From April 1, 2014, the VNACCS/VCIS system - an automated cargo and port consolidated system funded by the Government of Japan - is officially operated by the customs sector of Vietnam.
To prepare for this landmark event, local customs authorities and businesses have made great efforts to get familiar with the system.
Customs authorities: Pressure
When asked about the preparations for the operation of the VNACCS/VCIS system in their localities, the customs authorities of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces have the same mood: Waiting in anxiety. During the five-month trial run, leaders of customs departments directed their affiliated branches and units to make customs officers in charge and enterprises familiar with system operations. The heads of provincial/municipal customs departments personally guided the steering committees for system commissioning and operation. So far, provincial/municipal customs departments have basically completed expertise transfer and training for registered enterprises.
Mr Le Van Thung, Deputy Director of Customs Department of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, said: The deployment of VNACCS/VCIS system is a very clear mission. No matter how hard it is, the deployment is necessary because this is a perfect system, which helps Vietnam reform administrative procedures towards modernisation to keep up with the progress of the region and the world. This system has been deployed in Japan for a long time, but Vietnam still faces difficulty in deployment. First, as it changes the habits of Vietnamese people, many feel uncomfortable with the change. Then, it changes perceptions of getting information in a very detailed system but it provides raw data which need tools to be processed.
Despite these difficulties, the Department determined that Vietnam had to manage because Japan had done it. But, many could not fully understand the system since it had a very short test-run. The Department directed organising training courses for businesses, invited them to process on the real system to show their errors and solutions to them, and went to businesses to guide persons in charge. But, as so many criteria are encrypted, they need time to get familiar.
An official from the Vung Tau Port - Airport Customs Office said companies are willing to work with this new system but they have certain fears because their business and production activities are affected when the system is upgraded or technology is changed, which may cause faults.
As for the office, since it mainly deals with products relating to oil and gas drilling, exploration and exploitation activities, the major difficulty is how to apply codes to imported equipment while, to operate on the VNACCS/VCIS system, persons in charge have to know by heart 53 scenarios, of which most belong to customs officers and a few belong to enterprises. Without doubt, pressures are enormous, particularly when the head of the department office bears direct responsibility for coordination instead of the head of the team as earlier. Pressures on leaders of customs agencies therefore weigh up.
Businesses: Anxiety
The first concern of businesses is the stability of transmission lines. Previously, when e-customs procedures were deployed, transmission problems occurred. Customs authorities fixed and upgraded but problems have not been completely addressed. Now, according to the VNACCS/VCIS system mechanism, all data are transmitted to the General Department of Vietnam Customs for processing and then returned to provincial/municipal departments; thus, network congestion concerns are increasingly clear. In response to this, customs authorities said they will have a backup system. If network faults occur, manual procedures will be activated to meet production and business progress of enterprises. Nevertheless, when customs authorities complete procedures and hand documents to clearance ports where documents have not reached, how the situation will be solved?
Thus, when deploying the VNACCS/VCIS system, hundreds of situations may happen, and to address such situations, customs authorities will issue handbooks to guide both customs officers and businesses because no final scenarios have been established.
Ho Quoc Trung from Viet Nhat Shipping Co., Ltd in charge of dealing with customs procedures in Dong Nai area for more than 10 years, said, the VNACCS/VCIS system is clearly faster (returning declaration forms in just 3 seconds) than e-customs procedure processing, but regulations remain too stringent and inadequate. Previously, any person was entitled to declare customs procedures, but according to the Circular 22, this work must be done by trained persons with customs capability. If businesses do not have enough capacity, they must hire customs declaration agents. However, with this new rule, agents shall pay taxes in place of enterprises but these are posed to huge risks. For that reason, he recommended that agents only make declaration procedures and distribute merchandise in the name of enterprises while the latter pays taxes.
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To operate on the VNACCS/VCIS system, persons in charge have to learn by heart 53 scenarios, of which most belong to customs officers.
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Nguyen Duc Tinh from U&I Freight Forwarding Company - a customs agent serving 29 companies in Binh Duong province, said, “I pin my hopes on the VNACCS/VCIS system because it is 3 times faster than e-customs procedure. This is very good for businesses and problems must be seen in reality.”
Ha Minh Chanh from Shyang Hung Cheng Company (Taiwan) - a manufacturer of Adidas shoes with over 10,000 workers, said his company fulfilled nearly 100 declaration forms a day with a few lines but no problems have been found. But, according to Circular 22, commodities must be gathered to have customs procedures approved and customs will not have enough room for goods in waiting. For the time being, no solution to this difficulty has been put forth, he said.
M.L
Vietnamese
