A truck rolls through the Huu Nghi Border Gate in Lang Son province. (Photo: VNA) This move follows booming import-export activities across theseborder gates as domestic consumer demand increases ahead of the Tet holiday. Risingcross-border shipments can correspond with an increase in smuggling and tradefraud.
Customs officials at Huu Nghi International Border Gate have beenimplementing new legal regulations related to customs and import and exportpolicies to create favourable conditions for customs clearance and good trading.
Officials are also closely inspecting goods and their origins andconducting more comprehensive post-customs clearance inspections.
Deputy head of the Huu Nghi Border Gate Customs Branch Phung VanBa said his unit has deployed solutions to combat smuggling and trade fraud byincreasing the screening of goods from declaration stage and each stage beyond.
The unit will mark shipments that violate procedures foradditional inspection to ensure that businesses do not violate shippingprocedures, he said.
Deputy head of Tan Thanh Customs Branch Nong Quang Hung said hisunit has strictly controlled vehicles transporting goods into and out ofshipping yards.
The unit has also focused on classifying import and exportchannels and closely monitoring warehouses and other storage areas for goods.He added that his unit has discovered and handled at least 63 violations,imposing administrative fines of over 4 billion VND in 2023.
Vu Tuan Binh, Deputy Director of the Lang Son Customs Department,said that the department has directed border gate customs units to specificallyinspect exported and imported goods and items with high tax rates to preventsmuggled and counterfeit goods.
He said customs authorities will collaborate with relevantgovernment entities to strengthen the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, andcounterfeit good shipments along busy shipping routes.
Lang Son province is now home to seven border gates - Chi Ma, TanThanh, Coc Nam, Na Nua, Na Hinh, Huu Nghi and Dong Dang.
According to the department, in 2023, units handled over 1,500violations of smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods and issued finestotaling over 8.3 billion VND.
Late last year, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang issued a planfor the prevention and control of cross-smuggling ahead of the 2024 Tet holiday.
Under the plan, relevant ministries, agencies, and localities arerequired to build and implement campaigns to prevent smuggling, trade fraud,and counterfeit products through the Tet period and beyond.
Measures include increased inspections and patrols along borderareas and at border gates, seaports, airports, and routes where smugglers oftentransport goods and commodities into Vietnam.
The Deputy Prime Minister also asked government bodies tostrengthen market inspections, including inspections of the e-commerceplatforms and social network pages such as Facebook, Zalo, and TikTok.
The Deputy Prime Minister's plan also emphasised a focus onpreventing the smuggling of banned products, low-quality products, high-taxproducts, and essential commodities serving consumers during Tet./.
VNA
