1. Customs supervision and inspection procedures for in-transit cargos

Customs procedures for goods in transit must be carried out at the customs office at the first import border gate and at the last export border gate.

1.1 Responsibility of the Customs Sub-department at ports of entry

a) Receive and handle customs documentation;

b) Carry out customs sealing for in-transit cargo transports;

c) Assign customs officers to directly supervise in-transit cargos that are weapons, ammunitions, explosives and highly dangerous goods.

1.2 Responsibility of the Customs Sub-department at ports of exit

a) Verify the information about the transport declaration available on the data system of customs authorities;

b) Inspect customs documents for in-transit cargos which are verified by the Customs Sub-department at port of entry according to the provisions of the Agreements on the transit of cargos between Vietnam and bordering countries;

c) Check the status of the customs seal or the original condition of the goods before carrying out customs clearance.

1.3 Customs supervision for in-transit cargos

a) In-transit cargos must be customs sealed. In case such cargos are impossible to be customs sealed, customs declarants shall be held responsible for keeping their cargos intact;

b) In-transit cargos that appear in the list of commodities subject to a ban on trading, export, or a temporary cessation of export, or a ban on import or a temporary cessation of import; the list of exports or imports under permits shall be supervised by means of technical equipment;

c) In-transit cargos which are weapons, bullets, explosive materials and highly dangerous commodities shall be supervised by means of technical equipment or directly by customs officers;

d) During the period when cargos are moving in transit via Vietnam, before customs declarants carry out transshipment, transloading, warehousing, deconsolidation, changing of transportation methods or other activities, customs authorities where customs clearance for imports occurs must be informed and grant their permission.

2. Customs supervision and inspection procedures for transhipped cargos

Transshipped cargos are cargos moving from an overseas country to intermediate destination and then transited directly from this intermediate destination to another overseas country; those which are not permitted to move throughout the territory of Vietnam for the purpose of export via a different border gate, unless otherwise permitted by international agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory or the Prime Minister’s decision. Transshipped cargos which are the whole or part of shipments moving in a port shall be shipped to overseas countries.

Transhipped cargos must be reported to customs authorities and put under customs supervision during the time when they are stored at ports. Physical verification shall be needed if any violation against law is detected. In case of detecting signs of law violation, the customs authority shall check the number of containers; compare the number and symbol of the container with the content of the Manifest and conduct physical inspection of goods as regulations.