October 25, 2014
– The Ministry of Finance has got approval from the Prime Minister (PM) to grant customs priority to large-scale, capital and labor intensive foreign direct investment (FDI) projects and important projects approved by the PM.
The customs priority is applicable even when the projects are in the process of development. In this spirit, the PM has recently allowed the application of the priority enterprise status to two big FDI projects by Samsung Electro-Mechanics Vietnam and Hansol Electronics Vietnam though the projects have yet to start operation.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Vietnam is building a US$1.2 billion plant to produce and assemble components for telecom and mobile devices in the northern province of Thai Nguyen while the capital intensive electronic device project of Hansol Electronics Vietnam got off the ground late last year.
With the customs priority, beneficiary enterprises can undergo less customs procedures, got tax refunds in advance, have goods cleared quickly and make a single goods declaration for multiple exports and imports. In addition, once Vietnam joins the agreement for mutual recognition of authorized economic operator (AEO) with foreign countries, these enterprises can enjoy the priority in those countries.
Under the Ministry of Finance’s Circular 86/2013/TT-BTC on customs priority, eligible enterprises have to be operational for at least two years, and obtain a minimum annual export turnover of US$50 million (applied to farm produce, seafood, textile, garment and footwear) and US$200 million (applied to other products).
According to the General Department of Customs, the number of priority enterprises has reached 26 compared to over 50,000 export and import enterprises nationwide. The priority enterprises are big companies which account for up to 23% of the country’s total exports and imports.
(The Saigon Times)