Effectively developing Customs - Business partnerships

	Hanoi Customs attracted nearly 150 new enterprises implementing procedures
	Many innovations in developing Customs - Business partnerships
	Developing Customs - Business Partnerships: Efforts from both sides

Dialogue conference between the Ministry of Finance and Korean enterprises in the South. Photo: T.H

Diverse forms of partnership development

At the Dialogue Conference between the Ministry of Finance and Korean enterprises in the South on tax and customs procedures and policies held last week, the problems raised by the enterprises were not significant because the local customs units have implemented the development of Customs-Business partnerships.

Exchanging some information on customs activities in the South, Deputy Director General of Customs Nguyen Duong Thai said that the General Department of Customs has provided specific instructions on developing Customs - Business partnerships. The Southern Customs units have actively implemented these instructions to actively build and develop Customs-Business partnerships suitable for each management area. Typically, Binh Duong Customs Department printed many related documents on customs procedures, which are translated into Korean to serve enterprises, and actively exchanged and answered questions for the enterprises. Dong Nai Customs Department updated relevant information on the unit's website in multiple languages, including Korean. Along with that, answers for questions were translated into Korean and updated on the website.

In the spirit of cooperation to remove difficulties for enterprises, Deputy General Director Nguyen Duong Thai suggested that enterprises should continue to actively contact Customs authorities for direct guidance and should not wait for new dialogue conferences.

With the spirit of openness, enterprises also shared some existing problems. Deputy General Director Nguyen Duong Thai said that at the meetings in the North and the South, enterprises expressed problems on goods classification. The General Department of Customs recognized the problems and will solve them as soon as possible.

Enterprises satisfied

Appreciating the support of the Ministry of Finance for Korean investors in Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, Jeong Woo Jin, a representative of the Korean Embassy in Hanoi said that tax and customs-related issues are complicated, affecting many business activities of enterprises. Therefore, foreign corporations and enterprises pay attention to tax and customs policies, as well as the legal stability. Therefore, the associated support in terms of tax and customs procedures and policies is very important for enterprises.

The dialogue conferences between units under the Ministry of Finance and Korean businesses are important to the business community. In addition to the comments and proposals sent to the Ministry of Finance at many dialogue conferences, many questions arising were also answered by units of the Ministry of Finance, satisfying enterprises.

At the recent dialogue conference between Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department and the UK business community, Neill James, British Deputy Consul General of the UK in Ho Chi Minh City and leaders of the British Business Association all said that Ho Chi Minh City Customs is a close partner of the British Business Community in Ho Chi Minh City.

Currently, UK exports to Vietnam have increased 4 times compared to the previous period, while 45 percent of imports and exports of British enterprises pass through Ho Chi Minh City.

“With the support of Customs, it is certain that British enterprises will increase their investment into Vietnam. Therefore, in addition to the enthusiastic support of the Customs, we also need more support from other management agencies in Ho Chi Minh City,” Neill James said.

Not only satisfied with the support and customs procedural reform, Neill James also said that, in recent years, British agencies have cooperated well with the General Department of Customs and local Customs Departments in organizing training projects on establishing border control.

Sharing the same view, Alex Falter, Vice Chairman of the British Business Association said that British enterprises invest in Ho Chi Minh City with many industries, so it is necessary to have specific advice for each industry, especially considering the escalating trade war and changing tax policies. Enterprises expect to get updated information from Ho Chi Minh Customs Department. With specific commitments and solutions from the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, enterprises are excited and assured in expanding their investment in Ho Chi Minh City.

Regarding the efficiency of procedural reform of Ho Chi Minh City Customs, Alex Falter said that in 2011, many enterprises had difficulties in importing goods. However, with customs procedural reforms, customs clearance has been greatly improved and electronic procedures have replaced paper. The proportion of goods subject to the Red channel is significantly reduced and currently stands at only 5 percent. The conference with businesses today is a typical example of cooperation between Customs and businesses.

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In addition, businesses highly appreciate the application of risk management mechanism of Customs authorities in import and export activities for channel classification, which has greatly facilitated import and export activities. With the increasing import-export turnover of British enterprises, enterprises expect to reduce the rate of Yellow Channel and Red Channel declarations, which will help enterprises shorten time for import-export activities