JICA helps enhance E- customs efficiency

Applying e-customs system in Bac Thang Long Customs Department

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said on July 31 that it will continue to fund a technical assistance project to enhance the efficiency of the Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System and the Vietnam Customs Information System (VNACCS/VCIS)

Accordingly, the support will be carried out over three years from August 2015 to June 2018, aiming to define future orientations for enhancing the applicable capacity of VNACCS/VCIS.

It is also to simplify and improve post-customs clearance inspection and improve customs officers’ skills in managing risk.

The current technical assistance project began in April 2012 and operates parallel to the Japan-funded non-refundable aid project “National electronic customs and one-stop-shop customs mechanism in modernising customs sector” (March 2012-March 2014).

JICA said as part of the non-refundable aid project, the technical assistance project helped build necessary legal systems and improve the capacity of VNACCS and VCIS users, including over 10,000 public customs officers and more than 15,000 others from private enterprises.

Since becoming operational in April last year, VNACCS and VCIS have functioned in a stable fashion, contributing to facilitating trade activities in Vietnam. The systems have processed nearly 99 percent of customs declarations so far.

A survey conducted by the General Department of Customs and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ho Chi Minh City in October last year proved that with the application of VNACCS and VCIS, the time required for import and export customs clearance reduced 18 percent and 58 percent, respectively, from the previous year.

JICA said the systems’ efficiency can be improved by apply risk management and post-customs clearance inspection methods, thus preventing tax loss.-VNA