JOINT CIRCULAR No. 10/1998/TTLT-BTM-BTC-BCA-TCHQ OF JULY 22, 1998 GUIDING THE INSPECTION, CONTROL AND HANDLING OF IMPORTED FABRICS AND WALLING OR FLOORING TILES OF VARIOUS KINDS BEING CIRCULATED ON THE MARKET

Pursuant to Directive No. 853/1997/CT-TTg of October 11, 1997 of the Prime Minister on the combat against smuggling in the new situation and Notice No. 110/TB-VPCP of June 2, 1998 of the Government Office on the Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's conclusion made at the conference for preliminary reviews of the combat against smuggling through the northern border lines and the north-eastern sea;

Pursuant to Joint Circular No.07/1997/TTLT-BTM-BTC-BNV-TCHQ of October 21, 1997 of the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and the General Department of Customs guiding the combat against smuggling under Resolution No. 85/CP-m of the Government and the coordination of anti-smuggling forces;

The Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security and the General Department of Customs hereby guide the inspection, control and handling of imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles of various kinds circulated on the market as follows:

I.- GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. In order to contribute to repelling the smuggling and boosting the domestic production, especially production of goods items that need to be encouraged, the said ministries have jointly prescribed a number of goods items to be affixed with import goods stamps. The other goods items, particularly imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles of various kinds, should be subject to the intensified and tight inspection and control because their production at home is already capable of satisfying the consumption demand and the illegal import of such goods items has caused numerous difficulties for domestic production.

2. The imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles (glazed tiles for wall covering and flooring, or walling or flooring tiles for short) of various kinds which are circulated on the market by business organizations and individuals, including those being transported en route, left in stock or exposed for sale must have enough invoices and vouchers proving their lawful origins. The imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles of various kinds must be transported through the prescribed border gates, declared, and go through all customs procedures.

3. The functional bodies: the market management agencies, the police, the customs offices and the tax authorities shall have to raise their sense of responsibility, strictly abide by the regulations of their respective branches, and intensify the inspection and control of imported fabrics and walling-flooring tiles of various kinds. Any organizations and individuals that act against this regulation shall be handled according to law.

II. THE REGULATION ON VALID INVOICES AND VOUCHERS REQUIRED TO ACCOMPANY IMPORTED FABRICS AND WALLING OR FLOORING TILES OF VARIOUS KINDS

1. Quota-regulated import goods: require the originals of the following vouchers:

- Import goods declarations, on which the border-gate customs offices, after checking goods, certify that the customs procedures are completed;

- Import tax notices or import tax collection receipts.

2. Non-quota import goods: require the originals of the following vouchers:

- Non-quota import goods declarations on which the border-gate customs offices certify that the customs procedures are completed;

- Non-quota import tax collection receipts.

* For large lots of imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles, which must be transported in many shipments or sold to many customers, the border-gate customs offices shall certify on each import goods declaration excerpt for each transportation in accordance with Decision No.172/1998/QD-TCHQ of June 20, 1998 of the General Department of Customs.

* All the import vouchers prescribed in Points 1 and 2 above must state in full: the names and addresses of the importing organizations, the identity cards of the importing individuals, the serial numbers and dates of the customs declarations, the goods names, specifications and categories, the code, quantity, unit price and value of each kind of imported fabrics or walling or flooring tiles.

3. All subjects eligible for the regime of goods exchange applicable to border residents and those who buy goods in lots at border markets shall, when carrying fabrics and/or walling-flooring tiles out of such border markets, have to make customs declarations and pay import tax on such goods volumes in accordance with Decision No. 172/1998/QD-TCHQ of June 20, 1998 of the General Department of Customs.

4. Organizations and/or individuals having fixed business places in the border markets, when buying imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles of various kinds for trading, shall have to acquire accompanying import invoices and vouchers, or make goods lists as prescribed if they buy goods from border residents.

5. Goods transported from border markets or border areas into the inner territory, through the combined control stations or out of such border areas must be accompanied with invoices and vouchers to prove their lawful origin(s) as prescribed in Points 1, 2 and 3 above.

6. On the domestic market:

a) Organizations and individuals with fixed business places must have:

- The originals of the sale invoices or the invoice-cum-delivery bills handed over by the sellers.

- In cases where they buy goods from those who are not traders, they must make goods lists as prescribed.

- For private households with fixed business places buying goods, in addition to the invoices and vouchers as prescribed above, goods buying books are required. Goods actually listed on the goods buying books must be consistent with the accompanying invoices and vouchers.

b) Business households engaged in consignment trading must have the following accompanying vouchers:

- The originals of the sale invoices or the invoice-cum-delivery bills as prescribed, which are handed over by selling organizations or individuals to the buyers.

- The originals of the collection receipts of turnover tax and/or circulation profit tax on each goods consignment, which clearly state the serial number and date of the accompanying sale invoice and the goods quantity and value.

- The import goods declarations or import goods declaration excerpts to accompany the goods bought from the border areas or border markets and transported into the inner territory.

- The reverse of such vouchers shall bear the inspection and control agency's inspection certification, inspection date and time, signature and seal.

* Enterprises having legal person status, when buying or selling these two goods items, must have accompanying economic contracts.

III.- INSPECTION, CONTROL AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

1. As from the effective date of this Circular, if organizations and individuals trading in imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles fail to acquire enough invoices and vouchers accompanying their goods as prescribed in Section II above, their goods shall be considered illegally imported goods, they shall be administratively sanctioned and have their goods confiscated; in cases where such goods have been sold, the money amount equivalent to the value of the sold goods shall be confiscated; the serious cases shall be examined for penal liability.

2. Every branch, upon detecting violations by organizations and/or individuals, shall handle the cases according to its function and competence; if such cases are beyond its competence, it shall forward them to the higher level or the provincial/municipal People's Committee for handling, then report the result to the provincial/municipal market management sub-department for making sum-up report to the Market Management Department of the Ministry of Trade.

3. All acts of making and/or using invoices and vouchers not in accordance with regulations, or re-using invoices and vouchers to trade in illegally imported goods shall be administratively sanctioned and the goods involved in such violations shall be confiscated. All acts of printing, issuing, buying, selling or using counterfeit invoices shall be severely dealt with by law.

4. The inspection and control forces, upon detecting goods with signs of unlawful origins, shall be entitled to track down the organizations and/or individuals that have issued the first invoices and vouchers of the goods lots. If such organizations and/or individuals cannot produce the invoices and vouchers proving the lawful origins of the goods lots they have sold, they shall be administratively sanctioned, have their sale money amounts equal to the value of the sold goods confiscated.

- The inspection and control forces are strictly forbidden to arbitrarily decide the temporary seizure of goods and means when such goods have enough prescribed invoices and vouchers.

5. The handling of the confiscated goods shall comply with stipulations of Joint Circular No.07/1997/TTLT of October 21, 1997.

IV.- IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. Under Section III of Joint Circular No.07/1997/TTLT of October 21, 1997 on organizing the coordination among forces in the inspecting and controlling activities against smuggling and trade frauds, the following functional forces: market management forces, police, customs offices and tax authorities shall take the initiative in working out detailed plans suitable with the situation of their respective localities; firmly control all establishments trading in imported fabrics and walling or flooring tiles of various kinds; intensify the inspection, control, investigation and handling of subjects engaged in the trading, transportation, storing and/or concealing illegally imported fabrics and walling-flooring tiles without enough valid import invoices and vouchers as prescribed.

- Functional forces in each locality shall take the initiative in devising plans to closely coordinate with units of the same function in the neighboring localities and in border areas... for timely support in verifying invoices and vouchers when necessary.

2. The People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall direct the local functional units to well perform the said tasks; and at the same time disseminate these widely on the mass media so that all business organizations and individuals can thoroughly understand and implement them.

3. The inspection shall be focused on the border gates along border lines, the coastal regions, the routes from the border to inland localities, the places where goods are gathered, the commercial centers where fabrics and walling-flooring tiles are traded.

4. The Market Management Department of the Ministry of Trade shall organize the coordination among forces on the border lines and inland localities; set up express information channels between the Department and the local market management sub-departments and among such sub-departments, so as to quickly verify the legal validity of vouchers and invoices with signs of violation and help the inspection and control forces promptly handle the violation cases.

5. This Circular takes effect 30 days after its signing and all goods left in stock without having enough prescribed invoices and vouchers shall not be accepted. The inspection and control of other goods items shall still be carried out in accordance with Joint Circular No.07/1997/TTLT of October 21, 1997, Circular No.77/1997/TTLT of November 1st, 1997 and Circular No.30/1998/TTLT of March 16, 1998.

For the Minister of Finance

Vice Minister

PHAM VAN TRONG

For the Minister of Trade

Vice Minister

HO HUAN NGHIEM

For the General Director of

the General Department of Customs

Deputy General Director

NGUYEN DUC MINH

For the Minister of

Public Security

Vice Minister

LE THE TIEM