Vietnam: Guidance on conditions for customs inspection of export processing enterprises

The General Department of Customs issued guidance—Official Letter No. 697/TCHQ-GSQL (2 March 2022)—regarding the conditions for customs inspection and supervision for export processing enterprises.

Specifically, according to Official Letter 697:

• There is no required minimum acreage for an export processing enterprise.
• Guidelines address the specifications for “hard fences” (actual physical fences) of export processing enterprises located in export processing zones or in export processing subdivisions in industrial and economic zones. Specifically, in situations involving export processing zones and export processing subdivisions that also include ordinary enterprises (non-export processing enterprises), each export processing enterprise must satisfy the conditions of having its own fence separating that export processing enterprise from the outside area and determine that the transportation of goods only goes through the separate gate of the export processing enterprise. This condition does not apply if the export processing zone or export processing subdivision includes no ordinary enterprises. In instances when an export processing enterprise leases a location from another export processing enterprise, the conditions regarding the fence will apply to the shared area, on the condition that the goods of the export processing enterprises are separated.
• Supplemental management regulations apply to dependent branches of export processing enterprises established in a customs management area different from the place where its head office is located. Specifically, the export processing enterprise and the branch of the export processing enterprise must both be shown on the investment registration certificate.

KPMG observation
This guidance may not be consistent with the regulations and practice of issuing the investment registration certificate that does not record information about the dependent branch/unit. Consequently, enterprises may need to consult their local licensing authority for more specific instructions.

Read a March 2022 report [PDF 100 KB] prepared by the KPMG member firm in Vietnam