Quang Nam Customs: Ongoing Modernisation for Business

2:33:58 PM | 23/7/2018

With the support and direction of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Provincial People’s Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee; the coordination of provincial departments; and the endless efforts of all employees, the Quang Nam Customs Department has comprehensively implemented consistent regulations and solutions on customs, thus fulfilling two important tasks assigned by the Party and the State: Creating favourable conditions for trading and investing activities and making clear changes in State management over customs; and contributing to the province’s socioeconomic development.

Trade-facilitating solutions

To implement Resolutions 19 of the Government on major tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness, one priority solution fulfilled by the Quang Nam Customs Department is accelerating the reform and simplification of customs procedures and gradually modernising customs. Particular attention has been paid to the stable operation of the VNACCS/VCIS system; the deployment of online public services; the implementation of the National Single Window and ASEAN Single Window; and the launch of electronic tax payment via banks to enable tax collection and customs clearance around the clock. Up to now, the VNACCS/VCIS system has truly become the core customs system in clearing export goods; all the customs procedures have been conducted electronically; all the taxes and fees have been collected electronically through commercial banks; and tax information has been processed quickly.

From its efforts for thorough reform of administrative procedures, the department has helped shorten the time required for customs clearance, facilitating trade, import and export activities, reduce costs and improve competitiveness for the local business community. Specifically, in 2017, the average time a company spent filing declaration forms on the system until the clearance/release of export goods is only 2 hours 58 minutes 42 seconds and, for import goods is 16 hours 23 minutes 48 seconds, meeting the targets set in Resolution 19/2017/NQ-CP dated February 6, 2017 by the Prime Minister. At the end of 2017, cross-border export clearance take 70 hours and imports need 90 hours for clearance.

Mr Le Thanh Khang, Director of Quang Nam Customs Department, said, right from the start of 2018, the department has consistently and resolutely carried out a series of measures to facilitate import and export activities to increase tax revenue, and speed up the application of professional measures to prevent tax loss and collect debts. The department has paid particular attention to preventing tax loss due to commodity price, tariff rates and C/O attached to the duty of each customs officer and customs unit. Despite numerous difficulties and challenges, in the first four months of 2018, the department cleared customs procedures for more than 282 enterprises, settled 18,886 customs declarations for commodities worth more than US$797.04 million, paid VND1,898 billion to the State Budget, fulfilling 45.2 per cent of the target value set for the whole year.

Guided by "Customs sector in partnership with the business", the Quang Nam Customs Department always focuses on addressing problems and difficulties facing the business community, avoiding import and export congestion. The province also regularly publicises and lists administrative procedures at administrative agencies responsible for receiving and handling procedures, on internal networks and on websites; strengthens dissemination and education of laws for cadres and civil servants; communicates, supports and provides information for customs declarers and taxpayers; and operates telephone hotlines around the clock. At the same time, the department attaches much importance to cooperating with the business community and changing the perception of its agents from administering enterprises to serving them as partners.

With tireless efforts, the Quang Nam Customs Department has gradually asserted itself, importantly supported and facilitated enterprises, particularly FDI firms, to carry out their investment, production, business, import and export activities, thus helping speed up the international economic integration and socio-economic development.

Building professional - transparent - efficient customs

In the process of construction and development, the customs sector has defined personnel as a decisive factor to execute political tasks. In order to foster its personnel, strengthen the link between the customs offices at all levels, the General Department of Vietnam Customs issued many regulations on inspection, control and supervision of customs services at relevant units.

As directed by the General Department of Vietnam Customs on the determination of building a professional and modern customs force and preventing trouble and harassment caused by customs officers, the Quang Nam Customs Department regularly guides and urges its affiliated units and mass organisations to tell their employees to seriously carry out documents, plans and directives from superior authorities. Through monthly meetings, its affiliated units report on implementation of discipline and recommend measures to deal with offending employees. The observation to the directive is taken as one of employee performance assessment criteria. For that reason, all staff at its affiliates strictly follow working regulations, absolutely comply with the Declaration on Customer Service of the sector and efficiently use working time as prescribed. They regularly update new documents, actively advise on the implementation of documents; promptly report any problems arising in actual affairs to their superiors. They are not allowed to extrude their duties and forward their works to other units or to the department if they are authorized to undertake. At the same time, the Quang Nam Customs Department always listens to feedback from individuals and organisations when it performs its official duties; reforms administrative procedures and processes and timely solve problems against enterprises in the principle of "Professional - Transparent - Effective Service”.

He said that building the workforce is a regular, continuous task assigned by leaders of the General Department of Vietnam Customs in general and the Quang Nam Customs Department in particular in a bid to construct a modern, professional and effective customs force. Based on that direction, the central mission of the department in the coming time is restructuring the organisation and the staff to streamline the apparatus and enhance employee performance to meet new working requirements; consistently carrying out personnel planning, training, appointment and rotation; intensifying public-duty inspection to ensure administrative disciplines and combat corruption and negative manifestations in delivering public services. At the same time, the department encourages all employees to work harder to better facilitate exporting, investing and tourism activities of the local business community, and helps develop Quang Nam into a development nucleus of the Central Coast and the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Cong Luan