The story of the Customs Sub-Department is located deep in the forest

	Customs sector works to complete many specialised regulations and policies
	Prevent violations from bonded warehouse business
	Instructions for procedures on border trade activities

Customs officers at Loc Thinh border gate check vehicles on entry and exit. Photo: N. Hue.

Efforts to overcome difficulties

From Highway 13 in the territory of Loc Ninh border district, Binh Phuoc province, the car drove us on a paved road running along Ta Thiet Base to come to Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department on a sunny morning. Known as the "Government Forest", the establishment of the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign Command, the Ta Thiet Base has been recognized as a Special National Historic Site and restored by the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc Province to build a spiritual tourist attraction.

Different from the clean outside, the dirt road leading to Loc Thinh border gate is covered with red dust. It took us nearly 20 minutes to travelmore than 3km to the headquarters. Officials of Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department said that luckily, we came on a sunny day.We could not go to the sub-department on a rainy day because the rain covered the roads and the potholes. On rainy days, officials have to hitchhike along the conveyor belt of Ha Tien Cement Plant to enter the unit and go around the rubber road of the people tothe checkpoint safely.

Based in Ta Thiet hamlet, this area is extremely difficult, sparsely populated with mainly Kh 'Mer and Stieng ethnic minorities, so the living and working conditions of Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department are quite rough. We arrived just in time when the sub-departmenthad just finished and put into use the official residence and repaired the office.Taking us ona tour of a working office with a strong smell of paint, machines, desks and chairsstill sprawling, anddusty,Mr. Dieu Drenh Duc, Deputy Director of Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department said that established in December 2016, there are no new offices andthe official residence, so officials in the Sub-Department still have to work and stay in the very narrow re-improvement office of Loc Thinh procedure team, formerly Hoa Lu Customs Sub-Department.

TheSub-Department currently has eight civil servants, including two leaders, three civil servants and three labor contracts.

“Most of the members of the Sub-Department have families hundreds of kilometers away from the unit, so every two weeks theytake turns to visit their families.The border is home, so the members in the unit are very united, always attached, they always encourage and share with each other at work, after work, the members grow vegetables, raise chickens, pigs, fish.Most of the daily food of the unit is self-produced,”Mr. Duc said.

Typical advanced models

According to the head of the Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department, Ho Ngoc Anh, the newly established sub-department, the transport infrastructure at the border gate area has not been invested in or upgraded so the goods are not much. Currently, the Sub-Department performs import-export procedures for nearly a dozen items, mainly consumer goods, agricultural products and production materials. Agricultural products are seasonal and sometimes the border gates are deserted. Even so, the Sub-Department still assigned civil servants to rotate to the border gate 24/7, perform the task of customs clearance of goods, enthusiastically support enterprises and border residents whether on weekends or duringholidays like Tet. Besides, the arrangement of anti-smuggling patrol forces has also been deployed regularly.

In order to successfully complete the work of goods clearance, anti-smuggling and general administration of a road border gate Customs Sub-Department with a very thin force, the members of sub-department must make efforts every day.

In addition to being flexible in assigning tasks so that a person can do many things but still ensure the successful performance of assigned tasks, Sub-Department leaders must always be exemplary in implementing the work.Although executing management and administration work, when necessary,leaders of the sub-department are ready to perform the duties of a civil servant to ensure the work progress. Inparticular, the tightening of discipline and regulations andthe building of unified, effective application of information technology have also helped the Sub-Department control the work well, saving time and manpower.

Director General Ho Ngoc Anh said that in 2017, the revenue of the Sub-Department was only VND6 billion, while in 2018 the Department collected VND48 billion and in 2019 it was VND93.5 billion. The prevention and control of smuggling, trade fraud and illegal cross-border transportation of goods are controlled, and there were no incidents that caused great influence in customs operation areas under the administration of the sub-department.

Recognizing the efforts of cadres and civil servants of Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department, in recent years, the unit has been awarded a Certificate of Merit, recognized the title of Excellent Labor Collective by the Ministry of Finance and People's Committee of Binh Phuoc Province. In 2018, the operational model of Loc Thinh Customs Sub-Department was recognized as an advanced model by Binh Phuoc Customs Department as an "efficient use of human resources to successfully complete assigned tasks" and awarded a Certificate of Merit for building typical models.