Digital transformation in Customs sector is a revolution

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Customs Tran Duc Hung speaks at the workshop. Photo: T.Binh.

Towards paperless customs

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Customs Tran Duc Hung chaired the Workshop.

The workshop was attended by representatives of nearly 20 domestic and foreign IT enterprises; representatives of departments and units of the General Department of Customs.

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Director General Tran Duc Hung emphasized that the General Department of Customs has promoted the application of IT and digital transformation in state management of customs.

So far, the Customs sector has completed the 5E targets (E-Declaration; E-payment; E-C/O; E-Permit and E-Manifest) on IT application in state management of customs, built a centralized IT system at the General Department level to serve the state management of customs, which operates stably, smoothly, covers and supports most of the key areas of customs management.

With the achieved results, in 2019, the General Department of Customs was awarded the State Agency with Excellent Digital Transformation in 2019 by the Vietnam Digital Communications Association.

"In addition to the achieved results, the IT system of the General Department of Customs still has limitations because it has been built and put into use for a long time. There are core systems such as the VNACCS/VCIS, which was put into use since 2014, but they cannot meet the requirements of digital transformation and technology application of the Fourth Industrial Revolution," the Deputy Director General emphasized.

Director of the Customs IT and Statistics Department Le Duc Thanh present the IT system to implement digital customs. Photo: T.Binh.

The Government and the Ministry of Finance have paid special attention and given many close and strong instructions to the digital transformation and the construction of an IT system to implement digital customs.

The Customs Development Strategy to 2030 (according to Decision No. 628/QD-TTg dated May 20, 2022 of the Prime Minister) sets out the goal of "Building a centralized, smart integrated customs IT system that ensures the requirements of system information security, with a digital platform, in line with the architecture of e-Government, digital Government, international standards, strongly applying the scientific and technological achievements of the fourth industrial revolution".

On April 17, 2024, the Prime Minister signed Official Dispatch No. 245/TTg-KTTH on promoting digital transformation in the customs sector, requiring the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs to "upgrade the IT system towards digitizing documents in customs dossiers towards paperless customs for exported and imported goods; means of transport exiting and entering the country, gradually ending the requirement for customs declarants to submit paper documents in the customs dossier upon customs clearance".

Expecting for the cooperation of businesses

With the strong development of science and technology, the Customs sector is no exception to that trend.

According to Deputy Director General Tran Duc Hung, digital transformation in the Customs sector is a revolution that changes the working methods of the Customs agency in the new context.

Recognizing such importance, the General Department of Customs has devoted resources and attention to implementing digital transformation, including building an IT system to implement digital customs.

Representatives of technology companies attend the workshop. Photo: T.Binh.

To serve the construction of an IT system to implement digital customs, the General Department of Customs previously sent and posted documents on the requirements for building an IT system to implement digital customs on the e-Customs Information Portal.

“However, with more than 2,000 pages of professional and specialized documents, the research of technology companies will certainly encounter many difficulties. On the other hand, the General Department of Customs has reviewed, updated and completed professional requirements. Therefore, to help technology companies fully and comprehensively grasp the requirements for building an IT system to implement digital customs, the General Department of Customs organizes this workshop to directly introduce the goals and requirements for building an IT system to implement digital customs”, the Deputy Director General emphasized.

The Deputy Director General expressed his desire to listen to opinions from technology companies to continue to improve the requirements for building new systems, especially the requirements for technical process, technology, and feasibility and efficiency.