Vietnam Customs has implemented many measures to prevent goods from third countries from passing through Vietnam to avoid US import taxes.

Within the framework of attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in the United States, the delegation of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam led by Mr. Au Anh Tuan – Deputy Director of the Customs Department had a working session with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the CBP Headquarters in Washington DC.

At the meeting, the two sides focused on discussing the issue of preventing illegal transshipment and enhancing cooperation between Vietnam Customs and US Customs.

“Illegal transshipment activities will cause damage not only to US and Vietnamese businesses, causing businesses to lose advantages due to the loss of a healthy and fair competitive environment,” said a CBP representative.

Vietnam Customs has implemented many measures to strengthen inspection and control to prevent goods from third countries passing through Vietnam to evade US import taxes.

Providing more information on the issue of illegal transshipment provided by CBP, Deputy Director Au Anh Tuan said that Vietnam Customs has implemented many measures to strengthen inspection and control to prevent goods from third countries passing through Vietnam to avoid US import taxes. From implementing plans and risk control topics for each industry, strengthening post-clearance inspection and examination of goods origin: Collecting and analyzing domestic and foreign information to identify key groups of goods and businesses with high risk signs to regularly reviewing businesses with abnormally increased import and export turnover compared to actual production capacity and scale to coordinate inspections.

Vietnam Customs has received and provided support in providing information and coordinating inspections to verify suspicions of US Customs related to origin fraud and illegal transshipment for tax evasion with a total of more than 35 cases from 2019 to present.

“The consistent view of the Vietnamese Government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance is to resolutely prevent activities and behaviors that take advantage of Vietnam as a transit point, taking advantage of Vietnamese origin to export to other countries to evade taxes and trade defense measures,” Deputy Director Au Anh Tuan emphasized.

Regarding future solutions to prevent illegal transshipment activities, Mr. Au Anh Tuan said that the Vietnamese Government has directed to issue a master plan to screen and strictly control investment projects, especially projects with potential risks of illegal transshipment activities, investing in factories in Vietnam but only performing simple assembly activities, low added value, not meeting the criteria of origin to be recognized as made in Vietnam. 

Along with that, it is necessary to encourage foreign investment projects in the field of technology, creating high added value, developing supporting industries in Vietnam to ensure that goods produced in Vietnam meet origin criteria, reducing dependence on raw materials/intermediate goods from third countries.

“On the customs side, measures to strengthen inspection and tighten control to prevent goods from third countries from passing through Vietnam to avoid US import taxes are being and will continue to be strongly implemented, including directing and guiding regional customs to deploy plans to inspect manufacturing enterprises, especially foreign-invested enterprises importing raw materials from third countries for processing, manufacturing and exporting to the US,” said Mr. Au Anh Tuan.