Article 239.- The right to withhold and dispose of goods

1. Traders providing logistic services shall be entitled to withhold a certain quantity of goods and related documents in order to claim payment of due debts by customers but shall have to notify promptly customers thereof in writing.

2. After forty five days from the date of notification of the withholding of goods or their related documents, if customers fail to pay debts, traders providing logistic services shall be entitled to dispose of such goods or documents according to provisions of law. Where there are indications of deterioration of goods, traders providing logistic services shall have the right to dispose of the goods immediately after any debt of customers becomes due.

3. Before disposing of goods, traders providing logistic services must immediately notify their customers of such disposal.

4. All expenses for the withholding and disposal of goods shall be borne by customers.

5. Traders providing logistic services shall be entitled to use proceeds from the disposal of goods to pay for debts owed to them by their customers and related expenses. If the proceeds from the disposal of goods exceed the value of debts, the difference must be returned to customers. From that point of time, traders providing logistic services shall no longer be responsible for the goods or documents already disposed of.

Article 240.- Obligations of traders providing logistic services when withholding goods

When the right to dispose of goods provided for in Article 239 of this Law is not yet exercised, traders providing logistic services and withholding goods shall have the following obligations:

1. To preserve and keep the goods;

2. Not to use goods without consent of the parties whose goods are withheld;

3. To return goods where the conditions for withholding and disposal of goods provided for in Article 239 of this Law no longer exist;

4. To pay damages to the parties whose goods are withheld if they cause loss or damage to withheld goods.

SECTION 5. TRANSIT OF GOODS THROUGH THE VIETNAMESE TERRITORY; AND GOODS TRANSIT SERVICES

Article 241.- Transit of goods

Transit of goods means the transportation of goods owned by foreign organizations or individuals through the Vietnamese territory, including transshipment, portage, warehousing, shipment separation or alteration of modes of transportation or other jobs performed in the course of transit.