Goods in transit through Vietnam to Cambodia
Transit is not import. But the goods are still on Vietnamese territory, still under customs supervision for the whole journey, and someone is still responsible if something happens.
The China, Vietnam, Cambodia corridor has a feature that a two-country route does not: the goods pass through a third country without being consumed there. In procedural terms this is a regime of its own, not an import followed by a re-export.
The basic differences from import
| Criterion | Import | Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Putting goods into domestic circulation | Passing through the territory to reach a third country |
| Import duty | Payable as prescribed | Does not arise if the goods actually leave on time |
| Customs supervision | Ends at clearance | Continues for the whole journey to the exit border gate |
| Main risk | Value, code, origin | Goods not reaching the exit border gate, seal discrepancies, exceeding the time limit |
Transit of goods is governed by the Law on Foreign Trade Management and the implementing documents on customs procedures for goods in transit, together with the bilateral transport agreements between Vietnam and Cambodia. The lists of goods banned from transit and goods requiring a transit licence have to be checked separately for each product.
Four places the file goes wrong
Route and time limit
Goods in transit must follow the registered route and stay within the registered time limit. Changing route for traffic reasons is common on the ground, but it has to be approved. Do not change route on your own and explain afterwards.
Seals
The condition of the seals at the entry border gate and at the exit border gate must match. If a seal breaks for reasons outside your control, draw up a certified report at the moment it is discovered. Do not wait until the exit border gate to report it.
Goods description
Goods in transit pay no import duty, so many people assume the description does not matter. The opposite is true: a wrong description raises the question of whether the actual goods are the goods declared, and that question is far more serious than a dispute over value.
The party named on the file
The carrier, the transit service provider and the cargo owner are three different roles. Responsibility towards customs attaches to the registered role, not to whoever happens to be behind the wheel.
When something happens to goods in transit
This is more complicated than an incident with imported goods, because there is an extra layer: the obligation towards the customs authority of the transit country runs in parallel with the contractual obligations between the commercial parties. The two layers can produce opposite results. The cargo owner may owe no contractual compensation to anyone, while the transit service provider still has to account to customs for the missing goods.
- Notify the nearest customs office immediately, before touching the scene.
- Draw up a report certified by the competent authority at the place where the incident occurred.
- Keep every broken seal instead of throwing it away.
- Notify the cargo owner and the insurer within the contract time limits, in parallel rather than one after the other.
- Record traffic data, weather, position, the things that cannot be reconstructed later.
A clear allocation of who is responsible if the goods do not reach the exit border gate on time for reasons outside anyone's control, who bears the extra cost of a change of route, and the basis on which the carrier's liability is capped.