Ha Tinh is a Covid-19 pandemic-hit area, so Ha Tinh Customs Department has employed solutions to both ensure pandemic prevention and ensure cargo clearance.

Customs officers who directly performed tasks are fully equipped with protective clothing.
Photo: Phan Trâm

Arrange to work online

Ha Tinh Customs has established a Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention to direct disease prevention and maintain the operation of the unit. Immediately after the outbreak, Ha Tinh Customs temporarily suspended meetings and activities with many people, and switched to online meetings. Suspending inspections as planned, arranging customs officials and employees who are isolated at the headquarters, directly perform regular tasks, maintain operations on the system, ensuring the tasks of advisory, direction, administration and customs procedures for import and export goods and means of transport on exit and entry. Customs officials are F2 and F3 (of the unit being blocked) will be arranged to work remotely via the internet and working from home. At the same time, Ha Tinh Customs also prepared a plan to ensure logistics for headquarters if it was blocked.

Talking to a reporter of Customs News, Dinh Van Hoa, Deputy Director of Ha Tinh Customs Department said since 12 o'clock on June 6, Ha Tinh Customs has requested all its units and affiliated units to arrange customs officials and employees to work in shift and avoid direct contact between shifts to protect the safety of customs officials and employees while creating backup human resources for complicated situations.

The units of Ha Tinh Customs are divided into two shifts and encourage customs officials to work online, keep in touch 24/24, regularly report progress and improve their sense of "self-discipline" to complete tasks. For customs officials when working at the office, Ha Tinh Customs strictly requires the implementation of regulations on wearing masks and ensuring distance.

Determined to fulfill "dual goals"

To ensure pandemic prevention, Ha Tinh Customs Department has equipped facilities and equipment for pandemic prevention for officials and employees. As at the area of ​​Cau Treo international border gate, customs officers who directly performed tasks at the unit are fully equipped with protective clothing.

Ha Tinh Customs has communicated and disseminated to all people, businesses and passengers to coordinate well with the authorities at border gates for carrying out pandemic prevention measures such as measuring body temperature and wearing masks. Cooperating with local authorities (quarantine, border defence, police) to implement pandemic prevention and control measures at road and seaport areas, especially for vehicles and passengers arriving at the border gate that have crossed through pandemic areas.

Create favourable conditions for enterprises in the process of customs clearance of import and export goods based on the principle of ensuring the requirements of pandemic prevention and avoid causing unnecessary disruption to import and export activities. Especially, maximally supporting for goods that are machinery and equipment, supporting tools, pharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Especially, during the complex development of the pandemic, to minimise travel and contact to avoid the spread of the disease, Ha Tinh Customs encourages firms to carry out procedures online, through professional programmes of the Customs, online public service system, online tax payment 24/7 through the banking system.

Discussing pandemic prevention at Cau Treo international border gate, Le Minh Duc, Manager of Cau Treo Customs Branch said the unit requested people and firms to carry out import and export activities at the border gate when contacting customs officers have to be equipped with protective cloth. The unit also encourages businesses to carry out online procedures to minimise contact. Besides that, the unit has promoted the solution of arising problems for enterprises through the exchange of email, telephones, and web portals.

At Vung Ang port, according to Cao Duc Thang, Manager of Vung Ang Port Customs Branch, the unit has arranged customs officials to work online and support to receive and handle customs clearance for firms.

With active cooperation from local authorities in pandemic prevention and control, as well as striving for good management of professional activities in customs, as of June 14, Ha Tinh Customs has received and carried out procedures for 6,608 sets of declarations with a total import-export turnover of $2,012.73 million. The unit collected and paid more than VND 3,210.25 billion to the State budget, achieving 61.97% of the assigned estimate in 2021 and an increase of 59.75% over the same period in 2020.