Khanh Hoa Customs: 30 Years of Development

Khanh Hoa is one of the localities having favourable conditions to develop marine economy, in which Cam Ranh Bay has an important role in national defence and security and economic development. Cam Ranh International Airport is located in the centre of Cam Ranh Peninsula, one of the few major airports with long runways in Vietnam. Cam Ranh Port (Ba Ngoi Port) is one of the important trading ports in the port system of the South Central region, creating favourable conditions for the development of trade between Khanh Hoa and other localities of the country and abroad. In the north of Khanh Hoa, Van Phong Bay, which offers ideal natural conditions for the development of international deep-water port, is very convenient for ocean shipping and waterway services. It's the natural geographical conditions that give Khanh Hoa many advantages for economic development, especially in its key areas such as services, tourism and port industry.

 

Director of the Khanh Hoa Customs Department, Mr Ngo Son, said the department was established to meet the requirements of customs management. Initially, there were only five customs officers. Up to now, there have been 139 officers. Many of them are formally trained with high level of political theory, state management and professional skills. The management staff is getting younger.

 

The Customs Law has contributed to the process of administrative reform and facilitated the investment environment, business development, political security and sovereignty and interests of national security. However, there are also major challenges for customs sector in general and Khanh Hoa Customs in particular. Particularly, Khanh Hoa Customs has to quickly adapt to new methods of management, which transfer from pre-test, to post-test based on risk management information collecting and processing. Also it innovates customs management way of thinking. Previously, Khanh Hoa Customs considered enterprises purely management subjects; now it sees enterprises as partners in all if its activities. Personalising the responsibility of leaders at all levels and executive officers requires public servants to master their profession and to proactively handle all arising issues in the implementing of tasks. To be able to do this, the customs service should improve the system of legal documents. At the same time, customs officials and staff have to raise their level of expertise in all aspects, skills in applying information technology in professional work and gathering and processing of risk management information. Also they are equipped with necessary technical means for management work.

 

Especially since the beginning of the year, the unit has successfully implemented e-customs procedures at its branches. Imported and exported goods’ information, when going through customs procedures, is imported into a database system, which will auto-thread into three different test levels. On the basis of the flow distribution system, customs leaders decide to check the goods through appropriate forms, thus customs clearance time has been reduced gradually. On the basis of the automated flow distribution system based on risk assessment, customs clearance time has been reduced gradually, particularly for a shipment free of inspection, it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes. The rate of imported and exported goods free of inspection is quite high, approximately 65.04 percent in 2012. The number of import and export declarations of customs procedures, and import and export turnover is on the rise. In the first six months of 2013, exports and imports reached US$875.49 million, up 7.4 percent compared with the same period of 2012. According to Director Ngo Son, in recent years, along with strong growth of the investment activities of import and export, traffic means at the entry port in the province of Khanh Hoa also increased sharply. Besides, the number of cruise ships carrying foreign passengers from the USA, the UK, Canada, and especially from Russia, to Khanh Hoa for tourism has been increasing. Therefore, to ensure proper implementation of the law on customs, the Customs Department of Khanh Hoa province has enhanced monitoring immigration seriously and closely. According to statistics, from 2001 to 2012, the unit has conducted immigration procedures for 9,719 ship dockings and 1,252 plane landings with 194,860 passengers.

 

However, the most notable aspect of the unit is that when implementing measures to increase budget revenues, it has cleverly mobilized corporations to pay tax ahead of time. To be able do this, customs and enterprises must have mutual understanding and sympathy with each other's work, said Mr Ngo Son. By the end of 2012, the Customs Department of Khanh Hoa province exceeded the budget revenue plan with revenue of over VND3,525 trillion, reaching 129.7 percent of the target. Up to 15^th June, 2013, Khanh Hoa Department of Customs has collected over VND1,743 trillion, achieving 43 percent of the target, up 63 percent compared to the same period in 2012.