|
Firms bogged in e-customs procedures
Ho Chi Minh City’s electronic customs clearance system, introduced in 2005 to reduce the burden on business, has doubled the amount of red tape for importers and exporters to wade through, businesses say.
“It doesn’t simplifies procedures at all, it only creates more work for enterprises,” said the director of an import-export company, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“With the e-customs procedures, enterprises fill in an online form and lodge it on the internet,” the director said. “At the same time, the company must fill out several paper documents and lodge them with the city’s customs department.”
Goods are not released by customs officials until the items receive approvals through both systems.
Many businesses are especially frustrated with the electronic system because of the city’s unreliable internet service, with pages taking a long time to load or freezing up.
“Many days, we have some 20 e-customs clearance forms stuck with an ‘under processing’ status because of network problems,” said an female employee of an import-export company, who also asked not to be identified.
Every time the customs network malfunctioned, it caused a day’s delay for each shipment while the company waited for the department to fix the bug, she said.
Nguyen Trong Hung, deputy head of the HCMC Customs Department, admitted the new customs clearance system was more time-consuming for business than the old system. Hung promised the procedures would be improved in future.
As well as the e-customs system, HCMC’s municipal government has already introduced several other online services and is working on an online system for issuing land-use licenses.
vietnews
|
