Obvious benefits
Haiphong Department of Customs officially launched the customs declaration manager system (CDMS) or e-customs clearance on September 5, 2005 after three months of preparations. Haiphong Department of Customs is the first in Vietnam to apply this system.
According to Mr. Tran Dinh Duc, deputy director of the Haiphong Department of Customs’ E-customs Division, the application of the CDMS is very simple. If an enterprise wants to use the CDMS system, it needs to register with the Haiphong E-customs Division. The division will install the system and provide passwords for the enterprise, which meets all requirements. The system will process data automatically and will signal users in three spectrums of colors. The blue is applied to precise declarations, and the yellow means incorrect or insufficient data and the system will highlight the bad one for the enterprise to correct them. After the correction, if the refilled data are correct, the blue will come but if the data are still incorrect or insufficient, the red will appear. The enterprise will be informed incorrect fields by the system, but the enterprise has to bring documents to customs offices. If the data are valid, customs procedures will be cleared.
Monthly fees for the use of the CDMS system will be paid to the bank account of the Customs. The system will inform fees to its users once a month.
Mr. Duc said that the CDMS has lots of advantages. Firstly, it helps quicken customs procedure clearance: quick and precise data fill-in, direct printing of the processed data, automatic check for the precision of declared data and automatic processing imported data without any intervention of customs officers. Secondly, the enterprise does not need to check the suitable date for liquidating because the system will automatically inform this and will produce precise reports on processed procedures.
Continued Improvement
After 10 days of applying the CDMS system, 13 out of 20 enterprises registered for the use of the system. The system processed 32 declarations and produced 18 blue, nine yellow (due to lack of licences and quarantine certificates) and five red (this mainly happens to used items or products that require declarations of product registration numbers.
According to Duc, there are still many works to do to improve the e-customs clearance. First, the system software needs upgrading. Currently, the system only processes one out of 18 modules. Second, enterprises registering for the use of CDMS system are usually bad at using customs declaration software. Third, nine customs offices are disconnected with the system, which cause overlapping in settling customs procedures. Fourth, the in-use software of the enterprise conflicts with the system software. Fifth, there are no databases related to commodity policies, risks, special consumption tariffs, quotas and preferentials. The Department of Customs also has no spare systems and data storage. These hardships will take time to solve. However, Duc said, the customs sector will actively and subjectively seek measures to solve these difficulties.
This is also a vital requirement for any entity in the process of the international economic integration.
Su Ky
Vietnamese
