The General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) is focusingon redesigning the Customs IT system to meet development requirements in the new period and build a modern customs on par with developed countries.

The effective IT application has contributed to smooth customs clearance
amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Hung Yen Customs

Obtain excellent results

The GDVC has promoted IT application in customs management to follow the policies of the Government and the Ministry of Finance on IT application and meet requirements for customs management and facilitation to people and businesses when implementing customs procedures.

The GDVC said the IT application has obtained excellent results in the lastfive years. These results are the driving force for building a modern, professional, transparent and effective Vietnam Customs, contributing to reaching the goal of customs reform and modernisation and trade facilitation, towards building e-Government.

The GDVC has built an IT customs system that operates stably, smoothly and covers most of key areas of customs management such as customs procedures, tax payment, goods management at seaports, risk management, post clearance audit, handling violation, provision of online public services, implementation of the National Single Window and internal management.

First of all, implementing automated customs clearance. All customs procedures are processed via the Vietnam Automated Customs Clearance System (VNACCS/VCIS). More than99.65% of businesses have carried out e-customs procedures at 100% customs unit nationwide, shortening customs clearance time and reducing the use of customs documents for businesses.

In addition, the GDVC has accelerated provision of online public services to serve people and businesses, meeting the requirements of the Government Resolutions on administrative procedure reform and promoting IT use, especially Resolution No. 36a/NQ-CP. By the end of 2020, the GDVC provided 202 of 238 online public services at levels three and four, accounting for 85% of the total number of customs administrative procedures. A total of 196 administrative procedures were provided at level four (reaching 82.4%).

In addition, it has run the e-tax payment system, the Vietnam Automated System for Seaport Customs Management (VASSCM); promoted the implementation of National Single Window, the ASEAN Single Window and trade facilitation; accelerated the IT application in customs management; implemented IT application for customs modernisation and for the improvement of efficiency of the custom administration.

Achievements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 should be approached 

In addition to positive results, to meet development goals in the new period, the GDVC frankly acknowledges the current customs IT system still has many problems.

First, IT application has not covered all customs management area. Because some customs management areas have not yet been computerised and automated such as: inspection; tax reduction, exemption and refund; transit; supervision for goods and means of transport.

Second, the ability to change and respond to the changing requirements of legal regulations is still slow. The requirements forcustoms management change rapidly, and the IT system must be changed to meet the management requirements. However, the implementation of procedures related to bidding and IT systems development take a long time, leading to slow ability to change and respond to changing requirements of legal regulations.

In addition, the hardware equipment and backup IT systems are still lacking.

The main cause of the problem is that the IT system has been developed through many different phases. The IT application has taken place for a long time (from 1994 to now) so the systems are developed in each period to meet independent requirements. This is the main cause.

The Customs sector still lacks anoverall IT system architecture. The Government requires a synchronous, transparent IT system based on the overall design. Meanwhile, the Customs IT system lacks an overall design.

On the other hand, the rapid development of technology, especially in the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, has made several technologies and techniques of the Customs IT system to be naturally out of date. New technologies of the Industrial Revolution 4.0like connecting to the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI),business intelligence (BI), big data, blockchain, cloud computing, have created great opportunities and requires agencies and organisations, including the GDVC, to research and apply in State management.