Circular No. 9923/TC/TCDN regarding the addition of canned fruits and vegetables to Decision No. 05/2001/QÐ-BTC on export incentives based on export turnover.

LETTER

OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE NUMBER 9923 TC/TCDN DATED OCTOBER 18, 2001
REGARDING THE SUPPLEMENTATION OF REGULATIONS ON CANNED VEGETABLES AND FRUITS IN DECISION
NO. 65/2001/QĐ-BTC ON INCENTIVES BASED ON EXPORT VALUE

Respected: - Ministry of Trade

- Ministry of Planning and Investment

- Government Price Control Board

Recently, the Ministry of Finance has received many applications from enterprises requesting incentives for canned vegetables and fruits as stipulated in Decision No. 65/2001/QĐ-BTC dated June 29, 2001 of the Ministry of Finance. After reviewing the application documents submitted by these enterprises seeking incentives, there is a difficulty as follows:

a. The products sent for consideration include many types such as: pickled cucumbers, salted mushrooms, young corn, dried bananas, chili sauce, fried onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes, carrots, pineapples, grapes, mangoes, papayas, rambutans... exported.

b. Product form: from various types of vegetables and fruits, enterprises process them in industrial forms such as water-based products, concentrated or semi-processed items like freezing, soaking in solutions, drying, frying, seasoning... according to the taste preferences of customers.

c. Regarding packaging (cans), export packaging is very diverse, depending on the form and requirements of foreign customers; after processing, these vegetables and fruits are packed into various types such as: poly bags, drum-shaped bags (DRUMS), PP bags, glass bottles, plastic jars, plastic boxes, wooden boxes, tin cans, aluminum boxes, cardboard boxes, plastic cans... etc.

Enterprises believe that all exported products must be processed and packaged in cans, meeting the criteria of "canned vegetables and fruits" for consideration. However, according to the provisions of Decision No. 65/2001/QĐ-BTC on incentives based on export value for canned vegetables and fruits in 2001 does not specifically define what type of can is required. Therefore, to ensure consistency in considering incentives for processed vegetable and fruit products and encourage their exports, the Ministry of Finance proposes to supplement regulations regarding the conditions for awarding incentives for exported vegetable and fruit products as follows:

Based on the provisions of Decision No. 324TCKT-QĐ dated December 26, 1995 of the General Statistics Office on the issuance of the List of Goods for Import and Export in Vietnam, if goods are vegetables or fruits exported meeting the following conditions shall be considered for incentives under Decision No. 65/2001/QĐ-BTC:

In the customs declaration form, box number 24 (HS code) must indicate a HS code belonging to one of the chapters and codes as follows:

Chapter 7: (vegetables and certain edible roots):

+ Code: 0711: various types of vegetables temporarily preserved (e.g., by sulfur dioxide fumes, salted, pickled in sulfur water or other preservative solutions).

+ Code 0712 (dried vegetables in their natural state, cut, sliced, crushed or powdered but not further processed).

b. Chapter 8 (fruits and edible seeds):

+ Code 0811 (various types of fruits or seeds that are cooked or boiled to ripeness, frozen with or without added sugar or other sweeteners).

+ Code 0812: fruits and seeds temporarily preserved (e.g., by sulfur dioxide fumes, salted, pickled in sulfur water or other preservative solutions).

c. Chapter 20 (products made from vegetables, fruits, seeds, and other parts of plants):

The above vegetable and fruit products have been temporarily preserved or processed and packaged in forms such as: tin cans, paper boxes, plastic containers, cardboard boxes, glass bottles, plastic jars, poly bags, drum-shaped bags (DRUMS), PP bags... and other similar forms.

Additionally, during the development of incentive schemes based on export value for canned vegetables and fruits, due to the unique characteristics of a wide variety of complex types of vegetables and fruits, relevant ministries and sectors have selected representative products with significant export values currently experiencing losses as representatives of vegetable and fruit groups to determine incentive levels. In practice, when reviewing application documents for incentives, there are some products with small export volumes that may not be losing money but still fall within the category of exported canned vegetables and fruits. Therefore, to avoid complexity and encourage exports of processed vegetable and fruit products, the Ministry of Finance believes it is possible to consider incentives at a general level without examining individual profit or loss levels for each product.

We request relevant ministries and sectors to provide comments by October 25, 2001 so that the Ministry of Finance can implement incentive measures for enterprises based on export value of vegetables and fruits in 2001.