GDC Proposes Measures to Clear C/O Submission Obstacles Caused by Covid 19 Pandemic

Due to the impact of the severe acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), some countries adopted social distancing and lockdown measures, preventing customs declarants from obtaining certificates of origin (C/O) to submit on time. Before this reality, the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDC) proposed a number of solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles for enterprises.

GDC sent documents to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and trade associations to suggest some solutions and collect opinions about related legal documents to make reports to competent authorities to introduce solutions in line with prevailing regulations.

As for the extension of time limit for additional submission of C/O, according to Directive 11/CT-TTg dated March 4, 2020 and Directive 02/CT-BTC dated March 13, 2020 on urgent tasks and solutions to deal with business difficulties, based on the authority of the Ministry of Finance as per Article 27 of the Customs Law 54/2014/QH13 and Article 32 of Decree 31/2018/ND-CP, the General Department of Customs recommended that the time of submitting C/O during the time of the Covid-19 epidemic, applied to all C/O forms, is within the validity period of C/O. This proposal is also consistent with international commitments to which Vietnam is a party.

In order to the legality of solutions, GDC also drafted a circular amending and supplementing Circular 62/2019/TT-BTC dated September 5, 2019 on determining the origin of exported and imported goods (relating to Articles 4 and 7 on cases, forms and time of C/O submission).

Source: Vietnam Business Forum