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With the goal of maximum support for businesses, speaking at a seminar with the theme "Cross-border import and export of agricultural products in a new context: Current situation and recommendations" that took place recently in Lang Son, Deputy General Director of the General Department of Customs Luu Manh Tuong said that in the past time, to promote the export of agricultural products, the Customs authority has regularly held business dialogues, consulted and supported export enterprises to understand the regulations of other countries on quarantine, on quality standards, licensing mechanism, payment procedures, insurance.

In managing the export of agricultural products, the Customs agency plays an important role in controlling agricultural product export activities and contributing to developing this activity. The General Department of Customs directs the local Customs units where there are exported agricultural products to create maximum conditions and carry out customs clearance within the same day for agricultural products up to the time of main harvest in particular and agricultural products in general; immediately solve problems arising in the process of carrying out customs procedures for the export of goods; closely coordinate and regularly exchange information with the Quarantine agency to quickly carry out procedures for enterprises.

Customs authorities guide enterprises to pack agricultural products according to standards. (In the photo: Tan Thanh Customs officer instructs enterprises to pack lychee for export). Photo: H.Nu

In particular, the Customs Authority has built and operated software on the National Single Window (NSW) to automatically receive dossiers of quality inspection and food safety inspection to decide on inspection methods based on collecting and processing data on quality inspection and food safety inspection; transfer dossiers to designated conformity inspection agencies and certification organizations; ensure information disclosure, transparency, connection and data sharing with relevant ministries, sectors and agencies.

In Lang Son, in the first 5 months of the year, import-export activities at border gates in the province have been active again; the volume of goods tends to increase compared to the same period in 2022, especially agricultural products and fresh fruit.

Deputy Director of Lang Son Customs Department Nguyen Anh Tai said that to support import-export enterprises to overcome difficulties, Lang Son Customs has actively and proactively implemented many tasks and solutions to ensure goods circulation, promote import-export activities and facilitate trade. In particular, since March, Lang Son Customs has asked border gate units to arrange for officials to directly be on duty, receive and handle customs procedures outside of office hours.

In addition, the unit regularly exchanges and talks with the Chinese authorities to restore import-export activities at the border gates, request the Chinese side to extend the time of border gate opening, work on days off and public holidays to increase the capacity of customs clearance for import and export goods; discuss solutions to create favourable conditions for import and export goods, especially agricultural products of Vietnam; goods that are raw materials and components imported for domestic production.

Coordinating with functional forces at the border gate to organize channelling and routing when there is a phenomenon of local congestion at the border gate. Separate channels for Green channel shipments, priority enterprises' goods, and export agricultural fruit products to quickly release goods, shorten customs clearance time and reduce business costs.

Need to establish a methodical foundation

To support the promotion of export agricultural activities, expand markets and increase competitiveness, Deputy General Director Luu Manh Tuong recommended enterprises need to establish a methodical foundation from the smallest stage, such as production premises, technology, raw materials and creativity to improve the quality of agricultural products in the direction of meeting the conditions and standards of importing countries. In addition, complete customs procedures early so that when goods are brought to the border gate, they do not have to wait, preserve and wait for export.

Deputy Director General Luu Manh Tuong proposed a seminar with the theme "Cross-border agricultural product import and export in a new context: Current situation and recommendations" held on May 12 in Lang Son. Photo: H.Nu

Enterprises producing and processing agricultural products for export also need to improve the quality of agricultural products following the commitments of Vietnam's agreements and important partner markets; close contact with the Customs authorities to actively apply IT applications in the traceability of electronic agricultural products, helping to expand the market.

According to Mr Nguyen Anh Tai, the customs clearance process of agricultural products for export still has many issues to discuss. The first existence is agricultural products, fresh fruits of Vietnam exported with uneven turnover between border gates. For example, in Lang Son, this commodity is mainly exported through Huu Nghi international border gate (46.16% in 4 months of 2023) and Tan Thanh (4 months of 2023 32.14%). Other border gates account for a small number. This affects the clearance capacity, leading to the risk of congestion at some border gates at peak times.

Therefore, Lang Son Customs recommends that enterprises, when carrying out export procedures, need to declare in advance the information of goods and means of transport according to the provisions of the customs law into the customs systems as well as Lang Son Digital Border Gate Platform before bringing vehicles and goods into the Vietnamese territory as well as before bringing vehicles and goods into the border gate; use customs declaration services licensed by the General Department of Customs; Enterprises need to closely contact and unify with their Chinese partners in the delivery and payment of goods to ensure that the goods arriving at the border gate are not congested because there is no contact point in freight forwarding.

In particular, agricultural, forestry, aquatic and seafood exporters need to carefully study China's regulations on hygiene, food safety, quarantine, packaging, packaging specifications, labels, planting area code to avoid the case that the goods are not received by the Chinese side and are forced to re-import into Vietnam.

In addition, organizations and individuals participating in import-export activities in Lang Son province must comply with the instructions of functional forces inside and outside the border gate area on channelling and routing for specialized vehicles transporting import and export goods in and out of the border gates.