Circular No. 13-TC/TCT amending and supplementing Circular No. 16-TC/TCT dated March 5, 1996 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of Decree No. 91/CP dated December 18, 1995 on the List of Goods implementing the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for Trade in Goods (CEPT) among ASEAN countries for 1996 to be applied for 1997.

CIRCULAR

OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE NUMBER 13-TC/TCT DATED MARCH 28, 1997 AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CIRCULAR NO. 16-TC/TCT DATED MARCH 5, 1996 OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE ON "GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF DECREE NO. 91/CP DATED DECEMBER 18, 1995 OF THE GOVERNMENT ON ISSUING THE LIST OF GOODS TO IMPLEMENT THE ASEAN COMMON ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS (CEPT) AGREEMENT FOR 1996" TO APPLY FOR 1997

To implement the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Treatment (CEPT) among ASEAN countries, on March 5, 1996, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 16 TC/TCT guiding the implementation of Decree No. 91/CP dated December 18, 1995 of the Government on issuing the list of goods to implement the CEPT Agreement among ASEAN countries for 1996.

Implementing Decree No. 82/CP dated December 13, 1996 of the Government on issuing the list of goods of Vietnam to implement the CEPT Agreement among ASEAN countries for 1997, the Ministry of Finance supplements and amends some points of Circular No. 16 TC/TCT dated March 5, 1996 to apply for 1997 as follows:

I. ON SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Paragraph 1 and Item 1) of Part I of Circular No. 16 TC/TCT are amended as follows:

"Goods imported into Vietnam subject to import tariff rates as stipulated in Point 1 of Decree No. 82/CP dated December 13, 1996 of the Government are goods imported from ASEAN countries and must meet the following conditions:

1. They must be items included in the List of Goods attached to Decree No. 82/CP dated December 13, 1996 of the Government."

II. ON THE TAX SCHEDULE

1) Paragraph 1 of Part II of Circular No. 16 TC/TCT is amended as follows:

"The tax rates applicable to goods imported under the preferential tariff rates of the CEPT Program are those rates specified in the List of Goods attached to Decree No. 82/CP dated December 13, 1996 of the Government."

2) Supplement to Part II of Circular No. 16 TC/TCT the following paragraph:

"Amendments and supplements to the names and import tariffs of groups and items as decided by the Ministry of Finance in the current Import Tariff Schedule will be handled as follows:

- In cases where the amendment of the tariff rate leads to the Import Tariff Schedule rate exceeding the preferential tariff rate under the CEPT Program for a specific group or item, the Import Tariff Schedule rate shall be applied to goods imported that are items included in the List of Goods attached to Decree No. 82/CP dated December 13, 1996 of the Government;

- Other amendments and supplements to the names and import tariffs of other groups and items not applying to the List of Goods attached to Decree No. 82/CP dated December 13, 1996 of the Government."

III. ON INSPECTION OF ORIGIN CERTIFICATES

The principles for determining whether goods are recognized as originating from ASEAN countries as stipulated at points (i) and (ii) of Section III - Inspection of Origin Certificates of Circular No. 16 TC/TCT are replaced by the rules of the Origin Determination Regulations for the CEPT Agreement set out in Appendix I of the Decision on Issuance of ASEAN Certificate of Origin Model D, issued together with Decision No. 416/TM-DB dated May 13, 1996 of the Ministry of Trade.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect from January 1, 1997 and applies to all import declarations registered with customs authorities from January 1, 1997 for imports from ASEAN countries.

Points not supplemented or amended in this Circular shall be implemented as prescribed in Circular No. 16 TC/TCT dated March 5, 1996 of the Ministry of Finance.