Procedure of "receiving and processing records" is most time and cost consuming for businesses

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The announcement: Photo: Q. H

On the morning of June 26, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and General Department of Customs (Ministry of Finance) and the United States Agency for International Development in Vietnam (USAID) announced the “Assessment report on business satisfaction and time needed to carry out administrative procedures through the National Single Window (NSW)". This is an effort of the parties to promote trade facilitation for businesses in the implementation of import-export administrative procedures.

Survey results are positive, serious coordination

Speaking at the announcement ceremony, Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai said that the Ministry of Finance has directed the General Department of Customs to actively coordinate with VCCI and other stakeholders to assess the business satisfaction level in carrying out administrative procedures through the NSW mechanism and time needed to carry out administrative procedures of ministries and agencies through the NSW mechanism.

The survey was conducted in 12 out of 189 public administrative procedures on the NSW. In particular, procedures with a large number of records and large frequency were selected for surveying and assessment of the business satisfaction level first. At the same time, the survey was conducted in five ministries which have the highest number of recordsout of 13 ministries participating in the NSW.

In the near future, the survey will expand to procedures as well as ministries and agencies in the implementation of specialized inspection procedures through the NSW. Therefore, the ministries and branches should pay attention to reform so that the survey results can be further improved.

“The survey results are a positive, serious, objective and impartial cooperation between the General Department of Customs, VCCI, the TFP Project and the business community. The report of survey results analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the NSW, raised the shortcomings and obstacles in the implementation of procedures of related ministries and agenciesthereby proposing solutions to overcome existing problems andshortcomings to create more favorable conditions for import-export activities and the business community,” said VuThi Mai.

Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai spoke at the announcement. Photo: Q.H

Reflecting opinions of nearly 3,100 businesses

Presenting the assessment report on business satisfaction and time needed to carry out administrative procedures through the NSW, Head of the Legal Department (VCCI) Dau Anh Tuan, said the report summarizes and reflects opinions of nearly 3,100 businesseson 12 administrative procedures and public services which have the highest frequency on the NSW. Participating in this random sampling survey are businesses that have carried out administrative procedures on the NSW portal within the latest 12 months from the beginning of the survey (at the end of November 2019).

The procedures subject to assessment are under the state management of five ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health.

Survey results show that most of the basic functions on the NSW portal work well; the rate of businesses assessing as easy or relatively easy implementation for basic functions such as "create account and login", "view and print records" are 95% and 93%, respectively.

Up to 93% and 89% of businesses assess as easy or relatively easy implementation for the functions "records management," and "view and print licenses / certificates".

However, there is still a significant rate of businesses having difficulty in using the function "answer questions when using the system" (35%), "withdraw / cancel records" (26%). Up to 27% of businesses are not satisfied with the unstable operation status of the portal due to connection errors. About 20% of businesses reflect that the speed of processing tasks on the portal is still slow.

Procedures of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are easier to follow than those of the other three ministries

Procedures for "granting preferential certificates of origin" and "granting certificates of plant quarantine for imports, transit and inland transport" are the two procedures easiest to implement with only about 15% of businesses reflectingdifficulties.

Up to 28% of businesses said difficulties in carrying out two procedures under the Ministry of Transport including "granting quality, technical safety and environmental protection for imported motor vehicles" and "granting certificate ofquality, technical safety and environmental protection for imported special-use motor vehicles”.

There are 26% of businesses having problems with the procedure of "quality inspection of imported goods." The rate of businesses having difficulty in procedures for "granting import permit of medical equipment" and "granting receipt number of imported cosmetic productproclamation" of the Ministry of Health is 34% and 29%, respectively.

Regarding the time and cost for each stage when conducting administrative procedures, "the declaration of records on the NSW portal" is the least costly stage for business. Followed by the stageof “conformity assessment” provided by the state sector or private sector, in which conformity assessment service provided the private sector has a lower cost. Notably, in most procedures, the stage of "receiving and processing records" under the responsibility of the ministries and agencies is still the most time and cost consuming for businesses.

The businesses also recommend accelerating the launch of electronic payments, overcoming difficulties of businesses when using digital signatures and improving the functions to solve problems for businesses in the implementation of administrative procedures and provide utilities to support businesses on the NSW portal.