Customs policy has created a foundation for reform

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Officials of Customs Branch of Noi Bai International Airport border gate guide people and enterprises customs procedures. Photo: N.Linh

So far, the Customs legal document system and customs procedures have been developed on the principle of conformity with the general objective requirements of national administrative reform and closely following the institutional objectives set by the Strategy.

3 laws are built

Customs development strategy to 2020 has entered a sprinting phase, in which many targets have surpassed the set plan and institutional development has showed many achievements.

In fact, in recent years, the Customs sector has made great efforts in building customs laws. The spirit of administrative procedures reform and facilitation for trade activities has clearly shown in the contents of issued documents. Customs records have been simplified, unnecessary paper documents have been cut, and customs process has been rearranged to remove intermediate stages.

The construction of documents has been done according to the order and procedures prescribed; complied with the mechanism of public comments of relevant agencies, people, businesses in various forms such as documents, posting on electronic portals or through business associations, ect. Facilitated all people and businesses to participate in the drafting process, thereby bringing high practicality when the policy is issued and implemented in the reality.

During the implementation of the Customs Development Strategy to 2020, many law documents have been issued, creating a foundation for the state management on customs.

First of all, it is Customs Law. The Ministry of Finance (General Department of Customs) has developed and submitted to the competent authority to promulgate Customs Law No. 54/2014 / QH13 and guiding documents to meet the requirements of comprehensive renewal of customs operations on the basis of internalizing the international treaties which Vietnam has acceded to, and creating a legal basis for implementing modern customs management methods on the principle of applying risk management throughout the customs inspection, and supervision; shifting from pre-inspection into post-inspection, expanding the application of modern information technology and equipment in operations; building a contingent of professional Customs officials; widely applying information and technology in Customs units; widely deploying National Single Window mechanism and ASEAN Single Window mechanism, which has created a new turning point in customs modernization.

Secondly, it is Tax Administration Law. The Ministry of Finance (General Department of Customs) has participated in developing and submitting to competent authorities for promulgation of the law on amending and supplementing some articles of Law on Tax Administration No. 21/2012 / QH13, including tax administration for exported and imported goods, meeting the requirements of promoting tax administrative procedure reform; promoting the modernization of the tax and customs system in the direction of implementing risk management mechanism, accelerating electronic tax management, strengthening the role of relevant organizations and individuals; and enhancing measures to manage inspection, supervision and post-inspection.

Along with that, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) has participated in developing and submitting to the competent authorities for promulgating revised Law on Import and Export Tax (the National Assembly passed this Law on April 6, 2016), meeting the requirements of implementing international commitments and international treaties on import tax and export tax; amending the principle of building and promulgating tariffs and tax rates in accordance with the requirements of the integration context, tariff reduction according to the roadmap in some free trade agreements; encouraging and protecting domestic production and business; ensuring simple and favorable criteria for taxpayers; contributing to administrative reforms and improving the business environment and raising national competitiveness.

Creating a foundation for modern customs management

According to the General Department of Customs, over the past time, with efforts to reform procedures and standardize customs management to meet the requirements of modern customs and comply with international standards, Customs management regimes have been standardized in line with the provisions of the revised Kyoto Convention. Customs procedures are mainly carried out electronically on the VNACCS / VCIS system at all customs departments (35/35) with the database processed centrally at the General Department of Customs; special mechanism for authorized economic operators on procedures and security is according to WCO standards; modern technical equipment has been applied in customs inspection and supervision.

Reformation and modernization of customs from an insider’s perspective

Customs Law has created a legal basis for comprehensive implementation of e-customs procedures and information exchange before goods arrival. In particular, the automated system for Customs clearance system has brought remarkable efficiency and practical benefits to import-export businesses and the state management on customs. For enterprises, it has shortened customs clearance time, saved costs and limited errors in the data entry process and reduced the dependence on paper documents. The implementation of electronic customs procedures has exceeded the target. Therefore, with the implementation of VNACCS / VCIS system, right in 2014, e-customs procedures were carried out at 100% in customs departments, 100% of customs branches, 100% of key customs regimes, 99% of import and export turnover, and 99% of enterprises have implemented electronic customs procedures. The time for reception and clearance of Green channel is only 1-3 seconds, for the Yellow channel, the time for processing and checking documents is no more than 2 working hours. This result has been completed earlier than the roadmap stated in the Strategy.