Implementing the route and
the commitments of Vietnam in the accession of World Trade Organization (“WTO
commitments”), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MOIT”) issued
Circular No. 34/2013/TT-BCT dated 24 December 2013 (“Circular No. 34”)
announcing the schedule for implementation of the sale and purchase activities
of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sale of goods by
enterprise with the foreign invested enterprises in Vietnam (“FIEs”).
This Circular No. 34 took effect from 05 February 2014 and replaced the
Decision No.10/2007/QD-BTM on 21 May 2007 of the Ministry of Commerce
announcing the schedule for implementation of the sale and purchase activities
of goods and activities directly related to the purchase and sale of goods (“Decision
No.10”).
Basically, the promulgation
of the Circular No. 34 is not a big development and there are just some
minor changes. The structure of the goods categories under this
Circular No. 34 is still the same with the Decision No.10. The FIEs is granted
the rights to export, the rights to import and the rights to distribute goods
which are not under the list of goods which can’t be exported, imported or
distributed. The Circular No. 34 removes the list of goods permitted to be exported, imported and distributed pursuant to a schedule since the schedule
under the WTO commitments has already passed.
In this Circular No. 34,
the MOIT promulgates that the FIEs can’t implement the rights to export goods,
e.g. petroleum, condensate and crude oils obtained from bituminous minerals,
can’t exercise the rights to import goods, e.g. notably cigars, cigarettes made
from pure tobacco leaves or from other substitute materials; oils from
petroleum and other types of oils obtained from bituminous minerals except the
crude oils; all types of educational, technical, scientific, historical or
cultural newspapers, journals and periodical publications; disks, tapes and the
types of information archives; aircrafts like airplanes, helicopters,
spacecrafts, satellites, spare parts of the aircrafts.
In addition, the MOIT
granted the rights to distribute goods for the FIEs, except for the following
goods: rice, cane sugar and beet sugar, tobaccos and cigars, crude oils and
processed oils, pharmaceutical products, explosives, books, newspaper and
magazines, precious metals and precious stones, recorded items on all
materials.
The categories of goods in
the Circular No. 34 are defined by new term or resized the scope of limitation
in comparison with the Decision No.10. For example, the Decision No.10 listed
out the details of pharmaceutical drugs, such as dried products used for
treatment, processed humans and animal blood used for treatment and prevention,
etc... Now the Circular No. 34 just defines the pharmaceutical in accordance
with the Law on pharmacy.
Those categories comply with the import and
export catalogue of Vietnam which was promulgated with the Circular No.
156/2011/TT-BTC on 14 November 2011 by the Ministry of Finance. If the Circular
156/2011/TT-BTC has the amendments, the supplements or the replacements; these
categories have to comply the regulations of amendment, supplement or
replacement.