Lang Son Customs: Promoting efficiency of administrative sanctions on customs

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Customs officers inspect imported goods at Huu Nghi border gate area.

Strengthen disemination

Determining the handling of administrative violations of customs is one of the important professional stages, a tool contributing to improving the efficiency of customs operations, for the purpose of preventing and timely handling of violations of the law on customs, ensuring that the provisions of law on customs are complied with, Lang Son Customs Department always pays attention to fully, comprehensively and timely implementation, creating consistency in the implementation of handling of administrative violations from the departmental level to the branch level, contributing to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the state management of customs.

In particular, Lang Son Customs has actively organized professional training sessions, disseminated legal documents to public servants in the unit as well as appointed civil servants to participate fully in training courses to improve skills in handling administrative violations in the field of customs. At the same time, monitor, capture and promptly summarize arising problems and report to the General Department of Customs for guidance, thereby, helping the unit always ensure the correct and consistent implementation of the provisions of the law on handling of administrative violations in the field of customs.

In addition, in order to continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the handling of administrative violations, to ensure that Customs officers grasp and uniformly perform specific tasks of the order and procedures for handling administrative violations. Along with trade facilitation, in order to prevent violations, Lang Son Customs always ensures that all administrative violations when detected are handled strictly, objectively and in accordance with regulations, with the aim of ensuring the management and enforcement of the law, and at the same time raising awareness, responsibilities and obligations of enterprises during customs procedures.

Practice shows that, with current regulations, in most cases, enterprises only need to declare incorrectly, whether it leads to a lack of tax or does not affect the payable tax amount, they will be handled for administrative violations. Meanwhile, the qualifications of customs declarants at border gates in Lang Son province are still limited, customs declarations are often assigned by businesses to individuals hired to do customs procedures with incomplete understanding of regulations on goods classification, tax policy and management policy of import and export goods, so the incorrect declaration often occurs.

To minimize this situation, Lang Son Customs Department and its units have regularly and promptly disseminated new provisions of the law on customs and the law on handling of administrative violations for enterprises to understand. In addition, in recent years, Lang Son Customs Department has coordinated with the Department of Legal Affairs (General Department of Customs) to organize many training seminars on the law on handling administrative violations, the law on customs for representatives of import-export enterprises through the area, in order to promptly and effectively propagate new legal documents and answer questions and recommendations of enterprises. Accordingly, after 1 year of implementing Decree 128/2020/ND-CP, in 2022, Lang Son Customs Department noted that businesses and customs declarants have gradually improved their awareness and sense of law enforcement, customs declaration is more accurate, limiting false declarations leading to penalties, so the number of violations and violators decreased compared to the same period in 2021. However, through supervision, control, Lang Son Customs detected 8 cases of intellectual property violations and 8 cases of product and goods quality violations. Typically, Thuan Thanh Import-Export Company Limited imports goods with signs of infringing rights to trademarks, with the value of exhibits valued at VND 308,620,800; An Huy Co., Ltd. transits goods with forged trademarks, the value of evidence is VND 122,241,636; Gia Hoa Import-Export Co., Ltd. imports goods that do not meet the conditions, the value of exhibits is VND 721,090,890; Thuan Phat Motor Co., Ltd. imports goods that do not meet the conditions, the value of exhibits is VND 721,090,890; Atc Vietnam Trading and Production Co., Ltd. imports goods that do not meet the prescribed conditions, standards and technical regulations, the value of exhibits is VND 10,606,179,570…

Further reform disemination form

In the process of implementing regulations on handling administrative violations, Lang Son Customs still faces difficulties related to goods management policy at the border gate area; the time limit for preservation of material evidences for goods where the violator, owner, manager or lawful user of the material evidences or means cannot be identified; time limit for making minutes of violation; infrastructure, warehouses; determining the right to explain in the case of handling administrative violations of tax… Especially, currently, regulations related to sanctions for most cases of false declaration are not really strict.

At a working session on supervision of law enforcement on handling of administrative violations on May 23, Head of the Department of Legal Affairs of the People's Council of Lang Son province Doan Thi Loan suggested that Lang Son Customs Department continue to strengthen skills training for officials related to the identification of violations, the making of minutes of violations; apply professional measures to promptly detect and handle violations in accordance with regulations, order, competence and subjects.

At the same time, continue to renew the form of legal propaganda in general, propagate the implementation of legal policies related to the field of management; further strengthen internal inspection, the implementation of administrative discipline, political and ideological education, and correct behavior when dealing with individuals and groups to be examined and detected; strengthen the close coordination relationship between relevant sectors in detecting and fighting cases showing signs of violations and denouncing crimes. Focus on definitively handling the cases where decisions on handling of violations have been issued; pay attention to the recording of minutes, content of minutes of violations; overcome difficulties to effectively carry out this work.

Also at this meeting, Lang Son Customs Department asked the supervisory team to give opinions and recommendations to competent agencies to consider amending, supplementing and guiding the implementation of regulations on handling violations for acts of transiting goods infringing intellectual property rights in order to overcome obstacles; supplementing regulations that the competent person is entitled to issue a decision on confiscation or forced destruction of material evidences of industrial property infringement in case the time limit for execution of the decision on handling of administrative violations is exceeded, but the violator fails to take remedial measures; regulations on the time limit for making records of violations in the direction of extending the time limit to ensure the feasibility of the law...

With the view of reforming administrative procedures in the direction of convenience, transparency and efficiency, in parallel with creating favorable conditions for import-export activities, in the coming time, Lang Son Customs will continue to review professional activities, propose competent authorities to improve customs mechanisms, policies and laws. Lang Son Customs Department said that accompanying the business community, sharing difficulties, helping businesses promote production and business not only creates motivation for enterprises to develop, increase labor productivity, and develop the economy but also helps the Customs agency to come up with more effective solutions in the inspection and supervision of goods at the border gate. Lang Son Customs Department will also actively propagate along with preventing, arresting and strictly handling violations in order to ensure and improve the effectiveness of law compliance and to ensure strict law enforcement in the field of customs.