Story of the Customs Department in the ancient capital

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Mr Truong Quy Hoang - Director of Chan May port border gate, introduced the port projects at the port area. Photo. N.Linh

Minimize the number of violations

The land of the ancient capital welcomed us on the sweltering early summer days and the first place we arrived at was Phu Bai Industrial Park (IZ), where Thuy An Customs Department is "plugging in" to serve import and export activities of about two-thirds of enterprises completing procedures from the whole Thua Thien Hue Customs Department. This unit plays a key role in contributing to the state budget revenue target of the Thua Thien Hue Customs Department. Not only managing Phu Bai Industrial Park, the unit also directly manages La Son Industrial Park, Tu Ha Industrial Park, Phong Dien Industrial Park, Quang Vinh Industrial Park, Phu Bai International Airport and Phu Bai Bonded Warehouse. With the burden of responsibility on the role, the unit has been actively facilitating the import-export enterprises in the area in goods clearance and investment attraction.

Director of Thuy An Customs Department, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, said that enterprises in the locality were not big, mainly processing, producing products for export. Some of them import machinery to create fixed assets. Therefore, the support of enterprises must be very practical from policy advice, policy response to the arrangement of public servants to solve procedures for enterprises at any time is of special interest to the unit.

In 2018, many enterprises were violating tax and customs procedures, mainly related to the slow handling of surplus materials and accessories; false declaration of goods codes; and delayed submission of settlement reports. With that fact, the Department has determined that it is necessary to focus on guiding and informing enterprises on regulations and policies related to the handling of surplus materials of processing contracts. Before the settlement report, a training course was provided to instruct enterprises to set up and organize them at the enterprises' headquarters. The support measures of the Customs authorities have obtained encouraging results, while the violation rate has been reduced almost completely.

“The department has many ways of supporting businesses. First of all, the department will meet enterprises that have problems and want to learn about policies and procedures and appoint their civil servants to support and advise the enterprises. In addition, the most frequently supported form of enterprises is that enterprises send goods, which are expected to be imported via email in advance. On the basis of enterprises’ information, the Department’s staff will compare the management policies, especially specialized management policies to advise them. This way of support will help enterprises to officially declare information on the system more accurately, limit false declarations, leading to amendments and supplements. The customs authority also has data before checking and comparing documents and records, leading to faster customs clearance of declarations,” Director Nguyen Van Thanh said.

Professional activities at Thuy An Customs Branch. Photo: N.Linh

Potential change at Chan May port

Along with the development of industrial zones in the province managed by Thuy An Customs Department, located in the south of Hue, 70km from the center, Chan May port is the place where import and export potential will be realised.

On a weekend, we witnessed wharf projects in the process of completion, shipping lines were bringing woodchip shipments for export. Welcoming us, the Director of the Customs Branch of Chan May port, Mr. Truong Quy Toan, said that this place would soon "change its look" when wharves No.2 and No.3 are completed and put into use in the third and fourth quarter this year.

To prove what he had said, Mr. Truong Quy Toan took us directly to the foot of the wharves. There is now a wharf that has exploited import and export goods and also welcomed tourist boats. Looking far away, Director Truong Quy Toan pointed to the two wharves being built and said that at Chan May port, wharves No.2 and No.3 were being constructed. Wharf No.2 belonged to Chan May Port Joint Stock Company, and wharf No.3 belonged to Hao Hung Co., Ltd.. At present, in Chan May port, there is only one wharf. If a cruise ship enters, the cargo ship must leave, causing difficulties for import - export and immigration. Therefore, when wharfs No. 2 and No. 3 operate, they will create favorable conditions for the operation of tourist boats to enter the port because at that time, wharf No.1 will prioritize tourist ships and the remaining wharves are cargo ports. Thus, the potential of immigration is expected to increase 3-4 times, the volume of goods is expected to increase 2-3 times, the reception of ships with large tonnage up to 60,000-70,000 tons is possible.

Sharing the preparation work of the Customs Department of Chan May port border gate in the upcoming development potential, Director Truong Quy Toan said, at present, the infrastructure and the process of implementing customs procedures was basically guaranteed when the wharves come into operation. At Chan May, all information technology application programs such as VASSCM, E-manifest system have been implemented, so that the customs clearance of import and export goods, people and means of transport through the port is very convenient. Especially deploying the VASSCM system helps to reduce the process of confirming goods through the supervision area of the Customs agency, manpower and administrative costs.

In addition, the Department arranges civil servants to solve procedures for enterprises 24 hours a day. Director of the Department Truong Quy Toan said that the port area was both a place to do goods import and export procedures and a place to handle procedures for passenger transportation means, time of arrival and departure at any time. “For many people, seeing civil servants doing procedures at 3-4am or midday is very strange, but for customs officers as well as related units at the port, this is very normal, because if they do not do all their responsibility, it will affect the time for clearance of goods of enterprises as well as the immigration activities of passengers.”

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In return for the efforts of management agencies, enterprises here have complied with the law, from the beginning of the year until now, the import - export and immigration activities in the province increased sharply over the same period. As of April 15, the Customs Department of Chan May port border gate collected 30.46 billion VND to the State budget, gaining 25.38% of the target, up 60.22% over the same period. The number of transportation means and immigration also increased over the same period in 2018, of which, the transportation means increased by 30.77%, the immigration customers increased by 89.82%. Although there has been no fraud in the area, the unit has frequently raised vigilance, strengthened coordination with functional forces in the area to ensure the management and supervision at the border gate.