Hand-carried goods are about to "run out of space"?

Strengthening control

This agency stated that recently there has been a situation of taking advantage of preferential tax policies on gifts and presents imported from foreign countries to import and evade taxes, especially on expensive goods such as cars and motorbikes.

To overcome this situation, the General Department of Customs has just issued a document requesting units to seriously carry out customs inspection and supervision of goods such as luggage, gifts, and presents, ensuring that the standards for tax exemption of imported goods are in accordance with regulations.

In case of detecting signs of suspicion that goods exceed the tax-free standard limit, goods that are required to have an import license but are not declared, this agency requests immediate physical inspection of the shipment according to regulations.

The General Department of Customs also requested units to step up the fight against smuggling and trade fraud, closely coordinate with relevant authorities to detect, prevent, arrest and handle cases of smuggling and trade fraud by entrants.

The Ministry of Finance determined that “hand-carried” goods mainly include mobile phones (such as iPhones), laptops, watches, handbags, household appliances, etc.

Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, Head of the National Steering Committee against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods, directed five ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, Industry and Trade, Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Public Security, to strengthen management of goods such as luggage, gifts, and presents from foreign countries into Vietnam.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance to direct the General Department of Customs to strengthen inspection and supervision of goods such as luggage, gifts and presents from foreign countries into Vietnam; urgently develop software to manage the number of tax exemptions according to the quota for goods such as gifts and presents for unified management nationwide.

Authorities have increased inspection and specialized investigation of business activities of goods labeled "hand-carried" and strictly handled cases of law violations.

With 5 Ministries joining together to tighten the control of hand-carried goods, in the near future, mobile phones and laptops will be strongly impacted and will no longer have a place to survive as they do now.

Will narrow "door of life"?

Recently, buying and selling hand-carried goods has become much more convenient, when many small retail stores also trade hand-carried goods. In particular, hand-carried goods are widely discussed on social networks and the internet.

Hand-carried goods from abroad to Vietnam mostly belong to the following groups: clothes, shoes, watches, fashion handbags; Medicines and functional foods; Cosmetics... mainly from the markets of Japan, France, USA, Italy, Korea, Australia,...

However, in reality, no competent authority has announced the quality of popular hand-carried goods to see if they are suitable for Vietnamese standards, the physical condition and health of Vietnamese consumers or not!
According to experts, not all hand-carried goods are good for Vietnamese people, because the item may have a name and reputation in the home country, but it is not suitable for the body and conditions in Vietnam. Not to mention, the Vietnamese hand-carried goods market is also divided into five or seven types.

Mr. Vu Vinh Phu - former Chairman of the Hanoi Supermarket Association said that hand-carried goods are smuggled goods and are manipulating the market. For example, a jar of toothpicks in the supermarket is also subject to VAT, while hand-carried goods, large or small, are not subject to tax and no one can guarantee the quality of this type of goods, especially food, medicine, milk, etc.

Economic expert Phan Hung Son said: "Hand-carried goods are considered to be brought directly from abroad, so by default they do not have documents of origin. It is ironic that many Vietnamese people blindly believe that if there is not a single Vietnamese word on the packaging, it is considered genuine goods."

According to Mr. Son, because of that psychological gap, many dishonest traders have used a familiar trick to profit from consumers' trust by mixing fake and counterfeit goods under the guise of hand-carried goods.

Mr. Son commented that the 0% tax on goods from advanced countries in the world such as Japan, Singapore, Australia... means that Vietnamese consumers can completely buy "branded goods" at cheap prices and always ensure quality. The market for hand-carried goods will sooner or later no longer have a place.