President of Samsung Viet Nam, Mr. Choi Joo Ho spoke with Customs News about the support of Vietnam Customs in the development of Samsung Group, about the current production and business situation and the future development plan of this company.

Can you tell us about your production and business situation, especially when Vietnam has to face the 4th wave of Covid-19? Will difficulties caused by the pandemic affect Samsung Vietnam's export goals in 2021?

When the 4th wave of Covid-19 pandemic broke out in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang, in May and June, Samsung had difficulties in manufacturing mobile devices. However, with the comprehensive support of the Government, the Prime Minister and local authorities, as well as effective anti-pandemic measures, Samsung has overcome these difficulties.

Recently, due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City, the production and supply of our televisions and household electrical products faced difficulties. If this situation continues, exports will face major obstacles. We hope that economic activities will be restored soon so that Samsung factories and our suppliers can operate normally.

Although in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the first six months of this year, Samsung Vietnam has achieved the set target. If Samsung's home appliance factory in Ho Chi Minh City returns to normal operation soon, it is expected that we will exceed our export target for 2021.

Samsung fully believes in the pandemic prevention measures of the Vietnamese Government and the Prime Minister. We will do our best to contribute to Vietnam's rapid economic recovery.

SEVT mobile device factory in Thai Nguyen

Samsung is currently the number 1 investor and exporter in Vietnam. What do you think about the support, companionship and sharing of Vietnam Customs, especially during the time when the Covid-19 pandemic caused many impacts?

Currently, six Samsung manufacturing companies are recognized by the General Department of Vietnam Customs as a Customs Priority Enterprise (AEO), enjoy many preferential policies and are maximized during the implementation of customs procedures for imported and exported goods. Such incentives have contributed to supporting Samsung Vietnam to achieve its target of production output and export to 128 countries and territories around the world.

The valuable support from Customs has helped Samsung Vietnam become a key point in the global production activities of Samsung Group.

In particular, according to regulations, every three years, the General Department of Customs will re-evaluate and extend the AEO, however, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the compliance with social distancing measures, the General Department of Customs has flexibly extended the AEO, helping our production activities go smoothly.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a delay in import and export clearance in many Western countries, mainly the US. At ports, the congestion of non-clearance containers has led to a shortage of containers to transport goods around the world. In the first half of this year, despite trying to export televisions and home appliances produced at SEHC HCMC, because there were no containers, the above products piled up in factories. At this time, Customs quickly created favorable conditions for the Company to use external warehouses to safely store goods.

Moreover, in the first half of this year, thanks to the guidance and support of Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department and Ho Chi Minh City High-tech Zone Customs Branch (SHTP), SEHC Ho Chi Minh City has received recognition from the Government and completed the transition to an export processing enterprise (EPE) in accordance with the law.

What is Samsung Vietnam's assessment of Vietnam Customs' AEO program and Samsung Vietnam's commitment to complying with customs laws?

As mentioned above, the AEO model is helping Samsung Vietnam in its position as a global Samsung production base. Accordingly, Samsung Vietnam continuously strives to maintain AEO status and comply with Vietnam's tariff regulations. Regarding this issue, we hope that the General Department of Customs will continue to pay attention to, guide and believe in our internal control capacity, thereby facilitating the simplification of procedures so that the company can manage its own internal affairs, including control of dependent branches and suppliers that have import-export relations with the Company.

Manufacturing activities at Samsung Vietnam

Does Samsung Vietnam have any suggestions or recommendations for Vietnam Customs?Samsung Group considers compliance with the law a top priority and regularly organizes training sessions for all employees. At the same time, Samsung Vietnam is committed to doing its best to comply with Vietnamese laws, so if allowed to self-manage, Samsung will apply higher standards and regulations throughout the system, including its entire supply network.

Samsung Vietnam is a high-tech enterprise recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and a leader in the global electronics industry. Therefore, in order to prevent internal information leakage due to industrial espionage, hacking, etc., businesses need support to be able to protect internal information when conducting customs procedures such as goods circulations or import and export declarations as well as when connecting to CCTV customs or customs clearance.

In this regard, we are preparing several proposals.

In addition, for the implementation of the tax administration regime according to global agreements such as FTAs, WTOs, amendments to Vietnam's tariff table according to the revised HS WCO (World Customs Organization) 2022, we expect that FDI enterprises, including Samsung, will cooperate and discuss with the Customs to give some views and opinions.

The Vietnamese government has been actively reforming institutions, creating a favorable business and investment environment for investors, including Samsung. Can Samsung Vietnam share information about investment and business plans in Vietnam?

Samsung Vietnam officially started investing in Vietnam in 2008 with the construction of Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) mobile phone factory. Currently, Samsung has six factories, one Research and Development Center (R&D) and one legal sales entity.

Overcoming the role of a key global production base in Vietnam, Samsung is building a new US$220 million Research and Development Center in West Ho Tay urban area to improve its research and competitiveness in medium and long term development.

Currently, the project is being safely built, reaching progress of over 50%, and is expected to be inaugurated by the end of next year. Samsung's R&D Center will research smartphone software, 5G, artificial intelligence, and big data, and will contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of the information technology industry as well as the development of Vietnam's Industry 4.0.

Samsung is doing business in Vietnam with a long-term strategy and vision, we hope to continue the strategic partnership with Vietnam.