Step by step support for businesses to improve compliance with customs law

	Businesses benefit from voluntarily complying with customs law
	Customs concentrates on communication, dissemination and legal support for enterprises
	Piloting support for enterprises voluntarily complying with Customs Law

The workshop.

The workshop on the implementation of the pilot program for voluntary compliance with the Customs law and the MOU signing ceremony was jointly held by the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on September 9 in Hai Phong.

The pilot program aims to support and encourage enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws towards improving the compliance level of all enterprises after the two years of implementation (80% of enterprises with medium and high compliance levels).

The enterprises participating in the program will be the disseminators to help other businesses have better awareness of voluntarily complying with the law.

Participation in the program will benefit businesses and improve the management efficiency of Customs and State management agencies, create a healthy business environment, and improve national competitiveness.

Therefore, enterprises must comply with the law by closely coordinating with the Customs to re-evaluate the current compliance with the customs law to point out factors and causes affecting compliance, thereby providing a specific strategy to gradually improve towards building a voluntary compliance plan.

The Risk Management Department is the focal unit to coordinate with other departments under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Vietnam Federation of Trade and Industry (VCCI) and business associations to promptly grasp problems and provide detailed instructions to achieve the target.

At the workshop, Deputy Director General Hoang Viet Cuong said that this is a pilot program, so the selection of participants is also carefully considered. About 266 enterprises have participated in the program in the first phase, including State-owned enterprises, FDI enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, and import and export enterprises. Therefore, Customs will have an overview to develop appropriate methods for each business type.

“In this phase, we will give priority to customs brokers. Currently, there are 1,413 key customs brokers across the country. Customs brokers carry out about 7% of Customs declarations. In the next phase, the number of enterprises participating in the program will gradually increase depending on the conditions and capabilities of each locality,” said Deputy General Director Hoang Viet Cuong.

The leader of Hai Phong Customs Department signs MoU with enterprises.

At the workshop, the USAID’s representative spoke that the Trade Facilitation Project, funded by USAID, is worth more than US$21.7 million, which will be implemented for five years (2018-2023) and aims to support the Vietnamese government in applying risk management to customs procedures and specialized inspection procedures, strengthening the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement of the World Trade Organization.

The project works directly with the General Department of Vietnam Customs to standardize administrative procedures, enhance coordination between central and local authorities, and improve the capacity of Customs officers.

The project aims to help Vietnam improve its trade and investment environment to attract foreign businesses and investors further.

At the workshop, leaders of the Customs Departments of Hai Phong. Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Quang Ninh signed a Memorandum of Understanding to implement the pilot program with import-export enterprises in the area.