Amended Customs Law: Removing 'bottlenecks' to help businesses accelerate import and export
At the workshop to gather feedback from businesses on the draft Law amending and supplementing several articles of the Customs Law, organized by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Customs Department (Ministry of Finance) on the morning of June 11th, the business community suggested many changes and expressed expectations that the new regulations would remove existing "bottlenecks," facilitate trade activities, reduce compliance costs, and expand the potential for accelerating import and export activities in the coming period.
Expectations for a truly "one-stop shop" for businesses.
In his overview of the draft Law amending and supplementing the Customs Law, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Director of the Customs Department ( Ministry of Finance ), affirmed that the current Customs Law has revealed many limitations and needs to be amended and supplemented.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, policies must be put into practice. Based on a review of the implementation of the current Customs Law, and incorporating feedback from ministries, sectors, localities, and the business community, the draft Law focuses on three major areas: promoting digital transformation, modernization, and the application of technology in customs management; reforming administrative procedures, reducing documentation requirements, promoting voluntary compliance by businesses, and strengthening decentralization and delegation of authority; and ensuring consistency and uniformity with related legal regulations.
“In the coming time, we will implement digital customs and smart customs in the digital environment. Currently, the Customs sector is piloting an on-site customs clearance model in Hai Phong , while simultaneously perfecting the national single window mechanism, strengthening data sharing with ministries and sectors, and supplementing the legal basis for import and export goods through cross-border e-commerce. This amendment to the Customs Law aims to perfect the legal framework for state management, while creating conditions for businesses to operate more conveniently and transparently. This will contribute to reducing compliance costs, shortening customs clearance time, enhancing transparency, and further simplifying administrative procedures for businesses,” emphasized Deputy Director of the Customs Department Nguyen Thanh Hung.
Removing numerous "bottlenecks" for import and export activities.
At the seminar, many opinions focused on issues such as customs declaration; customs inspection and supervision of import and export goods via e-commerce platforms; and the requirement for buyer e-ID verification. Specifically, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Van - Vice President of Bay Global Strategies - argued that the amended Customs Law should not require e-commerce platforms to act as customs declarants and be subject to customs inspection and supervision. Furthermore, the Law should clearly state that the role of the e-commerce platform as a declarant does not equate to the platform becoming the official importer; the customer/buyer should still be the official importer, as the roles of customs declarant and importer are distinct and independent. It is crucial to maintain this separation; otherwise, e-commerce platforms will bear all the customs compliance risks for each shipment, creating an excessively heavy burden for them.
Regarding this issue, Ms. Le Thi Xuan Hue , Deputy Director of Bower Group Asia Viet Nam Co., Ltd., suggested that the drafting agency should review and compare the regulations with the E-commerce Law to avoid overlaps and ensure the consistency of the legal system. According to Ms. Hue, the regulation requiring e-commerce platforms to declare customs is not entirely consistent with the E-commerce Law, because these platforms only act as intermediaries connecting transactions and do not directly possess complete information about goods to make declarations. Adding this obligation could expose platforms to significant legal risks due to their inability to control and verify all product information. This could also negatively impact business operations on e-commerce platforms and the flow of goods.
Regarding the issue of electronic identity verification (e-ID) for buyers, Ms. Hue stated that the E-commerce Law already has provisions on this. Specifically, Articles 17, 22, and 25 of the E-commerce Law require verification from the seller, not the buyer. So, should we include this regulation when declaring to customs? According to Ms. Hue, in buying and selling transactions, only the seller and buyer should be required to verify their identities according to the E-commerce Law. Whatever the E-commerce Law stipulates, they should comply accordingly.
Regarding customs brokerage services, the latest draft law has also removed the specific criteria for customs brokers. Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance will specify the criteria for customs brokers. When drafting this regulation, Ms. Hue believes that careful consideration is necessary because currently, import and export businesses are heavily dependent on customs brokers. Therefore, regulations affecting customs brokers will also significantly impact import and export activities. For this reason, transitional provisions are needed to allow customs units to adapt, ensuring the continuity of customs brokerage services and preventing any negative impact on import and export activities.
Source: Vietnam.vn
