Chinese steel labelled as Vietnamese goods for tax avoidance in EU market

The MoIT stated that following the investigation of two local firms—Khiet Tam Trade and Service Company Limited in Ho Chi Minh City and Quoc Viet Company Limited in Long An—it uncovered severe violations of the regulations related to the origin of goods when they shipped Vietnamese-labelled steel products originally sourced from China and Taiwan to Europe, to generate high profits.

To protect the prestige of Vietnamese export, the MoIT requested VCCI and GDC to investigate the granting of certificates of Vietnamese origin to goods temporarily imported for re-export, as well as instructed the agencies to take strict measures against organisations and individuals related to the case.

After receiving the MoIT’s document, a representative from VCCI’s Centre for Certifying Commercial Documents confirmed that VCCI’s Ho Chi Minh City branch has yet to grant a certificate of origin (C/O) to Quoc Viet Company Limited in Long An.

Accordingly, the two C/O sets provided by European Union customs were found to be forgeries upon examination.

In the case of Khiet Tam Company Limited, according to VCCI intelligence, its Ho Chi Minh City branch granted the company 11 C/O sets between June 2012 and June 2013.

The provisions were based on the firm’s export declarations and other documents in line with current regulations.

VCCI assumed that based on the check results and the information provided by customs authorities, Khiet Tam intended to commit country-of-origin fraud by providing false customs declarations in their application for C/O provision.

Earlier, in October 2015 the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) sent an official letter to Vietnam’s MoIT asking for cooperation in a probe related to Chinese steel companies suspected of committing tax fraud by shipping through Vietnamese ports.

The suspected steel items passed through Ho Chi Minh City ports in Vietnam during November 9-13, 2015 before entering the EU, according to OLAF.

These steel shipments were granted C/O form B in Vietnam for export to the EU and paid taxes, but customs officials in some EU member countries suspected that these shipments, originally from China and Taiwan, used Vietnamese ports to shirk the anti-dumping tariff that the EU is imposing on items from China and Taiwan.

In late March 2015, the EU has imposed an anti-dumping tariff on stainless cold-rolled steel items from China and Taiwan, with rates ranging from 24.3 to 25.2 per cent on Chinese products and from 10.9 to 12 per cent on Taiwanese products.

According to OLAF information, the MoIT requested the GDC, VCCI, and Linh Trung I Export Processing Zone in Ho Chi Minh City to send their people to cooperate with OLAF’s officials. The suspected export items subjected for check will be from October 2012 to June 2015.