During the dialogue, which was held by the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City and the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Amcham), Deputy Director of the department Dinh Ngoc Thang, pledged to cut unnecessary administrative procedures as part of support for businesses, including those from the United States.
The city’s customs sector pledges to cut unnecessary administrative procedures to support firms
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Amcham Vice President Mark G.Gillin said the Ho Chi Minh City customs agency is the most active agency in the city in terms of administrative reform to improve business climate and promote trade with foreign countries, including the United States.
He wished that the department would update the US firms about customs regulations to facilitate bilateral trade.
During the dialogue, as being asked about procedures regarding post-clearance inspection, deputy chief of the department’s Management Inspection Office Nguyen Thanh Long said only firms with suspected activities and faulted goods declaration are subject to inspection, similarly to the situation in developed countries.
In addition, other agencies than the customs office will also conduct inspections after customs clearance, such as checking on food safety and hygiene.
Long suggested firms strictly abide by legal regulations on manufacturing and trade as well as export-import in order to face less inspection.
A representative from Tan My group, which imports stainless steel to produce goods for export, said while the import of stainless steel is exempt from tax, the examination and analysis procedures take as long as 6 months, thus affecting the group’s production and prestige.
Nguyen Quoc Toan from the department’s Export-Import Tax Office said stainless steel is subject to special examination due to its connection to anti-dumping tax, adding that the company’s suggestions will be submitted to the General Department of Vietnam Customs to make proper adjustments.
According to Thang, such meetings have been held since the beginning of last year and have proved to be conducive to enhancing relations customs and businesses and resolving problems.
“Last year, we also met with Eurocham, AmCham and Japanese businesses. Most of the problems they reported have been addressed thoroughly. We have also kept them updated on amendments to legal documents on customs administration to help them avoid mistakes,” Thang said
After the meeting requests and feedback from businesses would be collected and submitted to official agencies to aid amendments and supplements to customs laws, he said.
Statistics from the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that the US ranked ninth out of 128 countries and territories investing in Vietnam as of October 2017, with 835 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth nearly US$9.4 billion. In the first ten months of last year, US investors poured more than US$400 million to Vietnam, of which new projects contributed US$267 million.
Economists forecast that US investment in Vietnam will increase next time following the official visit of United States President Donald Trump to the Southeast Asian country to attend the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week last November.
