Representatives of the HCM City Customs Department answered questions for businesses about tax policies and customs clearance procedures on November 27 in HCM City.

HCM CITY — In order to promote import and export activities of HCM City, the city Customs Department held a meeting with businesses to answer questions about tax policies and customs clearance procedures.

Import and export are important activities in promoting international trade, ensuring economic security and contributing to national development.

Therefore, many businesses recommend that customs authorities create favourable conditions for import and export activities, and reduce costs and customs clearance time, thereby improving competitiveness in the international market.

A representative of the Việt Nam Logistics Service Enterprise Association reflected that Cát Lái Port has a very large volume of goods cleared through customs, but the goods inspection area is very small, leading to slow inspection speed.

Although the inspection rate is low, only about 5 per cent, it takes a lot of time, causing congestion for import and export activities, and businesses have to wait a long time to complete inspection to take goods out of the port.

Answering the questions raised by businesses, Vương Tuấn Nam, Head of the Management and Supervision Department of the city Customs Department, admitted that there are still many businesses that do not fully understand the procedures related to importing, leading to improper implementation. In specific cases, businesses should proactively register to work with the customs procedure team or with the customs branch at the border gate. If the problem is not resolved, they should immediately contact the city Customs Department for handling.

Enterprises should proactively contact relevant units for timely resolution. The city's Customs will also discuss with other local customs departments to unify processes and procedures, creating the best conditions for enterprises to import and export, Nam added.

Regarding inspections, the City Customs Department said that it will discuss with the Cát Lái Port operator about a plan to improve and expand the on-site inspection area and at the same time propose that the General Department of Customs allow the use of a business's production and storage address to carry out inspections to reduce the pressure on transportation and waiting time of businesses.

The HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in coordination with the city Customs Department organised a dialogue conference among businesses and the government on November 27 in HCM City to disseminate legal regulations and answer questions in implementing tax policies, management policies, and specialised inspections of import and export goods for the business community in the area. – VNS