On 25/01/2021, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular no. 07/2021/TT-BTC ("Circular 07") providing guidance on the deadline to submit Certificate of Origin (“C/O”)(1) for goods imported into Vietnam under EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (“EVFTA”).

The Circular takes effect from 11/03/2021, with notable guidelines as follows:

• The declarant must present valid C/O to the Customs authority when they carry out Customs formality in order to enjoy special-preferential import duty rate⁽²⁾ for the import under EVFTA.
• In case the declarant has yet obtained C/O at that time, they are required to declare about the late submission of C/O (which is the condition for supplementing the C/O in the future) and calculate Customs duties payable based on normal import duty rate or preferential import duty rate⁽³⁾.

C/O must be supplemented within its effective duration and no later than 02 years from the date of registering Customs import declaration form. Upon supplementing the C/O, the declarant can apply the special-preferential import duty rate for the shipment and request the Customs authority to settle the tax overpaid (if any).

• For cases where the C/O is presented after the said deadline, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) shall consider and decide on the application of special-preferential import duty rate under EVFTA for each particular case, based on the EVFTA guidelines and the declarant’s explanation.
• For import declarations registered from 01/08/2020 to the effective date of this Circular, if the shipment satisfies all the requirements in order to enjoy special-preferential import duty rates (under the provision of EVFTA and Decree No. 111/2020/ND-CP dated 18/09/2020) and the declarant has already declared Customs duties under higher import duty rate (compared to the applicable EVFTA import duty rate), the declarant is allowed to supplement C/O to the Customs authority and request for settlement of tax overpayment accordingly.

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(1)   C/O: means self-certified proof of origin defined and allowed under EVFTA.

(2)  Special-preferential import duty rate: import duty rate set out under EVFTA.

(3)   Normal import duty rate or preferential import duty rate: applicable import duty rates for shipments imported into Vietnam from country/territory that does not belongs to any Free-Trade agreement with Vietnam (normal rate), or has already had agreement on Most-Favor Nation treatment with Vietnam (preferential import duty rate)