How is legal compliance management for customs declarants from March 15, 2024 according to Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC regulated?

Who is the subject of risk management regulations in customs operations?

Pursuant to Article 2 of Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC amended and supplemented by Clause 1 of Article 1 Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC stipulates the subjects applying risk management regulations in customs operations as follows:

– Customs declarants and taxpayers for exported and imported goods (collectively referred to as customs declarants)

– Customs agencies and customs officials.

– State agencies in coordinating state management of customs.

– Organizations and individuals involved in export, import, transit of goods, exit, entry, transit of means of transport;

Note: Credit institutions or other organizations operating under the provisions of the 2010 Law on Credit Institutions in the case of guaranteeing and paying taxes on behalf of taxpayers are not subject to risk management regulations in customs operations according to Circular 81/2019/TT–BTC.

What does legal compliance management for customs declarants include?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 9, Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented by Clause 3, Article 1, Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC, stipulates the content of law compliance management for customs declarants, including:

– Building and managing customs declarant records; Establish and manage risk profiles for customs declarants at risk of non-compliance with the law;

– Develop criteria and indexes to evaluate compliance with the law, criteria and indexes to classify the level of risk for customs declarants;

– Evaluate legal compliance for customs declarants;

– Classify the risk level of customs declarants;

– Apply customs inspection, supervision, customs control, post-customs clearance inspection, inspection and other professional measures to customs declarants according to the provisions of law;

– Check and evaluate legal compliance of customs declarants;

– Organize the development of cooperative relationships between customs and businesses (organize and implement programs to encourage voluntary compliance; organize the exchange and provision of information and support customs declarants to improve their compliance with customs laws, tax management laws and tax laws)

How is the level of legal compliance for customs declarants classified?

Pursuant to Article 10 of Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented by Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC, the level of legal compliance for customs declarants is classified as follows:

The Customs authority conducts assessment and classification of the level of legal compliance for customs declarants with export, import and export activities for 365 consecutive days or earlier from the date of assessment according to one of the following levels of legal compliance:

– Level 1: Priority businesses.

– Level 2: Enterprises comply with a very high level.

– Level 3: Enterprises comply with a high level

– Level 4: Enterprises comply with the average level

– Level 5: Enterprises do not comply.

How is legal compliance assessed for customs declarants regulated?

Pursuant to Article 12 of Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC stipulating how to assess legal compliance for customs declarants as follows:

– The level of legal compliance for customs declarants is automatically assessed by the information technology system at 00:00 every day at the General Department of Customs on the basis of integrating and processing customs information data according to the compliance assessment criteria specified in Clause 1, Article 14 of Decree 08/2015/ND-CP, Article 11 of Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented according to Clause 1. 5 Article 1 Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC and according to the following principles:

+ Enterprises assessed as priority enterprises (Level 1) comply with the provisions of Circular 72/2015/TT-BTC and Circular 07/2019/TT-BTC amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular 72/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance stipulating the application of priority regime in the implementation of customs procedures, customs inspection and supervision of goods. export and import of enterprises;

+ Customs declarants are assessed for legal compliance for the first time or adjusted for subsequent times to Level 2 or Level 3 or Level 4 when fully meeting the corresponding criteria specified in Appendix II or Appendix III or Appendix IV issued with Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC;

+ Customs declarants are assessed or adjusted to reduce their compliance level to Level 5 when they meet one of the criteria specified in Appendix V issued with Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC. The adjustment to increase the compliance level from Level 5 is done as follows:

++ In case there is one of the acts specified in Point 1, Section I, Appendix VI issued with Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC and meets the legal compliance assessment criteria of the higher level within 365 days from the date of change to the previous compliance level, the customs declarant will have the legal compliance level increased by a maximum of 01 level;

++ In case there is one of the acts specified in Point 2, Section I, Appendix VI issued with Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC and meets the legal compliance assessment criteria of the higher level within 365 days from the date of change to the previous compliance level, the customs declarant will have the legal compliance level raised to level 4. Subsequent compliance assessments shall comply with the provisions in Point b, Clause 1, Article 12 Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC;

++ In case one of the acts specified in Section I, Appendix VI issued with Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC is not observed and meets the legal compliance assessment criteria of the higher level, the customs declarant will have the legal compliance level upgraded to the corresponding compliance level.

– In case the system has a problem, the compliance assessment result for customs declarants is determined according to the assessment results of the previous day adjacent to the day the problem occurred.

– Customs authorities monitor and review the compliance assessment results of customs declarants in the following forms:+ Randomly select customs declarants to analyze, evaluate and adjust the level of compliance of customs declarants according to the compliance assessment criteria in Article 11 of Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC, amended and supplemented according to Clause 5, Article 1 of Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC;

+ Coordinate to exchange and provide information with relevant agencies about the customs declarant’s compliance with the law to verify arising information.

– Customs authorities support improving the compliance level of customs declarants through applications at the Customs Electronic Information Portal as follows:

+ Look up the results of assessing legal compliance and reasons for assessing and classifying the level of legal compliance;

+ Exchange and respond to information to serve the assessment of legal compliance and reflect problems and recommendations related to the assessment of legal compliance.

In case the application at the Customs Electronic Information Portal does not meet technical requirements, the exchange and provision of information will be done in writing.

– Customs authorities encourage customs declarants to voluntarily comply by organizing customs-business partnership programs, memorandums of understanding, dialogue conferences, seminars, training, and support for customs declarants to voluntarily comply with customs laws.

In addition to the contents specified in Clause 4, Clause 5, Clause 6, Article 1, which takes effect from July 15, 2025, the provisions of Circular 06/2024/TT-BTC take effect from March 15, 2024.