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Exported lychee inspected by customs officers at Lao Cai international border gate.

Ensure pandemic prevention and control

At Hai Phong Customs Department, which manages the largest seaport area with the largest movement of import and export goods in the North, during the fourth outbreak of the disease (the end of April), the unit has urgently taken drastic measures to prevent and control the pandemic.

Chief of Office of Hai Phong Customs Department Vu Anh Tuan said that in the early days of the fourth outbreak, the Director of Hai Phong Customs Department and the Department's Steering Committee for Covid-19 Disease Prevention and Control issued many directives.

All customs officials and public servants, employees have been requested to raise their awareness and responsibility in disease prevention and control, always wear masks away from home and at work; guide their relatives to strictly observe pandemic prevention and control, comply with the instructions on medical declaration of the local governmentsand other requirements in the fight against the pandemic.

In particular, the leaders of the units must be responsible for the medical declaration of officials and employees at their units, and report to the Steering Committee for the Department’s Covid-19 Disease Prevention and Control for consideration and strict treatment of dishonest medical declarations.

Notably, Hai Phong Customs Department has three branches located outside Hai Phong: Hai Duong Customs Branch, Hung Yen Customs Branch and Thai Binh Customs Branch, which have overcome difficulties in a timely fashion and prepared all necessary conditions to arrange public officials and employees to work and live at the headquarters; and actively designed scenarios to settle procedures and ensure the convenient transit of import and export goods.

At Lao Cai Customs Department, Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch is the key unit for customs clearance of goods, especially agricultural products. To the end of May, the total import-export turnover at the branch reached nearly US$650 million, a sharp increase of more than 30% year-on-year.

According to Deputy Director of Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch Nguyen The Hung, from early May to June 2, the branch cleared about 11,000 tons of lychee for export, with a turnover of nearly US$6.6 million. From the beginning of June, more than 1,000 tons of lychee per day are cleared at the branch on average.

Maximize resources

So far, Tan Thanh border gate is still the sole border gate in Lang Son province at which traders and businesses carry out procedures to export lychee to China. According to statistics from Tan Thanh Customs Branch (Lang Son Customs Department), the branch carries out export procedures about 15-20 vehicles per day, the number can reach 70-100 vehicles per day for the main crop. From May 1 to the end of June 2, Tan Thanh Customs carried out customs clearance procedures for more than 3,200 tons of lychee exports with a value of US$743,541.

Ms. Hoang Thi Thieu Hoa, Deputy Director of Tan Thanh Customs Branch, said that to create the fastest customs clearance for fresh lychee, the unit has taken the initiative to support customs clearance procedures. The unit has conducted separate channeling for lychee products and arranged a dedicated area for vehicles carrying lychee; and arranged customs officers on duty from 7am to 7pm, torelease lychee shipmentfastest and avoid damaging the lychee products due to hot weather.

To prevent and control the Covid-19 pandemic, after arriving at the border gate, the vehicles removed to the dedicated yard. Bac Giang drivers will be taken to concentrated isolation, goods and vehicles will be inspected, sprayed and disinfected and driven by specialized drivers at the border gate. Therefore, the transportation goods from Bac Giang as well as other pandemic-affected areas is strictly controlled in accordance with regulations on the pandemic prevention and control, Hoa said.

Smooth customs clearance

In May, given the efforts of Customs, the pandemic prevention and control work andcustoms clearance in the two key import-export areas were ensured.

At Hai Phong Customs Department, in May, the department handled procedures for nearly 191,000 declarations, up 6,000 declarations, month-on-month; and collected US$9.8 billion, up about US$700 million.

Of which, the unit with the largest number of declarations and turnover is the customs branch at export processing parks and industrial parks with nearly 44,000 declarations and a turnover of more than US$3.1 billion, up US$100 million compared to April.

Director of the Customs Branch of Customs in charge of export processing parks and industrial parks Nguyen Truong Son said: The branch is managing fiveexport processing parks and industrial parks in the area including Trang Due, Nomura, VSIP, Nam CauKien and An Duong with about 200 enterprises regularly carrying out procedures. The largest proportion is the group of electronic goods, high-tech goods.

"With effective pandemic prevention and control measures and the efforts of the Customs, customs clearance at the branch in May was stable," said Son.

At four border gate customs branches (Hai Phong port area 1 Customs Branch, Hai Phong port area 2 Customs Branch, Hai Phong port area 3 Customs Branch and Dinh Vu port border gate customs) the number of declarations and turnover in May also remained stable like April.

Director of Hai Phong port area 2 Customs Branch Nguyen Thi Thu Hien said that compared to April, the total number of declarations in May of the branch rose by 2%, the turnover rose by 1% and the tax revenue rose by 4%.

Customs further enhance implementation of "dual goals" during the Covid-19 epidemic VCN - Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control, and measures to facilitate import and export activities, continued to ...

"The branch is still maintaining pandemic prevention and control measures and implementing options to ensure the customs clearance during the pandemic," said Hien.