On January 25, 2021, the Minister of Finance issued Circular No. 07/2021/TT-BTC prescribing the time for submitting certificates of origin of imported goods in the Free Trade Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA). Specifically:

The customs declarer shall submit the certificate of origin of imported goods at the time of customs procedures.

In case there is no certificate of origin of imported goods at the time of carrying out customs procedures to apply the special preferential import tax rate as prescribed in the EVFTA Agreement, the customs declarer must declare late payment of the certificate of origin on the import customs declaration and be supplemented with additional declaration, submit the certificate of origin within 02 years from the date of registration of the import customs declaration and within the validity period of the certificate of origin of goods.

In case the customs declarant submits the certificate of origin after the above validity period (i.e. within 02 years from the date of registration of the import customs declaration) for force majeure reasons or other valid reasons outside the control of the importer or other cases of late presentation , The Ministry of Finance shall consider and decide on the application of special preferential import tax rates as prescribed in the EVFTA agreement for specific cases. In case of other late presentation, the goods must be imported within the validity period of the certificate of origin of goods.

This Circular takes effect on March 11, 2021.