The shipments of biological products and supplies for Covid-19 prevention are quickly cleared by Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs. Photo: H.H

Policy towards businesses and people

At the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread in Vietnam, causing a scarcity of medical masks and hand sanitizers. On February 4, 2020, the General Department of Vietnam Customs submitted to the Ministry of Finance to request the Prime Minister to issue a decision on import duty exemption for medical masks and hand sanitizer under its competence as specified in Point c, Clause 1, Article 28 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP dated September 1, 2016, of the Government.

On the basis of the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister issued Official Letter No. 197/TTg-KTTH agreeing to exempt import duty on medical masks, hand sanitizers and raw materials for production in service for pandemic prevention and control. In particular, the Ministry of Finance was assigned to issue a list of goods exempt from import duty.

In order to quickly implement tax solutions and policies for this item, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has urgently coordinated with the Ministries of Health, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and relevant agencies to submit to the Ministry of Finance for promulgation Decision 155/QD-BTC dated February 7, 2020, on the list of items exempt from import tax for Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control.

To remove difficulties and create favorable conditions for enterprises to produce anti-pandemic gear, the General Department of Vietnam Customs continued to coordinate with the Ministries of Health, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and relevant units to submit to the Ministry of Finance Decision 436/QD-BTC dated March 27, 2020 on supplementing goods exempt from import tax on the list of goods exempt from import duty for Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control, issued together with Decision 155/QD-BTC.

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out for the second time, the Customs authority reported to the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Government on tax exemption for imported components to produce ventilators and the Government issued Resolution 169/NQ-CP dated November 11, 2020.

Accordingly, on December 18, 2020, the Ministry of Finance issued Decision 2138/QD-BTC on promulgating the list of imported components for the production of ventilators that are exempt from import duty for Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control.

Recently, when the 4th wave of Covid-19 pandemic occurred, the need for medical equipment and supplies was once again urgent. Faced with that situation, the Customs authority reported, developed and submitted to the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Government for promulgation Resolution 106/NQ-CP dated September 11, 2021 on tax policy for imported goods for Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control.

Accordingly, the Government decided on goods imported by Vietnamese organizations and individuals to sponsor to the Government, the Ministry of Health, the People's Committees of the provinces and cities, the Vietnam Fatherland Front in provinces and cities that are eligible to apply for the import tax and value-added tax policy as imported goods in the case of humanitarian and non-refundable aid.

On the last day of September, on the basis of the proposal of the Customs authority, the Ministry of Finance issued Decision No. 1921/QD-BTC to add items exempt from import duty to the list of goods exempt from tax for Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control, issued together with Decision No. 155/QD-BTC dated February 7, 2020, of the Minister of Finance.

Join hands to fight the pandemic

In order to implement the regulations of the Government and the Ministry of Finance on exempting import tax for goods for pandemic prevention and control as well as imported components for the production of ventilators, the Customs authority has issued many consecutive documents instructing provincial and municipal customs departments to implement, list and publicly announce preferential information to businesses in the area.

With the positive factors in the proposal and development of policies towards businesses and people, the statistics showed that, as of September 30, the Customs authority had implemented tax exemption for imported goods following Decision No. 155/QD-BTC and Decision No. 436/QD-BTC of the Minister of Finance with the amount of VND8.53 billion; exempt from import tax on components for the production of ventilators of Vingroup (according to Decision No. 1372/QD-TTg, dated July 30, 2021 of the Prime Minister) with a total amount of VND5.1 billion; exempting import tax for 170,600 items of medical clothing worth about VND16 billion of Hansae Vietnam Co., Ltd with the amount of VND1.92 billion; did not collect VAT on the shipment of 2,000 ventilators with the tax amount of VND18.4 billion imported by Van Lang Healthcare Co., Ltd., given to the Government and the Ministry of Health for pandemic prevention and control.

Thus, by the end of September 30, implementing the regulations of the Government and Ministry of Finance, Customs authority have exempted VND35.7 billion of import duty and did not collect VAT on medical masks, raw materials for the production of masks, hand sanitizers, components for the production of equipment for pandemic prevention and control.

Discussing this issue, a representative of the Import-Export Duty Department said, in order to quickly implement the Government's direction in Resolution 105/NQ-CP and Resolution 106/NQ-CP on supporting businesses in cargo clearance and tax exemption of goods for the prevention and control of Covid-19, the Customs authority had promptly carried out solutions to support enterprises, cooperatives and business households in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, for aid, donation or imported goods serving urgent requirements for the prevention of Covid-19, customs procedures will be applied in accordance with Article 50 of the Customs Law.

Specifically, the customs declarant is allowed to request late submission of the original license, quality inspection results, certification of aid for imported goods and additional declaration and submission of the original within 30 days from the day of registering import customs declaration.

The customs declarant is allowed to submit a scanned copy certified by the customs declarant's digital signature for: a photocopy of the acceptance document; decision approving the receipt of foreign aid goods; certified Vietnamese translation of document on an agreement for donation from a foreign organization or individual to a Vietnamese organization or individual.

The customs declarant is allowed to submit a scanned copy certified by the digital signature of the enterprise for the proof of origin of the goods through the customs electronic data processing system, make additional declarations and submit the original within 180 days from the date of registration of the import customs declaration.