CIRCULAR

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CIRCULAR No.16-TC/TCT OF MARCH 5, 1996 OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DECREE No.91-CP OF DECEMBER 18, 1995 OF THE GOVERNMENT PROMUL-GATING THE LIST OF COMMODITIES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMON EFFECTIVE PREFERENTIAL TARIFFS (CEPT) OF THE ASEAN COUNTRIES FOR 1996 FOR ITS APPLICATION IN 1997

In furtherance of the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs (CEPT) of the ASEAN countries, on March 5, 1996 the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No.16-TC/TCT guiding the implementation of Decree No.91-CP of December 18, 1995 of the Government promulgating the List of Commodities in implementation of the CEPT Treaty of the ASEAN countries for 1996;
In implementation of Decree No.82-CP of December 13, 1996 of the Government promulgating the List of Commodities of Vietnam in implementation of the CEPT Treaty of the ASEAN countries for 1997, the Ministry of Finance guides the following amendments and supplements to a number of points of Circular No.16-TC/TCT of March 5, 1996 for its application in 1997:

I. ON THE SCOPE OF APPLICATION:

Paragraph 1 and Section 1 of Part I of Circular 16-TC/TCT are amended into the following:

"Goods imported into Vietnam subject to the import tax rates prescribed in Point 1 of Decree No.82-CP of December 13, 1996 of the Government are goods imported from ASEAN countries, which must meet the following conditions:

1. Being included in the list of goods issued together with Decree No.82-CP of December 13, 1996 of the Government".

II. ON THE TAX TARIFF:

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"The tax rates applicable to import goods entitled to preferential tax rates under the CEPT are those specified in the list of commodities issued together with Decree No.82-CP of December 13, 1996 of the Government".

2) The following is added to Part II of Circular 16-TC/TCT:

"The amendment and supplement in terms of name and import tax rates under the decisions of the Ministry of Finance to the commodity groups and items specified in the current import tariff shall be as follows:

- In cases where the amendment of tax rates makes the tax rates of the import tariff lower than the preferential tax rates under the CEPT for certain commodity groups and items, the tax rates in the import tariff shall apply to imports specified in the list of commodities issued together with Decree No.82-CP of December 13, 1996 of the Government;

- Other amendments and supplements in terms of name and import tax rates shall not apply to the list of commodities issued together with Decree No.82-CP of December 13, 1996 of the Government".

III. ON CHECKING THE CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

The principles for recognizing certain goods to have the origin from the ASEAN countries provided for in Points (i) and (ii) of Section III - Checking the Certificate of Origin in Circular No.16-TC/TCT are replaced by the rules of the Regulations on Origin Applicable to the CEPT Treaty as prescribed in Appendix 1 of the Regulation on the Grant of Certificates of ASEAN Origin by Vietnam - Form D, issued together with Decision No.416/TM-DB of May 13, 1996 of the Ministry of Trade.

IV. THE ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect from January 1st, 1997 and applies to all imports from the ASEAN countries with import declarations thereof made at the Customs Office from January 1st, 1997.

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FOR THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
VICE MINISTER




Vu Mong Giao