View of the workshop

On October 10, the General Department of Vietnam Customs held a scientific workshop on “Developing customs clearance agents: Current situation and solutions” to analyze, evaluate and discuss solutions for developing CBA in the current context.

The services are developed in most of countries

In his opening speech at the seminar, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Luu Manh Tuong, stated that with the Industry 4.0 revolution, foreign trade activities and international business exchanges have been developing rapidly. The volume of import and export goods has increased significantly in both quantity and value, leading to a higher demand for customs procedures. Coupled with new regulations and legal policies, the procedures for customs clearance, inspection, and management of import and export goods at ports have become more complex.

In most countries, Customs Broker Agent (CBA) is a highly developed service in import-export activities. It is a crucial link in the logistics service chain that many countries have successfully applied.

Currently, almost 100% of developed countries worldwide have adopted electronic customs clearance, and procedures are all performed on automated systems. As a result, the customs brokerage system has become more specialized and professional, meeting the demands of society.

Moreover, in the context of global trade and international economic integration, ministries, sectors, and customs authorities must continuously promote administrative procedure reforms to facilitate export and import activities.

The establishment of an intermediary unit to represent consignors in customs procedures is necessary. This service is part of the supply chain for import and export goods and is considered an "extended arm" in declaring and performing customs procedures. It will help customs authorities disseminate policies and regulations to import and export enterprises more promptly, avoid congestion, create transparency in customs procedures, and prevent negative phenomena, harassment, and obstruction.

For import and export enterprises, customs brokers will help them clear goods quickly, avoid violations during customs procedures, and save costs.

At the same time, the development of CBA will enable enterprises to reduce investment costs in personnel, equipment, and modern facilities for customs procedures, thereby enhancing their competitiveness in the market.

The agency is not really effective

However, compared to the current socio-economic development requirements, Deputy Director General Luu Manh Tuong assessed that the operation of CBA has not been truly effective in meeting the set demands. The proportion of declarations submitted by authorized agents on behalf of consignors is very low, and the level of trust in agents has not been highly evaluated.

Many customs brokers have limited management capabilities and are still hesitant when handling customs procedures, especially those who perform customs procedures incorrectly (such as declaring incorrect codes, tax rates, or customs values).

This has led to the handling of administrative violations of customs, tax recovery, or the implementation of management policies for import and export goods, which the customs brokerage businesses themselves have to represent the consignors in carrying out.

This requires customs authorities, CBA, and import-export enterprises to jointly study and develop solutions to improve the quality and efficiency of CBA operations, thereby facilitating CBA enterprises at the ministerial, departmental, and sub-departmental levels.

The scientific seminar with the theme "Developing CBA: Current Situation and Solutions" aims to exchange and discuss to clarify the role of CBA in the new situation.

From there, propose and recommend to competent authorities solutions to develop CBA in the context of our country's strong integration and development, bringing many opportunities for enterprises to reach the world market.

Deputy Director General Luu Manh Tuong spoke at the conference.

The leadership of the General Department of Vietnam Customs requested that the delegates focus on discussing and clarifying the role of CBA in the global supply chain. Analyze and evaluate the current operating situation of CBA; the current state of legal regulations for CBA and customs management of CBA activities.

At the same time, exchange and suggest solutions to overcome difficulties in developing CBA, propose mechanisms for managing operations and personnel in the direction of facilitating, reducing procedures, reducing costs, reducing time, providing information support, answering questions related to import and export of goods, customs procedures... to support import and export enterprises and CBA agents and staff in the process of carrying out customs clearance activities.

Encourage CBA to enhance compliance with customs law; organize training to improve qualifications, expertise, customs declaration, regulations on policies for import and export goods, proficient use of customs declaration systems...

At the seminar, representatives of units in the customs sector, scientists, CBA, and delegates discussed the current state of legal regulations for CBA; the role of CBA in the global supply chain; criteria for evaluating CBA capacity; solutions to enhance CBA's legal compliance...

The results of the seminar will be documents and suggestions for the General Department of Vietnam Customs to enhance its state management role, improve legal policies on CBA; further facilitate import and export activities through CBA; support agents in improving their capacity and quality of customs procedures; cooperate in developing CBA; and increase the transparency of CBA activities...