Customs procedure agent is a common international practice and is compared to an extended arm and an active support for customs declarations of companies. This practice helps customs offices to make clearance decisions quickly and accurately. Customs agent activities were launched in 2005 in accordance with the Decree No. 79/2005/ND-CP of the Government. However, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam now has over 200 customs agents with relatively low operating efficiency.
Drawbacks
According to the laws, customs agent will guarantee for every shipment and every company. Customs procedures will be quickly completed if they meet all export - import requirements. With this guarantee, customs authorities will need less time to find out information about every shipment and company with the involvement of customs agents while minimising errors and omissions and easily apply electronic customs procedures to catch up with international standards. This intermediary also helps reduce mistakes in value declaration and minimise bad deeds of customs officers.
However, after more than eight years, customs agents are few and their service quality is not very high. The major trade hub like Hanoi only has 40 customs agents but not many have stable operations. According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Customs, the city has 51 licensed customs agents but 39 of them do not comply with operating regulations and reporting regime. Haiphong City only has six customs agents while localities with limited trading activities like Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces do not have any customs agents.
The General Department of Vietnam Customs speaks high of the roles of customs agents and the roles of customs declarers to the process of customs sector reform and modernisation. But, in reality, a very few new customs agents register for operations while many only do simple tasks like declaration rather than stand for shippers to do customs procedural requirements.
Meanwhile, companies, especially FDI firms, still hesitate to undersign and stamp declaration papers because professional qualifications of customs agent staffs are not uneven. Many even have not updated new regulations about customs, export and import, thus lacking the trust of enterprises, especially FDI firms.
Efforts needed from both sides
In a bid to boost export and import activities and increase incomes for the State Budget, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has implemented several measures to boost the development of customs agent activities.
The general department has collaboration with the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and Japanese customs experts to seek measures to improve training quality for customs declarers and customs agents. Customs authorities in many provinces and cities have held meetings and dialogues with customs agents to find out better cooperation.
On September 5, 2013, the Binh Duong Customs Department hosted a dialogue with 19 customs agents. However, customs agent activities are incommensurate to potentials. Customs agents filled in 17,569 declaration forms and collected tax revenues of VND565 billion in the year to June 30 (accounting for 12.9 percent of total revenue). This is a common reality, not only in Binh Duong Customs Department.
To improve competency of customs agents, customs agents in many provinces and cities asked customs authorities to open frequent training classes and examinations for customs agent staffs.
Some experts also suggested the formation of Customs Agent Association to enhance cohesion, linkage and partnership. When supplying customs agent services, customs agents must undersign declaration forms and bear responsibility for declared data. Customs agent staffs need to improve their knowledge and skills to provide better services for customers.
Hai Ly
Vietnamese
