Vietnam Customs detects violations of the CITES Convention

	Que Vinh Company imported 20m3 “Palo santo” without CITES certificate at Dinh Vu port
	CITES licensing under the National Single Window: No evolution
	CITES permits under the National Single Window: Difficulties for enterprises

The seizure of more than 9 tons of ivory at Tien Sa-Da Nang port (March 27, 2019)

Typical cases include the seizure of more than 1.8 tons of ivory and more than 6.3 tons of pangolin scales on October 5, 2018 at Tien Sa-Da Nang port; two consecutive seizures on January 25 and January 30, 2019 at Hai Phong port with a total of 2.8 tons of pangolin scales and more than 600 kg of ivory.

The Ministry of Finance has directed the General Department of Customs to strengthen its work against the illegal trade and transport of wild animals from handling procedures, collecting and analysing information, warning of risks, determining key areas and subjects of violations, detecting violations, and arresting and handling violations to strictly control these activities.

In order to proactively detect and promptly prevent violations, the Customs agency has also enhanced direct operations online 24/7 to monitor and analyse information based on the internal database, national single window database and other databases, and monitor online import and export activities at border gates, airports and seaports, promptly support local customs units to detect abnormal signs, as well as the methods and tricks employed by key subjects.

The General Department has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to effectively deploy the National Single Window. Specifically, this includes procedures for granting CITES permits and procedures for granting certificates of quarantine of animals, plants, animal products and plant products in imports, exports and transit. The implementation of these procedures through the National Single Window has great significance in linking and connecting management agencies and the Customs agency in the management of import, export and transit goods, contributing to facilitating, reducing time and costs for enterprises.

Regarding coordination, the Customs agencies at all level have closely coordinated with the competent forces in information sharing, patrol, control, detection and handling of smuggled items and groups of wild plants and animals.

From the beginning of 2018 until now, Customs agencies have taken the lead and coordinated with competent forces to detect and handle 17 violations related to wildlife, including a number of large cases. The most recent case is the coordination with the Department of Environmental Police (Ministry of Public Security), Police Department of Environmental Crime Prevention and Police for Investigation of Crimes related to Smuggling and Corruption (Da Nang City Public Security), Da Nang Border Guard Station discovered and arrested more than 9 tons of ivory at Tien Sa-Da Nang port on March 27, 2019.

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The Ministry of Finance has directed the General Department of Customs to actively strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation with customs forces and Interpol forces in the region and around the world. Thereby, developing and forming a cooperation mechanism, a focal point for exchanging and sharing customs intelligence with many countries.