A Certificate of Origin (C/O) is a document declaring in which country a commodity or good was manufactured. The C/O contains information regarding the product, its destination, and the country of export. Required by many treaty agreements for cross-border trade, the C/O is an important form because it can help determine whether certain goods are eligible for import, or whether goods are subject to duties.

Import/export businesses facing C/O-related problems can contact the Da Nang Customs Department for assistance

There are two types of C/O, namely non-preferential C/O and preferential C/O. Non-preferential C/O, also known as "ordinary C/O”, indicates that the goods do not qualify for reduced tariffs or tariff-free treatment under a Free Trade Agreement, while preferential C/O declare that they do.

Recently, the General Department of Viet Nam Customs under the management of the Ministry of Finance has accepted a new C/O form E in accordance with the ASEAN-China Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. The new form is prescribed in Appendix II attached to Circular 12/2019/TT-BCT that will come into effect tomorrow, 12 September.

Currently, many enterprises in Da Nang are facing some CO-related problems.  

In particular, the customs officers ask enterprises to pay full tax for receiving customs clearance and then get a refund later as preferential C/O is completely verified.

However, most of businesses find it very difficult in verifying preferential C/O to enjoy tariff preferences under the agreement and regulations of importing member countries for their imported goods entitled to preferential import tax rates.

The main reason is thought that the authentic signatures are not the same as initial signatures during the signature verification process. In reality, although the signatures of an individual may appear very similar, it is widely agreed that signatures are produced differently each time an authentic writer signs. Simply saying, no two signatures are geometrically identical.

Besides, it often takes a very long time for customs office to verify preferential C/O, which results in a negative impact on enterprises’ business activities.

A representative from the Da Nang Customs Department has recently helped the local business clear C/O-related issues of their concern.

In detail, the verification of preferential C/O is done by the General Department of Viet Nam Customs. However, the municipal Customs Department regularly sends reminders to the General Department of Customs about the verification results.

The verification process will be implemented no later than 180 days since the date when the General Department of Customs sends the verification request documents. If enterprises do not send verification results after the above period, the customs authority refuses the granting of C/O.