The Vietnamese government will be piloting the implementation of guarantee for customs clearance from 2021 to 2022 in an effort to enhance trade facilitation, a customs official said.
Mai Xuan Thanh, deputy director of the General Department of Customs, said the project is in its draft stage and scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval next year.
The implementation of guarantee for customs clearance will be divided into three phases: pilot implementation from 2021 to 2022, expansion from 2022 to 2023, and official implementation from 2024, Thanh said, as reported by VNA.
Guarantee for customs clearance is a form of financial commitment that customs authorities ask from import and export companies to ensure these firms fully implement their tax and fee obligations as well as comply with customs procedures when they wish to clear customs before they complete all customs procedures as prescribed.
Thanh said guarantee for customs clearance is being applied in a number of countries, and it helps enhance trade facilitation by speeding up clearance.
This mechanism will also help firms reduce storage costs and increase business opportunities as their goods will be circulated or produced earlier.
“The mechanism of guarantee for customs clearance will bring more business opportunities for firms,” Thanh said.
Under the draft, the guarantee will be provided by insurance companies.
Firms will not necessarily have to have mortgage assets to get the guarantee, Thanh said. Instead of the firms’ mortgaged assets, insurance companies will look at the evaluation of the companies’ operation and financial capacity to provide the guarantee, he added.
The value could be based on the sum of tax that firms must pay or the value of the import/export batch of goods.
Thanh said guarantees for customs clearance are estimated to help lower administrative procedure cost by 0.1% to 0.5% and customs clearance cost by 0.5% to 0.8% while increasing exports by around 1%.
Photo: Phó Nháy
