Expanding National Single Window Mechanism

Nguyen Ngoc Tuc, General Director of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, said nine member states have completed internal procedures for signing the Protocol on the legal framework for the deployment of ASEAN Single Window (ASW) and Vietnam is carrying out final procedures to submit to the Government for granting authorization to the Finance Minister to sign the Protocol in June 2015. According to the results of the first phase of NSW deployment, the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, expanded the NSW to some international seaports in some provinces and cities like Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria - Vung Tau to make another step in deploying the NSW mechanism in all international seaports and river ports for all businesses and replaced manual procedures with electronic procedures and documents. As of June 1, 2015, as many as 1,481 companies declared 2,555 procedures at the NSW portal, including 1,440 entries, 1,105 exits and 10 transits. Regarding procedures with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 1,039 documents with connection to C/O form D are settled at the NSW portal. From May 25 to June 1, 2015, eight documents on motorised vehicle quality inspection were carried out the NSW.

 

Vietnam will continue to expand the first phase and start to carry out the second phase of the NSW. Accordingly, the NSW expansion will involve in administrative procedures on export and import of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are under the administration power of the Directorate of Fisheries, the Department of Livestock Production, the Plant Protection Department, the Department of Animal Health, the Vietnam Administration of Forestry, and the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD). The NSW will be expanded to administrative procedures of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, placed under the power of the Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, the Vietnam Environment Administration, and the General Department of Geology and Minerals. NSW-included administrative procedures of the Ministry of Health are under the administration authority of the Vietnam Food Administration, the Vietnam Drug Administration, and the Department of Medical Equipment and Medical Works.

 

Remarking on NSW deployment results, General Director Nguyen Ngoc Tuc said ministries and agencies concerned have been more active in implementation coordination; complete reviewing and assessing the systematisation of NSW-related administrative procedures and processes to translate them into the Law on Customs 2014 and Decree 08/2015/ND-CP. When the NSW is applied to registration and inspection field, businesses will save approximately four-fifths of time to deal with procedures. In other areas, the new mechanism will reduce 15 - 30 percent of time in doing administrative procedures. When more online public services (Level 4) are included to the NSW, more time and expense will be reduced because procedures are further streamlined.

 

However, the deployment has been posed to some obstacles: Insufficient support to meet all demands of customers and settle requests immediately; purely technical issues relating to declaration utilities of information technology systems, software errors, network connectivity errors and slow declaration speed; problems arising from inconsistent declaration processes of State agencies; late information of administrative procedure settlement results on the NSW Portal. So far, six ministries have joined the NSW, including the Ministry of Finance (specifically the General Department of Vietnam Customs), the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. From now to the end of the year, three more ministries, namely the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Information and Communications, will be admitted to the NSW. Then, Vietnam will have nine ministries engaged in the NSW.

 

The General Department of Vietnam Customs will expand the NSW for all ministries from 2016 to 2020. Moreover, all administrative procedures deployed on the NSW will be made online public services of Level 4.

 

NSW-connected ministries need to further improve coordination mechanisms in the spirit of working - perfecting, upholding the spirit of cooperation for common benefits rather than private interests of ministries and branches. They also need to quickly terminate the parallel submission of paper documents and electronic documents as reported by businesses. However, the replacement should not be mechanically applied when it lacks conditions. It actually needs a roadmap to remove paper documents. The budget for the deployment has been reported to the Prime Minister and will be allocated to beneficiary units in time. If ministries concerned have good preparations, administrative procedures will be reduced a lot. Expectedly in the fourth quarter, ministries will interconnect on the NSW. By early 2016, Vietnam may reach the class of ASEAN 3 Group, not ASEAN 6.

 

The health sector is keeping a close watch on procedural modernisation process. So far, 10 companies have joined the NSW. The new process requires just 1-3 days to complete procedures, compared with 19-21 days previously.