On October 9, Customs Magazine organized an online discussion "Enterprises voluntarily comply with customs laws: Perspectives from both sides".
Sharing the results of the Pilot Program to support and encourage businesses to voluntarily comply with customs laws, Mr. Nguyen Nhat Kha, Director of the Risk Management Department (Customs Directorate) said that in 2019, the Customs Directorate advised the Ministry of Finance to issue Circular No. 81/2019/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance regulating risk management in customs operations.
In which, the Customs authority evaluates import-export enterprises at 5 levels of compliance, the highest level is priority enterprises (level 1) and the lowest is non-compliant enterprises (level 5). The Customs authority publicly announces the level of compliance of enterprises on the Customs Directorate Electronic Information Portal.
When businesses access the Customs Directorate Electronic Information Portal using their tax code, they can look up the business's compliance level and know the reasons leading to that compliance level.
Mr. Nguyen Nhat Kha said that out of 295 participating enterprises, over 80% of enterprises maintained and increased their compliance level. Of these, 118 enterprises increased their compliance level from level 3, 4, 5 to level 2, 3; 135 enterprises maintained their compliance level (level 2, 3).
For businesses with low compliance levels that are upgraded to higher compliance levels, inspection rates will be lower, leading to faster customs clearance times.
For enterprises that maintain a high level of compliance (good compliance), the Customs authority will recognize that they must meet criteria such as declarations and turnover, similarly, priority enterprises must also meet criteria on declarations and turnover.
Representing hundreds of member enterprises participating in the Pilot Program, Mr. Duong Quoc Phi, Head of Import-Export Division of Vietnam Precision Industry Co., Ltd. 1, said that before participating in the Pilot Program, enterprises often passively complied with customs laws, often depending on the guidance and "hand-holding" of customs officers and civil servants. However, since participating in the program, all activities of enterprises have been voluntary, shifting from passive to proactive compliance with the law.
“The pilot program brings many benefits to businesses in terms of time and cost. If businesses have a higher percentage of green lane declarations, their goods will be released quickly. For yellow lane declarations, businesses must check customs documents, and it will take longer for businesses to release their goods.
Similarly, for red lane declarations, in addition to checking the documents, businesses also have to physically inspect the goods. Instead of businesses bringing goods from the border gate directly to the factory, businesses have to bring the goods to the Customs headquarters for inspection, leading to additional costs, time, and human resources," Mr. Duong Quoc Phi shared.
600 businesses expected to participate in the official Program
Regarding the selection of enterprises to participate in the official program, Mr. Nguyen Nhat Kha said that the Customs Directorate has drafted a decision to officially implement the program to support and encourage enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws to seek opinions from provincial and municipal customs departments; business associations; Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)...
Based on existing resources, the Customs authority expects about 600 enterprises to participate in the official implementation of the Program, which must meet the criteria to ensure that participating enterprises also receive benefits.
Sharing at the seminar, Ms. Nguyen Minh Thao, Head of Business Environment and Competitiveness Research, Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) said that first, the Customs agency needs to develop a detailed, comprehensive plan with a specific roadmap for each year and a specific timeline.
Any program that wants to be successful must have clear goals and criteria, with accompanying solutions and a specific roadmap.
At the same time, the Customs sector needs to focus on establishing a platform for general interaction, general warnings, and raising issues to answer in the customs sector. This is a tool that not only supports this Program but also supports the management work of the Customs agency and businesses.
