Creating Most Favorable Conditions for Business Community

The Customs Development Strategy to 2030 was approved by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai under Decision 628/QD-TTg dated May 20, 2022.

The overall objective of the Vietnam Customs Development Strategy to 2030 is to build a modern Vietnam Customs on par with that of developed countries in the world, leading in the implementation of the Digital Government, with the models of Digital Customs and Smart Customs. The service quality will be improved to serve people and businesses in carrying out customs procedures and managing customs. The tax collection will be managed to ensure effective import and export activities. It is important to facilitate cross-border legal trade, tourism and transportation, to create a transparent and fair import and export environment, thus contributing to improving national competitiveness. It is essential to prevent and combat smuggling, trade fraud and illegal cross-border transportation of goods, thereby contributing to ensuring social security and safety and protecting national interests and sovereignty.

According to Decision 628 of the Prime Minister, the Customs Development Strategy to 2030 has set out the requirements and development perspectives of Vietnam Customs.

That is, the development of Customs must ensure the leadership of the Party and the management of the State; complying with the provisions of the law; ensuring synchronization and in line with the country's socio-economic development orientation and the State administrative reform program; according to international standards and practices on Customs development; implementation of international commitments to which Vietnam is a member.

At the same time, it is important to develop customs to facilitate trade activities, effectively combat smuggling and trade fraud; fully and comprehensively implement international commitments on import-export tax, customs and trade facilitation that Vietnam has signed; effectively respond to changes related to trade remedies in the context of increasing protectionism trends; improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the State management of customs and contribute to improving the national competitiveness.

It will develop customs by inheriting, developing the reform and modernization achievements that have been achieved, promoting the application of scientific achievements of the fourth industrial revolution, and continuing to comprehensively modernize the State management of Customs.

It will take reform and modernization as the basis, modernizing the customs management model as the focus, promoting the implementation of digital transformation in the customs industry as the foundation for the development of customs in the new period.

It will aim toward the goal of 100% of customs procedures to be digitized and carried out electronically; 95% of the documents in the customs will be converted to digital data (5% will be in special records such as confidential records, records used when the system has problems); 100% of basic customs control records will be converted to electronic data, moving toward digitization. Regarding tax management, tax debt management will be completely performed electronically by modern management methods.

The Customs Development Strategy to 2030 also sets seven goals for Vietnam Customs. In particular, the highlight is building a centralized, intelligently integrated customs information technology system to ensure the requirements of system information security, with a digital platform, it will be in line with the e-Government design, Digital government, international standards, ensuring strong application of scientific and technological achievements of the fourth industrial revolution. It will focus on building a system of modern infrastructure, machinery and equipment to meet the requirements of State management of customs in the new situation, implementing the National Single Window, the ASEAN Single Window, connecting with Vietnam's trading partners in order to maximize the centralization of handling administrative procedures, connection, exchange and sharing of information between customs authorities and ministries, sectors and functional agencies which are subordinate units and under the ministries, sectors and State management agencies at the border gate and relevant units participating in the supply chain to meet the requirements of comprehensive State management of customs from the beginning to the ending phase of export, import and transit of goods; exit, entry and transit of transport means.

By Le Hien, Vietnam Business Forum