Amid the complex situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaders at all levels in the Customs sector have always closely followed the pandemic situation and promptly directed to implement solutions in each period, activating appropriate scenarios to respond to the situation of each locality, aiming to accompany and create the maximum facilitation for cargo clearance activities, ensuring safety for all customs officials and employees in the whole sector.

Professional activities at My Phuoc Industrial Park Customs Branch
– Binh Duong Customs Department. Photo: Thu Dịu

Particularly for the fourth wave of infections (from April to now), the General Department of Vietnam Customs promptly issued documents directing and guiding the sector to deploy solutions such as: guidance on handling clearance procedures for goods; directing to facilitate the import and export of medical equipment to combat the Covid-19 pandemic; directing and facilitating the import of vaccine shipments of the Russian embassy; continue to implement the import tax exemption regulations for goods serving pandemic prevention.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs also reported to the Ministry and the Government to apply preferential tariff policies to domestic and foreign firms providing humanitarian aid, non-refundable aid, gifts and goods for pandemic prevention (like Van Lang Co., Ltd. importing 2,000 ventilators, Korea Hansae Company provided 170,600 medical clothes (antibacterial fabric) to donate to the Government and Ministry of Health).

Customs units have promoted to facilitate and process the quick clearance of exported agricultural products because of the time of the main harvest in particular and agricultural products in general through border gates.

Guiding to send customs officials to units having difficulties in terms of human resources for support during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Besides that, through meetings, leaders of the General Department direct units to deploy activities to ensure smoothness of the information technology system; strengthen the management of import and export goods in e-commerce transactions; strengthen information collection and analysis of goods having a sudden increase or decrease in import and export turnover; promoting quality of analysis and verification tasks; enhanced the three-level control inspection.

Activities aimed at combating smuggling, trade fraud, illegal transport across border, against fraud of origin, and illegal transshipment; consolidate documents before conducting post-clearance audits; enhance the role of leaders; strengthening measures to prevent and control the pandemic, vaccinate, consult and coordinate with ministries and sectors on problems in commodity policies have also been promoted.

Although the pandemic has occurred complicatedly, greatly affecting production and business activities of firms, with measures and solutions to facilitate trade, in May and the first five months of 2021, the customs sector still achieved higher results compared to the same period last year.

Regarding State revenue collection in the first five months of 2021 reached VND 158.693 billion, equalling 50.38% of the assigned estimate, equalling 47.94% of the assigned target, up 27.65% (equivalent to VND 34,375 billion) compared to the same period last year (VND 124,318 billion). The amount of exempted import tax on medical masks, raw materials for the production of masks, and hand sanitiser for pandemic prevention is VND 6,2514 billion.

Deploying the National Single Window and the ASEAN Single Window until May 15, 2021, there are 226 administrative procedures of 13 ministries and sectors implemented on the National Single Window, with approximately 3 .83 million dossiers of nearly 46.9 thousand enterprises.

Regarding the implementation of the ASEAN Single Window, ASEAN will continue to exchange information on e-C/O form D with all 9 ASEAN countries via the ASEAN Single Window, until May 15, 2021, the total number of C/Os that Vietnam received from ASEAN countries is 347,863 papers and the number of C/O sent by Vietnam to other countries is 784,073 papers.

Regarding anti-smuggling, trade fraud and post-clearance audit, inspection also achieved many positive results.