What does the picture of customs clearance agents show? Part 1: Customs clearance agents have not performed their role fully

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Professional activities at Noi Bai International Airport Customs Branch. Photo: N.Linh.

Enough basis for agents to grow

The customs clearance agency is an enterprise operating in the field of logistics, which is recognised by the General Department of Customs as eligible for providing Customs services, including guiding customs procedures and tax administration for goods owners; representing goods owners to declare and carry out customs procedures for import and export goods under contract agreements.

With the professional qualification and equipment system, the customs clearance agents are expected to be a ‘bridge’ to help Customs authorities and import-export enterprises to follow customs procedures and make customs clearance on time. The customs clearance agents are not only an "extended arm" of Customs agencies but also a bridge between Customs authorities and Import-Export enterprises to reduce workload in the context of increasingly active import-export activities and volume of goods, meanwhile the resources of both Customs and Import-Export enterprises are limited.

According to Au Anh Tuan, Acting Director General of Customs Control and Supervision Department (General Department of Vietnam Customs), to ensure the legal basis for this activity, the current system of legal documents has been completed, from the Customs Law and the Government's Decrees, the Ministry of Finance's Circular specifies the management and development orientation of the customs clearance agents. In particular, following the policy of trade facilitation and guidelines on reforming and simplifying administrative procedures of the Government, the Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 22/2019/TT-BTC amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 12/2015/TT-BTC with the aim of reforming and simplifying administrative procedures but ensuring the management of customs agency; protecting the interests of businesses importing and exporting goods, the customs clearance agents strictly obey the law; avoid taking advantage of smuggling and trade fraud. At the same time, creating a legal basis for implementing activities to support the customs clearance agents in the direction of professionalisation within its role.

After a process of forming agents, the number of contracts for the provision of services and the customs clearance agents’ services has been increasing. Currently, more than 1,000 Customs Clearance Agents have been recognised as eligible to operate by the General Department of Customs. The General Department of Customs has also issued codes to about 1,800 employees of these agents. The customs clearance agents are distributed nationwide and are concentrated mainly in the provinces and cities with large import and export activities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Quang Ninh. It plays an important role in helping customs authorities and import-export enterprises to carry out procedures properly and quickly.

Many limitations

Despite achieving certain results, according to Mr. Au Anh Tuan, the customs clearance agents have not developed as expected and there are still many limitations. Customs agency activities are not operated properly by customs clearance agents as they failed to comply with the law, the number of customs declarations at the customs clearance agents is not high.

Many enterprises meet the requirements and are recognised as the customs clearance agents but do not play in its role and do not generate customs declarations. Their purpose is to increase credibility with customers or sign a service contract but use the shipper's digital signature to make customs clearance. In particular, the human resources of the customs clearance agents are limited, an average of 1.8 staff members of each unit recognise and grant the code; while the actual amount of work generated is relatively high. With limited human resources, the customs clearance agents will face many difficulties when conducting business activities.

According to the leader of the Customs Supervision and Control Department, the cause of the above situation is that the specialized management agencies have not recognized the role of the customs clearance agents in acting on behalf of goods owners to carry out specialized procedures for import and export goods, despite the provisions of law. Besides, there is currently no support mechanism, clear priority for customs clearance agents.

The operation of customs clearance agents is not equal, some of them are still unprofessional, have not properly performed the role of the customs clearance agents, have not demonstrated the role of consulting and guiding management policies, import and export procedures, and are responsible for the results of consultation and guidance after the goods have been cleared.

In some developed countries, the number of declarations handled at the customs clearance agents accounts for a very large proportion. According to documents from the Department of Customs Supervision and Control (WCO), 20 countries have commonly used customs clearance agents, with the average number of customs declarations of 85.5%, with even some countries reaching 99.9%. The trend of making customs declaration and clearance through customs clearance agents is also increasing over the years due to the benefits that customs clearance agents can bring to import-export enterprises. Meanwhile, customs clearance agents in our country have not developed in line with the potential and with a very open economy, and the import-export turnover has increased rapidly year on year.

Hiring for making declaration

According to Deputy Director of Import-Export Tax Department, Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, there are more than 400 customs clearance agents in Ho Chi Minh City. But the number of declarations signed and sealed by the customs clearance agents is low, accounting for less than 10% of the total of import and export declarations. Meanwhile, in developed countries, the number of declarations signed by agents is quite large. For example, Japan accounts for about 90% of the total number of import and export declarations.

Le Van Trien said that the high proportion of import-export enterprises trusting the customs clearance agent is due to having a highly-professional business sense. The customs clearance agent of these countries not only have equipment and capacity to transport goods, but also mastering the knowledge of import and export, customs procedures, especially in tax declaration and determination of taxable value, applying HS codes, customs professional skills.

On the other hand, although the rate of declarations signed and sealed by the agent only accounts for less than 10% of the total of import and export declarations, according to Trien, if calculating the declarations with the role of the customs clearance agents, which helps the goods owners to prepare information on import and export declaration, this rate in our country may reach 80% of the total number of import and export declarations.

In this way, the customs clearance agent has not fully performed its role of customs declaration on behalf of enterprises; submitting a set of customs documents related to the import and export shipments as prescribed and performing all or part of the work related to customs procedures, tax obligations, as well as resolving complaints about tax issues with the Customs, based on the contracts with goods owners.

The Customs Department of Da Nang said that there were more than 30 customs clearance agents under its management recognised by the General Department of Customs. However, the customs clearance agents only make declarations or act as freight forwarders for customers. Meanwhile, other important procedures such as signing and sealing customs declarations, paying taxes, charges and fees were made by the goods owners. That means the staff of the customs clearance agents takes the recommendation letter from the enterprises that have the import and export goods as an employee of the import-export enterprise to make procedures at the Customs branches.

According to the Customs Department of Da Nang, there is the difference between the professional qualifications of the customs clearance agents’ staff members, many of them have not actively researched and regularly updated goods management policies and customs procedures, especially after making mistakes when making declarations, mainly related to the operation of commodity codes, tax calculation values and the liquidation of processed goods and manufactured goods.