Vietnam’s new national electronic one-stop customs clearance system has been applauded by the business community for its prominent features and efficiency.

“Instead of waiting for at least 30 minutes or even the whole day to conduct customs clearance after submitting declaration, we now just have to wait for five second at the longest”, said Nippo Mechatronics representative Nguyen Thi Quynh Mai at a business conference on March 25 on the e-customs using the Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System and the Vietnam Customs Information System (VNACCS/VCIS).

Nippo has submitted 800 customs declarations, and 80 percent of them were reported success, said Mai of the system which was built with Japan’s assistance and trialed earlier this year.

According to Phung Quang Minh, member of the management board of the VNACCS/VCIS project of the Hanoi Customs Department, the most eminent feature of the system is stable and time saving.

The system was applied in Japan for a long time and upgraded many times to minimise its shortcomings, while being made to suite Vietnam’s demands, said Minh.

As of March 17, as many as 2,732 enterprises nationwide had registered to join the system, he added.

Meanwhile, Duong Thu Ha from Thanh Long Daiwa Plastics said the VNACCS/VCIS is much more automated than the previous system, which helps firms avoid errors during the data input procedure.

The system can finish data processing in some seconds, thus saving time for customs clearance, while reducing the dependence on printed documents, she said.

The Hanoi Customs Department plans to officially apply the system on March 29.-VNA