Customs to go online

Customs officers process electronic applications. — VNA/VNS Photo Pham Hau

HCM CITY — Nearly two-thirds of customs' application forms will be approved online by the end of this year, according to the HCM City's Customs Department.

To reach the goal, more than 1,600 businesses took part in a training course on electronic customs in the city yesterday.

Electronic customs will be used in the customs' sub-departments since the beginning of next month.

With electronic customs, all goods will be checked by the customs office and customers will be informed via the internet.

Under the new system, customers no longer need to bring their application forms to customs' sub-departments and wait for approval.

For customers, they only need a printed and sealed application form, then go to the customs sub-department and receive their goods.

"Seventy per cent of electronic customs will be done automatically," said Tran Ma Thong,deputy head of the municipal customs department.

Customs officials will check procedures and exchange information with colleagues through a computerised network.

With the new system, goods will be classified easily, and customs officials will know whether they need to have goods checked.

This new method will restrict contact between customs offices and customers to limit bribery as well as save expenses and time for companies.

The department has already upgraded its technical infrastructure, including servers, lease lines and software.

In case of a breakdown, the customs offices will use manual methods and add a database to the computer network later.

The HCM City's Tan Cang customs sub-department and Hai Phong Customs Department began using electronic customs on a pilot basis in October 2005. Four-hundred HCM City companies have joined the project.

The Tan Cang customs sub-department accepts an average of 150 electronic customs application forms each day.

Since early this year, the sub-department has approved 3,200 application forms with turnover of US$3.7 billion, and contributed VND6 trillion ($310 million) to the state budget. — VNS

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VN starts FTA talks with Customs Union members

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Customs Union
of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will bring economic, trade,
service and investment benefits to all parties.

The
head of the European Market Department under the Ministry of Industry
and Trade, Dang Hoang Hai, made this claim to reporters on the sidelines
of the first session of the FTA research group in Hanoi on Oct. 11.

The meeting was an important start to allow the
parties to implement the next steps for the signing of the agreement, he
said.

He added that the FTA between Vietnam and the
Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan would open up
prospects for a large free trade area and tighten the traditional and
strategic relations between them.

In his opinion,
Russia was interested in FTA with Vietnam as the Southeast Asian
country may develop a strategic position that helps Russia restore its
presence in Asia, particularly in the Southeast Asia region.

The
FTA enables Vietnam to boost its agricultural, seafood and garment
products to Russia , and Russia to export fertiliser, oil and gas,
atomic energy, heavy industry and cars to Vietnam .

“We
hope the FTA will help improve Vietnam-Russia trade ties,” Hai said,
adding that two-way trade between the two countries is expected to reach
3 billion USD in 2011 and 10 billion USD in the near future.

In order to boost strategic relations between the two countries, as
well as between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan , leaders of Vietnam and Russia agreed to sign an
FTA.

Following the roadmap, negotiations will cover three main issues of tariffs, service, plus investment and intellectual property./.

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S Korea hosts dialogue on Viet Nam tax, customs rules

SEOUL — A dialogue with 118 local businesses on Viet Nam's new tax and customs policies was held in Seoul on Friday .

The event was part of a working visit to South Korea by a Finance Ministry delegation led by Deputy Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan.

The delegation answered questions on the country's tax incentives, corporate taxes, value added tax and new regulations on customs procedures. Tuan said more than 70 per cent of Korean businesses investing in Viet Nam were up to medium size so they faced difficulties in accessing policies and dealing with issues on procedures and tax incentives.

He said Viet Nam's Finance Ministry and General Department of Taxation had planned to co-ordinate with South Korean authorised agencies in facilitating Korean businesses' operations in Viet Nam.

Tuan said the dialogue was the first between the two sides since their tariff co-operation agreement was signed since March 1995.

Before the dialogue, the Vietnamese delegation worked with the South Korean departments of taxation and customs to exchange experiences in building automatic information systems.

South Korea is a world leader in the application of e-technology in tax and customs procedures. — VNS

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Container scanner runs at low capacity

A customs officer inspects a container using the scanner at Cat Lai Port in HCMC - Photo: Vu Thuoc

HCMC – The country’s first container scanner at Cat Lai Port in HCMC is operating at 40% capacity due to patchy container transport services at the port, according to the customs.

Ton Thanh Phong, deputy head of the Saigon Port Customs Office – Zone 1, the operator of the scanner, said the US$9.6-million equipment just scanned around 40 containers a day as less-than-expected containers were carried to the site where the scanner is located for inspection.

Following some technical glitches, the scanner funded by Japan is now in good condition but there are less-than-required trucks for transporting containers to the scanner. “New Port Co. has six or seven trucks used for this activity, so goods owners have to queue,” said Phong.

He said a number of goods owners had hired trucks or used their own vehicles to quicken the customs clearance process at the port. “The customs office has asked New Port Co. to add more container trucks to speed up the scanning process.”

A high fee is another problem. Phong said the fee for traditional customs inspections which require containers to be unsealed was VND436,000 per container but that for the scanner service is VND350,000 per 20-foot container and VND510,000 per 40-foot container.

The scanner helps shorten the period of customs inspection by four to six times and easily detect smuggled and prohibited goods.

Haiphong Port is expected to receive a similar scanner, also funded by Japan, in the first quarter of next year, according Hoang Viet Cuong, deputy head of the General Department of Customs.

This equipment will be used at other ports in the future, he said but declined to elaborate.

In related customs news, HCMC from early November will expand electronic customs procedures at five more agencies, raising the total number of customs units with e-customs to eight.

The e-customs had already been applied at Cat Lai, Tan Cang ports and Linh Trung Export Processing Zone.

The department will organize four one-day training classes on e-customs declaration skills for enterprises at Him Lam Co. in Binh Thanh District from October 12. Around 1,500 enterprises are expected to join the classes.

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