Enhancing E-commerce Import Management

To enhance the management of imported goods transacted via e-commerce, the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDC) recently issued comprehensive guidelines for provincial and municipal customs departments to ensure uniform implementation. On November 8, 2024, the GDC released Official Letter 5480/TCHQ-GSQL, detailing the measures to strengthen the oversight of these transactions.

During the implementation process, the GDC received feedback from several customs units and businesses. To ensure uniform implementation, the GDC stated that the directives in Official Letter 5480/TCHQ-GSQL apply only to imported goods transacted via e-commerce.

For other imported goods sent via express delivery services, the regulations outlined in Circular 191/2015/TT-BTC (dated November 24, 2015), Circular 56/2019/TT-BTC (dated August 23, 2019), and the relevant guidelines from the GDC apply.

During customs procedures and the supervision of goods from the import border gate to centralized inspection and supervision locations for postal and express delivery goods, if goods are found to have signs of legal violations (except in cases of suspected prohibited imports), the customs office at the import border gate will transfer information on the signs of violations to the customs office where the goods are transported for inspection, identification of violations, and handling according to regulations.

Imported goods transacted via e-commerce are goods ordered by Vietnamese or foreign individuals in Vietnam through e-commerce service websites, e-commerce service applications, e-commerce sales websites, and sales applications to be brought into the territory of Vietnam.

By Huong Hau, Vietnam Business Forum