1.1  Function of The Viet Nam Customs

1.2  Articles Subject to State Customs Control

Exported or imported goods, luggage, foreign currencies, Vietnamese currency, postal parcels, postal matters and other articles and properties: means of transport entering or leaving Viet Nam, or transmitting through Viet Nam (hereunder called articles subject to custom's inspection and control) when crossing the Vietnamese border are all subject to State customs control.

Articles subject to customs inspection and control cover:

1. Goods:

   1. Goods of export, import entities, or other organisations or individuals.

   2. Goods of foreign organisations or individuals in the form of investment or technical transfer.

   3. Goods traded or exchanged between Vietnamese economic entities and foreign owners of means of transport in Viet Nam.

   4. Samples of goods, goods for advertisement, exhibitions or fairs.

   5. Inherited property.

   6. All other goods stipulated in the State regulations on import and export.

2. Export, import luggage:

   1. Personal effects or articles necessary for the trip of the persons entering or leaving Viet Nam; of those working on means of transport entering or leaving Viet Nam, including handbags, accompanied or unaccompanied luggage

3. Foreign exchange: According to the Viet Nam State Bank's regulations, foreign exchange are:

   1. All foreign currencies, including banknotes and coins in circulation, bills, payment instruments in foreign currencies such as government bonds, treasury bonds, exchange bill, perpetuities, stocks, cheques, traveller' s cheques, credit cards, promissory notes, bonds money orders and all certificates of deposits, saving funds, postal money orders (foreign currencies in short).

   2. Precious metals and stones allowed to bring into or out of Viet Nam such as gold, silver and metals of the platinum group (platinum, iridium, ruthenium, osmium) pure or alloy, in the form of bar, block, sheet, grain, fragments, powder, solution or fashioned into jewels, lab appliances, personal or family effects, cultural and art articles, souvenirs, money out of circulation, precious stones such as diamond, ruby, sapphire, crude or processed.

4. Export, import postal parcels and postal matters containing export, import goods

5. Other goods and properties:

   1. Cultural and historical relics, postal stamps, human ashes, forestry products or products banned from export by the Vietnamese government...

6. Vietnamese currency owned by the entering or leaving person.

7. Means of transport on entry or exit and in transmit.

Owners of the above mentioned articles must comply with the regulations in force of the Vietnamese government on customs.

Only after customs clearance can these articles be exported, imported or circulated in Viet Nam.

1.3  Customs Rules of Control and Supervision

1. All articles subject to State customs control on check in are subject to customs inspection. Also subject to customs supervision are goods which have been imported but still wait for customs clearance, and goods which have gone through customs inspection but have not actually checked out. Time for customs inspection and control is defined as follows.

   1. From the moment the customs officer received the article for inspection and control till the moment the article is checked out;

   2. From the moment the customs officer received the article for inspection and control at the first border gate till the customs procedures have been fulfilled.

2. Inspection is done only once. Any of suspected case, re-inspection must be decided by the Director of Customs Office of the provincial, city or equivalent level.

   1. The inspection must be done in the presence of the owner of the goods, luggage, means of transport... or his legal representative.

   2. Only in urgent cases, for reasons of security or environmental hygiene may customs officers inspect immediately the goods or luggage in the absence of their owner but the representative of the transport service must be present.

   3. The inspection is done at the border gate. In case the owner of the goods requests that his goods be checked elsewhere (say, a storehouse in the inland), the owner shall have the prior approval of the customs office of the provincial or higher level, and must observe all customs regulations on sealing and escort;

   4. After the inspection a batch of goods, the owner must certify the actual conditions of the goods in his customs declaration.

3. The articles on transit via Viet Nam are not subject to customs inspection (except suspected in law breaking) but subject to customs supervision. Time for supervision is from the moment of its arrival at the first border gate till its departure.

4. Luggage and means of transport of persons with diplomatic immunity, means of transport of the diplomatic corps, luggage and means of transport of other special persons (to be defined by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam) are exempted from customs inspection.

1.4  Common Obligations of Owners of Articles Subject to Customs Inspection

1. Owners of articles subject to customs inspection upon their arrival at the check-in point must observe the following regulations:

   1. To make correct and complete customs declarations, not to correct or cross out any words on his initiative;

   2. To submit the customs declaration and other documents as stipulated by the Vietnamese law;

   3. To take all articles subject to customs inspection to the designated place for customs inspection;

   4. To pay export tax, import tax, customs fees and observe all other customs duties as stipulated by law.

2. During the customs inspection and supervision, the Commander or Driver of the entering or leaving means of transport must.

   1. Ensure that his means of transport follow the right course, enter and park at the right port and place defined in the permit and in the approved itinerary;

   2. Stop the means of transport at the assigned place for filling customs procedures;

   3. Create favourable conditions for the customs officer to inspect, escort and seal the means of transport when necessary;

   4. Not to exchange and trade goods and luggage where the air-plane is parked;

   5. Not to re-arrange, unload goods and luggage where entering or leaving Viet Nam before customs clearance or before check-out after customs clearance;

   6. To observe all regulations on settlement of the Vietnamese customs;

3. To facilitate and expedite customs procedures, the pilot and commander of the airplane or the empowered person must the necessary papers to the concerned customs as required by the current regulations on customs procedures right after the aircraft lands or before it takes-off.

4. The Commander or Driver of the foreign means of transport transiting through Viet Nam, upon his arrival at the first border gate of Viet Nam must report to the customs office and submit the necessary papers as required by the relevant regulation on customs procedures.

   During the time of supervision, he must keep unchanged the position and order of his cargo and luggage, and observe other obligations required from the means of transport entering and leaving Viet Nam

1. Peacock

2. Pheasant of all kinds

3. Ocellated turkey-cock-flying squirrel

4. Partridge

5. Rhinoceros

6. Tapir

7. Elephant

8. Wild buffalo

9. Gaur

10. Wild ox

11. Dotty deer

12. Musk deer

13. Flying weasel

14. Ferret

15. Gibbon

16. Parrot

17. Pangolin

18. Tiger

19. Leopard

20. Bear

21. Wild dog

1. Dalbergia bariensis

2. Pahudia coochinchinensia

3. Pterocarpus pedapus

4. Cukrasia

5. Red tree

6. Fustic

7. Ebony

8. Shorea hypochra hance

9. Parapentace Tonkinensis Gachep

10. Boggy starwort

11. Erythrophloeum fordly-oliv.