Instead of being in the “green stream” exempt from customs inspection of goods as before, recently black pepper has been included in the “golden stream”, which requires detailed inspection of customs clearance documents.
According to a report of some businesses on the Vietnam Pepper Export Association (VPA), recently, the proportion of “golden stream” declarations is only about 8%, but recently it has increased to 60% and focuses mainly on weak in black pepper. This has increased cost pressure for businesses and potential risks of Covid-19 exposure during travel to process customs declarations.
Therefore, on 12/07/2021, VPA sent Official Letter No. 31/CV-VPA to the General Department of Customs (TCHQ) about the fact that some pepper exporters reflected the classification of inspection declarations for goods. export black pepper.
Answer from the General Department of Customs via official dispatch dated July 21, 2021, pepper is currently on the list of conditional exports, the customs authority must perform the inspection flow according to the regulations of the Ministry of Health. .
In case it is determined that the exporter of pepper is a medicinal material not used for medicinal purposes according to Article 2 of the Circular No. 03/2021 of the Ministry of Health, the customs authority shall carry out customs clearance on the system, ensuring convenience. for Business.
In the Circular No. 48/2018/TT-BYT, of the Ministry of Health, there is a regulation on pepper with HS code 0904.11.20 on the list of imported and exported medicinal herbs. However, on March 4, 2021, the Ministry of Health issued Circular No. 03/2021/TT-BYT removing a number of items including pepper from the list.
But paradoxically, Article 3 of this circular still stipulates: “In case the exported or imported goods specified in the Appendix issued with this Circular are used for the purpose of making drugs and medicinal ingredients, shall comply with the provisions of legal documents on pharmacy”.
Therefore, pepper is still in the group of conditional export goods and the customs authority must divide the inspection flow according to specialized medical documents.
According to the General Department of Customs, in the case of determining the current export black pepper product is a common agricultural export commodity, mainly used as a spice in food processing in the import market, and not used for medicinal purposes, the customs authority will perform customs clearance on the system.
Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai, Chairman of the VPA Association, said that in the past, pepper exporters also had difficulty opening customs declarations because they were classified in the customs inspection stream. At that time, the Association reflected on the fact that exported pepper was considered unsuitable as medicinal herbs and proposed to be removed from the list of management, the Ministry of Health and the customs authority also agreed with the proposal of VPA. , although still, the rate is very low about 8%.
However, recently, pepper exporters have reported to the Association that black pepper exports are still considered medicinal herbs and the rate of customs declarations in the gold channel has increased, so on 12 /7, VPA continued to send the document to the General Department of Customs and received the above reply.
The association found that to be unreasonable, so it continued to send an official dispatch to the Ministry of Health and related ministries and branches, proposing to create conditions for pepper businesses, especially in the period when pepper exports meet difficulties due to the scarcity of containers, the sharp increase in transportation costs, and the complicated development of the epidemic.
According to VPA’s statistics, the proportion of exported black pepper products with HS code 0904.11.20 accounted for 80% of Vietnam’s total pepper exports, the remaining items include: ground black pepper, white pepper , ground white pepper, vinegar-soaked pepper, etc. are exported by enterprises in the form of pepper.
Therefore, VPA respectfully requests the Ministry of Health to consider removing black pepper with HS code 0904.11.20 from the list of conditional exports and not subject to risk management in the classification of customs inspection channels. authorities to create favorable conditions for enterprises to export pepper.
“In the first 6 months of this year, the export volume of pepper reached more than 154,000 tons, down 7.5%, but the turnover reached nearly 500 million USD, up 40% over the same period last year. I think, when exporting has many difficulties like now, we need to create conditions and support so that businesses feel motivated to boost exports, “said Mr. Hai.
According to CSDN
