Department of Lang Son Customs deployed effectively the Declaration of serving customers

Civil servants of Huu Nghi Customs Sub-Department (Lang Son Customs) guide the customs clearance. Photos: H.Nu

Assessments of the business

The image of civil servants and the leaders of the department devoted to solving the problems of enterprises at the head office is not strange for enterprises when coming to the customs units in Lang Son. At some Sub-Departments, the deputy head of department do not use their own office, but join in the chain of procedures to catch up and handle the work quickly.

Obviously, it is not necessary to read the Declaration on Customer Service of the Customs branch which is hung in a solemn, easy-to-read and accessible place, just looking at the attitude and working style of customs officers here we find the friendliness as the requirements set out in the Customer Service Declaration.

Perhaps, it is the enterprises that regularly carry out import and export procedures that see the changes so clearly. Ms.Trinh Tu Anh, Director of An Do Trading and Agricultural Services Company Limited (Hanoi) specializes in importing agricultural commodities (carrying out procedures at Customs Sub-Departments of Huu Nghi and Coc Nam border-gate), shared: "Over 10 years of doing customs clearance at the Lang Son Customs Department, I found the procedure simpler. In the past when completing a profile, it usually took a session, but now only about 5 - 10 minutes. Especially, if there are any obstacles related to the new regulations, enterprises are guided by both civil servants and leaders of the customs department ... ".

With the same feeling, Nguyen Thi Hanh, Trung Hanh Ceramics Co., Ltd., said that, when coming to do customs procedures for goods clearance at the Lang Son border gate, the customs officials are very enthusiastic, guide procedures, publicize procedures, so export goods can be cleared quickly. In many cases, due to travelling long distances, enterprises want to settle procedures as fast as possible, and the civil servants are required to work overtime, who are appointed by the leaders of the department in accordance with regulations. With the spirit of work at Lang Son Customs, it has reduced pressure, reduced costs and time for many businesses.

When enterprises are asked about the quality of customer service in the context of the Government’s accelerated administrative procedural reforms for enhancing national competitiveness, many enterprises conducting their import-export activities value the enthusiasm in servicing, guiding, listening and answering arising problems in time by the Lang Son Customs Department.

According to statistics from Lang Son Customs Department, from the beginning of this year, the unit has received, processed and has done procedures for 50,751 declarations; Solving problems as required for 16 cases. Supporting and solving arising difficulties actively and promptly for people and enterprises in the process of participating in e-customs procedures on VNACCS/VCIS system with 1,949 participating enterprises; Processing 1,316 records of administrative procedures through the online public service system.

Completing revenue by declaration

2018 is considered a difficult year with the collection of import-export duties for Lang Son Customs Department, because up to the present time (July 31) the whole Department collected more than 1.455 billion, reached 35.49% compared to the assigned plan (4.000 billion). Comparing to the same period in 2017, this figure is down 31.3%. This is due to the tariff reduction schedule under the ASEAN-China Bilateral Trade Agreement (2015-2018), with many items enjoying special preferential rates (basically 0%). The structure of importing products through the area changed in the direction of the proportion of items with the most import tax reduction such as trucks and spare parts, tractors, trailer trucks, and Chinese concrete mixers. Especially, in the first six months of the year there were almost no companies importing Chinese trucks, due to Decision 49/2011/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister validated from 1/1/2018. Despite the low state budget collection, the Lang Son Customs Department has always put every effort into increasing revenue by strictly implementing and supporting the business activities of enterprises.

With the spirit of customer service, the customs sub-departments at the border gate of the Customs Department of Lang Son seriously carry out the slogan of accompanying taxpayers and customs declarers. Since the receipt of dossiers, inspection and implementation through electronic declaration were implemented synchronously, that has created the most convenience for customers.

Lang Son Customs Department has instructed the units to implement the Declaration of Customer Service, which is quantified as follows: Completion of the receipt of dossiers within 30 minutes, replying to questions from enterprises in no more than 5 days. Doing that, the spirit of "do all the work not by the time” is promoted again by Lang Son Customs officers. This has created the most favorable conditions for export and import customers. Moreover, the departments always meet customers actively, commit to creating conditions for enterprises to choose Lang Son Customs Department as the place for importing and exporting goods.