The Customs Department provides guidance to the business community on the declaration of attachments documents when conducting customs procedures.
1. Background:
- The Customs Department has observed that some businesses are submitting excessive supporting documents with their Customs declaration files, which does not comply with Article 16 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC, as amended by Article 1.5 of Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC.
- Example: businesses filing under E52 procedure type but still submitting bills of lading, contracts, commercial invoices, etc.
- The Customs authority states this is causing system overload issues.
2. Guidance from the Customs Department:
- Only attach the necessary documents as specified in Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, appropriate to the import-export procedure type.
- Do not attach documents that are not part of the required customs documentation and are not relevant to the specific import-export procedure type.
- Submit documents in the correct format:
- For images: black and white images, PDF format with resolution of 250-350 DPI.
- For text documents (without images): docx, xlsx, or black and white PDF.
(According to the website of the Customs Sub-Department of Region II dated May 8, 2025)
Customs Department Provides Guidance on Disclosure of Confidential Chemical Information
Recently, the Ministry of Finance has received numerous reports from U.S. businesses regarding concerns about the disclosure of confidential business information (CBI) when importing chemicals.
On May 12, 2025, the Customs Department issued Official Letter No. 4508/CHQ-GSQL providing guidance on this issue as follows:
1. For customs authorities:
For yellow or red channel declarations, if customs authorities lack sufficient basis to determine the accuracy of declared chemicals, they should implement the following inspection procedures:
- Request the customs declarant to submit additional technical documentation, purchase/sales contracts, or product composition analysis.
(Article 24.1.b.3 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC, Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC amended)
- If the machinery and technical equipment at the Customs authority are insufficient to accurately determine the product name, HS code, type, quality, volume, or weight, → request the customs testing agency to perform classification analysis or assessment.
- If the customs testing agency is still unable to conduct the assessment → solicit assessment from an authorized assessment organization as per law, and base the customs clearance decision on these assessment results.
(According to Article 29.5 of Decree 08/2015/ND-CP)
2. For enterprises:
- Enterprises should proactively compare their exported/imported chemicals against legal regulations to determine the corresponding management requirements (chemical declaration/export permit/import permit).
- Regarding customs documentation: enterprises are not required to submit additional documents beyond the customs declaration file as specified in Article 16 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC (as amended by Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC). Customs declarants do not need to submit additional documents in addition to the customs dossier according to Article 16 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC (as amended by Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC).
(According to Official Letter No. 4508/CHQ-GSQL dated May 12, 2025)
Relevant service: Customs Clearance
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