PANO - The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) continues to support a Technical Cooperation (TC) project titled “Strengthening the effectiveness of Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance System (VNACCS)”, which will officially start from August 1st, 2015.

At the workshop.

The TC project aims to facilitate a more efficient operation of the E-customs system, called VNACCS/VCIS*, following another TC project for “Promoting E-Customs in Viet Nam” which will be concluded at the end this month. The ending-soon TC project started in April 2012, in parallel with Japan’s Grant-Aid Project for E-Customs and National Single Window for Customs Modernization (March 2012 – March 2014). While the Grant-Aid project supported the development of the system itself, the ending-soon TC Project has supported the operational aspects of VNACCS/VCIS such as establishing necessary laws and regulations, and capacity building of system users including more than 10,000 customs officers and more than 15,000 staff of private enterprises.

Since the commencement in April 2014, VNACCS/VCIS has been in stable operation, contributing to trade facilitation in Vietnam. Approximately 99% of the import and export declarations are now made through VNACCS. During the first year of operation (from April 1st, 2014 to March 31st, 2015), a total of 56,000 enterprises filed declaration using the system, and the total declaration number reached 6.74 million, with the total value of 271.5 billion US dollars. A survey jointly conducted at a customs office in Ho Chi Minh City by General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in October 2014 proved that under the new system of VNACCS/VCIS, average time for import and export clearance (from declaration registration up to permission of clearance) reduced by 18% and 58% respectively compared to the previous year, thus helping to reduce much costs for businesses. However, not all of the functions/services of VNACCS/VCIS have been fully utilized and some requests for improvement have been raised from both customs and private users.

Besides, trade facilitation effect of the system could be further enhanced by better application of risk management technique while preventing possible revenue leakage by proper implementation of post-clearance audit (PCA). The coming TC Project is going to handle these matters with a view to strengthening the effectiveness of VNACCS/VCIS. Lasting from August 2015 to June 2018, the coming TC Project is intended to achieve three outputs: (1) identification of a direction of future course of action for enhancing the utilization of VNACCS/VCIS; (2) streamlining and enhancement of PCA operation; and (3) strengthening the risk management capacity of customs officials.

Chung Anh