A working day in Online Customs Supervision Division

	Clearer responsibilities of port enterprises in Customs supervision of imported and exported goods
	Deploy 5 thematic programs of Customs – Business partnership in 2017
	Promoting the efficiency of mobile supervision vehicles in Customs control

View of the Online Customs Supervision Division. Photo: Quang Hung.

In the room of the Online Customs Supervision Division (located in the GDVC headquarters), Lunar New Year seems as if it hasn’t arrived. Customs officers of the Division still focus on monitoring the images on the large screen hanging on the wall. All image data is immediately connected from the Customs Branches at the border gates far away from hundreds to thousands of kms from the GDVC Customs headquarters and displayed clearly.

In the room with an area of more than 200m2, we were impressed by the modern machinery, with the many screens close together. Customs officers were paying a great deal of attention to observing 54 screens and monitoring all movements of people and goods across border gates, airports and seaports. From operating on the system the Customs officers there could easily watch images from more than 500 cameras at border gates, such as from Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Ha Noi, Da Nang etc. Supervising the image of each container in and out of ports, or people in procedure areas on the screens, we thought as if we were at Cat Lai Port, Tan Son Nhat Airport (Ho Chi Minh City); Dinh Vu Port, Tan Vu (Hai Phong). All the images were displayed detailed and clearly. Each container number and the name of goods on the packages are monitored via the large screen.

As of March 2017, the GDVC promulgated regulations on online duty and supervision. According to the assignment of the GDVC’s leaders, professional departments, including Custom Control and Supervision Department, Post Clearance Audit, and Verification Department, assign officials and civil servants who have experience in the Customs operations to participate in online duty and supervision. The aim of this work is to implement instruction from leaders at levels and handle information and situations for carrying out Customs procedures promptly; detect, prevent and handle unlawful acts.

Sharing in happiness about the achievements, the leader of the Division said that through the online duty and supervision, the Customs force has actively researched, analyzed, assessed and provided warning information and sent 100 faxes to request provincial and municipal Customs Departments to review, inspect and adjust the Customs operation.

For example, to check for information with suspicious signs on declared value, imported goods code, and valuation assessment. Some provincial and municipal Customs Departments have considered and requested to review responsibility of Customs officers making errors in carrying out Customs procedures (by reducing them to a lower rank and moving them to other working positions).

In addition, the duty force has also regulated the careless supervision of some Customs officials for some declarations which are registered outside border gates and transported not in line with registered routes, and declaration of goods temporarily stored at bonded warehouses. On the other hand, checking declarations which were approved by the Customs to store upon the proposal, but some businesses still store goods not in accordance with registered places to implement physical inspection.

Some officials of the Division said that the Customs check points where they are not equipped with camera system, the mobile supervision vehicles are then the support tools for the supervision of the Division. Currently, the GDVC has 4 vehicles which are equipped with modern equipment, such as with a high fidelity camera system, secret camera and wireless camera, which can record images, especially at night. The vehicles are often used nationwide for special supervision, facilitating the Customs force to actively supervise anywhere.

As of the end of 2017, the mobile supervision vehicles were used for online supervision in the implementation of the plan on fighting and preventing smuggling, and illegal transport across tracks and trails in Vietnamese-Chinese border gates areas. As a result, in two provinces: Lang Son and Quang Ninh, the competent agencies discovered and arrested 1,700 cases of violation and collected more than VND 20 billion to State budget.

54 screens are connected with over 500 cameras at border gates.

The connection and integration with the camera and scanning system for luggage, cargo and containers, and electronic car weighing systems has provided information and images directly to the GDVC, and created an effective supervision channel between 3 levels in implementing Customs procedures at Customs checkpoints in accordance with provisions and ensures publicity and transparency. The Customs force has also mastered applying advanced technology to supervise and immediately detect and give early warning for many commodities with risks of smuggling from abroad into Vietnam. Therefore, in each detected violation case, the mobile supervision vehicles are used effectively for remote instruction and management and warn and prevent violations.

In one day at the Online Customs supervision Division as observers, we realized that the work here seems to be simply and actually very hard. We are used to looking at computer screens, but we can not look for long time at the screens hanging in the Division, because there are too many images. With these many images, Customs officers are in charge of analyzing and evaluating, and sometimes requiring directly the local Customs units to adjust their procedures and implement physical inspection.

From supervision, monitoring and analysis on the system, Customs officials will coordinate with local Custom officers to inspect and supervise passengers, and for imported and exported consignments. Many cases of violations were discovered with the cooperation of the Online Customs Supervision Division, we have often been told that the Customs officers here are behind the successes, and they are the special force in the digital age.