Ensuring synchronous post-customs clearance inspections

Post-customs clearance inspection is an important activity of customs agencies in order to properly control export-import activities, prevent smuggling and trade fraud, and help prevent revenue losses for the government.

It is necessary to fine-tune the legal framework and the post-clearance procedure.
It is necessary to fine-tune the legal framework and the post-clearance procedure.

In the first half of 2019, customs agencies conducted more than 1,700 post-clearance inspections and imposed total fines of VND838 billion (US$36 million), collecting total revenues of VND927.8 billion (US$39.9 million), including those from 2018.

The post-clearance department under the General Department of Customs also conducted data collection and analysis as part of trade fraud prevention campaigns, uncovering many violations. Information on violating businesses has been transferred to local customs agencies for continued post-clearance inspections.

According to an official at the post-clearance department, post-clearance activities have seen certain results but have yet to meet the requirements.

Those in charge of post-clearance inspections usually have other work to do too, so there is not adequate staff for this task. Furthermore, a number of customs agencies have not paid due attention to post-clearance inspections, resulting in slow progress and inefficiency.

Currently, there is a lack of information sharing between customs, tax and other relevant agencies, leading to an overlap of inspections. Data inaccuracy and limited IT application are also problems facing ineffective post-clearance inspections.

In the coming time, customs inspections will be shifted from pre-clearance to post-clearance, so it is necessary to ensure the synchrony between stages in order to facilitate export-import activities while ensuring the requirements of state management.

The customs sector needs to fine-tune the legal framework and the post-clearance procedure to be consistent with the relevant legal documents and meet the requirements of IT application, risk management and international standards.

In the final months of the year, the whole sector needs to step up information collection and analysis, and review key enterprises, areas and shipments with signs of high risk as well as the cases suspected of value and country or origin (CO) fraud and those declaring the tax rates wrongly, among others, for post-clearance inspection.

It is also necessary to continue the post-clearance campaigns, especially those aimed at preventing CO fraud, label forgery and illegal transhipment, helping to support domestic production.