DECREE

PRESCRIBING THE DUTY-FREE QUOTAS OF LUGGAGE OF PEOPLE ON EXIT AND ENTRY AS WELL AS OF IMPORTED PRESENTS AND GIFTS

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of December 25, 2001;
Pursuant to the Law on Import Tax and Export Tax of December 26, 1991; the July 5, 1993 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Import Tax and Export Tax; and May 20, 1998 Law No. 04/1998/QH10 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Import Tax and Export Tax;
Pursuant to Customs Law No. 29/2001-QH10 of June 29, 2001;
At the proposal of the General Director of Customs,

DECREES:

Chapter I

DUTY-FREE QUOTAS OF LUGGAGE OF PEOPLE ON EXIT AND ENTRY THROUGH VIETNAM’S BORDER GATES

Article 1.- To issue together with this Decree the duty-free quotas of luggage of people on exit and entry through Vietnam�s international border gates with passports granted by Vietnamese or foreign competent State agencies.

Article 2.-

1. Luggage of people on exit and entry with laissez passers or border identity cards shall not be governed by this Decree.

2. People on exit and entry who carry foreign currencies, gold and gemstones shall comply with the law provisions on banking.

3. In cases where an international treaty which Vietnam has signed or acceded to contains the provisions different from those of this Decree, the provisions of such international treaty shall apply.

Article 3.-

1. Luggage of people on entry means things essential for their daily needs or trips, including accompanied luggage, unaccompanied luggage sent before or after their trips.

2. The time limit for receiving unaccompanied luggage of people on entry shall not exceed 30 (thirty) days as from the date the luggage arrives at the border gates.

Article 4.-

1. Luggage of people on exit and entry shall go through the customs procedures at the border gates. People on exit and entry shall not have to make customs declaration on Vietnam’s exit/entry declaration forms if they do not have luggage, which exceeds the duty-free quotas, or which is delivered before or after their trips.

2. People on exit or entry may deposit their luggage at the border-gate customs warehouses and reclaim them when they are on entry or exit. The luggage deposit time limit shall not exceed 180 (one hundred and eighty) days as from the date the luggage is deposited at the customs warehouses.

3. In the luggage deposit duration prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, if people on exit and entry make written documents to abandon their deposited luggage, or, if, past the luggage deposit time limit, they fail to reclaim them, the chiefs of the border-gate customs sub-departments shall organize the liquidation or destruction thereof according to law provisions in cases where such luggage has decayed.

The proceeds from the goods liquidation shall be remitted into the State budget after subtracting the arising expenses according to law provisions.

Article 5.-

1. The duty-free luggage quotas for people on entry are stipulated as follows:

a/ For each time of entry;

b/ Not to aggregate the duty-free quotas of multiple entries for calculating the tax exemption for a single entry.

c/ Not to aggregate the duty-free quotas of several people on entry for settling the tax exemption for a person on entry, except for the accompanied luggage of members of a family on the same trip.

2. The luggage quotas shall not be restricted on people on exit, except for the articles on the list of goods banned from export or subject to conditional export according to law provisions.

Article 6.-

1. The duty-free luggage quotas for people on entry prescribed at Items 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the Appendix to this Decree are stipulated as follows:

a/ For liquor, if people on entry carry the complete bottle, pot, jar or can (hereafter referred collectively to as bottle) with a volume of not more than 01 (one) liter in excess of the prescribed quota, the whole bottle shall be exempt from tax; if the volume exceeds the above-said limit, they must pay tax on the excess volume according to law provisions.

b/ For cigarettes and cigars, people on entry may carry them only within the duty-free quotas; if they carry them in excess of the duty-free quotas, the excess quantity must be deposited at the border-gate customs warehouses and reclaimed within the time limit prescribed in Clause 2, Article 4 of this Decree.

c/ For clothes, belongings and other articles in service of their daily-life needs, people on entry may carry them with reasonable quantity and types suitable to their trips purposes.

2. In cases where luggage of people on entry exceeds the duty-free quotas, the excess volume shall be considered import goods, which must comply with the law provisions on import goods and tax legislation. People on entry may select articles to pay tax thereon if the accompanied luggage contains several articles.

3. In cases where the excess volume of the duty-free luggage quotas of people on entry must be taxed, but the total payable tax amount is under VND 50,000 (fifty thousand), such volume shall also be exempt from tax.

4. Under-18 people on entry shall not be entitled to enjoy the duty-free quotas prescribed at Items 1, 2 and 3 in the Appendix to this Decree.

Article 7.- Occupational instruments carried into Vietnam by people on entry in service of their jobs shall comply with the provisions in Article 17 of the Government’s Decree No. 101/2001/ND-CP of December 31, 2001 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Customs Law regarding customs procedures as well as customs inspection and supervision regime.

Article 8.-

1. People on multiple entry due to the nature of their jobs shall not be entitled to enjoy the duty-free luggage quotas for each time of entry for the articles prescribed at Items 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the Appendix to this Decree, but enjoy the duty-free quotas every 90 (ninety) days.

2. People on multiple entry due to the nature of their jobs prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article include:

a/ Pilots and aircrew on international flights;

b/ Train drivers and trainmen on international trains;

c/ Officers and crew working on sea-going ships;

d/ Car drivers and Vietnamese laborers working in neighbor countries which have common land borders with Vietnam.

Chapter II

DUTY-FREE QUOTAS OF IMPORTED PRESENTS AND GIFTS

Article 9.-

1. This Decree applies only to presents and gifts given by overseas-based organizations and individuals to individuals being Vietnamese citizens.

2. Present and gift recipients being Vietnam-based organizations, agencies and enterprises shall be governed by other law provisions.

3. Presents and gifts being goods on the list of those banned from import must not be received.

4. In cases where presents and gifts exceeding the quotas prescribed in Article 10 of this Decree are commodity items on the list of goods subject to conditional import, they must comply with the law provisions on specialized management of such goods.

Article 10.-

1. Presents and gifts shall be exempt from taxes in the following cases:

a/ Presents and gifts with the total value not exceeding VND 1,000,000 (one million);

b/ Presents and gifts with the total value exceeding VND 1,000,000 (one million) but the payable tax amount is under VND 50,000 (fifty thousand).

2. For presents and gifts with total value exceeding the duty-free quotas prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the excess volume shall be considered import goods, which must comply with law provisions on import goods.

3. In cases where presents and gifts are emergency medicines and medical tools given to the severely diseased people or people affected by natural disasters with a value not exceeding VND 10,000,000 (ten million), they shall be exempt from tax of all kinds. To assign the Ministry of Health to assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and reach agreement with the General Department of Customs in setting the specific regulations thereon.

4. The directors of the provincial, inter-provincial and municipal Customs Departments shall have to settle the exemption of taxes on presents and gifts prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 11.- Presents and gifts within the duty-free quotas prescribed in Article 10 of this Decree shall not apply to cases where one or several people in a family frequently receive one or a number of given commodity items.

Chapter III

VIOLATION HANDLING AND IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

Article 12.- All organizations and individuals that commit acts of violating the provisions of this Decree shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned or examined for penal liability; if causing damage, they must pay compensation therefor according to law provisions.

Article 13.- This Decree takes implementation effect 15 days after its signing.

This Decree replaces the Government’s Decree No. 17/CP of February 6, 1995 promulgating the duty-free luggage quotas for people on exit and entry at the Vietnamese border gates and Decree No. 79/1998/ND-CP of September 29, 1998 amending Decree No. 17/CP of February 6, 1995.

Article 14.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decree.

DUTY-FREE LUGGAGE QUOTAS FOR PEOPLE ON ENTRY AT THE VIETNAMESE BORDER GATES
(Issued together with the Government’s Decree No. 66/2002/ND-CP of July 1, 2002)