Article 1 | Decree No. 169/2026/NĐ-CP Regulating Administrative Sanctions for Violations in the Customs Domain

 

 

DECREE

Regulating Administrative Violations in the Customs Domain

 

Based on Decree No. 63/2025/QH15 on Organization of the Government;

Based on Decree No. 15/2012/QH13 on Handling Administrative Violations, amended and supplemented by Decrees Nos. 67/2020/QH14 and 88/2025/QH15;

Based on Decree No. 54/2014/QH13 on Customs, amended and supplemented by Decrees Nos. 71/2014/QH13, 35/2018/QH14, 07/2022/QH15, and 90/2025/QH15;

Based on Decree No. 108/2025/QH15 on Tax Management;

In accordance with the proposal of the Minister of Finance;

The Government promulgates this Decree to regulate administrative violations in the customs domain.

 

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

Article 1. Scope of Application

1. This Decree regulates acts of administrative violation; acts of administrative violation that have ended and those currently being carried out; forms of punishment, levels of punishment, measures to mitigate consequences for each act of administrative violation; subjects subject to punishment; authority to impose penalties, specific monetary fines according to each position and authority to issue inspection records for administrative violations; enforcement of forms of administrative penalty, measures to mitigate consequences in the customs domain.

2. Administrative violations in the customs domain as stipulated in this Decree include:

a) Violations of regulations on customs procedures;

b) Violations of regulations on inspection, supervision, and control of customs;

c) Administrative violations related to tax management for exported and imported goods;

d) Violations of other regulations relevant to the export and import of goods.

Article 2. Applicability

1. Domestic organizations, individuals; foreign organizations, individuals who commit administrative violations in the customs domain within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, except where international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a party provide otherwise.

2. Persons with authority to issue inspection records for administrative violations, apply preventive measures and ensure enforcement of administrative penalties, persons with authority to impose administrative penalties as provided in Articles 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 of this Decree.

3. Other organizations, entities, individuals related to the imposition of administrative penalties under this Decree.

4. Organizations referred to in paragraph 1 include:

a) Enterprises, branches, representative offices established and operating in accordance with Vietnamese law; branches, representative offices of foreign enterprises operating in Vietnam;

b) Cooperatives, associations of cooperatives, agricultural cooperatives;

c) Organizations, public sector units;

d) Social organizations, political-social organizations, professional social organizations;

e) State organs that have committed violations where such violations do not fall within the scope of state management tasks assigned to them;

f) Other organizations as provided by law.

5. Individual traders, households, community groups who commit administrative violations are subject to monetary fines applicable to individuals who violate administrative regulations.

Article 3. Principles for Imposing Administrative Penalties in the Customs Domain

1. Where an organization or individual commits multiple acts of administrative violation, they shall be penalized for each act of violation except where such violations are committed under points a, b, d of paragraph 1 and points a of paragraph 3 of Article 8; paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, and points a, b, c, d of paragraph 6 of Article 9; point a of paragraph 1 and point b of paragraph 2 of Article 12 of this Decree on different customs declaration documents at different registration times for the same customs declaration without having been processed or exceeded the processing period, in which case they shall be penalized once for the act of violation and apply multiple instances of increased severity to such administrative violations.

In cases where an individual or organization commits multiple acts of administrative violation and is penalized for each act of violation, the fact that there are multiple instances of administrative violation shall not be considered as a factor increasing the severity when determining the penalty for each instance of violation.

2. Contraband includes items, money, goods directly related to the administrative violation; does not include items, money, or goods declared in accordance with legal regulations.

3. Where violations are committed under paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of Article 11; points a, b of paragraph 2, paragraphs 3, 4, and point a of paragraph 5 of Article 14; paragraphs 1, 2 of Articles 15; paragraphs 1, 2 of Article 16; or paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of Article 19, administrative penalties shall be imposed in accordance with this Decree if no criminal responsibility is pursued under the following circumstances:

a) An individual who has committed an administrative violation where the value of contraband does not exceed VND 100,000,000 or tax evasion does not exceed VND 100,000,000 but has already been penalized for an administrative violation under Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, and 200 of the Criminal Code; an organization that has committed an administrative violation where the value of contraband is between VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 200,000,000 or tax evasion is between VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 200,000,000 but has already been penalized for an administrative violation under Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, and 200 of the Criminal Code;

b) An individual who has committed an administrative violation where the value of contraband does not exceed VND 100,000,000 or tax evasion does not exceed VND 100,000,000 but has already been convicted for one of the crimes under Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, and 200 of the Criminal Code without having been expunged; an organization that has committed an administrative violation where the value of contraband is between VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 200,000,000 or tax evasion is between VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 200,000,000 but has already been convicted for one of the crimes under Articles 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, and 200 of the Criminal Code without having been expunged;

c) An individual who has committed an administrative violation where the value of contraband does not exceed VND 100,000,000 but is a cultural relic or heirloom; an organization that has committed an administrative violation where the value of contraband does not exceed VND 200,000,000 but is a cultural relic or heirloom.

Article 4. Mitigating Circumstances

1. Mitigating circumstances as provided in Article 9 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations No. 15/2012/QH13.

2. The value of the contraband does not exceed 50% of the minimum fine amount within the fine range for the administrative violation.

Article 5. Time Limit for Imposing Administrative Penalties in Customs Matters

1. Time limit for imposing administrative penalties for tax administration violations:

a) For administrative violations that are acts of tax evasion not reaching the level of criminal prosecution, acts of incorrect declaration leading to an underpayment or overpayment of taxes due, exemptions, reductions, refunds, or non-collection, the time limit is 05 years;

b) Exceeding the time limit for imposing administrative penalties for tax administration violations, the taxpayer shall not be penalized but must still pay the full amount of unpaid taxes, improperly exempted, reduced, refunded, or evaded, as well as any underpaid or uncollected taxes and late payment into the state treasury within 10 years prior to the date when the violation of tax administration was discovered.

2. The time limit for imposing penalties on other violations in customs matters is 02 years.

3. The point at which the time limit for imposing administrative penalties for violations in customs matters commences shall be determined according to Clause 6 and Clause 7 of this Article.

4. In cases where administrative penalties are imposed based on information transferred by investigative authorities as provided in Article 63 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations No. 15/2012/QH13, which has been amended and supplemented by Laws No. 67/2020/QH14 and No. 88/2025/QH15, the time limit is extended by one year in addition to points a and b of this Clause.

The period during which investigative authorities handle and examine cases shall be included in the time limit for imposing administrative penalties.

5. Where individuals or organizations deliberately avoid or obstruct the imposition of penalties within the time limits provided in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, the time limit for imposing administrative penalties shall be recalculated from the date when such avoidance or obstruction ceases.

6. The acts of violation are deemed to have ended and the point at which the violation ends as follows:

a) For administrative violations specified in Article 8 of this Decree, the end time is the completion of customs procedures and tax declaration;

b) For administrative violations specified in Article 9 of this Decree, the end time is the registration of the customs declaration; the submission of goods declaration, passenger list, or transport vehicle declaration for departure, entry, or transit;

c) For administrative violations specified in Article 11 of this Decree, the end time is the completion of customs declaration by the person departing, entering, or transiting;

d) For administrative violations specified in paragraph 1, point a of Article 12 of this Decree, the end time is the submission, presentation, or transmission of documents related to the customs declaration as registered on the customs declaration form;

d) For administrative violations specified in paragraph 1, point b of Article 12 of this Decree, the end time is the completion by the taxpayer of amending or supplementing the final tax return;

e) For administrative violations specified in paragraph 1, points d and c of Article 10; paragraphs 1, 2 of Article 12 of this Decree, the end time is the submission of the final tax return by the taxpayer;

g) For administrative violations specified in paragraph 7, point a of Article 12 of this Decree, the end time is the submission, presentation, or transmission of documents and materials to customs authorities;

h) For administrative violations specified in paragraph 7, point b of Article 12 of this Decree, the end time is the cessation of unauthorized use of login accounts and digital signatures provided to other organizations or individuals for customs procedures;

i) For administrative violations specified in paragraph 7, point c of Article 12 of this Decree, the end time is the cessation of unauthorized access, alteration, destruction of customs information systems;

k) For administrative violations specified in paragraphs 1, a, b, c, e of Article 10; paragraphs 1, b, c, d, e, h of Article 15; Articles 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 of this Decree, the end time is the registration of the customs declaration, submission of tax reduction, refund, non-collection documents, penalty payment processing documents.

7. Administrative violations specified in this Decree that do not fall under the circumstances provided in Clause 6 of this Article are deemed to be ongoing violations.

Article 6. Forms of Punishment and Measures to Mitigate Consequences

1. For each administrative offense in the customs domain, an organization or individual shall be subject to one of the principal forms of punishment which is a warning or a fine.

2. A warning shall be applied to individuals who are at least 14 years old but under 16 years old and have committed an offense as defined in this Decree.

3. The amount of fines for individuals and organizations:

a) The amount of fines specified in Chapter II of this Decree is the fine amount for organizations; the fine amount for individuals shall be half of the fine amount for organizations, except where provided in sub-paragraphs b and c of this clause;

b) The amount of fines for offenses as defined in Article 11 of this Decree is the fine amount for individuals;

c) The amount of fines for administrative offenses related to tax management as defined in Articles 10, 15 of this Decree shall be applied to both individuals and organizations;

d) Individual traders, households, and community groups that commit an administrative offense shall be subject to the fine amount applicable to individual administrative offenses. The representative of a trader, head of a household, or leader of a community group shall bear responsibility for implementing decisions on punishment for such trader, household, or community group;

d) When imposing fines, the specific fine amount for an administrative offense as defined in Articles 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24, and paragraphs 1, 2, 4 of Article 26 of this Decree is the average fine amount for such an offense.

If there is one mitigating circumstance, the specific fine amount shall be determined as 90% of the average fine amount; if there are two or more mitigating circumstances, the minimum limit of the fine range shall be applied.

If there is one aggravating circumstance, the specific fine amount shall be determined as 110% of the average fine amount; if there are two or more aggravating circumstances, the maximum limit of the fine range shall be applied;

e) When determining the fine amount for an administrative offense that has both aggravating and mitigating circumstances, one mitigating circumstance may offset one aggravating circumstance.

4. Supplementary form of punishment:

Confiscation of contraband goods.

5. Measures to mitigate consequences:

In addition to the measures to mitigate consequences specified in paragraph 1, Article 28 of Decree No. 15/2012/QH13 as amended and supplemented by Law No. 67/2020/QH14, this Decree specifies the measures to mitigate consequences under this paragraph for offenses defined in Chapter II, including:

a) Require removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or require re-exportation of contraband goods and means of transport;

b) Require removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or require re-exportation at the entry port of contraband goods and means of transport;

c) Require the performance of cargo transportation, transfer of ports, transfer of customs clearance points, transfer of ports, temporary import for resale, in accordance with specified routes and ports;

d) Require removal or modification of packaging and labeling that has been altered due to administrative offense; require removal or modification of offending elements on goods labels before the goods are removed from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

d) Require removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or require re-exportation or destruction of: goods, items harmful to human health, animals, plants and the environment; cultural products with harmful content; cultural products prohibited for distribution or circulation, or where there are decisions to suspend distribution or suspension of circulation;

e) Require repayment of the amount equivalent to the value of contraband goods that have been consumed, smuggled, destroyed in violation of legal provisions;

g) Require payment of the full amount of tax evaded, underpaid;

h) Require payment of the full amount of taxes that were exempted, reduced, refunded, or not collected according to state budget regulations;

i) Require affixing a "VIETNAM DUTY NOT PAID" label in accordance with regulations;

k) Require destruction of counterfeit seals.

Article 7. Cases Not Subject to Administrative Violation Penalties

1. Cases not subject to penalties as provided in Article 11 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations No. 15/2012/QH13.

Goods and transport vehicles entering the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam due to unforeseen events or force majeure must notify the customs authority or another competent authority as provided by law; such goods and transport vehicles must be removed from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after the aforementioned factors are resolved.

2. Cases not subject to administrative violation penalties in customs matters

a) The taxpayer has committed an error in declaration as provided in Clause 10 of this Decree, but has made supplementary declarations before the customs authority notifies the direct inspection of the customs document for goods under customs clearance procedures; within 60 days from the date of clearance and before the decision on tax audit or inspection is issued for goods that have been cleared and inspected after clearance; corrected and supplemented financial statements within 60 days from the submission of the financial statement and before the decision to inspect the financial statement, tax audit or inspection is made for goods that have been cleared and inspected after clearance; supplementary declarations regarding customs value within the prescribed period in cases where the goods do not have an official price at the time of declaration, goods with actual payments, goods with adjustments to the customs value that cannot be determined at the time of declaration; supplementary declarations within the prescribed period for export or import transactions agreed upon a tolerance in quantity or commercial grade where the goods sent exceed the tolerance and are not in excess of the permit, inspection certificate, or are in excess but have been approved by the competent authority to adjust the quantity within the prescribed period;

b) The taxpayer fulfills their tax obligations as provided in an administrative document or a decision from the customs authority or another state authority related to the determination of the taxpayer's tax obligations under Article 37, paragraph 1, point o of the Law on Tax Administration No. 108/2025/QH15;

c) The case where goods sent into Vietnam do not conform to the contract as provided in Article 39 of the Commercial Law No. 36/2005/QH11 (excluding prohibited imports, temporarily suspended imports, counterfeit goods, scrap materials not included in the list of imported raw materials), but have been notified in writing by the sender, carrier, recipient or legal representative of the sender, carrier, recipient to the port or border customs office where the goods are stored before customs declaration is made.

 

Chapter II

ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS, FORMS OF PENALTIES,
MEASURES TO MITIGATE CONSEQUENCES AND PREVENT VIOLATIONS
GUARANTEEING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PENALTIES
ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS

 

Article 8. Violation of Time Limits for Customs Procedures and Tax Document Submission

1. A fine from VND500,000 to VND1,000,000 is imposed on the following violations where the time limit has not been adhered to:

a) Filing, submitting, presenting, or providing customs document information, except for violations as provided in Clauses 3, 4, 5, and 6 of this Decree;

b) Making supplementary declarations when there is a change in container number information for exported or imported goods, port of loading/unloading, export clearance port, or transport vehicle for exported goods;

c) Re-exporting personal or organizational transport vehicles through the border area to deliver or receive goods;

d) Making supplementary declarations regarding customs value beyond the prescribed period in cases where the goods have not yet been assigned an official price at the time of declaration, goods with actual payments, or adjustments to the customs value that cannot be determined at the time of declaration.

2. A fine from VND1,000,000 to VND2,000,000 is imposed on the following violations where the time limit has not been adhered to:

a) Providing audit reports or financial statements of enterprises under preferential treatment;

b) Notifying the customs authority of decisions regarding tax law violations and accounting for enterprises under preferential treatment;

c) Reporting on the quantity of imported goods used in factory construction, exported goods stored outside the enterprise;

d) Reporting on the quantity of transshipped goods entering, leaving, or remaining at the port;

d) Reporting statistical clearance of postal items entering Vietnam for international transit;

e) Quarterly reports from enterprises under preferential treatment;

g) Amending and supplementing documents in the customs document file for aircraft, ships, international multimodal transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, motorbikes leaving or entering the country;

h) Notifying plans for transshipment to the customs authority managing the transshipment area.

3. A fine from VND2,000,000 to VND5,000,000 is imposed on one of the following actions:

a) Submitting a customs declaration before goods for export have been concentrated at the location notified to the customs authority;

b) Submitting final financial statements, notifications, reports on the use of duty-free goods, or notifications regarding the application of preferential import tax rates not in accordance with the prescribed time limit;

c) Submitting applications for a 0% tax rate on imported components under the Preferential Tax Program for Automotive Assembly or the Industrial Support Program for Automotive Industry not in accordance with the prescribed time limit;

d) Failing to process within the prescribed time limit surplus raw materials, waste, scrap, rented machinery and equipment, and finished products after the end of the processing contract or its expiration.

d) Notification of changes in the content of the notification on the premises, production site for export goods, regarding the area, address, scale of production, legal representative of the trader, conditional business operations, storage location of raw materials, supplies, machinery and equipment, exported products not within the prescribed time limit, except where a violation is committed under paragraph 1, point c of Article 10, Article 13, or Article 15 of this Decree;

e) Notification of subcontracting premises, subcontracting contract, subcontracting contract annexes not submitted within the prescribed time limit;

g) Failure to re-export or re-import goods within the prescribed time limit or registration period with the customs authority, except where a violation is committed under paragraph 4, point a of this Article;

h) Notification of actual production quantity not submitted within the prescribed time limit;

i) Notification to the customs authority regarding the time, location, method of delivery and receipt of goods as instructed by foreign trader not submitted within the prescribed time limit;

k) Reporting on the use and storage of means of transport containing goods under a temporary import or re-export scheme or temporarily exported and re-imported for the customs authority not submitted within the prescribed time limit.

4. A fine from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong for any of the following acts:

a) Failure to re-export temporarily imported and re-exported goods within the prescribed time limit;

b) Storage of transit goods or transhipment goods on the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam beyond the prescribed time limit;

c) Declaration and processing after transferring for domestic consumption or changing the purpose of use of goods subject to no tax, tax exemption, tax refund, no taxation, goods with a tariff rate quota but before the decision for inspection and audit is made.

5. Failure to re-export or re-import temporarily imported means of transport within the prescribed time limit (except where punished under paragraph 6 of this Article, cases involving personal or organizational transport vehicles crossing border areas for cargo pickup and delivery) shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong in case of re-export or re-import exceeding 30 days;

b) A fine from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong in case of re-export or re-import exceeding 30 days.

6. Failure to re-export temporarily imported means of transport as motor vehicles with less than 24 passenger seats (determined based on the vehicle registration document or actual inspection of the vehicle) within the prescribed time limit, except where punished under paragraph c of Article 1, shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong in case of re-export exceeding 30 days;

b) A fine from 20,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong in case of re-export exceeding 30 days.

7. Measures for remediation:

a) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-export of contravening goods temporarily imported within the enforcement period of the penalty decision for violation of the provisions under paragraph g, point 3 and paragraph a, point 4 of this Article; except where permitted to consume goods in Vietnam according to regulations on foreign trade management and other relevant laws, where an extension or prolongation of temporary import re-export period is allowed by foreign trade management law and customs law;

b) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-export of temporarily imported means of transport within the enforcement period of the penalty decision for violation of provisions under paragraph 1, paragraph 5, paragraph 6 of this Article;

c) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam contravening goods in transit or transhipment within the enforcement period of the penalty decision for violation of provision under paragraph b, point 4 of this Article.

Article 9. Violation of Customs Declaration Regulations

1. A fine from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for any of the following violations:

a) Falsely declaring quantities (with goods valued over 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong), names of goods, or origin as humanitarian aid or non-refundable aid that has been approved by an authorized body;

b) Not declaring on the customs declaration the special relationship between the buyer and seller in accordance with customs law regulations without affecting the customs value.

2. A fine from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for falsely declaring quantities (with goods valued over 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong), names of goods, quality, customs value, or origin and any of the following cases:

a) Transit goods, re-exported goods, transshipped goods;

b) Goods used or destroyed in a duty-free zone.

3. A fine from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for any of the following violations:

a) Falsely declaring quantities (with goods valued over 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong), names of goods, quality, customs value of exported or imported goods that are exempt from tax or not subject to tax under legal provisions, except as provided in point a of paragraph 1, points b and d of paragraph 4 of this Article;

b) Falsely declaring the origin of exported or imported goods, except as provided in points a, b, d of paragraph 4 of this Article.

4. A fine from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for any of the following violations:

a) Falsely declaring quantities (with goods valued over 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong), names of goods on the cargo declaration form of the transport document when exporting, importing, or transiting;

b) Falsely declaring passenger numbers on the passenger list of the transport document when exporting, importing, or transiting;

c) Falsely declaring baggage quantities on the baggage declaration form of the transport document when exporting, importing, or transiting;

d) Falsely declaring quantities (with goods valued over 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong), names of goods, origin of goods entering an external warehouse; goods from an external warehouse being exported abroad except as provided in point b of paragraph 2 of this Article.

5. A fine from 20,000,000 to 40,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for the act of having completed customs procedures but exporting less than declared regarding quantities (with goods valued over 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong), names of goods, or customs value for exported goods; except for processed products, export products, and export products from a processing enterprise, temporarily imported and re-exported goods.

This provision does not apply to cases where the customs declaration is canceled in accordance with regulations or where the customs declaration has no legal effect as provided in paragraph 2 of Article 25 of the Customs Law No. 54/2014/QH13.

6. Violation of customs declaration regulations under this Article by a declarant who self-discovered and supplemented the declaration after the prescribed period shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine from 500,000 to 1,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for violations under paragraph 1 of this Article;

b) A fine from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for violations under paragraph 2 of this Article;

c) A fine from 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 Vietnamese Dong for violations under paragraph 3 of this Article;

d) A fine from 2,500,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for violations under paragraph 4 of this Article;

d) A fine from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese Dong for violations under paragraph 5 of this Article.

7. Violations under paragraphs 3 and 5 of this Article leading to a shortfall in the amount of tax due or an increase in the amount of tax exempted, reduced, refunded, not collected, or evaded, or violation of legal provisions on the management of exported and imported goods shall be punished according to Articles 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 of this Decree.

Article 10. Violation of Tax Declaration Rules Resulting in Underpayment or Overpayment of Tax Exemptions, Reductions, Refunds, and Non-collection

1. The following acts of erroneous declaration leading to underpayment or overpayment of tax exemptions, reductions, refunds, and non-collection include:

a) Erroneous declarations regarding quantity, name of goods, quality, customs value, commodity code, tariff rate, amount of tax, except as provided in paragraph 1, point b of Article 15 of this Decree;

b) Erroneous declarations concerning entities not subject to taxation, exempted entities, and goods under quota management;

c) Falsification or non-compliance with the contents of documents for tax exemptions, reductions, refunds, non-collection, tax payment processing, and overpayment refund;

d) Violation of regulations on raw materials, supplies, machinery, equipment, processed products, export production goods leading to discrepancies between actual inventory and accounting records, customs declarations for exported and imported goods, except as provided in paragraphs d, e, and g of paragraph 1, Article 15 of this Decree;

d) Falsification of reports on the use of imported raw materials, supplies, components for production that do not match actual usage to produce processed products or export products;

e) Declaration of imported goods under a processing trade or export production model without having an operating facility for processing trade or export production within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; or without machinery and equipment owned or used at the production facility that are suitable for the imported raw materials, supplies, components to process and produce export products.

2. A fine of 10% on the amount of underpaid tax or overpaid tax exempted, reduced, refunded, or non-collected shall be imposed in cases where the taxpayer self-discovered and supplemented the declaration within one of the following scenarios:

a) After the customs authority notified direct inspection of the customs declaration documents for goods undergoing customs clearance procedures;

b) After 60 days from the date of clearance and before the decision to inspect after clearance, conduct an audit or inspection on cleared goods;

c) Beyond the prescribed period for supplementary reporting but before the customs authority issues a decision to inspect the report, post-clearance audit, or inspection.

3. A fine of 20% on the amount of underpaid tax or overpaid tax exempted, reduced, refunded, or non-collected shall be imposed in cases where:

a) The violation as provided for in paragraph 1 is discovered by the customs authority during the clearance process;

b) The violation as provided for in paragraph 1 is discovered during post-clearance audits, inspections, audits, or inspections on cleared goods;

c) Failure to declare the customs value according to regulations and subsequently discovered during an audit, inspection of cases where goods do not have a formal price at the time of declaration, goods with actual payments, goods with adjustments added to the customs value that cannot be determined at the time of declaration;

d) The violation as provided for in paragraph 1 is self-discovered and supplemented by the taxpayer outside the scope of conclusions from post-clearance audits, inspections on cleared goods.

4. Individuals or organizations violating points b, c, d of paragraph 3 shall be punished according to point c of paragraph 1 of this Decree in cases where:

a) The individual or organization does not voluntarily rectify the violation by paying the full amount of tax due before the issuance of an administrative penalty decision;

b) The violation is discovered and transferred for criminal proceedings under Article 63 of the Law on Handling Administrative Offenses No. 15/2012/QH13, as amended by paragraph 31, point d of Article 1 of Law No. 67/2020/QH14 and paragraph 13 of Article 1 of Law No. 88/2025/QH15, where the individual or organization does not voluntarily rectify the violation by paying the full amount of tax due before the issuance of an administrative penalty decision.

5. Measures for Rectification:

Compel payment of the full amount of underpaid taxes; ensure that any tax exemptions, reductions, refunds, and non-collection are correctly credited to the national treasury in cases where violations as provided for in this Article have occurred.

6. Application of penalties according to paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of this Article shall only apply if the amount of tax discrepancy is at least 500,000 VND per customs declaration form for individual violations, or 2,000,000 VND per customs declaration form for organizational violations.

7. Violations as provided for in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of this Article are considered tax evasion; such cases shall be punished according to the provisions of Article 15 of this Decree.

8. The provisions of this Article do not apply to violations as provided for in Articles 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of this Decree.

Article 11. Violation of regulations on customs declaration by persons exiting or entering the country with foreign currency cash, Vietnamese currency cash, negotiable instruments, gold, other precious metals, and gemstones

1. A person exiting the country using a passport or another document with passport-like value issued by competent authorities of Vietnam or abroad, or an entry/exit permit without declaring or incorrectly declaring the amount of foreign currency cash belonging to the type of currency allowed to be carried, Vietnamese currency cash, or gold exceeding the prescribed limit when exiting shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 5,000,000 and less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 30,000,000 and less than 70,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) A fine ranging from 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 70,000,000 and less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

d) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount of 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more without being subject to criminal responsibility.

2. A person entering the country using a passport or another document with passport-like value issued by competent authorities of Vietnam or abroad, or an entry/exit permit without declaring or incorrectly declaring the amount of foreign currency cash belonging to the type of currency allowed to be carried, Vietnamese currency cash, or gold exceeding the prescribed limit when entering, except as provided in paragraph 3 of this Article, shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 5,000,000 and less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 50,000,000 and less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount of 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more without being subject to criminal responsibility.

3. Violation of the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article where the declared amount of foreign currency cash, Vietnamese currency cash, and gold exceeds the actual quantity carried shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine ranging from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the declared amount of foreign currency cash, Vietnamese currency cash, and gold exceeds the actual quantity carried by an equivalent value between 5,000,000 and less than 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the declared amount of foreign currency cash, Vietnamese currency cash, and gold exceeds the actual quantity carried by an equivalent value between 20,000,000 and less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) A fine ranging from 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the declared amount of foreign currency cash, Vietnamese currency cash, and gold exceeds the actual quantity carried by an equivalent value of 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more without being subject to criminal responsibility.

4. A person exiting or entering the country with negotiable instruments belonging to a type not allowed to be carried without declaring or incorrectly declaring shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband is equivalent between 5,000,000 and less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 to 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband is equivalent between 50,000,000 and less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband is equivalent of 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more without being subject to criminal responsibility.

5. A person exiting or entering the country using a passport or another document with passport-like value issued by competent authorities of Vietnam or abroad, or an entry/exit permit carrying other precious metals, gemstones, or negotiable instruments that must be declared according to regulations without declaring or incorrectly declaring shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 5,000,000 and less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 30,000,000 and less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) A fine ranging from 15,000,000 to 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount between 50,000,000 and less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

d) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong for cases where the value of the contraband exceeds the prescribed limit by an equivalent amount of 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more without being subject to criminal responsibility.

6. The value of the contraband at this Article is the value after deducting the value of foreign currency cash, Vietnamese currency in cash, negotiable instruments, gold, other precious metals, and gemstones that are not required to be declared according to legal regulations.

Article 12. Violation of Customs Inspection and Audit Regulations

1. A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Altering or correcting documents in the customs declaration file that have been submitted, presented, or sent to the customs authority according to the registered import/export declaration, where such alteration or correction does not fall under paragraph 7 point a of this Decree, Articles 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of this Decree;

b) Filing a final account report that does not match the accounting records, customs declaration, where the taxpayer has discovered, corrected, or supplemented the final account report beyond the prescribed time limit but such violation does not fall under paragraph d point 1 and paragraph c point 2 of Article 10 of this Decree.

2. A fine ranging from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Failing to arrange personnel and equipment to comply with the customs authority's requirements for on-site inspection of goods and transport vehicles;

b) Violating regulations concerning the establishment, storage, and maintenance of files, documents, ledgers, and electronic data;

c) Filing a final account report that does not match the accounting records, customs declaration where such violation does not fall under paragraph b point 1 of this Article, paragraph d point 1 and paragraph c point 2 of Article 10 of this Decree.

3. A fine ranging from 4,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Failing to present goods under customs supervision or goods still in custody as objects of post-clearance inspection for customs authority inspection according to legal provisions;

b) Providing incomplete or late documents, records, materials, and electronic data related to exported or imported goods, transport vehicles entering or leaving the country to the customs authority contrary to legal provisions, except for the provision of customs declaration information as stipulated in paragraph a point 1 of Article 8 of this Decree;

c) Failing to notify the actual production quota of exported products before the inspection decision, post-clearance inspection, or audit.

4. A fine ranging from 8,000,000 to 12,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for failing to comply with a customs authority inspection decision.

5. A fine ranging from 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Swapping goods that have been inspected with goods that have not yet been inspected;

b) Failing to provide documents, records, materials, and electronic data related to exported or imported goods, transport vehicles entering or leaving the country as required by legal provisions.

6. Selling duty-free goods from a tax-free shop without affixing the "VIETNAM DUTY NOT PAID" stamp shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine ranging from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese dong in cases where the value of the contravened goods is less than 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong in cases where the value of the contravened goods ranges from 10,000,000 to less than 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong in cases where the value of the contravened goods ranges from 20,000,000 to less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

d) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong in cases where the value of the contravened goods ranges from 30,000,000 to less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

d) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 Vietnamese dong in cases where the value of the contravened goods is 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more.

7. A fine ranging from 40,000,000 to 80,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Using forged documents and materials; using illegal documents and materials to declare, submit, or present to the customs authority without being subject to criminal responsibility;

b) Illegally using another organization's or individual's login account and digital signature to perform customs procedures;

c) Unauthorized access, alteration, destruction of the customs information system;

d) Selling at a tax-free shop prohibited export goods, prohibited import goods, temporarily suspended export/import goods, goods not yet permitted for distribution in Vietnam according to legal provisions.

8. Supplementary form of punishment:

a) Confiscation of contravened goods that have not been inspected by customs as stipulated in paragraph a point 5 of this Article; confiscation of contravened goods as stipulated in paragraph a point 7 of this Article, except for contravened goods subject to remedial measures as provided in paragraphs a and b points 9 and 10 of this Article;

b) Confiscation of forged documents and materials as stipulated in paragraph a point 7 of this Article.

9. Application of remedial measures:

a) Removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-export within the enforcement period of the penalty decision for contravened goods that do not meet environmental quality standards, goods and items harmful to human health, animals, plants, and the environment as stipulated in paragraph a point 7 of this Article;

b) Destruction of contravened cultural products with harmful content as stipulated in paragraph a point 7 of this Article;

c) Payment of an amount equivalent to the value of contravened goods that have been consumed, transferred, or destroyed illegally as stipulated in paragraphs a points 5 and 7 of this Article;

d) Affixing the "VIETNAM DUTY NOT PAID" stamp according to regulations as stipulated in paragraph 6 of this Article.

10. Individuals or organizations who violate the provisions at paragraph a point 7 of this Article for tax evasion shall be punished according to the provisions of Article 15 of this Decree.

Article 13. Violation of Customs Supervision Regulations

1. A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Performing transshipment, transfer, storage, or consolidation with export goods that have changed their mode of transport or transportation means during customs supervision without submitting an approved written request to the customs authority in accordance with legal provisions;

b) Carrying out the destruction of waste and by-products from processing, manufacturing export goods, or activities of export processing enterprises without notifying the customs authority, unless such actions fall under Article 10 or Article 15 of this Decree;

c) Failing to notify the storage location when transporting imported raw materials, supplies, machinery, equipment, components, finished products, semi-finished products to another facility for further processing or storing at a different location than initially notified to the customs authority;

d) Transporting goods between duty-free warehouses, tax-free shops, aircraft, and vice versa without notifying or obtaining consent from the customs authority.

2. A fine ranging from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Transporting transit goods, transshipment, re-export, or temporary import and re-export along routes, itineraries, locations, ports, or beyond the time limits specified in the customs declaration;

b)擅自改变受海关监管的货物包装或标签；

c) Failing to maintain the original condition of goods under customs supervision or goods entrusted for storage until completion of clearance procedures;

d) Storing goods at locations other than those registered with the customs authority, except as provided in paragraph 1 point c of this Article;

đ) Storing goods at a location that does not meet the legal requirements specified by law;

e) Consolidating transit goods with export goods without meeting the conditions set forth by law;

g) Storing goods transported under a round-trip method at locations other than those notified to the customs authority when making temporary import procedures;

h) Transferring or transferring cargo, equipment on transportation means without prior consent from the customs authority;

i) Using transport vehicles for transit goods that do not meet the customs supervision conditions as specified by law;

k) Transporting goods across a land border using other modes of transport in accordance with agreements between Vietnam and neighboring countries (automated transport vehicles without drivers crossing designated border ports, conveyor belts, pipelines, data transmission lines, or other methods as prescribed by law or agreed upon between competent authorities of Vietnam and the relevant authority of the country sharing the border) without providing advance information on goods and transportation time to the customs authority for supervision;

l) The person in charge of a transport vehicle failing to bring it to the designated collection, inspection, and supervision area for export or import goods, or the designated storage area at the border crossing point as required by law;

m) Individuals, entities, organizations frequently crossing border crossings due to daily needs failing to register their vehicles with customs authorities for inspection and supervision;

n) Failing to provide a written notification from the customs authority allowing the entry of goods into an external warehouse at the export port or returning to the original external warehouse or storage area designated for the clearance process if the goods exceed the allowed storage period in the customs supervision area at the export port without being exported.

3. A fine ranging from 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for failing to maintain the original condition of customs seals or carrier's seals in cases where such sealing is not required during the transportation of goods under customs supervision, using counterfeit customs seals or carrier's seals.

4. A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Consuming goods under customs supervision, except as provided in paragraph 5 of this Article.

In cases where the violation involves goods not subject to tax or duty exemption and goods subject to tariff rates based on quota limits without violating export and import commodity management policies, the penalty shall be imposed according to the provisions in paragraph g of Article 15 of this Decree;

b) Consuming transport vehicles registered for temporary entry from abroad.

5. A fine ranging from 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for consuming goods stored awaiting completion of clearance procedures as specified by law.

6. A fine ranging from 60,000,000 to 80,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed for failing to maintain the original condition of customs seals or carrier's seals in cases where such sealing is not required during the transportation of goods under customs supervision, using counterfeit customs seals or carrier's seals when the goods under customs supervision have been consumed.

7. Additional penalty measures:

Confiscation of contraband for violations as specified in paragraph b of Article 4, provided that contraband is still present.

8. Measures to mitigate harm:

a) Compel the performance of transportation procedures for transit goods, transshipment, re-export, or temporary import and re-export according to designated routes and ports as specified in paragraph 2 point a of this Article;

b) Compel the return of an amount equivalent to the value of the seized goods that have been consumed, transferred, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for the acts specified in point b clause 4 of this Article;

c) Compel the removal of packaging and commercial labels altered as a result of the acts specified in point b clause 2 of this Article;

d) Compel the removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-exportation through an entry port for contraband goods violating administrative regulations as specified in point n clause 2 of this Article;

đ) Compel the destruction of counterfeit seals for acts violating provisions in clauses 3 and 6 of this Article.

9. Any individual or organization that violates provisions in points a clauses 4, 5, and 6 of this Article where goods have been consumed and violate regulations specified in Articles 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of the Decree shall be subject to penalties as per points a clauses 4, 5, and 6 of this Article in addition to penalties for corresponding acts specified in Articles 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of the Decree.

Article 14. Violation of Customs Control Regulations

1. A fine from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese dong for any one of the following acts:

a) Failure to comply with orders to stop and inspect transport vehicles as per regulations;

b) Refusal to provide cargo hold diagrams, instructions, or access to suspicious areas on transport vehicles for administrative inspection decisions.

2. A fine from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong for any one of the following acts:

a) Assisting, purchasing, selling, or transporting exported or imported goods without proper documentation where the value of contraband goods is less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) Illegally transporting Vietnamese currency in cash, foreign currency in cash, gold, precious metals, and gemstones across borders where the value of contraband goods is less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

c) Transporting transport vehicles across national borders on land without following designated routes or entry ports; failing to complete customs procedures as per regulations.

3. A fine from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese dong for acts violating provisions in points a and b clause 2 of this Article where the value of contraband goods is between 30,000,000 and less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese dong.

4. A fine from 20,000,000 to 40,000,000 Vietnamese dong for acts violating provisions in points a and b clause 2 of this Article where the value of contraband goods is between 50,000,000 and less than 70,000,000 Vietnamese dong.

5. A fine from 40,000,000 to 60,000,000 Vietnamese dong for any one of the following acts:

a) Acts violating provisions in points a and b clause 2 of this Article where the value of contraband goods is between 70,000,000 and less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong;

b) Unloading cargo to an incorrect destination port as specified in the cargo manifest or transport document;

c) Loading, unloading, transferring, transshipment, or cutting of export, import, and transit goods on transport vehicles under customs inspection without the consent of the customs authority;

d) Transferring, destroying, or discarding goods to evade customs supervision and control;

đ) Transporting waste into Vietnam for a recipient who does not meet the conditions for importing waste as raw material.

6. A fine from 60,000,000 to 80,000,000 Vietnamese dong for acts violating provisions in points a and b clause 2 of this Article where the value of contraband goods is 100,000,000 Vietnamese dong or more without criminal responsibility.

7. Additional penalty measures:

Confiscation of contraband goods for acts violating provisions in points a and b clause 2, clause 3, clause 4, points a and d clauses 5, and clauses 6 of this Article; except where the contraband goods have been subject to remedial actions as per point d clause 8 of this Article.

8. Remedial measures:

a) Compel the return of an amount equivalent to the value of seized goods that have been consumed, transferred, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for acts specified in points a and b clause 2, clause 3, clause 4, points a and d clauses 5, and clauses 6 of this Article;

b) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-exportation within the enforcement period of the penalty decision for transport vehicles violating acts specified in point c clause 2 of this Article that are registered for circulation abroad;

c) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-exportation within the enforcement period of the penalty decision for acts specified in point đ clause 5 of this Article where contraband goods are waste not meeting environmental quality standards;

d) Compel destruction of goods, items harmful to human health, livestock, crops, and the environment, and cultural products with harmful content for acts violating provisions in points a and b clause 2, clause 3, clause 4, point a clause 5, and clauses 6 of this Article.

Article 15. Punishment for Tax Evasion

1. The following acts of tax evasion include:

a) Using illegal or inaccurate documents to declare taxes; intentionally erasing or altering documents resulting in the underpayment or overstatement of the amount of taxes that should be exempted, reduced, refunded, or not collected;

b) Falsifying the commodity code, tax rate, and tax amount for goods where the Ministry of Finance or customs authority has prescribed the commodity code, tax rate, and tax amount according to regulations;

c) Violating points b, c, d of Clause 3 of this Decree where an individual or organization fails to pay the full amount of taxes due before the time of preparing a violation record or before the issuance of a decision on administrative penalty in cases where the investigating authority for criminal proceedings transfers the case file for administrative penalties according to Article 63, Paragraph 1 of the Law on Handling Administrative Offenses No. 15/2012/QH13 as amended and supplemented by Item d, Clause 31 of Article 1 of Law No. 67/2020/QH14 and Article 13 of Law No. 88/2025/QH15;

d) Processing export procedures but not exporting the processed goods; exported production goods; or exported products from a processing enterprise to foreign countries;

d) Falsifying the quantity of exported goods for processed goods; exported production goods; or exported products from a processing enterprise; re-exported goods;

e) Not declaring in accounting records purchases of domestic raw materials and materials subject to export tax that form part of the exported product; falsely declaring the value of raw materials, materials, components for export that form part of the processed product, thereby increasing the amount of taxes exempted when imported back into Vietnam;

g) Using goods falling under an exemption or reduction from taxation, goods managed according to customs quota regulations without reporting a change in their intended use with the customs authority;

h) Falsifying the quantity, name, quality, and value of imported goods from a free trade zone into the domestic market;

i) Not recording in accounting books amounts received or paid related to tax determination;

k) Selling duty-free goods to an incorrect recipient, in excess quantities, or under incorrect conditions as per legal provisions;

1) Colluding with a sender of goods for the purpose of evading taxes by importing goods.

2. A taxpayer who commits acts of violation as provided in Paragraph 1 of this Article and is not subject to criminal prosecution shall be fined as follows:

a) One times the amount of tax evaded where there are no aggravating circumstances;

b) In cases with aggravating circumstances, each aggravating circumstance increases the fine by 0.2 times but does not exceed three times the amount of tax evaded.

3. Measures for remediation:

Compel payment of the full amount of taxes evaded in respect of violations as provided in this Article.

4. The provisions of this Article do not apply to cases of violation as provided in Articles 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of this Decree.

5. The act specified in Clause b of Paragraph 1 of this Article applies where an individual or organization has been instructed by the Ministry of Finance or customs authority regarding the commodity code, tax rate, and tax amount for goods with identical names, codes, rates, and amounts as those involved in the violation through one of the following means:

a) The Ministry of Finance issues a directive on commodity codes, tax rates, and tax amounts;

b) Competent customs authorities have issued an analysis or classification result notification or a document determining the commodity code, tax rate, and tax amount in advance;

c) Competent customs authorities have determined the commodity code, tax rate, and tax amount for goods and issued a decision on tax assessment or a decision on administrative penalty regarding the act of falsely declaring the commodity code, tax rate, and tax amount.

Article 16. Violation of regulations on export, import, and transportation into Vietnam of goods prohibited from export, prohibited from import, temporarily suspended from export, or temporarily suspended from import

1. Exporting, importing, or transporting into Vietnam goods prohibited from export, prohibited from import, except as provided in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article, shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is less than 20,000,000 VND;

b) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 20,000,000 VND to less than 50,000,000 VND;

c) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 50,000,000 VND to less than 70,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 50,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 70,000,000 VND to less than 100,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 70,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is 100,000,000 VND or more and no criminal responsibility is pursued.

2. Exporting, importing, or transporting into Vietnam goods temporarily suspended from export or import, except as provided in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article, shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is less than 20,000,000 VND;

b) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 20,000,000 VND to less than 50,000,000 VND;

c) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 50,000,000 VND to less than 70,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 50,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 70,000,000 VND to less than 100,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 70,000,000 VND to 80,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is 100,000,000 VND or more and no criminal responsibility is pursued.

3. Illegally bringing into or taking out of the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam drugs, weapons, ammunition, or other items listed in the categories of goods prohibited from export, import, temporary suspension of export, or temporary suspension of import shall be punished according to the provisions of Decree No. 282/2025/NĐ-CP dated October 30, 2025 by the Government on penalties for administrative violations in the fields of security, order, social safety; prevention and control of social evils; prevention and control of family violence.

4. Transporting ivory or rhinoceros horn listed as prohibited from export or import shall be punished according to the offense of "illegal transportation of forest products" provided for in Article 25 of Decree No. 146/2026/NĐ-CP dated May 6, 2026 by the Government on penalties for administrative violations in the field of forestry; exporting or importing ivory or rhinoceros horn listed as prohibited from export or import shall be punished according to the offense of "possession, purchase and sale, export, import, processing of forest products illegally" provided for in Article 26 of Decree No. 146/2026/NĐ-CP.

5. Additional penalty measures:

Confiscation of contraband goods as a supplementary penalty for the offenses specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, except where the contraband goods are subject to remedial measures provided in Paragraph 6, Clause b of this Article.

6. Application of remedial measures:

a) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-export within the execution period of the penalty decision for contraband goods that are imported items harmful to human health, livestock, crops, and the environment in violation of this Article;

b) Compel destruction where the contraband goods are cultural products with harmful content; cultural products prohibited from distribution or circulation; published works prohibited from distribution or circulation in Vietnam; exported items harmful to human health, livestock, crops, and the environment in violation of this Article;

c) Compel restitution of the amount equivalent to the value of contraband goods that have been consumed, transferred, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions.

Article 17. Exporting, importing, temporarily importing, re-exporting, transiting, or transferring goods that depict content not reflecting national sovereignty or have other content affecting the security, politics, economy, society, or foreign relations of Vietnam

1. Goods exported or imported that depict content not reflecting national sovereignty or have other content affecting the security, politics, economy, society, or foreign relations of Vietnam shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND in cases where the number of contravened goods is less than 20 units;

b) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND in cases where the number of contravened goods ranges from 20 to less than 50 units;

c) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND in cases where the number of contravened goods ranges from 50 to less than 70 units;

d) A fine ranging from 50,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND in cases where the number of contravened goods ranges from 70 to less than 100 units;

d) A fine ranging from 70,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND in cases where the number of contravened goods is 100 or more units.

2. Additional penalty:

Confiscation of the contravened goods as those depicting content not reflecting national sovereignty or having other content affecting the security, politics, economy, society, or foreign relations of Vietnam for the acts in violation of the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article.

3. Measures to mitigate harm:

Compel the payment of an amount equivalent to the value of contravened goods that have been consumed, transferred, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for the acts in violation of the provisions of this Article.

Article 18. Exporting, importing, temporarily importing, re-exporting, transiting, or transferring goods falsely representing Vietnamese origin

1. Goods exported, imported, temporarily imported, re-exported, transited, or transferred that falsely represent Vietnamese origin shall be subject to the following penalties:

a) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND in cases where the value of contravened goods is less than 30,000,000 VND;

b) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND in cases where the value of contravened goods ranges from 30,000,000 VND to less than 50,000,000 VND;

c) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND in cases where the value of contravened goods ranges from 50,000,000 VND to less than 70,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 50,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND in cases where the value of contravened goods ranges from 70,000,000 VND to less than 100,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 70,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND in cases where the value of contravened goods is 100,000,000 VND or more.

2. Additional penalty:

Confiscation of the contravened goods for acts in violation of the provisions of this Article, except for contravened goods that have been subjected to measures to mitigate harm as provided in paragraph 3 point a of this Article.

3. Measures to mitigate harm:

a) Compel the destruction of contravened goods that are harmful to human health, livestock, crops, and the environment or cultural products with harmful content for acts in violation of the provisions of this Article;

b) Compel the payment of an amount equivalent to the value of contravened goods that have been consumed, transferred, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for acts in violation of the provisions of this Article.

Article 19. Violation of Regulations on Export and Import of Goods Subject to Quotas, Licenses, Conditions, Technical Standards, and Technical Specifications

1. The following acts constitute a violation of regulations concerning the export and import of goods subject to technical conditions and standards, as well as technical specifications:

a) Exporting or importing goods that do not meet the technical conditions and standards, as well as technical specifications;

b) Exporting or importing goods that require specialized inspection without providing the results of such inspections in accordance with legal provisions.

2. Importing goods without an origin certificate when required by law to have one for determining whether the goods do not originate from countries posing a risk to social safety, public health, or environmental hygiene requiring control.

3. Violations as provided in paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of this Article shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine ranging from 2,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is less than 20,000,000 VND;

b) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 20,000,000 VND to less than 30,000,000 VND;

c) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 30,000,000 VND to less than 50,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 50,000,000 VND to less than 100,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is 100,000,000 VND or more and no criminal responsibility is pursued.

4. Exporting or importing goods subject to quotas, export licenses, import licenses without having such quotas, export licenses, or import licenses shall be punished as follows:

a) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is less than 20,000,000 VND;

b) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 20,000,000 VND to less than 50,000,000 VND;

c) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 50,000,000 VND to less than 70,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods ranges from 70,000,000 VND to less than 100,000,000 VND;

d) A fine ranging from 50,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND where the value of the contraband goods is 100,000,000 VND or more and no criminal responsibility is pursued.

5. A fine twice the amount of the prescribed penalty shall be imposed for violations as provided in this Article if the customs declaration documents are not submitted to the customs authority within thirty days from the date when goods arrive at the border, unless otherwise specified by law.

6. Measures for remedial action:

a) The contraband goods shall be removed from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-exported within thirty days from the receipt of the penalty decision for violations as provided in this Article; except where such goods have been approved by an authorized agency within the time limit specified herein;

b) The payment equivalent to the value of contraband goods that were consumed, smuggled, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions shall be required.

7. The licenses, conditions, technical standards, and technical specifications referred to in this Article are those stipulated by Law No. 05/2017/QH14 on Foreign Trade Management and other regulatory documents concerning the licensing, conditions, technical standards, and technical specifications for exported and imported goods; as well as the business主体 requirements that traders must meet when engaging in export or import activities.

Article 20. Violation of regulations on the export and import of goods subject to designated merchant export and import

1. A fine from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND shall be imposed for exporting or importing goods subject to designated merchant export and import without the authority's designation document as provided.

2. Measures for remedying the consequences of violation:

a) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-exportation of the contraband goods within 30 days from the date of receipt of the penalty decision for the violation of this provision where the contraband goods are imported; except in cases where the authority has issued an import designation document as provided herein;

b) Compel restitution of the amount equivalent to the value of the contraband goods that have been consumed, dispersed, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for the violation of this provision.

Article 21. Violation of regulations on temporary entry, re-export, temporary exit, and re-entry of goods

1. A fine from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Temporary entry or re-exportation of goods (excluding temporarily imported and exported business goods) without a temporary import or export permit where no such permit exists;

b) Temporary exit or re-entry of goods without a temporary exit or re-entry permit, except as provided in paragraph 2 point b of this Article.

2. A fine from 20,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Temporary entry or re-exportation (excluding temporarily imported and exported business goods) of prohibited import or export, suspended import or export goods;

b) Temporary exit or re-entry of prohibited export or import, suspended export or import goods without a temporary exit or re-entry permit;

c) Engaging in the temporary entry or re-exportation of goods subject to conditional business activities without meeting the conditions for such business.

3. A fine from 40,000,000 VND to 80,000,000 VND shall be imposed for engaging in the temporary entry or re-exportation of goods requiring a permit where no such permit exists, except as provided in paragraph 4 of this Article.

4. A fine from 60,000,000 VND to 80,000,000 VND shall be imposed for the violation of the provisions at paragraph 3 of this Article where the contraband goods are prohibited export or import, suspended export or import, or have not been approved for circulation and use in Vietnam.

5. A fine from 80,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND shall be imposed for engaging in the temporary entry or re-exportation of goods subject to prohibition on such activities or suspension thereof.

6. Additional penalty measures:

Confiscation of contraband goods for violations under paragraphs 2 and 4 of this Article, except where the contraband goods are subject to remedial measures as provided in paragraph 7 point c of this Article.

7. Measures for remedying the consequences:

a) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-exportation at the entry port within the execution period of the penalty decision for violations under paragraphs 1, 3, and 5 of this Article;

b) Compel removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or compel re-exportation at the entry port within the execution period of the penalty decision for violations under paragraphs 2 and 4 of this Article where the contraband goods are harmful to human health, animal husbandry, crops, and the environment;

c) Compel destruction of contraband cultural items with harmful content; cultural products prohibited from dissemination or circulation, or have had a decision to halt dissemination or circulation; publications prohibited for dissemination and circulation in Vietnam under this provision;

d) Compel restitution of the amount equivalent to the value of the contraband goods that have been consumed, dispersed, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions.

Article 22. Violation of Regulations on Transit and Transshipment of Goods

1. A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese đồng shall be imposed for the act of transshipping goods that require a permit without obtaining such a permit from the competent authority, except as provided in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. A fine ranging from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 Vietnamese đồng shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Transshipping goods that require a permit without obtaining such a permit;

b) Transshipping goods included in the list of prohibited export, prohibited import, temporarily suspended export, temporarily suspended import, goods not yet approved for circulation and use in Vietnam without obtaining a permit as required.

3. A fine ranging from 50,000,000 to 80,000,000 Vietnamese đồng shall be imposed for the act of transshipping goods included in the list of prohibited goods for transshipment and temporarily suspended transshipment.

4. Additional penalty measures:

Confiscation of contraband items as provided in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article, except where such contraband items are subject to remedial measures as provided in Subparagraphs b and c of Paragraph 5 of this Article.

5. Remedial measures:

a) Removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-exportation through the port of entry within the period of execution of the penalty decision for the act of violating the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article, except where such contraband items are subject to remedial measures as provided in Subparagraph c of Paragraph 5 of this Article or transshipped goods that have been approved by the competent authority during the period of execution of the penalty decision;

b) Removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-exportation through the port of entry for contraband items causing harm to human health, animal and plant life, and the environment within the period of execution of the penalty decision for the acts violating Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article;

c) Destruction of contraband items as cultural products with harmful content; cultural products prohibited from distribution or circulation, or subject to a ban on distribution or circulation; publications prohibited from distribution in Vietnam for violations under this Article;

d) Payment of the amount equivalent to the value of goods that have been consumed, smuggled, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for acts violating this Article.

Article 23. Violation of Regulations on Labeling Imported Goods

1. A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese đồng shall be imposed for the act of importing goods with original labels but unable to read the contents as required by the law on labeling where the individual or organization fails to rectify such violation.

2. For the importation of goods with incorrect labeling content on the label according to the law on labeling, except as provided in Article 18 of this Decree:

a) A fine ranging from 500,000 to 1,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating is less than 5,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

b) A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 5,000,000 to less than 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

c) A fine ranging from 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 10,000,000 to less than 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

d) A fine ranging from 7,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 20,000,000 to less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

d) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 30,000,000 to less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

e) A fine ranging from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 50,000,000 to less than 70,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

g) A fine ranging from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 70,000,000 to less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

h) A fine ranging from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating is 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng or more.

3. For the importation of goods that require original labels but do not have such labels:

a) A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating is up to less than 5,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

b) A fine ranging from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 5,000,000 to less than 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

c) A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 10,000,000 to less than 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

d) A fine ranging from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 20,000,000 to less than 30,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

d) A fine ranging from 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 30,000,000 to less than 50,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

e) A fine ranging from 25,000,000 to 35,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 50,000,000 to less than 70,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

g) A fine ranging from 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating ranges from 70,000,000 to less than 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng;

h) A fine ranging from 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 Vietnamese đồng where the value of the goods violating is 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng or more.

4. Remedial measures:

a) Removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-exportation for contraband items as provided in this Article within the period of execution of the penalty decision;

b) Payment of the amount equivalent to the value of goods that have been consumed, smuggled, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions for acts violating this Article.

Article 24. Violation of Regulations on Management of Foreign Trade Warehouses, Locations for Collection of Loose Goods, Duty-Free Shops, Locations for Customs Procedures, Consolidation, Inspection, and Supervision

1. A fine from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Vietnamese Dong shall be imposed on any of the following violations:

a) Transporting goods, machinery, or equipment from within the country into a foreign trade warehouse for packaging, sorting, maintenance purposes without notifying the customs authority;

b) Performing services such as reinforcement, repackaging, and sealing; consolidating goods, classifying quality grades of goods, maintaining goods, and sampling goods in a foreign trade warehouse without notifying the customs authority to monitor and supervise;

c) Transferring ownership rights of goods stored in a foreign trade warehouse without notifying the customs authority for management and supervision;

d) Failing to remove goods, raw materials, or supplies from a foreign trade warehouse, location for collection of loose goods, duty-free shop, or business's duty-free goods warehouse after exceeding the prescribed storage period.

2. A fine from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese Dong shall be imposed on any of the following violations:

a) Transferring goods from one foreign trade warehouse to another without obtaining written consent from the competent authority of the customs office managing the foreign trade warehouse;

b) Expanding, contracting, or relocating the location of a duty-free shop, foreign trade warehouse, non-continuous goods storage facility, collection point for loose goods, location for customs procedures, consolidation, inspection, and supervision without permission from the customs authority;

c) Performing unauthorized services in a foreign trade warehouse or collection point for loose goods;

d) Failing to report on a foreign trade warehouse or collection point for loose goods within the prescribed reporting period.

3. A fine from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 Vietnamese Dong shall be imposed on any of the following violations:

a) Introducing into a foreign trade warehouse goods that are prohibited by law from being stored in such warehouses;

b) Smuggling goods stored in a foreign trade warehouse;

c) Destroying goods stored in a foreign trade warehouse without complying with legal provisions.

4. Additional penalty measures:

a) Confiscation of the contraband items for violations as specified in point b of paragraph 3 of this Article;

b) Confiscation of the contraband items for violations as specified in point a of paragraph 3 of this Article, where the contraband items are prohibited export or import goods, temporarily suspended export or import goods; except when the contraband items subject to administrative penalty measures have been remedied under points b and c of paragraph 5 of this Article.

5. Measures for remedying consequences:

a) Compulsory payment equivalent to the value of the contraband items that were consumed, smuggled, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions as specified in point b of paragraph 3 of this Article;

b) Compulsory removal from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam of the contraband items for violations as specified in point a of paragraph 3 of this Article within the execution period of the administrative penalty decision, except when the contraband items subject to administrative penalty measures have been remedied under point c of paragraph 5 of this Article;

c) Compulsory destruction of contraband cultural items with harmful content; cultural products prohibited from distribution or circulation, or for which a decision has been made to stop distribution and circulation; publications prohibited from distribution in Vietnam as specified in point a of paragraph 3 of this Article;

d) Compulsory removal of the infringing elements from the labels of goods before removing contraband items from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for violations as specified in point a of paragraph 3 of this Article, where the goods are falsely marked as originating from Vietnam.

Article 25. Violation of regulations concerning the management of exported and imported goods at ports, warehouses, storage areas, and locations for customs procedures, inspection, and supervision

1. A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed on any of the following acts:

a) Failure to report in a timely manner the status of goods stored at ports, warehouses, and storage areas within the customs operation area;

b) Failure to arrange goods in the port, warehouse, or storage area according to the requirements for supervision and management by the customs authority.

2. A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed on any of the following acts:

a) Failure to fully implement the regulations concerning the management, statistics, and retention of documents, records, and data for goods entering storage or leaving the port, warehouse, or storage area as prescribed by law, and failure to provide such documents, records, and data to the customs authority upon request;

b) Failure to provide information and cooperate with the customs authority in monitoring, inspecting, supervising the movement of goods into, out of, or stored at the port, warehouse, storage area, or location for customs procedures, inspection, and supervision.

3. A fine ranging from 40,000,000 to 60,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed on the act of allowing goods to leave the port, warehouse, or storage area before receiving information that the goods have met the conditions for passing through the customs surveillance zone or after receiving a temporary halt instruction for goods to pass through the customs surveillance zone.

Article 26. Violation of regulations related to enforcement of administrative decisions

1. A fine ranging from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed on any act of deliberately failing to implement the decision for enforcement by withholding a portion of the salary or income of an individual subject to enforcement according to the customs authority's decision.

2. A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed in cases where there is no implementation of the transfer of funds of individuals or organizations subject to enforcement for administrative penalty decisions in customs matters, except as provided in paragraph 3 of this Article.

3. A fine corresponding to the amount not transferred into the state budget account shall be imposed on a credit institution, foreign branch bank, organization providing payment services, or organization providing intermediary payment services that fail to fulfill their responsibility for transferring funds from the taxpayer's account into the state budget account for the tax debt owed by the taxpayer as requested by the tax authority, except where the taxpayer's accounts have no balance or all of the account balance has been transferred into the state budget account but still do not cover the full amount of tax debt owed.

4. A fine ranging from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Vietnamese dong shall be imposed on any of the following acts:

a) Failure or provision of inaccurate information, documents, content of transactions through the taxpayer's account opened at a credit institution related to exported and imported goods, transportation vehicles for export or import when requested by the customs authority in accordance with legal provisions;

b) Collusion or shielding of taxpayers from tax evasion, failure to implement administrative enforcement decisions on taxation matters.

 

Chapter III

POWERS AND SOME PUNISHMENT PROCEDURES FOR ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS
VIOLATIONS OF CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

 

Article 27. Application of Preventive Measures and Ensuring Punishment for Administrative Violations

1. The application of preventive measures and ensuring the punishment for administrative violations shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Part Four of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations No. 15/2012/QH13, as amended by Laws Nos. 67/2020/QH14 and 88/2025/QH15, and the provisions of this Decree.

2. In a consignment where goods are contraband items and other goods that are not contraband items, only the contraband goods may be temporarily detained.

3. For foreign currency cash and Vietnamese currency cash carried by persons exiting or entering the country with passports or other documents equivalent to passports issued by competent authorities of Vietnam or foreign countries, temporary detention shall be applied to the excess amount of foreign currency and Vietnamese currency in cash that does not require customs declaration as prescribed by law.

Article 28. Authority to Record Administrative Violations

1. Persons authorized to record administrative violations include those with authority to impose penalties as provided in Articles 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 of this Decree while performing official duties.

2. Members of the People's Armed Forces, public servants from agencies specified in Articles 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 of this Decree while performing official duties or tasks.

3. For administrative violations occurring on aircraft, ships, inland waterways vessels, trains, the person authorized to record administrative violations or the captain, shipmaster, or vessel master assigned by the captain, shipmaster, or vessel master shall perform the recording of administrative violations and transfer it to the person with authority to impose penalties as provided in Articles 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 of this Decree within three working days from the time of arrival at the shore or the aircraft, ship, inland waterways vessel, train arrives at the airport, port, or station.

Article 29. Authority to Impose Penalties for People's Committee Chairpersons

1. The Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 50,000,000 on individuals and up to VND 100,000,000 on organizations;

c) Seize contraband items;

d) Apply remedial measures as provided in points a, b, c, d, e, i, k of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

2. The Chairman of the People's Committee at the provincial level has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 100,000,000 on individuals and up to VND 200,000,000 on organizations;

c) Seize contraband items;

d) Apply remedial measures as provided in points a, b, c, d, e, i, k of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

Article 30. Authority to Impose Penalties for Customs

The Team Leader of the Customs at the border/external border, Team Leader of the Clearance Team, Team Leader of the Reconciliation and Inspection Team, Director of the Customs Area Office, Director of the Anti-smuggling Investigation Customs Office, Director of the Post-clearance Inspection Team, and Director of the Customs have authority to impose penalties for violations such as misdeclaration leading to underpayment or overpayment of tax due, tax evasion, and violations by commercial banks in failing to fulfill their obligation to transfer funds from the taxpayer's account into the state budget account according to the requirements of the tax administration agency as provided in paragraph 3 of Article 44 of the Law on Tax Administration No. 108/2025/QH15.

For other administrative violations, the authority to impose penalties for customs is as follows:

1. Customs officers performing official duties have the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 5,000,000 on individuals and up to VND 10,000,000 on organizations;

c) Seize contraband items with a value not exceeding two times the fine amount specified in point b of this paragraph.

2. The Team Leader of the Customs at the border/external border, Team Leader of the Reconciliation and Inspection Team, Team Leader of the Clearance Team, Team Leader of the Customs Control Team under the Customs Area Office; Team Leader of the Anti-smuggling Control Team under the Anti-smuggling Investigation Customs Office; and Team Leader of the Post-clearance Inspection Team under the Post-clearance Inspection Customs Office have the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 30,000,000 on individuals and up to VND 60,000,000 on organizations;

c) Seize contraband items with a value not exceeding two times the fine amount specified in point b of this paragraph;

d) Apply remedial measures as provided in paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

3. The Director of the Anti-smuggling Investigation Customs Office, Director of the Post-clearance Inspection Customs Office, and Director of the Customs Area Office have the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 50,000,000 on individuals and up to VND 100,000,000 on organizations;

c) Seize contraband items;

d) Apply remedial measures as provided in paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

4. The Director of the Customs has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 100,000,000 on individuals and up to VND 200,000,000 on organizations;

c) Seize contraband items;

d) Apply remedial measures as provided in paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

Article 31. Authority to Impose Penalties of the Border Guard Force

1. A border guard soldier performing official duties has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 5,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause.

2. The station commander or team leader of the person specified in paragraph 1 has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 point d of Article 28 of the Law on Handling Administrative Offenses.

3. The team leader of the special task force against drugs and crime under the special task force against drugs and crime has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 15,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 30,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

4. The station commander of the border station, fleet commander of the coastal guard force, or commandant of the port defense command has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 30,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 60,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

5. The task force commander of the special task force against drugs and crime under the drug and crime prevention bureau of the border guard command has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 50,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

6. The commandant of the border guard command; fleet commander of the coastal guard force, or bureau chief of the drug and crime prevention bureau under the border guard command has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 200,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

Article 32. Authority to Impose Penalties of the Coast Guard

1. A coast guard officer performing official duties has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 5,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause.

2. The team leader of the coast guard operation unit has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause.

3. The team leader of the coast guard operation unit, or station commander of the coast guard station has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 40,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 point d of Article 28 of the Law on Handling Administrative Offenses.

4. The fleet commander of the coast guard force has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 30,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 60,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

5. The fleet commander of the coast guard force; task force commander of the reconnaissance unit or special task force against crime drug unit under the Vietnam Coast Guard Command has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 50,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

6. The commander of the coastal guard zone; bureau chief of the operations and law bureau under the Vietnam Coast Guard Command has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 80,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 160,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

7. The commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine up to 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine up to 200,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause;

d) Apply remedial measures as stipulated at paragraph 5 points a, d and e of Article 6 of this Decree.

Article 33. Authority to Impose Penalties by People's Public Security Forces

1. A people's public security force member performing official duties has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine of up to 10,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine of up to 20,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband with a value not exceeding twice the amount of the fine specified in point b of this clause.

2. The Chief of the Port Customs Border Control and the Head of the Exit-Entry Administration Department at the provincial level have the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine of up to 80,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine of up to 160,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband;

d) Apply remedial measures as specified in points a, d and e of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

3. The Director of the provincial level People's Public Security has the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine of up to 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine of up to 200,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband;

d) Apply remedial measures as specified in points a, d and e of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

4. The Director of the Anti-Corruption, Economic Crime, and Smuggling Investigation Bureau; the Director of the Exit-Entry Administration Bureau have the authority to:

a) Issue a warning;

b) Impose a fine of up to 100,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an individual; impose a fine of up to 200,000,000 Vietnamese đồng on an organization;

c) Confiscate contraband;

d) Apply remedial measures as specified in points a, d and e of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree.

Article 34. Principles for Determining and Allocating Authority to Impose Penalties and Applying Remedial Measures

1. In cases where an administrative offense involves multiple violations, the authority to impose penalties is determined as follows:

a) If the form of penalty, level of penalty, value of contraband or means of transportation involved in the violation, or remedial measures are specified for one of the violations and exceed the authority of the person imposing the penalty, then that person must transfer the case to the competent authority with the power to impose penalties.

In cases where the authority to impose penalties exceeds that of the Director of the Customs Office in a specific region, the Director of the Customs Office transfers the case for the People's Committee Head at the provincial level where the violation occurred to issue a penalty decision.

In cases where the authority to impose penalties exceeds that of the Director of the Smuggling Investigation Bureau or the Director of the Post-Entry Inspection Bureau under the Customs Administration, these individuals transfer the case for the Director of the Customs Administration to issue a penalty decision;

b) If an act falls within the authority to impose penalties for administrative offenses of multiple persons from different sectors, then the authority to impose penalties belongs to the Head of the People's Committee at the competent level where the violation occurred.

2. All acts violating customs laws occurring on customs territory are handled by the customs office responsible for managing that area according to the penalty authority specified in this Decree; if discovered by the Director of the Smuggling Investigation Bureau or the Director of the Post-Entry Inspection Bureau under the Customs Administration, then penalties are imposed according to their authority.

For cases where the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Bureau and the Regional Customs Office jointly apprehend, investigate, and verify violations without determining which office initially took charge, either the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Bureau or the Regional Customs Office may impose penalties according to their authority.

3. The person with penalty authority at customs offices has the power to impose fines, supplementary penalties, and apply remedial measures for administrative offenses as specified in this Decree within the scope of authority defined in Article 30 of this Decree and the functions, duties, and powers assigned.

4. Heads of People's Committees at all levels have the authority to impose fines, supplementary penalties, and apply remedial measures for administrative offenses as specified in Articles 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 of this Decree within the scope of authority defined in Article 29 of this Decree and the functions, duties, and powers assigned.

5. At border areas where there are no customs offices, the person with penalty authority at the Border Guard stationed in that area has the authority to impose fines, supplementary penalties, and apply remedial measures for administrative offenses related to customs as specified in Article 14 of this Decree within the scope of authority defined in Article 31 of this Decree and within their jurisdictional functions, duties, and powers.

6. At sea areas within Vietnam's territorial waters where there are no customs offices, the person with penalty authority at the Vietnamese Coast Guard stationed in that area has the authority to impose fines, supplementary penalties, and apply remedial measures for administrative offenses related to customs as specified in Article 14 of this Decree within the scope of authority defined in Article 32 of this Decree and their jurisdictional functions, duties, and powers at sea.

7. People's Public Security has the authority to impose fines, supplementary penalties, and apply remedial measures for administrative offenses related to customs as specified in Article 14 of this Decree within the scope of authority defined in Article 33 of this Decree and their functions, duties, and powers assigned.

Article 35. Procedure for Imposing and Executing Administrative Penalty Decisions

1. The procedure for imposing and executing administrative penalty decisions on violations of customs regulations is carried out in accordance with the provisions in Chapter III, Part Two of the Law on Handling Violations of Administrative Regulations No. 15/2012/QH13 and Articles 29 to 45 of Article 1 of Decree No. 67/2020/QH14 and Decree No. 88/2025/QH15; Tax Administration Law No. 108/2025/QH15, and the relevant documents detailing certain provisions and organizational measures for implementing and guiding the application of the Tax Administration Law No. 108/2025/QH15.

2. Within thirty days from the expiration of the period for executing an administrative penalty decision or a decision on applying remedial measures, as provided in paragraph 5, point a, b and d of Article 6 of this Decree, if the remedial measures specified at points a, b and d of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree have not been carried out, then the competent authority specified in Article 29; paragraphs 2, 3, 4 of Article 30; paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Article 31; paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of Article 32; and paragraphs 2, 3, 4 of Article 33 of this Decree shall apply supplementary administrative penalty measures or remedial measures as follows:

a) Forfeiture of contraband goods, items harmful to human health, livestock, crops, and the environment, and cultural products with harmful content. The inventory for forfeiture of contraband goods and means of violation is carried out in accordance with Form MBB21 attached to Decree No. 118/2021/NĐ-CP.

b) Confiscation of other types of contraband goods not falling under point a of this paragraph. The inventory for confiscation of contraband goods and means of violation is carried out in accordance with Form MBB20 attached to Decree No. 118/2021/NĐ-CP.

3. When applying remedial measures at points a, b and d of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree, the administrative penalty decision or decision on applying remedial measures must specify the application of confiscation and forfeiture as provided in paragraph 2 of this article.

4. In cases where the period specified in paragraph 2 of this article has not expired and an organization or individual violates by submitting a written request to the customs authority to apply remedial measures for the forfeiture of contraband goods, items harmful to human health, livestock, crops, and the environment, and cultural products with harmful content; and confiscation of other types of contraband goods due to failure to implement the remedial measures specified in points a, b and d of paragraph 5 of Article 6 of this Decree, then the competent authority specified in Article 29; paragraphs 2, 3, 4 of Article 30; paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Article 31; paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of Article 32; and paragraphs 2, 3, 4 of Article 33 of this Decree shall consider and decide.

Article 36. Execution of Remedial Measures

1. When an individual or organization implements the measure to remove goods and means of violation from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-export them, the customs authority shall closely monitor from the place where the violating goods are stored to the re-import port.

The results of the monitoring must be confirmed in writing by the customs authority at the import port and sent back to the customs authority that issued the administrative penalty decision within five days from the date when the goods and means of violation have been removed from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-exported for record-keeping purposes.

2. The measure to remove goods and means of violation from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-import them at the import port is carried out as follows:

a) In cases where the goods and means of violation are stored in the import customs area, the customs authority must closely monitor to ensure that the goods and means of violation have been removed at the import customs. The results of the monitoring shall be recorded in the customs record.

b) In cases where the goods and means of violation are no longer stored in the import customs area, the customs authority shall closely monitor from the place where the goods and means of violation are stored to the import port for re-exportation. The results of the monitoring must be confirmed in writing by the customs authority at the import port or through other electronic methods and sent back to the customs authority that issued the administrative penalty decision within five days from the date when the goods and means of violation have been removed from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or re-exported for record-keeping purposes.

3. When an individual or organization implements measures to transport transit goods, transfer ports, change ports, change customs areas, temporarily imported goods, or re-export them along the specified route and port, the customs authority at the place of transportation departure has the responsibility to monitor the transported goods and coordinate with the customs authority at the destination port or relevant authorities to ensure that the goods are transported in accordance with the prescribed route and port.

4. When implementing measures to remove packaging or labels from goods due to violations, individuals or organizations violating administrative regulations may carry out these actions by removing, destroying, and reapplying the original state of the packaging or labels.

When implementing measures to remove violation elements on product labels before exporting goods from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, individuals or organizations violating administrative regulations may carry out these actions by erasing, removing, or destroying the violation elements on the product labels.

5. When implementing measures to compel the destruction of goods, items harmful to human health, animal husbandry, crop cultivation, and the environment, as well as cultural products with harmful content, individuals or organizations violating administrative offenses shall, based on the nature, characteristics of the goods or items, and requirements for environmental hygiene, carry out the destruction in accordance with the following methods: using chemicals, mechanical means, incineration, burial, other forms as prescribed by law. The customs authority shall supervise the destruction either directly or through technical means (if applicable).

Individuals or organizations violating administrative offenses that implement the destruction of goods and items must prepare a destruction record in accordance with the model issued along with Decree No. 118/2021/NĐ-CP.

The destruction record must bear the signatures of all participants in the destruction and the representative of the customs authority supervising the destruction. After the destruction, individuals or organizations violating administrative offenses shall submit one copy of the destruction record and related documents to the customs authority that issued the decision on administrative penalty within five days from the date of destruction.

6. When implementing measures to compel the return of an amount equivalent to the value of seized goods that have been consumed, smuggled, or destroyed in violation of legal provisions, individuals or organizations violating administrative offenses shall pay back the corresponding amount as stated on the penalty decision.

7. Individuals or organizations implementing measures to compel payment of unpaid taxes, underpaid taxes; compulsory payment of taxes already exempted, reduced, refunded, or not collected correctly must deposit such amounts into the State Treasury account and submit one copy of a receipt for payment (if paying in cash) to the customs authority that issued the decision on administrative penalty for follow-up and record-keeping.

8. Individuals or organizations implementing measures to affix "VIETNAM DUTY NOT PAID" stamps must do so according to regulations before selling goods at duty-free shops or before delivering such goods to the purchaser in cases where goods are directly exported from a duty-free warehouse to the purchaser. The position for affixing the "VIETNAM DUTY NOT PAID" stamp shall be carried out in accordance with government regulations on the sale of duty-free goods.

Article 37. Administrative Penalties for Violations in an Electronic Environment

1. Preparation and Submission of Electronic Penalty Records

2. Issuance of Electronic Penalty Decisions

3. Customs authorities shall be responsible for developing information technology systems that meet requirements for preparing, transmitting electronic penalty records, and handling administrative offenses in an electronic environment in accordance with laws on handling administrative offenses. When such information technology systems are capable of preparing and transmitting electronic penalty records for customs-related violations, they shall handle administrative offenses in an electronic environment in accordance with the relevant laws on handling administrative offenses.

2. Issuance of Administrative Penalty Decisions in an Electronic Environment

a) An administrative penalty decision issued in an electronic environment is a decision that is created, digitally signed, transmitted, received, stored, and managed through electronic means. The issuance of an administrative penalty decision in an electronic environment must ensure the safety and confidentiality of the content and data of the decision, preventing any alteration or modification after its issuance. The customs authority with the power to impose penalties shall ensure that the notification of the penalty decision is communicated through the customs authority's electronic system or via text message, email, or another electronic application. The customs authority's electronic system must be capable of determining the exact time at which an individual or organization has received the penalty decision.

b) An administrative penalty decision issued in an electronic environment shall have legal force equivalent to a decision issued in writing and shall serve as the basis for implementing the penalty decision.

3. The customs authority is responsible for developing an information technology system that meets the requirements for creating, transmitting electronic records of administrative offenses and processing administrative offenses in an electronic environment in accordance with the laws on the handling of administrative violations. Upon the information technology system meeting the conditions to create and transmit electronic records of administrative offenses for customs-related offenses, it shall handle such administrative offenses in an electronic environment in accordance with the laws on the handling of administrative violations.

 

Chapter IV

PROVISIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

 

Article 38. Effective Date of Implementation

1. This Decree shall take effect on July 1, 2026.

2. As of the effective date of this Decree, Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP dated October 19, 2020 by the Government concerning penalties for administrative violations in customs matters and Point 2 of Decree No. 102/2021/NĐ-CP dated November 16, 2021 by the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decrees on penalties for administrative violations in tax, invoice; customs; insurance business, lottery business; management and use of state assets; thrift and anti-waste; national reserve; State Treasury; independent auditing shall cease to have effect.

Article 39. Transitional Provisions

1. For acts of violation that occurred and ceased before the effective date of this Decree, if such acts are discovered or a decision on penalty is made after the effective date of this Decree, then the provisions of this Decree shall apply unless this Decree does not provide for legal liability or provides for lighter legal liability.

2. For decisions on penalties for administrative violations that were issued before the effective date of this Decree and individuals or organizations subject to such penalties are still lodging complaints, the provisions of Law No. 15/2012/QH13 on Handling Administrative Violations as amended and supplemented by Law No. 67/2020/QH14, Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP dated October 19, 2020 by the Government concerning penalties for administrative violations in customs matters and Point 2 of Decree No. 102/2021/NĐ-CP dated November 16, 2021 by the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decrees on penalties for administrative violations in tax, invoice; customs; insurance business, lottery business; management and use of state assets; thrift and anti-waste; national reserve; State Treasury; independent auditing shall apply.

Article 40. Enforcement Responsibilities

The Ministers, Heads of Sectoral Agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for enforcing this Decree.