Ms. Thu's company worked with the brand's representative in Vietnam, but the brand refused to provide an import declaration showing full information because the declaration showing the import price and some costs of the brand in Vietnam is considered a business secret of the brand, the brand only provided the declaration after the price was removed.

According to Ms. Thu's research, the import price and selling price are considered a business secret of a company.

Ms. Thu asked, is it correct for the inviting party to request the bidding party to provide a customs declaration like that?

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (now the Ministry of Finance) responded this question as follows:

According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP dated February 27, 2024 of the Government, the bidding documents must include all necessary contents for bidders to prepare bidding documents and must not state any conditions to restrict the participation of bidders or to create advantages for one or several bidders, causing unfair competition as prescribed in Point k, Clause 6, Article 16 and Clause 3, Article 44 of the Law on Bidding.

According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 111 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP, payment is not based on estimates and current regulations and instructions of the State on norms and unit prices; not based on the unit price in the financial invoice for the contractor's input factors, including materials, machinery, equipment and other input factors.

Accordingly, the requirement to provide a customs declaration without erasing or deleting the import price is not consistent with the above instructions.

Chinhphu.vn