16/10/2021
On the morning of October 8, the Department of Customs and Trade Facilitation (TLHTM), the Member Affairs Committee of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) in collaboration with the Legal Department, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Department for Business Environment and Competitiveness Research, Central Institute for Economic Management successfully organized the webinar "Innovation of customs procedures".
The main content of the workshop was to comment on the draft documents replacing Decrees 08/2015/ND-CP, Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP and Circulars 38/2015/TT-BTC, Circular No. Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC on guiding the implementation of the 2014 Customs Law. These are very important documents for customs management as well as for the business community and have a direct impact on tens of millions of import and export shipments every year.
In recent years, Vietnam's logistics industry in general and the customs clearance of import and export goods in particular have seen many positive changes, which are recognized by the domestic and foreign business community. It is the result of the unremitting efforts of the authorities in reforming administrative procedures and facilitating trade, especially the leading role of the General Department of Customs as well as the active cooperation between business community through associations.
According to Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Head of Legal Department, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), In recent years, according to a survey by VCCI, enterprises operating in the import-export sector have evaluated quite positively on the reform of administrative procedures, customs procedures such as information on import and export administrative policies and procedures are more accessible; implementing customs administrative procedures is also more convenient; There have been positive changes in declaration of documents, physical inspection of goods, tax payment, tax refund without tax collection and complaint settlement. A number of major reforms of the customs authorities in recent times have also been recognized by enterprises such as reducing overlaps and duplications in post-clearance inspection, collecting procedures for certifying goods through the supervision area of customs. The customs management system is also more automated and convenient, and in particular, businesses appreciate the service quality of customs officers compared to previous years...
Along with the recognition for the above positive change, businesses also expressed recognitions, such as the procedures can be done completely through the internet. The customs authority needs to have a mechanism to connect and share the physical inspection history of enterprises' goods to avoid duplicate checks. Many businesses ask the customs office to support businesses more effectively in many procedures, including procedures for determining HS codes and consulting customs values. At the same time, businesses also want the customs authority to have supervisory mechanisms to make discipline and public administration more transparent, and at the same time to have a substantive effective mechanism for businesses to deliver complaints about acts of harassment and trouble.
Mr. Tran Van Hao, a representative from TVC Company, commented the trend of digitization is happening very fast. Recently, even at Huu Nghi border gate, an official decision was made to apply digitization. For Huu Nghi border gate, we are required to submit and declare all such as the quantity of goods and information, so there will be duplication if the border gate customs and departments also request to provide such information. It is necessary to calculate how to minimize the declaration of many different departments. At the same time, on the matter of declaring goods, it allows businesses to declare their turn in a simple way as for sea and air. Roads that apply detailed declaration up to 8 numbers, 6 HS numbers for each item is very complicated, causing many difficulties for businesses.
At the Workshop, Mr. Dao Duy Tam, Deputy Director of the Customs Supervision and Administration Department, on behalf of the drafting team, presented the basic contents of the changes related to Decrees 08/2015/ND-CP, Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP and Circulars 38/2015/TT-BTC, Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC. The content of this change is aimed at reforming customs procedures, creating favorable conditions for businesses towards smart customs, digital customs and these reforms are related to many areas of customs declaration, submission, inspection and supervision of customs authorities as well as related to activities of processing enterprises, export production enterprises, export processing enterprises, and activities related to goods transit…
Previously, the Department of Customs and Trade Facilitation and the Member Affairs Committee of the VLA Association held several meetings to synthesize comments on the latest drafts. At the workshop, Ms. Pham Thi Lien, representative of the Customs and Trade Facilitation Department of VLA Association, had comments on the content of the draft document replacing Decree 08/2015/ND-CP and Decree 59. /2018/ND-CP. Specifically, the proposed groups are related to customs value, handling of customs inspection results, goods in transit and transshipment, goods temporarily imported for re-export, temporarily imported for re-import and some different related issues.
For comments on the content of the draft document replacing Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC and Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, Ms. Tuong Thi Doan, representative of the Customs and Trade Facilitation Department Trade Association VLA also shared specific groups of proposed issues such as procedures, customs documents, customs value, goods in transit and in transit, and other related issues.
Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Le Duy Hiep, President of VLA Association shared that VLA has been trying to participate very extensively in the work of criticism and commenting on policies, especially during the recent pandemic. “Organizing today's conference is also an important mission of the Association. We appreciate the support of the customs authorities and the State management agencies. The development of the logistics service industry in the context of globalization, the industrial revolution 4.0 as well as the strong development of e-commerce has profoundly changed the traditional conceptions of the logistics industry. Therefore, the customs clearance regulations need to be updated in a timely manner, creating favorable conditions for businesses to operate better".
The workshop received a lot of attention, comments and questions from the business community. The comments are very specific, going into different issues from practical management experience, which is the basis for the General Department of Customs to continue studying and perfecting the documents to replace Decrees 08/2015/ND-CP, Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP and Circulars 38/2015/TT-BTC, Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC for practical values.
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