Strengthening control, resolutely preventing origin fraud
Within the framework of attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in the United States, the working delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance had a working session with the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) to promote cooperation in combating illegal transshipment, sharing electronic data and implementing the Public- tenno Security Initiative.
At the meeting, the US Customs introduced to Vietnam Customs the authority of US Customs in implementing the prevention of illegal transshipment. CBP is responsible for preventing illegal transmission activities to evade counterpart tax, anti-dumping tax and trade defense measures.
CBP has conducted about 736 cases related to the illegal transportation of goods from China and about 30 cases related to goods from other countries to the United States with a total of 24 investigations involved. Illegal transportation activities will cause damage not only to US businesses but also to Vietnamese businesses, causing businesses to lose advantages due to the loss of a healthy and fair competitive environment, said a representative of CBP.
Regarding the method of implementing the transfer behavior of suppliers in China, CBP said that these subjects publicly advertised online about the transfer activities through countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Accordingly, goods are sent to the lottery to Southeast Asian countries and then transferred to other lottery to be exported to the United States by using fake documents/oryals of origin from transit countries.
Chinese companies have even made offers to participate in illegal tax evasion by sending emails to companies in the United States. When goods are brought into the United States, there will be brokerage/intermediary companies that arrange to receive goods through the final recipient, the proceeds/ townhouses earned from this illegal activity will follow the opposite direction back to suppliers in China.
CBP has issued a warning on CBPs website for US companies that accepting requests to participate in the above series of unlicensed transmission activities from Chinese suppliers is a violation of US law and will be strictly handled, said Mr. Sung Huyn Ha.
Providing more information about the problem of illegal transportation provided by CBP, Deputy Director Au Anh Tuan said that Vietnam Customs has implemented many measures to strengthen inspection and control to prevent third-party goods from passing through Vietnam from evading US import taxes.
From implementing plans and topics for risk control for each industry, strengthening post-clearance inspection and examination of goods origin: Collecting and analyzing domestic and foreign information to determine key groups of goods and enterprises with high risk signs to regularly reviewing enterprises with unusually increased import-export turnover compared to actual production capacity and scale to coordinate inspection.
In the context of cooperation with the United States Customs, in order to promptly prevent and detect acts of fraud of origin and illegal transportation to evade taxes and trade defense measures, within the framework of the Agreement on mutual assistance in the customs sector between the two countries, Vietnam Customs has received and implemented support in providing information and coordinated inspection and verification of US Customs' suspicions related to fraud of origin and illegal transportation to evade taxes with a total of more than 35 cases from 2019 to present.
The consistent viewpoint of the Vietnamese Government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance is to resolutely prevent activities and acts of taking 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.
At the meeting, Vietnam Customs informed the US side of the results of the investigation and handling of cases related to origin fraud and counterfeiting of goods labels to export goods to the US from 2020 - 2024.
Regarding solutions in the coming time to prevent illegal transportation activities, Mr. Au Anh Tuan said that currently, the Vietnamese Government has oriented to issue a comprehensive plan to strictly screen and control investment projects, especially projects with potential risks of illegal transportation activities, factory investment in Vietnam but only carry out simple assembly and processing activities with low added value, not meeting the criteria of origin to be recognized as production in Vietnam.
Encourage foreign investment projects in the technology sector, create high added value, develop supporting industries in Vietnam to ensure that goods produced in Vietnam meet the criteria of origin, reduce dependence on intermediate raw materials/goods from third countries.
Preparing to sign a MOU on electronic data sharing
The CBP emphasized its desire to soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation within the framework of the Foreign Electronic Data Exchange Program (FECDEP) on the basis of the previously signed Declaration of intention. According to CBP, the FECDEP program helps identify high-risk shipments by sharing manifest data in real time, while allowing two-way information exchange, bringing security and efficiency benefits to both sides.
Vietnam Customs said that it has completed the internal consultation step and is reviewing the legal and technical content to reach a consensus on signing. The two sides agreed to hold online technical meetings in late May or early June to clarify remaining issues, ensuring the completion of MOU signing procedures as soon as possible.
Opening up cooperation in the Cong-ten-No Security Initiative (CSI)
Another content of the cooperation discussed was the implementation of the Public Security Initiative (CSI) - a program launched by the United States in 2002 to remotely prevent security risks. CBP introduces three models currently applied at 69 ports in 36 countries, including: traditional model (CBP present at the domestic port), remote model (processing information via digital platform), and communication unit model at the port.
Vietnam highly appreciated this initiative and said that there are currently two deep-water ports, Cai Mep - Thi Vai and Lach Huyen, with container ships directly to the United States. This is a favorable condition for considering implementing CSI in Vietnam. Vietnam Customs will carefully study the models proposed by CBP to choose a suitable option.
Strengthening coordination between the two customs authorities not only aims to better control trade fraud, but also contributes to creating a transparent and sustainable competitive environment for businesses of the two countries in the context of increasingly complex global trade.
