HCM City Customs quickly clear about 3,000 shipments for disease prevention and control

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Customs officers of the Express Cargo Customs Procedures Branch perform customs clearance for imported vaccine shipments.

Performing quick customs clearance

According to HCM City Customs Department, amid the development of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has called for and mobilized all domestic and foreign resources to participate in disease prevention and control.

Therefore, many organizations and individuals abroad have provided aid for the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic to the Government, ministries, government agencies and localities.

The aid shipments, including biological products, vaccines and medical equipment for disease prevention and control, are mainly imported from abroad to Vietnam via Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch and the Express Cargo Customs Procedures Branch under HCM City Customs Department have processed customs clearance for dozens of imported aid consignments and thousands of imports for commercial businesses, including medicine, biological products, vaccines, and medical equipment.

The Government has requested to quickly clear these items for disease control efforts. However, consignees include organizations and agencies that are not involved in import and export operation, so they do not fully understand regulations on import and export procedures. Therefore, they face difficulties in contact with the agency issuing the permit, and they have not yet met requirements on the import dossier.

In addition, due to the lack of logistics skills, the importers do not understand procedures and regulations on taxes to declare goods. Therefore, customs officers have spent lot of time to instruct the importers in carrying out customs procedures.

The customs officers are under pressure because they had to ensure quick clearance, while the importers have not yet completed the documents and procedures.

Strongly support customs clearance

Following directions of the leaders, HCM City Customs Department has provided a series of solutions to support individuals and organizations to quickly clear imports for the prevention and control of Covid-19.

The Director of HCM City Customs Department issued a decision to establish a Rapid Response Team to clear goods in a timely fashion.

The department advised the leader of the local government to propose the Prime Minister to apply a special mechanism for receiving the aid. The proposal was approved by the Government.

The local customs department has instructed import dossiers and procedures for goods related to pandemic prevention and control, and publicized regulations at the office and sent to individuals, organizations, hospitals and medical facilities to fully prepare dossiers, avoiding pressure at the border gate.

The department has assigned the Rapid Response Team to actively work with local government agencies and hospitals receiving the aid in carrying out customs procedures in an effective manner. The team is also required to coordinate with the border gate customs branch to support the consignee in receiving the goods.

Border Gate Customs Branches have performed customs procedures 24/7, regardless of working hours or holidays.

In the peak period of pandemic prevention (from May 1 to November 9, 2021), the department cleared 44 shipments of aid, 2,776 shipments of imports of medicine, raw materials, vaccines, biological products and medical equipment.

The Southern customs department has processed over 35 documents and 40 calls via the hotline requesting assistance in customs clearance and urgent clearance and supported customs clearance of goods for other localities.