Solutions to improve the efficiency of supervision between Customs and port enterprises

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Goods imported and exported at HaiPhong port. Photo: HuuLinh

Clarify the information to be provided

According to Mr. Au Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of Customs Control and Supervision Department (Customs Department), at present the Customs authorities connected and exchanged information with theport, warehouse, and depot enterprises at 9 ports in HaiPhong and Cat Lai port on 26th December, 2016, but the Customs authorities have just handled the exchange of goods in the containers, and other goods are still being considered for application.

As for Mr. Tuan, the provisions on responsibilities of the port, warehouse, and depot enterprises underCustoms supervision (Article 41 of the Customs Law) still have limitations and have not been widely adopted across the country due to the provisions in the Customs Law beinggeneral, leading to the embarrassment of both Customs authorities and the port, warehouse, and depot enterprises in identifying the information to be exchanged to support the management.

Besides, part of the reason is due to the implementation arrangements. Many import-export enterprises cannotmaster the provisions and procedures when declaring shipments which were qualified to be taken out of thesupervision areas, causing difficulties for the System in searching the full information. Aboutthe port, warehouse, and depot enterprises, some enterprises managed manually and do not have anIT system for internal management and have not met the Customs management requirements on merchandise management process. Meanwhile, about the Customs authorities, some Customs implementing officers have not mastered and correctly performed Customs procedures as prescribed leading to overlaps in supervisionatport gates.

Therefore, according to Mr. Tuan, in order to create a solid legal basis for the deployment of supervision activities in the coming time and concurrentlyenhance the closer management for supervision activities, a legal document detailing the responsibilities, obligations and exchange process of supervision information between Customs authorities and the port, warehouse, and depot enterprises and criteria oninformation to be exchanged, should be issued

This content is expected to be included in the Circular amending and supplementing Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance with main contents which regulate the responsibilities of the port, warehouse, and depot enterprises including: providing Customs authorities with information about unloadingtime of imported and exported goods; areas of the depot; and changes while keeping goods in warehouses, depots and ports; and the time to transport the goods out of the Customs supervision areas or load the goods to exit means of transport.

The port enterprises should notify Customs authorities of anydiscrepancy between the amount declared on the e-manifest and actual amount unloaded at ports and request the shipping companies, shipping agents or forwarding agents to correct the declarations in the e-manifest corresponding to the actual amount before confirmation of theunloaded goodsat port. Receiving information about containers which must be inspected during the loading and unloading of goods at the requests of the Customs authorities and transporting the goods to the areas appointed by the Customs authorities for screening.

At the same time, changes of the goods stored, such as changes on containers, packages or transport of goods, affecting the goods must be reported to the Customs authorities and must be approved by the Customs authorities

Only goods eligible for being transported out of the Customs supervision areas in the Customs system are permitted to be transported in or out of warehouses, storages and ports. If the goods are temporarily suspended to be transported out of the Customs supervision areas, the owners of the goods are not permitted to take the goods out of the warehouses, storages and ports and must collaborate with the Customs authorities to settle if requested

For responsibilities of airport enterprises, they must provide and exchange information with the Customs authorities about goods and passenger’s luggage and aircrew that the airport enterprises exploit to ensure the Customs supervision.

Apply the modern management methods in the Customs supervision

Together with perfecting the legal basis, the Customs authorities will build an overall IT system to connect and exchange information with the port, warehouse, and depot enterprisesunderCustoms supervision to thoroughly manage imported and exported goods from being under the Customs supervision to being taken out of the Customs supervision areas.

The IT system needs to meet the requirements on information connection of goods management at 3 stages: before Customs clearance, in Customs clearance, and supervision. Thereby analyzing and comparing the information between the goods information reception stage (e-manifest) with goods management stages such as the National Single Window, VNACCS/VCIS and E-Customs system to warn of or prevent discrepancies that may occur. The system must control the exit, entry or backlog of goods in seaports and airports in any time. Building an open system to supplement and update the management information and criteria, and ensure the high automation for the Customs authorities to perform the electronic inspection, supervision and control on the system based on risk assessment.

Specialized inspection procedures mainly by manual methods VCN- Computerized administrative procedures are the inevitable trend to shorten the time and the cost for citizens ...

Besides, the Customs authorities will use risk management methods to strengthen the management and supervision of goods across the gates of seaports and airports such as: Building a list of indicators for compliance assessment for port enterprises; Building a list of optional indicators in Customs supervision; Building a list of risks for units under Customs management such as: port, warehouse and depot enterprises, exit and entry means of transport, importing and exporting enterprises, imported and exported goods and list of risk criteria in Customs supervision.