Customs policy towards processing in modern digital environment

Officers of Huu Nghi Customs Branch at work. Photo: H.Nu

According to Director of Customs Control and Supervision Department Au Anh Tuan, the Customs sector will focus on key tasks in 2022 such as accelerating the implementation of digital customs and smart customs and the Customs Modernization and Reform Strategy for 2021-2030.

The Customs authority will complete the legal basis to create a premise for implementing Digital and Smart Customs.

Specifically, the Department will continue to coordinate with units to finalize a number of legal documents as the basis for implementing customs modernization and reform.

In addition, the Department continues to complete the draft Decree and implement the Decree to renew the model of quality inspection and food safety inspection for imports under the Government Decision 38/QD-TTg when it is issued. According to the Director, these solutions will help cut and simplify procedures of customs, specialized inspection and import and export in a digital environment, facilitating businesses.

To execute the model of digital and smart customs, the Customs sector will review and perfect professional problems on smart customs as a premise for bidding, building and implementing a new system at the end of 2022 and early 2023.

In addition, the customs will improve the current customs procedures in the direction of approaching the digital and smart customs model such as requirements for implementation of procedures to automatically monitor goods at seaports, airports and land border gates.

Facing the booming demand for e-commerce goods in the current period, the General Department of Vietnam Customs also researches solutions to facilitate customs clearance such as building a system to handle problems and shortcomings for goods via e-commerce.

In addition, the Customs will invest in upgrading the customs system at the border gate areas to effectively control and facilitate businesses such as identification camera system, electronic barriers for cargo supervision at seaports; installing modern monitoring equipment, including scales, human-mounted cameras, container scanners, seals for monitoring at border gates, seaports and warehouses, Director Au Anh Tuan said.

In the 2021-2025 plan, the Customs authority will continue to coordinate with ministries and government agencies on reviewing legal documents related to specialized inspection of imports and exports to propose the Government to amend and supplement in the direction that one law will amend many laws, and the Customs office will be the focal point at the border gate to carry out inspections of import and export goods, including specialized inspection.

“This orientation is consistent with the development trend of Customs in some advanced countries such as the US, New Zealand, and China. This is an inevitable trend that Customs authorities will propose to senior authorities to submit to the Government to issue a mechanism to unify a focal point for inspection at border gates, reducing customs clearance while strengthening control and coordination among ministries and government agencies," said Tuan.