DECISION

ON PROMULGATION OF THE PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMS AND ENTERPRISES AND STAKEHOLDERS IN 2023

THE DIRECTOR OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

Pursuant to the Customs Law No. 54/2014/QH13 dated June 23, 2014;

Pursuant to Decision No. 65/2015/QD-TTg dated December 17, 2015 of the Prime Minister defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the General Department of Customs affiliated to the Ministry of Finance;

At the request of the Leader of the Customs Modernization Reform Committee.

HEREBY DECIDES:

Article 1. Issue together with this Decision the Plan for development of partnership between customs and enterprises and stakeholders in 2023.

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Article 3. Heads of units affiliated to the General Department of Customs shall implement this Decision./.

PP. DIRECTOR GENERAL
DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL




Hoang Viet Cuong

PLAN

ON INITATION OF DEVELOPMENT OF PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMS AND ENTERPRISES AND STAKEHOLDERS IN 2023
(Issued together with Decision No. 104/QD-TCHQ dated January 19, 2023 of the General Department of Customs)

I. PURPOSES

1. Organize partnership activities for the business community and stakeholders to participate in the process of reform, modernization and digital transformation in the Customs sector and improve voluntary compliance with customs laws for the business community.

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II. REQUIREMENTS

1. Enable the business community and stakeholders to have a good grasp of new policies and laws on customs such as: Customs Development Strategy up to 2030, Action Program to implement the Customs Development Strategy to 2030, Customs Reform, Development and Modernization Plan to 2025, Digital transformation plan, Pilot program to support and encourage businesses to voluntarily comply with customs laws and newly promulgated customs legislation; thereby accompanying the customs authorities in the process of initiation and implementation.

2. Encourage and enable the business community and stakeholders to participate in improving customs legal policies, management methods, service quality of customs authorities at all levels, pilot programs on supporting and encouraging enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws through consultation, cooperation and supervision.

3. Strengthen customs-enterprise cooperation to contribute to improving the law management and enforcement capacity of each party.

III. CONTENTS AND TASKS

1. Task 1: Information

1.1. Content:

Customs authorities at all levels provide for the business community information about: (i) Customs Development Strategy to 2030 according to Decision No. 628/QD-TTg, dated May 20, 2022 of the Prime Minister Government, Action Program to implement the Customs Development Strategy to 2030 and the Customs Reform, Development and Modernization Plan to 2025; (ii) Digital transformation plan, Pilot program to support and encourage businesses to voluntarily comply with customs laws, (iii). Newly promulgated customs legislation and key reform and modernization programs and projects of the Customs sector in 2023; (iv) International treaties and commitments in the field of customs and trade facilitation to which Vietnam is a member.

1.2. Detailed tasks:

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+ The General Department's Office is responsible for coordinating with media agencies to promptly inform and propagate to the people and business community as follows: (i) Help the people and business community access to new legal policies, significant programs and projects for the reform and modernization of customs in an orthodox, correct, objective and multidimensional way in the Customs sector; (ii) Help the people and business community have a good grasp of new methods, tricks of smuggling and commercial frauds arising through the mass media; (iii) Continue to coordinate with Vietnam Television to broadcast the program "Vietnam Customs" periodically on channel VTV1.

+ Customs Journal (both paper and electronic version) is responsible for: (i). Propagating new policies and laws on customs, key reform and modernization programs of the Customs sector, international commitments on trade; (ii) Publishing in-depth articles on propagation and introduction about digital transformation activities of the Customs sector, programs to support and encourage businesses to voluntarily comply with customs laws to the business community (in both Vietnamese and English).

+ The Department of IT and Customs Statistics is responsible for propagation on the Portal with specialized and in-depth articles about legal policies to raise the people and businesses ‘awareness of knowledge and skills on e-Government, Digital Government, digital transformation in general, as well as the contents of the digital transformation plan, programs and activities of the Customs sector in particular.

+ The Committee of Reform and Modernization is responsible for propagation to the business community through the partnership channel with business associations on the contents of the Customs Development Strategy to 2030, Action Program to implement the Customs Development Strategy to 2030 and the Customs Reform, Development and Modernization Plan to 2025.

+ Departments affiliated to the General Department are responsible for editing propagation contents and materials and assigned contents, and coordinating with propagation units to disseminate them to the business community and the people.

- At the Customs Departments of provinces and cities:

Coordinate with Departments affiliated to the General Department to develop propagation contents and coordinate with media agencies in the provinces and cities to disseminate them to the business community and the people.

+ Disseminate to import-export enterprises in the provinces and cities the following: (i) New legal documents on customs; (ii) Customs Development Strategy to 2030, Action Program to implement Customs Development Strategy to 2030 and Customs Reform, Development and Modernization Plan to 2025; (iii) Policies, tasks, contents to be prepared, the connection and execution of the new IT system according to the Customs Digital Transformation Plan; (iv) Program to support and encourage enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws.

+ Focus on propagating and guiding small, micro, and newly established enterprises (start-ups) to have a solid grasp of policies, legal regulations, customs procedures.

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+ Build smart phone applications to support the business community, make public each and every step in the procedures to help leaders of businesses, services, and agents of customs procedures can promptly grasp information related to the shipment during the implementation of customs procedures, eliminate dishonest information, thereby reducing unofficial costs for importers and exporters.

2. Task 2: Supporting enterprises

2.1. Content:

Customs authorities at all levels promote support for enterprises through the following:

- Support enterprises in the following matters: customs procedures by type of imported and exported goods, regulations of law on exports delivered to designated domestic processors or imports from designated domestic processors, classification, valuation, and determination of origin.

- Support enterprises to promptly access information on new legal regulations, import and export situation, and trade trends; solve enterprises’ problems arising when doing customs procedures. Focus on supporting groups of small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups, and enterprises that voluntarily comply with customs laws.

- Provide free customs declaration software and regularly update it; support and promote digital transformation of enterprises and stakeholders to ensure synchronization with the digital transformation process of the Customs sector.

2.2. Detailed tasks:

- At the General Department:

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+ The Departments under the General Department are responsible for: (i) Studying and proposing improvement of mechanisms and policies to support enterprises within the functions and tasks of the Departments; (ii) Coordinating with the Committee of Reform and Modernization to organize activities to support enterprises through the partnership channel with business associations.

+ The Department of IT and Customs Statistics is responsible for: (i) Supporting and guiding enterprises and stakeholders to promote the connection, information exchange and data sharing with the IT system of the General Department of Customs to meet the requirements of the General Department of Customs for state management of customs and making it easier for the people and enterprises in the process of carrying out customs procedures; (ii) Conducting training and propagation for enterprises and stakeholders to know their responsibilities, preparation and coordination when the Customs sector initiate digital transformation programs, and new IT systems.

+ Department of Risk Management shall coordinate with customs authorities to initiate activities to support enterprises to participate in the pilot program to support and encourage enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws such as: (i) Support and give advice about resolving problems in the process of carrying out customs procedures for import and transit goods of enterprises being program members; (ii) Warn enterprises about risks of supply chain security and intellectual property infringement so that enterprises can proactively avoid customs law violations, maintain or improve levels of compliance with customs law.

+ Vietnam Customs School develops training and refresher programs to provide customs practice knowledge and holds training and refresher courses to update new knowledge about customs practices (in person, online or in combination of in person and online) for the business community, customs agents and agencies, organizations and individuals wishing to learn about the fields of customs practices.

- At the Customs Departments of provinces and cities:

+ Regularly update newly issued regulations on customs procedures, commodity policies, import and export duty policies, tariff nomenclature, HS codes, solutions to prevent smuggling and commercial fraud, etc. as soon as they take effect on websites, sites for customs clearance and in various forms to help enterprises grasp and immediately comply with regulations.

+ Organize activities to support enterprises according to the plans and programs promulgated by the General Department of Customs in the provinces or cities. It is necessary to diversify forms of business support such as:  holding dialogue conferences, face-to-face work combined with online work; continue to maintain and promote the effectiveness of hotlines, zalo, viber, email... to promptly and quickly receive reports and claims of the people and the business community anytime and anywhere.

+ Actively research new issues and relevant new documents to exchange and guide the business community in the provinces or cities. It is also necessary to take the initiative and strengthen understanding of the problems, difficulties and actual needs of enterprises in production, business, import and export activities in the provinces or cities to support and solve the problems and difficulties, directly respond to claims of the business community.

+ Guide and initiate support activities for enterprises in the provinces or cities under the pilot program to support and encourage enterprises to comply with customs laws, in order to improve the level of law compliance of the business community in accordance with current regulations.

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+ Support enterprises and people in the provinces or cities in the process of initiating the tasks of digital transformation of the Customs sector, and promptly resolve difficulties and problems. And also inform and coordinate with agencies and departments in the provinces or cities to take advantage of support and coordination in the process of implementing digital transformation of the Customs sector.

3. Task 3: Business and stakeholder consultation

3.1. Content:

Customs authorities at all levels shall focus on consulting enterprises and stakeholders on the following matters:

- Customs-enterprise consultation:  (i) In the development of legislative documents, customs processes and procedures, forms of documents, electronic documents and entries to serve digitization requirements and digital transformation in the customs industry; (ii) Regulations on management mechanism, methods, order and procedures for quality inspection and food safety inspection for imported goods; (iii) Regulations on customs management for imported and exported goods transacted via e-commerce; (iv) Regulations on customs procedures, customs inspection, supervision and control; (v) Regulations on connection and information sharing in the field of export, import, exit, entry, transit of goods, people and means of transport under the national single window system, etc.

- Enterprise-customs consultation:  (i) Proposals and recommendations of enterprises on solutions to improve legal policies, procedures, organization of law enforcement; (ii) Solutions for connection, information exchange and data sharing with the information technology system of the General Department of Customs during the implementation of customs procedures.

3.2. Detailed tasks:

- At the General Department:

+ The Committee of Reform and Modernization is responsible for: (i) Consulting enterprises and stakeholders through the partnership channel with business associations; (ii) Coordinating with business associations to develop consultation programs, prepare consultation contents, and propose consultation parties.

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- At the Customs Departments of provinces and cities:

+ Develop and run thematic consultation programs with the business community and stakeholders in the provinces or cities; flexibly apply consultation forms such as: in person at the customs authority, at the enterprise's headquarters or in combination with online and face-to-face consultations to facilitate the participation of a large number of enterprises.

+ Encourage and enable enterprises to actively consult with customs authorities on difficulties and problems that need to be promptly resolved as well as propose solutions to improve customs management efficiency, customs clearance capacity in the provinces or cities.

+ Effectively implement the solutions post-consultation to build the trust of the business community with the customs authority in general and the consultation activities of the customs authority in particular.

4. Task 4: Law enforcement supervision

4.1. Content:

Customs authorities at all levels shall carry out the following activities:

- Modernize the customs law enforcement supervision channels based on the application of information technology solutions. Expand supervision channels in an increasingly convenient way so that people and enterprises have more options to participate in customs law enforcement supervision.

- Continue to implement the system to evaluate if customs declarants satisfy the services provided by officers and customs authorities at all levels that is integrated into the customs declaration program during the process of customs clearance, in order to improve the customs officers’ knowledge and responsibilities in performing their duties, strictly implementing the commitments in the Declaration on Customer Service, shortening the time to carry out administrative procedures of customs authorities, and improving the levels of satisfaction of enterprises when carrying out customs procedures for imported and exported goods; thereby contributing to promoting administrative reform, simplifying customs procedures and facilitating trade.

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4.2. Detailed tasks:

- At the General Department:

+ The Committee of Reform and Modernization is responsible for: (i) Coordinating with relevant units to continue to improve the requirements and functions of the survey of the satisfaction of customs declarants when carrying out customs procedures, integrating with the customs declaration program according to the roadmap, the plan to build an IT system to implement smart customs, digital customs; (ii) Researching and developing a set of criteria for evaluating the quality of public services in the customs sector, and coordinating with business associations to organize exchange/working sessions between customs authorities - enterprises and other stakeholders to listen and respond to enterprises' feedback about the activities of the customs authorities.

+ Departments under the General Department shall coordinate with the Committee of Reform and Modernization in:  (i) Developing, appraising and commenting on the requirements and functions of the survey of satisfaction of customs declarants when carrying out customs procedures; (ii) Developing a set of criteria to evaluate the quality of public services in the customs sector and attend working sessions between customs authorities - business associations - enterprises and stakeholders to deal with petitions, feedback from enterprises and stakeholders.

- At the Customs Departments of provinces and cities:

+ Coordinate with the Committee of Reform and Modernization to research and develop a set of criteria for assessing the quality of public services in the customs sector; organize the pilot evaluation according to the roadmap of the General Department.

+ Disseminate information to attract the business community in the provinces or cities to take part in the survey if customs declarants satisfy the services provided by officers and customs authorities; guide, support, and enable the business community to complete the survey. Quickly and satisfactorily resolve the dissatisfied and very dissatisfied opinions of the business community when participating in the survey, in order to remove problems and difficulties of enterprises during carrying out of the customs procedures.

+ Publicly, fully and promptly inform the supervision channels to the business community in the provinces or cities; make public the citizen reception schedule at the headquarters of the customs authority, on the electronic portal of the customs authority; make public phone number, email, zalo, viber, etc. of the focal department in charge of solving business problems at the customs authority.

+ Strengthen supervision of the receipt and settlement of reports and claims of the people and enterprises to ensure that these reports and claims are resolved promptly and satisfactorily; avoid unsettled outstanding and prolonged issues, or issues that seek resolution from superior levels. Report on evaluation of the fulfilment of commitments in the Declaration of Customer Service in the provinces or cities according to regulations.

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5.1. Content:

- Customs authorities at all levels promote cooperation with the business community to perform the following tasks: (i) Fight against smuggling and commercial fraud; (ii) Management of goods in transit; (iii) Building capacity to identify goods; (iv) Management of raw materials, supplies, products, machinery and equipment of enterprises that process, enterprises that manufacture for export, enterprises that process for export; (v) Building and developing professional and effective customs clearance agents; (vi) Digital transformation in the Customs sector.

- Continue to maintain, strengthen and expand cooperation with FDI enterprises, key and core enterprises with large tax payments to the state budget.  Focus on cooperation with groups of small and medium enterprises and start-ups.

- Change the way of cooperation towards more substantive; focus on building customs-enterprise cooperation relations based on the strengths, capabilities and cooperation needs of enterprises.

5.2. Detailed tasks:

- At the General Department:

+ The Committee of Reform and Modernization is responsible for: (i) Advising and proposing the signing of a cooperation agreement between the General Department of Customs and the Vietnam Aluminum Association; (ii) Cooperating with the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) in piloting the assessment of the capacity of customs brokers according to the Set of criteria for assessing the capacity of customs agents made in 2022, and studying and proposing the establishment of the association of customs brokers; (iii) Coordinating with relevant business associations in:  Fight against smuggling and trade fraud, improving the capacity of goods identification for customs authorities;

+ The Departments under the General Department are responsible for coordinating with the Committee of Reform and Modernization to propose the parties to cooperate, develop cooperation contents, cooperation programs and organize cooperation activities with business associations in the following topics:  (i) Implementation of new policies and legal regulations on customs; (ii) Key reform and modernization programs of the Customs sector; (iii) Digital transformation activities of the Customs sector; and (iv) Programs to support and encourage enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws.

- At the Customs Departments of provinces and cities:

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+ Develop specific cooperation programs with enterprises in:  (i) Implementation of newly issued customs regulations, policies, laws and procedures; (ii) Implementation of programs and projects on reform, modernization, digital transformation, programs to support and encourage enterprises to voluntarily comply with customs laws of the General Department and the Department; (iii) Further cooperation with large and reputable customs brokers by signing cooperation agreements.

+ Cooperation with associations, sub-associations, business community and stakeholders in handling crisis communication before, during and after the incident.

+ Cooperation with the business community in renovating and modernizing inspection and supervision of imported and exported goods to serve the state management of customs.

+ Continue to:  (i) Consolidate and strengthen cooperation with enterprises being core partners at the grassroots; (ii) Develop examples of partner enterprises that voluntarily comply with customs laws, actively participate in cooperation with customs authorities, have many recommendations, initiatives and useful solutions to improve management efficiency and service quality of customs authorities; (iii) Replicate good examples throughout the provinces or cities to promote customs-enterprise partnership activities at the grassroots. And also review, evaluate and stop cooperating with enterprises that have poor compliance with the law and lack the spirit, sense and responsibility in cooperation with customs authorities.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

1. The Committee of Reform and Modernization:

- Lead the implementation, guide, support and urge units in the Customs section to perform given tasks to develop partnership of customs-enterprise and stakeholders in 2023 and perform the assigned tasks in this plan;

- Develop a plan to work directly with Customs Departments of provinces and cities to check and evaluate the implementation of partnership development activities at their premises according to this plan.

- Make preliminary and final reports and recommend solutions to ensure that the implementation of the plan for development of partnership of customs-enterprise and stakeholders in order to achieve the objectives, requirements and effectiveness, and then submit them to the General Department for consideration and decision.

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- Perform the tasks and activities as assigned in this plan.

- Consolidate and maintain the operation of the Customs-Enterprise Working Group to act as the focal point to receive and deal with the problems of the business community under their responsibility in a quick, accurate and timely manner;

- Specify the work in the unit's annual work plan;

3. Customs Departments of provinces and cities:

- Perform the tasks and activities as assigned in this plan; specify the work in their plan for development of partnership between customs and enterprises and stakeholders in 2023; including specific tasks to divisions, sub-departments and affiliated units;

- When organizing partnership activities with the business community in the provinces or cities (such as business dialogue conferences), if there are matters that need to be discussed and proposed, it is necessary to notify the Committee of Reform and Modernization for further support.

- Discuss and propose issues that need support from the General Department (through the Committee of Reform and Modernization) in the process of implementing the partnership development work under this plan;

- Continue to maintain and improve the effective performance of the Customs - Enterprise Partnership Advisory Group at the unit to act as the focal point to receive, answer and handle problems of the business community in the local area in a quick, accurate, timely manner.

4. Reporting

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