Administrative procedures are simplified, dossiers are processed faster
Over the past time, the Government has requested ministries and sectors to promote cutting business conditions, simplify procedures, reduce compliance costs; and at the same time promote the processing of electronic dossiers and data interconnection between agencies.
Accordingly, the Government issued 8 resolutions to reduce administrative procedures and business conditions under the management scope of many ministries and sectors; including 163 documents amended and supplemented synchronously to abolish 184 administrative procedures; decentralized 134 procedures for local authorities; simplified 349 procedures; and at the same time abolished 890 business conditions. After this review, the scale of central-level administrative procedures is still 27%.
The government estimates that the above cuts will help reduce about 50% of the implementation time and compliance costs for people and businesses compared to 2024.
These movements are beginning to create real changes in many businesses operating in the fields of import and export, production, and business of goods.
A representative of a semiconductor enterprise in Hanoi said that the recent procedure reform has significantly shortened customs clearance time. Previously, businesses had to supplement paper documents, compare many focal points; now most dossiers are received electronically, responding faster.
According to businesses, reducing direct application submission not only makes procedures convenient but also saves travel time and waiting for confirmation. With complete dossiers, the processing process is faster, helping to proactively plan imports and delivery.
Reality shows that when procedures switch to an electronic environment and reduce dependence on paper records, compliance costs are not only reduced in administrative fees but also in human resources, waiting time and operating costs arising.
Save 30-40% of costs, release cash flow sooner
Recorded in the group of agricultural export enterprises, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh - Director of Dai Viet Import-Export Co., Ltd. - said that the customs clearance time has now improved significantly. According to Ms. Hanh, previously each shipment took an average of 2-3 days to complete customs clearance, now it has been reduced to about 24-36 hours, equivalent to shortening about 30-40%, which means saving about 1 day for each shipment.
The shortened processing time helps businesses increase the speed of container turnover, reduce the risk of congestion at border gates, especially for fresh goods such as coconuts and bananas, and at the same time be more proactive in train schedules. Thanks to that, many logistics costs incurred are also reduced.
Ms. Hanh added that the situation of overlap in specialized inspections has been improved but not thoroughly. The waiting time for inspection has now decreased from 8-10 hours to about 4-6 hours. Storage costs and arising expenses at border gates have also decreased from about 2-2.5 million VND/container to 1-1.5 million VND/container, equivalent to savings of about 30-40%.
In addition, the VAT refund time is also shortened from 20-30 days to about 12-18 days, a reduction of about 30-40%. According to businesses, this helps release cash flow 10-15 days earlier, reduces working capital pressure during the peak purchasing season, and at the same time increases the ability to expand direct purchasing from farmers.
In general, for a container of agricultural products such as coconuts, bananas, and lemons, the total processing time has now been reduced from 3-4 days to about 2-2.5 days, saving about 1-1.5 days per batch. The overall cost has also decreased from 5-7 million VND to about 3-4 million VND/container, equivalent to a reduction of 30-40%.
However, Ms. Hanh said that at some border gates, there is still a situation of repeated inspections between agencies, making it impossible for businesses to fully optimize costs; the request for tax refund dossiers is still quite detailed, and businesses still have to allocate many resources to the accounting department.
From that reality, businesses propose to continue to promote reforms in the direction of merging quarantine and quality inspection into one focal point; shorten VAT refund time with a priority mechanism for businesses to comply well; synchronize data between customs, quarantine and tax; and apply a "green channel" for fresh agricultural products to reduce the risk of spoilage in the process of waiting for customs clearance.
