HCM City Customs held a dialogue with more than 40 enterprises transporting goods

HCM City Customs Department hold a dialogue with enterprises transporting goods in transit. Photo: T.H

Chairing the conference, Deputy Director of HCM City Customs Department Nguyen Huu Nghiep said that Vietnam has advantages in seaports and waterways transportation and has signed commitments with other countries, so the type of goods in transit through Vietnam territory is facilitated to fulfill its commitments.

In the past time, besides many enterprises that have obeyed the law and complied with international practices on temporary import and re-export, transit, and transshipment of goods, several businesses have taken advantage of this activity to commit a violation; there are many cases where businesses and individuals take advantage of transit to bring banned and smuggled goods into Vietnam and have been detected and prosecuted by the Customs.

Therefore, besides trade facilitation, the Customs authority has implemented many measures to manage goods in transit to prevent the above violations strictly. However, this strict management method also affects enterprises transporting goods in transit with a high level of law compliance.

To facilitate enterprises transporting goods in transit to comply with customs laws, HCM City Customs Department proposed whether there should be a regulation on coordination between Customs authorities and businesses to connect and exchange information with each other. "Enterprises with information related to violations on transit goods can provide information and report to Customs authorities for classification and management of the business. However, if not, it is difficult for Customs authorities to have enough grounds to classify businesses and have solutions to serve businesses that comply with customs laws, "- Deputy Director Nguyen Huu Nghiep said.

To provide information related to goods transit activities, at this dialogue, the functional division of the HCM City Customs Department introduced important contents of regulations on goods in transit in current regulations, a system of relevant legal documents. In particular, the Advisory and Offenses Handling Division- HCM City Customs Department discussed the obligations of enterprises transporting goods in transit; sanctions for administrative violations; inform and warning enterprises about regular violations so that enterprises can prevent and comply with the law.

Through this dialogue, HCM City Customs Department leaders also want to exchange and listen to the suggestions and recommendations of businesses.

After listening to the opinion of enterprises transporting goods in transit, HCM City Customs Department answered and noted a problem and recommendation of the enterprise related to the regulations on the detailed declaration of goods, transportation routes, specialized inspection…

Leaders of the HCM City Customs Department direct border-gate customs branches when performing professional operations for goods in transit. They shall only conduct a physical inspection if detecting signs of the violation; Customs branches make more use of non-intrusive inspection tools, such as container scanners, etc. They also need to collect information and develop specialized projects to combat and promptly detect violations.

Through this dialogue, HCM City Customs Department also hoped that the documents and warnings of violations related to transit goods provided by the HCM City Customs Department at the dialogue would be shared and spread to other businesses engaging in this activity to comply with regulations.

"When the latest draft of the decree and circular guiding the goods in transit is developed, Customs authority will send the invitation for businesses to give comments and suggestions to be close to reality,” Deputy Director Nguyen Huu Nghiep said.