COMMON CASES OF THREE-PARTY CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN

In the set of import and export documents, the Certificate of Origin (C/O) is extremely important, affecting the import tax rate for the shipment. Therefore, we need to carefully check the information on this document to minimize errors that could affect import tax during the customs clearance process.

When checking Certificates of Origin (C/O), the most difficult part is often the three-party C/O. Therefore, this article by TTHQSaiGon summarizes some cases of three-party C/Os – C/Os with invoices issued by a third party – to share with you. Please read the article below.

Case 1: AANZ Certificate of Origin with a third-party invoice (3-party Certificate of Origin)

The General Department of Customs has recently issued a document responding to the Vietnam Dairy Association (Official Letter 4796/TCHQ-GSQL dated July 17, 2020), as well as providing guidance to provincial and city customs departments on several issues related to Certificate of Origin (C/O) forms D and AANZ .

Accordingly, regarding the AANZ Certificate of Origin (C/O) with a third-party issued invoice, Article 22 of Appendix III and Section 9 of Appendix V issued with Circular 31/2015/TT-BCT (amended and supplemented by Circular 07/2020/TT-BCT) of the Ministry of Industry and Trade specifically stipulate the case of a C/O with a third-party issued invoice. Accordingly, only the name of the company issuing the invoice is required, not the name of the country where the company issued the invoice.

Regarding the issuance of replacement Certificate of Origin (C/O) Form D, the General Department of Customs stated that Article 9 of Appendix 7 of Circular 22/2016/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (amended and supplemented by Circulars 10/2019/TT-BCT and 25/2019/TT-BCT) stipulates the handling of errors on C/Os, including guidance on issuing new C/Os to replace erroneous ones.

Based on the results of ASEAN meetings, it was agreed that in cases where a new Certificate of Origin (C/O) is issued to replace a faulty original C/O, the reference number of the original C/O must be mentioned on the newly issued C/O. The General Department of Customs stated that it has issued official documents guiding local customs departments to properly implement this commitment.

The General Department of Customs has recently issued a document to provincial and city customs departments providing guidance on third-party invoices under the AANZFTA Agreement. (Document No. 2755/TCHQ-GSQL dated June 4, 2021)

Specifically, the General Department of Customs stated that a third-party invoice in the AANZFTA Agreement refers to an invoice issued by a company based in a country other than the exporting country that is a member of the Agreement. For third-party invoices, the information declared on the AANZ Certificate of Origin (C/O) should follow the instructions in point 9 of the Overleaf Notes section, Appendix VA, issued with Circular No. 31/2015/TT-BCT.

For imported shipments with a commercial invoice issued by a company based in the same country as the exporting country that is a member of the Agreement, the "Subject of third-party invoice" box on the Certificate of Origin (C/O) does not need to be checked. However, checking this box will not affect the validity of the C/O.

If the name of the company issuing the invoice to the Vietnamese importing company is not shown in box 7 of the Certificate of Origin (C/O), the Customs authority will require the customs declarant to submit additional documents proving the relationship between the exporting company in box 1 of the C/O and the company issuing the invoice to the Vietnamese importing company.

If the customs declarant fails to provide supporting documents, or provides supporting documents but the Customs authority lacks sufficient grounds to determine the aforementioned relationship, the matter shall be reported to the General Department of Customs (via the Customs Supervision and Management Department) for verification with the competent authority that issued the Certificate of Origin (C/O).

The verification and validation of the Certificate of Origin (C/O) are carried out in accordance with current regulations.

The General Department of Customs' guidance is based on a compilation of issues related to third-party invoices under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Agreement (AANZFTA) that have arisen recently.

These guidelines are based on Circular No. 31/2015/TT-BCT dated September 24, 2015, of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Minutes of the 14th Meeting of the Sub-Committee on Origin of Goods within the framework of the AANZFTA Agreement.

See more examples of tripartite Certificates of Origin (C/O) for other certificate of origin templates here.

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