Regulated entities

1. This Decision applies to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals in connection with the pricing of services for pilotage and utilization of wharfs, docks and mooring buoys.

2. The service charges shall be levied on the following international maritime vessels and the passengers aboard:

a) Vessels that enter, exit, transit or anchor in maritime zones (including export-processing zones); and the foreign vessels that operate in non-seaport territorial waters of Vietnam;

b) Vessels that carry imports, exports, cargoes transshipped or in transit in maritime zones, which include export-processing zones;

c) Passengers vessels departing from Vietnam for a foreign country or vice versa; vessels specialized for international routes upon entering, exiting, transiting or anchoring in maritime zones;

d) Imports, exports, transshipped and transiting commodities, including those entering or exiting export processing zones upon their loading, unloading, delivery, preservation and custody in maritime zones;

dd) Passengers on passenger vessels departing from a foreign country to Vietnam (or vice versa) by sea or by inland waterway through maritime zones.

3. The service charges shall be levied on the following domestic marine vessels:

a) Domestic marine vessels that enter, exit, pass through or anchor in maritime zones;

a) Domestic marine vessels that enter, exit, pass through or anchor in maritime zones;

c) Vessels that operate on waterway routes between mainland’s coasts and islands.

d) Vessels specialized for oil and gas extraction, which operate at offshore platforms and at the ports specialized for oil and gas activities under the management of a maritime port authority;

dd) Vessels of the armed force, customs or port authorities and Vietnamese vessels specialized for search and rescue on official assignments shall not incur the service charges defined in the pricing framework annexed to this Decision; however, they shall be subject to seaport service charges pursuant to this Decision during commercial operations.

Article 3. Principles of seaport service pricing

1. The service pricing framework annexed to this Decision are drawn up by general pricing method for goods and services pursuant to the legislation on pricing and relevant legal regulations.

2. The providers of seaport services shall specify their prices according to the pricing framework annexed to this Decision in accordance with the legislation on seaport service pricing, the service quality and the market conditions.

3. The price levels in the pricing framework defined in this Decision are inclusive of 10% value added tax. The service charge payable to an organization or individual who incurs a value added tax rate higher or lower than 10% shall be composed of the VAT-excluded price and the amount of value added tax payable.

Article 4. Terminology

In this Decision, the following words and phrases are construed as follows:

1. Vessel: ocean-going ships, military ships, public vessels, fishing vessels, inland watercrafts, seaplanes and other water-borne vehicles.

2. Specialized vessel: ships and boats specialized for oil and gas survey and extraction (vessels for service activities incidental to oil and gas extraction), ships and boats for construction of maritime buildings, ships and boats for maintenance of maritime safety, training ships, science research ships, public vessels.

3. Lash (lighter aboard ship) vessel: specialized vessels aboard which lash barges are carried across a river or sea.

4. Lash barge: specialized barges that carry dry cargo or bulk cargo and are capable of reaching deeper inland on channels whose technical conditions are limited.

5. Gross tonnage (GT): maximum total capacity of a vessel as shown in the certificate of volume issued by a register agency for the vessel as per regulations.

6. Maritime zone: boundaries of a body of water under the responsibility of a port authority. A seaport may consist of one or several maritime zones.

7. Cargo: commodities aboard a vessel, which include loaded and empty containers.

8. Export: commodities whose place of delivery (origin) is Vietnam and place of receipt (destination) is overseas.

9. Import: commodities whose place of delivery (origin) is overseas and place of receipt (destination) is Vietnam.

10. Transiting commodities: merchandise whose place of delivery (origin) and place of receipt (destination) are outside the territories of Vietnam and which pass through or are handled at a seaport of Vietnam or are stored in a warehouse to continue their excursion;

11. Transshipped commodities: merchandise carried from abroad to a seaport of Vietnam and preserved in a transshipment area of the seaport in a certain period before being loaded onto and carried by a vessel out of the territories of Vietnam.

12. Act of pilotage: a maritime pilot’s continual maneuvering of a vessel from the position at which the pilot boards the vessel to the position at which he disembarks as per regulations.

13. Visit: a vessel’s one entry into and subsequent exit from a maritime zone is considered one visit.

14. Waterway route between a mainland’s coast and an island: a waterway route of transport between a mainland’s coast and an island in a territorial water of Vietnam, which is made public by the Ministry of Transport.

15. Service pricing framework: a price range that consists of the minimum and maximum prices of a service.

16. Minimum price: the lowest price of a service whose provider is permitted to charge on a customer.

17. Maximum price: the highest price of a service whose provider is permitted to charge on a customer.