The leader of the General Department of Customs emphasized that this situation shows the responsibility of the industry in encouraging and supporting enterprises to voluntarily comply with the law when importing and exporting.
According to Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong, Deputy Director of the General Department of Customs, out of more than 190,000 enterprises doing import and export activities across the country, only about 10% of the units comply with the customs law at an average level and high, accounting for over 83% of turnover and declarations.
This means that nearly 90% of businesses have only low or no compliance.
Target 80-90% of declarations are classified as green stream
Facing this situation, the leader of the General Department of Customs said that encouraging businesses to voluntarily comply with the customs law is one of the major policies of the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the customs industry.
“We determine this is the first responsibility of the customs authority. In the coming time, we will make efforts to maintain and improve the compliance level of the business community, through a pilot program to support and encourage businesses to voluntarily comply with customs laws”, he emphasized.
At the Conference on implementing and signing a memorandum of understanding on program implementation on the morning of September 16, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong said that in the first phase, about 266 enterprises were selected to participate, with all types including state-owned enterprises, FDI, small and medium enterprises, as well as various industry sectors.
These businesses will be organized by the customs authority to organize separate clearance flows, or arrange separate processing staff depending on the capabilities of each branch, through which businesses can save time and costs.
Hundreds of businesses will receive customs clearance support quickly when committing to voluntarily comply with customs laws. Photo: Quynh Danh.
According to customs statistics, the proportion of declarations processed under the green channel is currently more than 66%, the yellow channel is nearly 30%, the rest is red channel. Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong said that if the first phase is well implemented, the program will continue to replicate, reaching the green channel declaration rate of 80-90%.
At the same time, problems arising, even from specialized inspection agencies, will also be supported by the customs to act as a general focal point for reflection, recommendations and resolution. In addition, businesses will also be supported with training and consultation on customs mechanisms, policies and laws.
After 2 years of piloting, the General Department of Customs is expected to support about 300 businesses to gradually improve compliance, reaching 80% of medium and high compliance units. Within 5 years, strive to increase the percentage of enterprises complying with level 2 and level 3 to over 20% of the total number of enterprises engaged in import and export activities.
Coordination between many parties
To achieve these goals, in addition to the commitments from the customs, Mr. Hoang Viet Cuong suggested the business community to closely coordinate and spread the culture of voluntary compliance with the law. Business associations play a role in monitoring the program from both sides.
“In the past time, there are still certain gaps between businesses and customs authorities. With this program, we want the two sides to close the gap and establish a reliable partnership as a basis for facilitating trade, improving the competitiveness of enterprises,” he said.
On the other hand, he thinks that businesses should also seek the support of logistics agents. Currently, there are about 1,413 customs clearance agents for Vietnamese enterprises, but the number of declarations made through agents accounts for only 7%.
“We are very concerned about this number. Because according to international practice and the experience of some developed customs countries, the number of declarations through agents usually accounts for more than 90%. If you go through an agent, the customs declaration and the database put into the system will be more reliable. Therefore, in the program, we also coordinate with the associations to select reputable agents and have a mechanism to further facilitate the agencies”, the leader of the General Department of Customs shared.
For maximum effectiveness, the program is supported by the Trade Facilitation Project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Mr. Andy Allan, Senior Trade Facilitation Specialist of the project, emphasized that this is an example of the Government’s efforts in enhancing the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Vietnamese market.
USAID’s 5-year project (2018-2023) with a total capital of 21.7 million USD is committed to supporting the Government in adopting a risk management approach in the areas of customs and specialized inspection as well as supporting support to strengthen the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The ultimate goal is to help Vietnam develop a more attractive trade and investment environment for businesses and investors.
@ Zing News
