Wine is a special commodity, which many businesses choose to import to Vietnam for business purpose. Customs procedures, alcohol import go through many complicated steps and require many related permits. However, not all businesses are fully aware of the regulations on importing alcohol. The following article will help you better understand the procedure for importing alcohol to the Vietnamese market.
- Learn the regulations on importing alcohol
Conditions on subjects allowed to do business in importing alcohol
According to Article 30 of Decree 105/2017/ND-CP of the Government, there are two cases where enterprises are allowed to import alcohol as follows:
Enterprises with a License to distribute alcohol are allowed to import alcohol and must take responsibility for the quality and food safety of imported alcohol. In case of importing semi-finished alcohol, the enterprise may only sell it to an enterprise with an industrial alcohol production license.
Enterprises with Industrial Liquor Production License are allowed to import or entrust the import of semi-finished alcohol to produce finished alcohol.
Conditions on imported alcohol
Imported alcohol must meet the following conditions:
- Imported wine must be labeled and stamped with alcohol according to regulations.
- Imported wine must be issued by a competent Vietnamese state agency a receipt of the announcement of regulation conformity or a written certification of publication of conformity with food safety regulations (for alcohol without technical regulations) before when imported and must meet state inspection regulations on food safety for imported food.
- Imported alcohol must meet state food safety inspection regulations for imported food
- Alcohol can only be imported into Vietnam through international border gates.
HS Code:
To determine the HS code of a good, it is necessary to base on the nature, composition, etc. of the goods actually imported and on the List of exported and imported goods of Vietnam issued together with Circular No. 103 /2015/TT-BTC dated 1/7/2015 of the Ministry of Finance; 06 (six) classification rules in Appendix II issued together with Circular No. 103/2015/TT-BTC; Circular No. 14/2015/TT-BTC dated January 30, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the classification of goods, analysis to classify goods; analysis to check quality; food safety inspection for exported and imported goods.
For alcohol products, depending on the type of alcohol, the alcohol content calculated by volume has different HS codes. Enterprises can refer to HS codes of groups 2204, 2205, 2206, 2207, 2208.
Note, the basis for applying the tax code is based on the actual imported goods of the Company at the time of importation, on the basis of the enterprise providing technical documents (if any) or/and conducting an inspection at the Center for Analysis and Classification of Customs. The actual inspection results of the customs where the company carries out the procedures and the results of the Analysis and Classification Center determine the legal and accurate basis for applying the code to such imported goods.
- Wine import customs clearance service
The customs dossier for importing alcohol is based on the Clause 5, Article 1 of Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC (amended Article 16 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC).
The basic set of documents includes:
- Import customs declaration;
- Commercial Invoice;
- Bill of Lading;
- C/O if any;
- Import license;
- Entrustment contract (if import entrustment);
- Other documents.
The order of execution:
After you prepare the complete set of documents as above, the declaration will be submitted in the form of electronic customs.
After submitting the declaration, we will wait for the results of the system threading:
Green channel declaration:
Declaration with lucky color. But there are also 2 cases: conditional green and unconditional green.
- Conditional green: Must present additional documents such as:
- Certificate of Origin (C/O);
- Quality inspection paper (for example: plant quarantine), tax payment paper…;
- With this type of green channel, you definitely have to go to the customs branch to do the procedures.
- Green without conditions: In theory, you just need to go to the port to pick up the goods, without having to do anything else. However, in fact, at the branches, the declarant still has to print out the paper signed and stamped by the goods owner. Then bring the paper declaration to get the confirmation from the receiving customs, then go to the port to carry out the procedures to pick up the goods (change orders at the port, sign the port customs).
Like doing with the golden stream declaration, but the time to do it is faster.
Golden channel declaration
For this channel, the declaration process is still the same as always, but the following documents need to be prepared:
- Customs declaration;
- Commercial Contract (Purchase Order Or Contract);
- Commercial invoice: 1 original;
- Packing List: 1 original ;
- Airway Bill / Bill of landing;
- License (if any);
- Certificate of Origin;
- Documents required by customers depending on specific items
Red channel declaration
Must physically check the goods after checking the paper records. This is the highest level of inspection, has to do many procedures and costs the most time and effort for both shippers and customs.
About the profile as the golden channel above. After the customs receives and approves the dossier, it will be transferred to the inspection team. You register for inspection, go to the port to carry out the procedures for unloading the goods to the inspection area, and then contact the customs officer to come down to do the inspection procedures.
There are 2 forms of verification:
- Check by scanner;
- Manual check.
When the inspection is completed, the customs officer will return to the Sub-Department to carry out the necessary procedures: the inspection record. If everything is fine, the procedure to peel the declaration will be completed.
After you pay the tax and the declaration is cleared, the service unit will complete the procedures at the customs department to supervise the port.
The price will depend on the nature, characteristics, quantity of alcohol and the needs of the customer who needs to provide this service.
Above are TOGHN’s advice on customs clearance services for importing wines. If you have any questions, please contact us, TOGHN is committed to bringing you the best service quality !
