What coming challenges does the General Department of Customs face?

The difficulties and biggest challenges facing the customs sector when Viet Nam becomes a WTO member is increasing import and export activities. Trade is becoming more diverse and complicated.

Despite the limitations in human resources, the customs sector has to reform itself so that it will be able to control smuggling and fraud.

It is the high responsibility of the customs sector to protect the national economy while facilitating conditions for the smooth flow of import-export activities.

In my opinion, if customs officials are able to control export activities, they will certainly help limit the chances of Viet Nam being accused of dumping by foreign countries and they will also help Vietnamese enterprises initiate measures to protect themselves from fierce international competition.

Will enterprises have the right to sue customs officials if they have breached the law?

Yes, as under WTO rules, there are ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ regulations.

For example, WTO rules say that service fees charged by customs officials must not be based on the goods tonnage or volume. So if the charge exceeds the prescribed amount, the enterprise could sue customs officials.

Or if customs officials impose tariffs on enterprises not based on the principles of the value of the transactions, but the minimum price units, enterprises are likely to sue officials.

What changes have been planned for import-export procedures?

Most of the country’s customs commitments were reflected in the country’s policy issued in 1995 when Viet Nam became an ASEAN member state.

Viet Nam is a signatory to the Kyoto Convention, so it has to comply with the Kyoto rules.

Being a WTO member requires the Customs General Department to modernise its management methods as well as update customs checks and control.

For example, the General Department may require enterprises to deposit a certain sum of money in case there is no confirmation of a unit price for the goods declared. This obligation is included in WTO rules and the GATT Agreement.

What are your comments on the pre-checks of the goods?

We check to make sure enterprises are in compliance with the law and to reduce the number of enterprises needing to be checked down to bellow 20 per cent or even to between 5-8 per cent as in the Republic of Korea.

Whether the target is achieved depends on the capacity of customs officials.

For the immediate future, we are planning to establish an enterprise directory database which will include information on types of goods and export markets.

Source: Vietnam News