Regulations are stipulated in Article 26 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC regarding inspection of exported and imported goods.
1. For exported goods:
"The origin of exported goods is determined based on the declaration made by the customs declarant, the documents in the customs file, and the actual goods.
When there are signs of fraudulent origin of exported goods or based on warning information about illegal transshipment, the Customs Sub-department where the declaration is registered will request the customs declarant to provide documents proving the origin of the exported goods; if the customs declarant fails to present them, verification will be conducted at the production facility of the exported goods. While awaiting the results of the inspection and verification of the origin of the goods, the exported goods will be cleared according to regulations.”
Therefore, for exported goods, the origin of the exported goods is determined based on the information provided by the customs declarant.
2. For imported goods:
"a) The customs declarant shall submit the certificate of origin for imported goods to the customs authority as prescribed in point g, clause 2, Article 16 of this Circular at the time of submitting the customs dossier or within the time limit prescribed in international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.
If the certificate of origin cannot be submitted at the time of customs declaration, the declarant shall declare at the most favored nation (MFN) or normal import duty rate. Upon submitting the certificate of origin within the prescribed time limit, the declarant shall make a supplementary declaration at the corresponding special preferential duty rate and shall be reimbursed the difference in tax paid; in cases where the consignment is exempt from document inspection during customs declaration, the declarant must submit a supplementary customs dossier as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 16 of this Circular when submitting the certificate of origin.
b) When verifying the origin of goods, the customs authority shall base its assessment on the certificate of origin, customs documents, the actual goods, relevant information about the goods, and the provisions of Article 15 of Government Decree No. 19/2006/ND-CP dated February 20, 2006, the Circular guiding the implementation of preferential and non-preferential rules of origin of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and other relevant guiding documents;
c) Customs authorities accept certificates of origin in cases of minor discrepancies that do not affect the validity of the certificate of origin and the nature of the origin of the imported goods, including:
c.1) Spelling or typing errors;
c.2) Differences in marking methods in the boxes on the Certificate of Origin: marking by machine or by hand, marking with "x" or "√", confusion in marking;
c.3) Minor differences between the signature on the Certificate of Origin and the sample signature;
c.4) Differences in units of measurement between the Certificate of Origin (C/O) and other documents (invoices, bills of lading, etc.);
c.5) Differences between the paper size of the Certificate of Origin (C/O) submitted to the customs authority and the prescribed C/O form;
c.6) Differences in ink color (black or blue) of the declarations on the Certificate of Origin;
c.7) Minor discrepancies in the description of goods on the certificate of origin and other documents;
c.8) Differences in the code number on the Certificate of Origin (C/O) and the code number on the import declaration form that do not alter the nature of the goods' origin.
d) In cases where the customs declarant submits a certificate of origin issued for the entire consignment but only imports a portion of it, the customs authority will accept that certificate of origin for the actual imported goods;
d) If the actual quantity or weight of imported goods exceeds the quantity or weight stated on the certificate of origin, the excess goods will not be entitled to preferential treatment under international treaties to which Vietnam is a party;
e) Customs declarants are not allowed to arbitrarily amend the contents of the Certificate of Origin (C/O), except when the amendment is made by the competent authority or organization that issued it in accordance with the law;
g) In cases where the information on the certificate of origin does not conform to the customs dossier and regulations on origin verification of imported goods, or the signature and seal on the certificate of origin do not match the signature and seal samples kept at the customs authority, except for the cases specified in point c of this clause, the customs authority shall request the customs declarant to provide explanations and additional documents to prove the origin of the goods. If the explanations and provided documents are satisfactory, the certificate of origin shall be accepted.
If the customs authority has sufficient grounds to determine that the certificate of origin is inconsistent, it shall suspend the application of the preferential tariff rate and calculate the tax at the MFN rate or the normal tariff rate.
When carrying out customs procedures, if there are doubts about the validity of the certificate of origin but there are not enough grounds to refuse it, the customs authority shall provisionally calculate the tax at the MFN rate or the normal tax rate and proceed with verification as prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article.
During post-clearance inspection, if there are doubts about the validity of the certificate of origin but there are not enough grounds to reject it, the customs authority will conduct verification and, based on the verification results, decide whether to apply the special preferential tax rate.”
Therefore, for imported goods:
- Customs authorities base their decisions on certificates of origin, customs documents, the actual goods, and other relevant information.
– Regulations stipulate that the Certificate of Origin (C/O) must be submitted to the customs authority at the time of submitting customs documents.
– Regulations stipulate that the Customs authority accepts minor errors on the Certificate of Origin (C/O) that do not affect the validity of the certificate of origin and the nature of the origin of the imported goods….
