Lang Son Customs encounters difficulties in implementing solutions to facilitate the export of agricultural products

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Stuck with regulations

According to Lang Son Customs Department, at Point a, Clause 1, Clause 8, Article 18 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2015, is amended and supplemented in Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC stipulating on the principle of customs declaration: "The declarant must provide sufficient information on the customs declaration as instructed in form No. 01 or Form No. 02 in Appendix II hereof and send documents of the customs dossier mentioned in Article 16 of this Circular according to instructions in form No. 03 in Appendix II hereof to the customs authority through the e-customs system. Documents of the customs dossier may be electronic data (or scans certified by digital signatures).

In case of a physical customs declaration, the declarant shall follow instructions in Appendix IV hereof and submit or present the customs dossier following Article 16 of this Circular to the customs authority when registering the customs declaration.

The time limit for submitting customs declarations: For export goods, the customs declaration shall be submitted after the goods have been gathered at the location notified by the customs declarant and at least 4 hours before the means of transport. Exit load; for export goods sent by express delivery service, at least 2 hours before the expected time of exit of the means of transport.

Agricultural products are gathered at the parking lot of Bao Nguyen Commercial Transport Joint Stock Company in the Tan Thanh sub-border gate area. Photo: H.Nu

At Point a, Clause 3 of Article 7, Decree 128/2020/ND-CP of the Government stipulates that a fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offences: Submitting a customs declaration before goods for export are gathered at the location notified to the customs authority;

Deputy Director of Lang Son Customs Department Vu Tuan Binh said that according to the above provisions, in order not to be fined, enterprises must gather export goods at the location notified to the customs authority before submitting the customs declaration.

To implement the above regulations, enterprises are facing difficulties; specifically, according to Mr Vu Tuan Binh, agricultural products are in the harvest season, and the amount of agricultural products brought to border gates: Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh in Lang Son province for export to China is increasing. There are times when trucks carrying agricultural products queue for many kilometres on the national highway (because the warehouse area at the border gate cannot meet the actual demand), waiting to enter the border gate area to carry out export procedures.

On the other hand, agricultural products require quick customs clearance to avoid damage to businesses and farmers. Therefore, if the export goods are brought to the authorized gathering place, customs declarations are transmitted, and customs procedures are carried out, leading to congestion and prolonged customs clearance time. Moreover, in case of a traffic jam, it is impossible to gather the entire shipment, including many trucks and then submit the declaration to ensure the abovementioned regulations are impossible, said Mr Vu Tuan Binh.

In addition, at the request of the Chinese partner, agricultural products exported to the Chinese market must have a certificate of origin (C/O). However, if the agricultural products arrive at border gates on weekends, enterprises will not apply for C/O; they will have to wait until the first Monday of next week. This will raise costs (warehouse, parking fees, cold engine oil + air conditioning, food and drink, driving) and reduce the quality of agricultural products (damaged, overripe or rotten), and the Chinese partner will not receive the goods, the enterprise must compensate according to the terms of the contract signed between the two parties.

Therefore, Mr Vu Tuan Binh said that the regulation of administrative violations against submitting customs declarations when no exported goods are gathered at the location notified to the Customs authority has been a problem for businesses and the Customs. In particular, enterprises have difficulty in applying for C/O because according to the provisions of Point C, Clause 1, Article 15 of Decree 31/2018/ND-CP, the application for C/O of export goods includes: printing the export customs declaration", while if the goods have not been gathered at the location notified to the customs authority but have submitted the declaration to the system, they will be fined.

Accordingly, the Lang Son Customs Department found that the contents specified in the abovementioned document system do not facilitate and do not receive consensus from the business community, especially during the peak time of import-export activities or agricultural products in the harvest season.

Need to remove difficulties immediately

According to the direction in Official Dispatch No. 492/CD-TTg dated May 31, 2023, of the Prime Minister and Resolution No. 01/ND-CP dated January 6, 2023, of the Government on the main tasks and solutions to implement the socio-economic development plan, state budget estimate and improvement of the business environment and national competitiveness in 2023, one of the topics, viewpoints, and focus areas for direction and administration is: "focus on solving difficulties, offer timely and effective support policy solutions for production and business; do anything to finish it off, not to prolong it, cause congestion and waste resources ...".

Customs operations at Huu Nghi border gate. Photo: H.Nu

To create favourable conditions for the export of agricultural products following the direction of the Government, the Prime Minister and Lang Son Customs Department proposed the General Department of Customs submit to the Ministry of Finance to amend Clause 8, Article 18 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC in the direction of applying the provisions of Clause 2, Article 25 of the Customs Law 2014, allowing the customs declarant to make customs declaration before the goods arrive at the border gate of the export or the authorized gathering place of import and export goods.

At the same time, it is proposed that the competent authorities consider abolishing or amending and supplementing the provisions at Point a, Clause 3, Article 7 of Decree 128/2020/ND-CP on penalties for administrative violations in the field of customs sector to facilitate exports and promote domestic production, especially for agricultural products.

In addition to recommendations to the General Department of Customs, the Lang Son Customs Department also said that the People's Committee of Lang Son province should direct the contractor to accelerate the construction progress and complete the logistics infrastructure in the province, especially the transhipment area, soon put into operation to reduce the congestion.

At the same time, directing provincial departments and agencies to study and expand the yards in the area of Huu Nghi international border gate to meet the requirements of delivery of the increasing volume of import and export goods commensurate with the international border gate standards and exchange with China to take full advantage of the border gate economy.

The People's Committee of Lang Son province also needs to propose to the Central Government to invest in agricultural product processing and preservation zones in the area in association with models of value chain linkages for the production, processing and consumption of agricultural products; direct the C/O-issuing authority in the province to assign officers to work on weekends and public holidays to support enterprises with C/O application.