A virtual conference “Accompanying business to over Covid-19” on November 30. Photo: T.Binh

It is imperative businesses work with brokers recognized by the Customs authority

The Virtual conference “Accompanying business to over Covid-19”, jointly organized by the General Department of Customs and the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME), was held on November 30. Some enterprises said that in the process of importing and exporting goods, they hire customs service providers. This brings delays due to unprofessional procedures, greatly affecting the revenue of businesses

As a result, enterprises proposed that the Customs authority provide a declaration service.

Responding to this issue, representatives of the General Department of Customs said that, “the Customs authority is a state management agency and does not provide such services. To find a reliable service provider, businesses can contact customs agents that have been recognized by the General Department of Customs.”

A representative of the Customs Management and Supervision Department said, “customs agents recognized by the General Department of Customs have been publicized on the portal (www.customs. gov.vn). These agents are qualified to provide customs services.”

Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Customs Department, Nguyen Kien Giang, said, “to facilitate import and export activities, in addition to cooperating with agents recognized by the General Department of Customs, businesses can contact with the customs authorities for instructions.”

“The Hai Phong Customs Department has groups to guide and solve problems from department to branch level to answer and support businesses. On the other hand, Hai Phong Customs has boosted the implementation of the Customs-Business Partnership Program, in which the department signed more than 20,000 agreements with the business community on trade facilitation," said Deputy Director Nguyen Kien Giang.

Talking more about this issue, Deputy Director of the Risk Management Department, Bui Thai Quang, said, “in Vietnam and other countries, customs agents are always considered as a support unit of the Customs authority.”

To ensure the operation of customs agents, there are already legal documents on this group. In addition, during the management process, the Customs authority has two more channels to monitor the activities of customs agents. One channel is to coordinate with other units to train and grant certificate of customs agent staff, then, the General Department of Customs organizes exams and grants certificates.

Along with that, in Circular 81/2019/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance on risk management in customs operations, customs agents are included in the assessment of law compliance.

Importers and exporters need to urgently improve awareness

In fact, there are cases where service providers cause difficulties for import-export enterprises.

According to Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Customs Department, Nguyen Kien Giang, in Hai Phong, there are cases that individuals provide customs services, forwarding and shipping services of goods for import and export enterprises.

“Among these, some are good but some harass import-export businesses. For example, a shipment is cleared by the customs office early, but the service provider has delayed delivery and presents false problems to ask for extra money from import-export businesses. There are also cases where customs documents are simple, but the service provider does not understand or intentionally makes the process complex, thereby guiding import-export businesses to carry out incorrect procedures”, said Giang.

At the conference, a representative of an enterprise engaging in importing cosmetics said that his company does make customs declaration, but hires a customs service provider to do so.

“Our company once encountered a situation where the service provider caused difficulty. When the company imported a shipment, the service provider said that the shipment was classified into the Red channel, so if the company paid extra costs, the shipment would be cleared quickly, without difficulties. But, we confirmed that our company's imported shipment met the regulations, and so we refused to pay extra costs.

If the shipment is classified into the Red channel, we are still willing to wait. Then, the shipment will still be cleared normally. Therefore, I share this with other import-export businesses. We need to improve our awareness in these situations and have a tough stance with the service provider, because our goods have no problem. In addition, import-export businesses have many choices because there are many reputable customs agents," said the representative.