RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/ACC/VNM/34 
22 December 2004 
 (04-5626) 
Working Party on the 
Accession of Viet Nam Original:   English 
 
  
ACCESSION OF VIET NAM 
 
Update on Implementation of the
 
Customs Valuation Agreement in Viet Nam  
 
 The following submission dated 13 December 2004, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. 
 
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 WT/ACC/VNM/34 
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 UPDATE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF TH E CUSTOMS VALUATION AGREEMENT  
IN VIET NAM 
 
 
1. Viet Nam has been reforming its customs valu ation system to be in compliance with the 
Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of GATT 1994 since 2002 by the promulgation 
of Decree No. 60/2002/ND-CP dated 6 June 2002 which is based on transaction value as 
required by the Agreement (applying meth ods in the Agreement for customs value 
determination without application of minimum prices; methods prescribed in Article 5.2 and Article 6 in the Agreement temporarily postponed).   Viet Nam has prepared a 3-year plan of 
activities to ensure viable implementa tion of the Agreement in due course. 
2. The application of Decree No. 60 took place in 2003 in parallel with earlier existing system of 
customs valuation under which there has been establishment of minimum prices and reference 
price list.  The customs valuation according to Decree No. 60 has been applied to goods 
originated from countries or trading partners that had Most-Favoured-Nation treatment 
agreement with Viet Nam in regard of customs valuation.  While the other customs valuation 
system has been applicable only to a limited imports. 
3. The system regulated by Decree No. 60 has e xpanded gradually over time as the number of 
trading partners notifying their Most-Favou red-Nation treatment in regards of customs 
valuation with Viet Nam has increased to 56 nation states and territories, representing almost all current trading partners of Viet Nam.  Gr adual expansion of the customs valuation system 
in accordance with the Agreem ent has enabled the capacity of customs authorities to be 
strengthened through official and on-the-job training as well as the establishment of necessary 
customs data system and required equipments. In implementation term, there have been a 
significant number of guidelines and manuals published and propaganda and training activities to support business community in applying the new system have also been 
conducted. 
4. Despite of the fact that the earlier customs valuation system has narrowed down its scope of 
application significantly (only to goods originated from non-MFN partners), it has been also 
reformed to gradually converge with the Ag reement requirements.  The system has also 
adopted the fundamental principle of GATT of actual transaction value in customs value determination (by virtue of Circular 87/2004/TT-BTC dated 31 August 2004).  More importantly, the system of price fixing (compr ised of all minimum price lists established 
earlier) was abolished and methods of customs value determination were defined to be 
compatible with the Agreement.  The roadmap for the system to fully converge with the 
Decree 60 system would include three steps: (i) methods of customs valuation to fully comply with methods prescribed in the Agreement; ( ii) customs authority to carry out customs 
valuation by itself; and (iii) importers to carry out customs valuation or customs valuation be 
carried out as stipulated in the Agreement. 
5. Viet Nam has been moving forward steadily on implementing the WTO-compliant customs 
valuation system on the one hand and on converging its earlier existing system with the 
Agreement so as to guarantee full implementation of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of GATT 1994 at the da te of accession.  Particularly , the establishment and initial 
operation of the post-entry customs audit a nd inspection system has been supportive to 
customs value determination without preference or minimum price list, and ensured the 
movement to full system into compliance with the Agreement. To this end, Viet Nam has 
been receiving active support and assistance fr om multilateral and bilateral donors, namely, 
the World Bank, WCO, WTO Secretariat, the U.S., EU, Japan and others, which have proved to be of tremendous value.  WT/ACC/VNM/34 
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 6. In this context, Viet Nam would like to once again reiterate its commitment to fully 
implement the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of GATT 1994 at the date of 
accession. 
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