Customs office check for customs clearance procedures. (Photo: tapchitaichinh.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - Applying risk management in customs operations willnot only enable trade security and facilitation but will also allow the GeneralDepartment of Customs to focus its resources on high-risk trade, heard aworkshop held in Hanoi on November 12.
The workshop organised by General Department of Customs (GDC) and the US Agencyfor International Development (USAID) aimed to discuss the content of Circular81, Decision 2218, and a new Voluntary Compliance Program for Traders withrepresentatives of the private sector and customs officials from local customsdepartments in northern provinces in Vietnam.
If successfully implemented, the programme will guide and give businesses thetools to self-assess and improve their compliance with customs regulations,cutting the time and cost to trade.
Hoang Viet Cuong, the GDC’s deputy general director said: “The GeneralDepartment of Customs has gradually developed and completed the complianceassessment mechanism for four groups of customs declarants and warehouse, yardand port enterprises. We will publish criteria for assessment andclassification on compliance and content on the application of risk managementin customs operations.”
With technical assistance from the USAID Trade Facilitation Program, inNovember 2019, the Ministry of Finance issued its first legal document on riskmanagement in Customs operations (Circular No 81/2019/TT-BTC dated November 15,2019), together with Decision 2218/QD-TCHQ on implementing and applying riskmanagement in customs operations (Decision 2218), which provides guidance onthe adoption of risk management in customs operations for both customsauthorities and the private sector.
Bradley Bessire, Deputy Mission Director of USAID Vietnam said: “Over the pasttwenty years, USAID has supported Vietnam in its efforts to institutionalisemore open and predictable trade. Building on the normalisation of traderelations in 1995, USAID assistance to date is focused on the implementation ofreforms to support Vietnam’s increased market orientation.”
He added that with more than 95 million USD in USAID trade facilitationtechnical assistance over the last two decades, Vietnam has made substantivereforms to its legal framework governing many businesses in the trade sector.
These reforms were particularly effective in raising the economic governancecapacity of government officials to respond to the needs of the private sector,and to improving the business enabling environment in Vietnam so entrepreneursand the economy can thrive.
"Over the course of our cooperation on trade facilitation, we jointlyrecognised continuing constraints at both the central and provincial levels.
"To support Vietnam, the five-year 21.7 million USD USAID TradeFacilitation Programme was launched to address gaps in specialised inspectionin order to help Vietnam accelerate implementation of the World TradeOrganisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreements to simplify, modernise, andharmonise customs processes," he said./.
VNA
