Dong Nai Customs: Consulting and answering problems for businesses online

	Dong Nai Customs Department: Control in parallel with support for businesses
	Dong Nai Customs removes problems on C/O issuance, imports of used machinery and technology for Korean enterprises
	Dong Nai Customs: Answering questions on tax deduction, C/O verification for Taiwanese enterprises

Consultancy and removal of problems for enterprises is one of the outstanding activities of Dong Nai Customs Department, which is highly appreciated by domestic and foreign enterprises. Photo: N.H

Answering more than 22,000 questions

In the performance of State management on customs in the province, Dong Nai Customs Department realized that the information exchange between the Customs office and the business community would greatly support the reform of administrative procedures.

Therefore, since 2000, the department has built a website to provide information, policies on import and export, and customs procedures for businesses. By 2005, in addition to arranging counters for businesses at the customs branches, the department continued to set up a Customs Procedure Advisory Group to meet the requirements of consulting and answering problems for businesses through the category "online Customs procedure consultancy”.

Currently, the Advisory Group consists of three officers, who are both in charge of reforming and modernizing the website and in charge of receiving and answering problems for businesses.

Deputy Head of Control and Supervision Division Ngo Minh Hai said that the Advisory Group receives about 10-20 questions per day. The group directly answers simple questions on the same day and will ask superiors for complicated questions and questions related to policies of sectors, which takes from three to five days.

All questions of businesses have been answered in detail by the Advisory Group. Thanks to the devotion of Dong Nai Customs officials, not only businesses in the province, but also businesses nationwide all have sent questions to Dong Nai Customs Department for consultation and answers. This caused the Advisory Group to encounter many difficulties.

Specifically, questions received by Dong Nai Customs have been diverse and related to many customs regimes and industries while businesses under the management of Dong Nai Customs are mainly export processing and production businesses, thus, Customs officials must take a lot of time to learn and ask other customs units to answer businesses.

According to a report of Dong Nai Customs Department, up to now, more than 22,000 questions of businesses have been answered through "online customs procedures consultancy". Particularly for businesses in Dong Nai, there were nearly 1,000 questions.

With only three customs officials, the answering of such a quantity of questions is impressive and it is likely that Dong Nai Customs Department is the only unit in the sector that can do it.

From 2016, Dong Nai Customs Department has upgraded the website. Accordingly, the category "Online Customs Procedure Consultancy" on the website and the Customs – Business Information Exchange system has been developed at level 4. When users submit questions on the website, the questions will be automatically sent to the email address of managers and uploaded so that administrators can monitor, answer and approve the content. When Dong Nai Customs Department answers, the answers will also be posted on the website and automatically be sent back.

Benefits for both Customs and businesses

To maintain the operation of the Customs Procedures Advisory from 2005 to now, it is thanks to the close attention and direction of the leaders of Dong Nai Customs Department. Deputy Director of Dong Nai Customs Department Nguyen Phuc Tho said that the unit always considered the reform of administrative procedures and business support as a key activity. In particular, answering and supporting businesses are of special interest to the Department leaders and this has been a strength of the department for many years. This is reflected through the Advisory Group receiving and answering a lot of questions from business across the country through the category “Online Customs Procedure Consultancy” on the department’s website, the category “Dong Nai Customs accompanying businesses” on Dong Nai Customs newspaper and Dong Nai radio and television.

According to Mr. Tho, customs procedures consultancy for businesses supports not only businesses but also customs officials. Because when businesses have understood the regulations, they will accurately fulfill customs declarations and obligations on customs duties, shortening customs clearance time. Customs officials will improve their knowledge and give consistent guidance. Dong Nai Customs Department will continue to pay attention, especially solving problems to help the business community understand the regulations and avoid unexpected errors and violations.

Dong Nai Customs: Strengthen the effective implementation of the VASSCM system VCN- Just over 1 month is the expiration period for warehouses, yards and port businesses that must ...

At a recent business dialogue in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy General Director of Customs Nguyen Duong Thai highly appreciated Dong Nai Customs Department's efforts in solving problems for businesses. In particular, the answers and questions were posted on the unit's website and translated into four languages: English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, helping businesses understand and refer easily to them.