representatives must produce:

- Customs declaration forms (with custom procedures therefor having been completed at the outside-border gate sites): The copy kept by the goods owners.

- The hand-over minutes of the outside-border gate Customs Sub-Departments where customs procedures are carried out.

b) Tasks of customs officers:

- To receive customs declaration forms and hand-over minutes.

- To check the number and code of containers/bales, the exterior conditions and customs seals.

- To enter data into computers or monitoring books.

4.1.2. In cases where the goods are subject to actual inspection under decisions of outside-border gate Customs Sub-Departments but not yet inspected:

a) The goods owners shall have to produce:

- Customs declaration forms already registered.

- Hand-over minutes.

b) Responsibilities of the Customs Offices supervising the port gates:

To check the above-stated papers and supervise the transportation of goods into the ports or assign goods inspectors to inspect and seal the goods (for goods subject to inspection).

4.2. For import goods brought out of ports:

- The hand-over minutes (for goods transported from border-gate to border-gate and goods inspected at places outside the border-gate).

- The customs declaration forms with the import declaration form being affixed with the stamp "Cleared from customs procedures" (for goods cleared from customs procedures).

b) Tasks of the Customs Offices:

- To check the customs declaration forms and hand-over minutes.

- To check the number and code of containers/bales, the exterior conditions and customs seals.

B. PROVISIONS ON CUSTOMS PROCEDURES AT SPECIAL-USE PORTS

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Special-use ports (announced under decisions of the Maritime Bureau or the Communications and Transport Ministry) are ports of enterprises which are exclusively used for the export and/or import of a certain goods category of such enterprises. Regarding customs procedures, special-use ports (hereinafter called ports) are considered sites for inspection of import/export goods and transport means on entry and/or exit at rivers, gulfs or off-shore areas (for quays and non-wharf ports belonging to off-shore oil- and gas-exploitation fields).

2. Import/export goods and transport means on entry and exit going through ports must be subject to the customs inspection and supervision as prescribed by the Customs Law, the Government's Decree No. 101/2001/ND-CP of December 31, 2001 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Customs Law regarding customs procedures as well as customs inspection and supervision regime and relevant legal documents.

3. Ports shall be the sites where customs procedures for means on entry and exit shall be carried out.

4. The directors of the provincial/municipal Customs Departments shall assign the Customs Sub-Departments nearest to ports (hereinafter called Customs Sub-Departments for short) to carry out the customs procedures for import/export goods, transport means on entry and exit going through ports, control and supervise the port areas during the time the ships anchor at ports for cargo loading and/or unloading.

5. Customs officers shall conduct the above-stated professional operations in ports only for the period from the time the ships arrive at ports for cargo loading and unloading until they leave the ports.

II. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CUSTOMS SUB-DEPARTMENTS

1. To carry out customs procedures for means on entry and exit at ports strictly according to the provisions on customs procedures for sea-going ships on entry and exit.

2. To carry out customs procedures for goods imported/exported at ports strictly according to the provisions on customs procedures for import/export goods lots.

3. On the work of supervision and control at ports:

- During the time when import/export activities are carried out in ports, the Customs Sub-Departments shall perform the tasks of inspecting, supervising and patrolling the port areas in order to well implement the tasks of preventing and combating smuggling or transportation of illegally imported goods.

- When import/export activities are not underway at ports, the Customs Sub-Departments shall not conduct professional operation therein.

III. RESPONSIBILITIES OF ENTERPRISES HAVING PORTS

1. To notify in writing the specific timetable of ships' arrival and departure times; places of anchorage; time of import/export goods loading and unloading to the Customs Sub-Departments at least 24 hours in advance. The port enterprises shall have to take responsibility for any delay in carrying out the entry procedures for the ships and for the occurrence of smuggling activities due to their failure to notify the customs offices thereof within the prescribed time limit.

2. To create favorable conditions for the customs officers to enter, leave and work at the ports and perform other relevant tasks in order to perform the function of State management over customs as prescribed by law.

3. To abide by law provisions on customs procedures for import/export goods as well as transport means on entry and exit.

4. To take responsibility before law for acts of smuggling or transporting illegally imported goods during the time the ships anchor, take goods or move in the port areas.