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Tariff restrictions aim against inflation
In an effort to tighten imports to fight inflation, the Government has approved recent proposals by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
This means that car parts, vehicles and mobile phones must now apply for automatic import licences. Importers of these commodities must also pay tariffs as soon as the goods clear customs, not 30 days later as in the past.
Automatic import licences were introduced in 2002. They enable the quantities of imported goods to be monitored. This allows import restrictions to be applied if necessary. The ministry can stop imports as soon as they pass a set limit.
For example, at present, the ministry is limiting the quantity of cars with less than 12 seats at 30,000 - and parts for them at 50,000. If these quantities are exceeded, the ministry can cease granting an automatic import licence.
The ministry also said that in future, motorbikes and parts will also have to pay import duties before custom clearance.
According to the ministry, the new applications will reduce the import turnover of cars, motorbikes and their parts and accessories to between US$1.7–1.9 billion this year, a decrease of about $4–6 billion.
In addition, the ministry is co-operating with the Ministries of Finance and Information and Communications to make sure imported mobile phones receive the necessary stamps. This is a protection against fraud and smuggling.
At the same time, the ministry has suggested imported vehicles pass an inspection to make sure they are fuel-efficient.
Total import turnover for all commodities is expected to reach $80.2 billion this year, a drop of $4.8 billion on earlier forecasts.
In the five first months of the year, there were nearly 6,000 trade violations involving goods valued at VND308.80 trillion (US$19 billion). A total of 868 cases of smuggling were also reported, 182 trade frauds, and nearly 5,000 violations of customs procedure.
VNS
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