Redesigning IT to improve capabilities of integration, connection and exchange of information

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Why is the task of redesigning the IT system set out now, sir?

Following the general policies of the Government and the Ministry of Finance and supporting people and enterprises in Customs, the General Department of Customs has enhanced IT application in fields under its management.

In the last five years, the IT application of the General Department of Customs has gained significant achievements. This is a motivation to build a modern, professional, transparent and efficient Vietnam Customs, contributing to fulfilling targets of customs reform, modernisation and trade facilitation, towards e- Government.

So far, the General Department of Customs has built a big IT system with more than 20 stable and smooth modules that cover and assist almost key fields under Customs management, such as customs procedures, tax payment, and goods management at seaports, risk management, post clearance audit, violation treatment, online public service, National Single Window and inter-sectorial management.

However, in addition to achievements, the Customs IT system revealed shortcomings and limitations, such as IT applications not covering all fields under Customs management and limited integration among systems. The IT system has not met the requirements for changes in law regulations and lacked backup IT modules. It has not applied new technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In the future, with the trend of economic integration and international trade, the IT application to reform administrative procedures, create favourable business environment, improve national competitiveness and modernise the Customs sector in particular needs to be strengthened and deployed effectively and widely.

Furthermore, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is directly hampering state management on customs and creating a great opportunity for the General Department of Customs to reform and modernise state management activities in order to improve capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of state management on customs and trade facilitation.

The current IT system no longer fully and effectively meets efforts of reform and modernisation.

To ensure effective implementation of the assigned political tasks, contribute to improving the business environment, improving national competitiveness and raising state management efficiency, the re-design of the Customs IT system is an urgent issue to build a new, smart and integrated system that covers all fields under state management on customs.

What is the goal of the redesign?

The overall goal of the project is to build a new IT system for the Customs sector based on the application of new technology, in line with international standards, towards "Digital Customs", to meet the requirements of smart administration; comprehensive management of enterprises, imports, exports and transits; means of transport on entry, exit and in transit from the first to the last stage.

At the same time, the new system will be able to integrate, connect and share information with ministries, sectors and enterprises through the National Single Window and be ready to exchange customs data with countries around the region and the world.

The important results of the project are creating a centralized and unified database to meet requirements on customs clearance and customs procedures for all fields under state management on customs; serving the target of customs management from transaction management to enterprise management; standardising data on the entire system compatible with data model of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and connecting data with the ASEAN Single Window.

Also, building a new IT system that is sustainable, capable of expanding and developing easily for changes of operational requirements and strong application of the Fourth Revolution Industry.

How will the new IT system affect and benefit the business community?

The redesign of the Customs IT system will affect the business community in two ways.

Firstly, the new IT system will help Customs agencies strengthen exchange of information with the business community. This helps Customs create more facilitation channels and reduce direct inspection channels for enterprises.

Secondly, the strengthening of information exchange will help the business community access Customs information including imports, exports and state budget remittance, thereby helping them save time and money when implementing import and export procedures.

The redesign will optimize operational processes to serve automation more professionally and effectively. Thus, the time for customs procedures of both enterprises and Customs agencies will be reduced.

Thanks to more optimal processes and faster implementation, the goal of reducing the time for goods clearance for enterprises will be achieved. In addition to connecting and reducing the time between the Customs and import-export enterprises, the system also helps to reduce time for exchanging information between Customs agencies and related agencies and partners such as ministries and sectors, warehouses, yards and port operators. Therefore, the time to release goods from warehouses, yards and seaports will be cut, reducing customs clearance time and costs for import and export enterprises.

In order to adapt to the new IT system of the Customs sector, the business community needs to prepare an IT system capable of exchanging information with the customs system in a deep and wide manner.

Thank you,