Circular No. 167/2014/TT-BTC Issuing the Special Preferential Import Tariff Schedule of Vietnam to Implement the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement for the Period 2015-2018

CIRCULAR

Issuing the Special Preferential Import Tariff Schedule of Vietnam for Implementation of the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement for the Period 2015-2019

ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement for the period 2015-2018

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Pursuant to the Law on Export Duties and Import Duties No. 45/2005/QH11 dated June 14, 2005;

Pursuant to the Government Decree No. 87/2010/NĐ-CP dated August 13, 2010 detailing certain provisions of the Law on Export Tax and Import Tax;

Pursuant to Decree No. 215/2013/NĐ-CP dated December 23, 2013, promulgated by the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as Korea), signed on December 13, 2005 in Malaysia, which was approved by the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on April 12, 2006;

Pursuant to the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement under the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and Korea, signed on December 13, 2005 in Malaysia and on August 24, 2006 in the Philippines;

The Minister of Justice issues this Circular to revoke

The Minister of Finance issues this Circular to promulgate the Special Preferential Tariff Schedule of Vietnam for the implementation of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement for the period 2015-2018.

Article 1. Annexed hereto is the Special Preferential Tariff Schedule of Vietnam for the implementation of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement for the period 2015-2018 (the preferential tariff rate hereinafter referred to as AKFTA rate).

1. The columns "Commodity Code" and "Description of Goods" are based on the Harmonized System of Tariff Nomenclature of ASEAN 2012 (AHTN 2012) and classified according to the 8-digit or 10-digit code level.

2. The column "AKFTA Rate" (%): the applicable rate of duty for each year, applied from January 1 to December 31 of that year, starting from 2015 until 2018.

3. Symbol "*": goods imported at the corresponding time do not enjoy the special preferential AKFTA rate.

4. The column "Non-beneficiary Country": goods imported from countries whose country name symbol is indicated (as provided for in Point (2) of Article 2 of this Circular) shall not be subject to the AKFTA rate prescribed in this Circular.

5. The column "GIC": goods produced in the Kaesong Industrial Complex within the territory of North Korea shall apply the AKFTA rate as prescribed in Article 3 of this Circular.

Article 2. Conditions for goods imported to be eligible for the special preferential AKFTA rate

Imported goods must meet all of the following conditions to be eligible for the AKFTA rate:

1. They must belong to the Special Preferential Tariff Schedule issued together with this Circular.

2. They must be imported into Vietnam from countries that are members of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement, including the following countries:

3. They must be directly transported from the exporting country specified in Clause 2 of this Article to Vietnam, in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

4. They must comply with the rules of origin for goods under the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and have an ASEAN-Korea Certificate of Origin (C/O - Form AK) issued in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Article 3. GIC Goods

Goods produced at the Kaesong Industrial Complex located within the territory of North Korea (hereinafter referred to as "GIC") shall be eligible for the AKFTA preferential tariff rate of Vietnam if they satisfy the following conditions:

1. Belonging to items that can be marked with the "GIC" symbol in the "GIC" column of this Tariff Schedule;

2. They must be imported and directly transported from Korea to Vietnam in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

3. They must have a C/O - Form AK printed with the phrase "Rule 6" in box number 8, issued by the authorized agency of Korea in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

4. They must comply with the ASEAN-Korea rules of origin for goods applying Rule 6 - AKFTA, as prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Article 4. Effective date

This Circular takes effect from January 1, 2015; it replaces Circular No. 163/2011/TT-BTC dated November 17, 2011 issued by the Minister of Finance regarding the issuance of the Special Preferential Tariff Schedule of Vietnam for the implementation of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement for the period 2012-2014. Any difficulties encountered during implementation should be promptly reported so that the Ministry of Finance can provide supplementary guidance as appropriate./.