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Customs officers at Ha Tinh Customs Branch guide enterprises administrative procedures related to Customs. Photo: H.Nu

Under the request of the business community to the General Department of Customs on the need of further study on amending inappropriate legal documents, Deputy Director General of Customs, General Hoang Viet Cuong said, under the direction and guidance of the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs have taken many measures to further improve the business environment, enhance national competitiveness and support and develop enterprises.

During implementing and developing legal documents related to Customs, the General Department of Customs shall always update and amend to match with the reality and consulting units in and out the sector, importers and exporters in the development of those documents.

Recently, the General Department of Customs has proposed the Government to issue Decree No. 59/2018 / ND-CP dated 20th April 2018 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 08/2015. / ND-CP dated 21st January 2015 of the Government on detail regulations and measures to implement the Customs Law on Customs procedures, inspection, supervision and control. Before its issuance, the General Department of Customs also drafted and widely consulted the ministries, agencies, state management agencies and business community.

At present, the General Department is also receiving, adjusting and finalizing the draft decree regulating the implementation of administrative procedures via National Single Window, ASEAN Single Window and specialized inspections for imported and exported goods as appraised by the Ministry of Justice; proposing the Ministry of Finance to sign a document to unify Government's Decree No. 01/2015 / ND-CP of 2nd January 2015 detailing the Customs operation areas, coordinating responsibilities for fight against smuggling and illegal trafficking of goods across borders, and Government's Decree No. 12/2018 / ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 01/2015 / ND-CP; verifying to send to the Ministry of Justice for summing up and submitting to the Prime Minister for approval of items in the law dictionary on import and export duties; and issuing Circulars guiding the verification of the origin of imported and exported goods under the framework of free trade agreements to which Vietnam acceded.

Particularly, the General Department of Customs has also consulted the business community to complete the draft Circular amending Circular 38/2015 / TT-BTC on Customs procedures; Customs inspections and supervision; import duty, export duty and tax management for imported and exported goods to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance for signing an issuing decision in the coming time.

However, representatives of the General Department of Customs also acknowledged that the law dissemination of Customs is limited, so that enterprises have not timely caught the Customs legal documents to apply to their business and import and export activities. In particular, the disclosure of administrative procedures has not been attached any importance by some Customs units. In some other units, the headquarters are small and narrow, so the listing and disclosure of administrative procedures are not implemented in accordance with the law.

In addition, the legal system on specialized inspection for imported and exported goods also causes inadequacies, difficulties and is time consuming for enterprises. Despite reviewing and listing, some ministries still delayed to amend and supplement the legal documents on specialized inspections. The coordination between a few of the specialized inspection agencies has not been close with Customs.

Meanwhile, there is no general and comprehensive guiding document on the National Single Window. Some ministries and sectors have not implemented it drastically because this is a new method. The information and technology infrastructure of the ministries and sectors is not uniform and sufficient. The investment procedures are still complicated. The number of administrative procedures carried out via National Single Window is small, which are obstacles that make it difficult for enterprises to access the State policies and laws , the representative of the General Department of Customs emphasized.

Together with tasks assigned by the Ministry of Finance, the improvement of Customs policy and legislation is also considered as a top priority target. In order to promptly guide the business community in quickly grasping the State's policies related to business and Customs import and export activities, the General Department of Customs shall acquire and promptly overcome the existing problems. Focus on developing and improving Customs policies and laws. Regularly reviewing the Customs legal system to advise and propose to issue, amend, supplement, and replace or abolish, documents in order to improve the Customs legal system. At the same time, solving problems arising in reality, meeting the management requirements of the sector.

In the coming time, to reach the targets and tasks set out in Decision 2026/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, the General Department of Customs will take the initiative in coordinating with the specialized management ministries to comprehensively reform the institutions, policies, and inspection measures related to specialized inspections for imported and exported goods under the Prime Minister’s direction. Continuing reviewing and amending legal documents towards accessing the actual operations of the business community.

The spending levels for the preparation of the legal documents. VCN- The Ministry of Finance has issued Circular 338/2016/TT-BTC of the regulations on cost estimates, management, use, ...

However, in addition to the efforts of the Government, the ministries and sectors in general and the General Department of Customs in particular, the initiative of the business community also plays an important role.