Cam Ranh International Airport Customs officers check luggage of immigration passengers through scanners. Photo: T.H

Focusing on customs administrative reform

With the characteristics of managing an area with many economic zones, industrial zones and many foreign investors, Khanh Hoa Customs Department has paid attention to building, developing, reforming procedures, and modernizing customs to meet local socio-economic development requirements.

According to Director of Khanh Hoa Customs Department Vu Le Quan, to facilitate trade for people and businesses, Khanh Hoa Customs Department focuses on implementing administrative reform with practical solution, directly supporting for businesses. In addition to closely following the contents and direction plans of the General Department of Customs, Khanh Hoa Customs Department has concretized the contents of orientations and directions of the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee and People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province in building and implementing the plan.

In particular, Khanh Hoa Customs Department requires affiliated and subordinate units to effectively implement a detailed plan of key reform, development and modernization activities; digital transformation plan; proactively review administrative procedures, propose amendments, supplements or cancellation of administrative procedures that are no longer appropriate. At the same time, the Department assigned targets for administrative reform, simplification of customs procedures, and trade facilitation to each unit; set the goal of receiving and resolving administrative procedures on time and before deadline. Along with these solutions, information technology infrastructure is upgraded, operates smoothly and safely to serve state management of customs, ensuring maximum convenience for import-export, immigration, trade and investment activities in the area.

In addition, Khanh Hoa Customs Department maintains consulting activities to provide information and answer questions for individuals, organizations and businesses. In the first three months of 2024, the unit has guided 17 problems for businesses on biochar export procedures, customs procedures for flycam products, fly ash export, and notified food production and supply facilities for ships.

Administrative reform in parallel with anti-smuggling

Determining administrative reform and creating an environment to attract healthy investment as one of the breakthroughs for local socio-economic development, Khanh Hoa Customs Department has placed people and businesses at the center with the sector’s orientation plan, as well as local economic and commercial development. In the coming time, the unit will develop a plan and deploy synchronously and effectively key administrative reform solutions associated with innovating working practices and modern management methods on the basis of promoting the application of digital technology and implementing digital transformation in the operations of the Customs agency.

Along with trade facilitation, Khanh Hoa Customs Department always focuses on information screening and promptly prevents cases of taking advantage of the openness in customs procedures to commit violations of customs laws.

On March 31, 2024, at the baggage scanner area, entry lobby of Cam Ranh International Airport, after using professional measures, Cam Ranh International Airport Customs Branch worked with the reconnaissance unit of the Immigration Department, the Ministry of Public Security conducted a key inspection of passengers with suspicious signs and discovered and arrested two female passengers who hidden nearly 200,000 USD on their bodies and 49 mobile phones. According to the leader of Cam Ranh International Airport Customs Branch, the above results come from the professional acumen in collecting information of Customs officers and the effective coordination of units inside and outside the sector.

State management at international airports, with a large number of incoming and outgoing tourists and import and export goods in the area, Khanh Hoa Customs regularly works directly with the Border Guard force in the management area as well as professional teams of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department and the General Department of Customs on coordination and exchange of information related to anti-smuggling work, risky items, methods, tricks, origin, transfer pricing, as well as illegal transportation of drugs, so the unit controls and prevents violations in a timely fashion.

In addition, to combat smuggling and petroleum fraud through temporary import and re-export, Khanh Hoa Customs Department has carried out well the work of exchanging and providing information with the anti-smuggling force of the General Department of Customs. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, the Department had six times to exchange with Squadron 2 - Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department about the transportation of over 36,600 tons of gasoline from Van Phong bonded petroleum warehouse to Malaysia.