Continue to show transparency by measuring the release time

Mr. Kim Long Bien (pictured), Deputy Head of Customs Modernization Reform (General Department of Customs).

Correspondent of Customs Newspaper interviewed Mr. Kim Long Bien (pictured), Deputy Head of Customs Modernization Reform (General Department of Customs) about the implementation of the measure this year.

In the current context, the Government is very interested in improving the business environment, enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises, the Customs sector to implement the measure of time release of import and export goods each year is significant. How to reduce the clearance time of goods, sir?

The WCO Customs Clearance Index is used as a measure to assess the efficiency of trade facilitation, investment, and efficiency. The activities of the customs authorities and related parties in the process of carrying out procedures for import and export of goods. This is also reflected in the trade agreements that Vietnam has acceded to, such as the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement, point 6, Article 7, which states “encouraging members to measure and announce the average of release time periodically and in a consistent manner (such as the WCO TRS method).”

In 2013 and 2015, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) has been in charge of coordinating with relevant ministries and agencies to implement a time measurement of releasing export and import of interdisciplinary exports and imports with the participation of monitoring of VCCI and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

From 2016, in order to strengthen the effectiveness of management at each level of implementation (Department, sub-department level), the leaders at all levels know the status of implementation procedures at the unit, identify obstacles, build Action planning to reduce time, facilitate the enterprise at each level, the General Department of Customs has directed and guided the local customs department to measure the release time of the Department. The objective of measuring the release time is to evaluate the average time taken to clear the goods, the average processing time for each stage in the customs clearing process subordinate; identification of the steps involved, the factors that affect the customs clearance time of the customs office and the proposed measures to reduce customs clearance time; identify the original index, generate data to compare and evaluate the results of customs operations of the unit through each year.

The average time spent on release of goods is the basis for implementing a series of measures to reduce customs clearance time, such as: Promote the application of IT in customs procedures implementation (VNACCS/VCIS deployment, e-manifest, e-payment etc.); Strengthening the deployment and effective connection between the National Single Window and the ASEAN Single Window; Improve efficiency, reduce the time of specialized inspection of exports and imports; Proposals for the elaboration and amendment of the provisions of customs legislation and related laws in order to simplify and harmonize the import-export procedures; Reform structure, allocate resources to be used optimally; Implement measures to ensure customs integrity, improve transparency in customs operations; Solve problems with businesses and other stakeholders involved in the clearance process etc.

Could you tell us about the scope and methods of implementing the measure of time release of import and export goods in 2017, what are the new points compared with previous years?

As mentioned above, from 2016, in addition to the implementation of the time measurement of release of the sector, the General Department of Customs has directed and guided the local customs departments to organize self-measurement time release at the department level and annual reports; On this basis, the provincial/municipal Customs Departments shall determine their origin indices and set targets for reducing the time for carrying out customs clearance/release of import and export goods of the units for each year.

As of 2016, the General Department of Customs has also developed a number of tools for recording and outputting automatic time measurement data from IT systems, so that time data is relatively accurate.

In 2017, the General Department of Customs amended and added some functions to the E-customs system to assess and exploit as much as possible the time measurement data on IT systems to reduce the workload and the time in assessing, retrieving and aggregating time release data, resulting in faster and more accurate results.

In your opinion, in order to measure the time of goods to reflect the actual process of customs procedures, what should be addressed at the local customs units? And how is the supervision of the General Department of Customs carried out?

In order to measure the effectiveness of time, reflect reality, actively support the management of customs offices at all levels and implement measures to reduce the clearance time, need the efforts and active cooperation of the customs authorities at all levels and business community.

At the local customs department, leaders of units (department heads, heads of sub-departments) should pay attention and thoroughly understand and direct the units to accurately and effectively measure the discharge time at the department level; Use appropriate and effective measurement results in the control and management of the unit.

Implementing agencies actively study the guiding documents; thoroughly understand civil servants to implement in accordance with guidelines; To promptly report problems so as to be promptly supported and guided, avoiding errors and mistakes in the course of deployment and synthesis; Assign full-time staff time to master the method to implement time measurement in accurate and effective unit.

On the side, the General Department of Customs will actively assist local Customs in developing a detailed plan, measuring accurately; Provide timely instructions and solve problems for units during the implementation of the measurement. To inspect and supervise the measurement implementation process of local customs units in the IT system by exploiting and analyzing measurement data of units; Organize field inspection teams to check, control and guide the implementation of time measurement in some units. Build tools to collect, synthesize data, calculate time measurement results automatically so that the measurement is convenient, easy to control, give the most accurate results.

In addition, an indispensable part in measuring the release time is the business community. The business community should monitor the implementation of administrative procedures by the customs office; actively coordinate with the customs authority in the joint effort to reduce clearance time; improve capacity, enhance the responsibility of enterprises in the process of carrying out customs procedures.

Thank you, Sir!