Vietnam Applies “Single Door” Mechanism to Customs Process

March 17, 2014 Posted by Vietnam Briefing Reading Time: 3 minutes

HANOI – Recently, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) has announced its intention to implement a national “single door” customs mechanism. The MIT believes that the implementation of the new online system will “facilitate smooth information flow, avoiding repeated information, reducing paper-work volume, promoting goods flow, saving time and cost[s] for [the] business community, and improving economic efficiency for society.”

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Previously, import and export transactions had to be transacted through written documents that the businesses were required to submit to the relevant government authorities. Much of the information included in the documents to the various agencies was repetitive and thus represented a large misuse of time and resources. The new system will allow filing of one document online that will then be disbursed to the relevant agencies; this will also save time and money for the government as well.

According to MIT Deputy Minister, Nguyen Cam Tu, “document acceptance and handling by [an] electronic system is more precise and efficient, helping to save time and resources for Ministries and branches, approving approach and application of modern information technology system[s], information storage, and exchanging capacity between state management authorities [on] both [a] national scale and with foreign countries.”

This move also comes on the heels of the ASEAN community’s requirement of a “single door” mechanism for the entire ASEAN community to be implemented by 2015.

The government has been providing seminars and training courses to businesses in order to help them switch over to the electronic system and to help them understand what the potential benefits from making the switch are. The MIT has also announced that it will shortly introduce incentives to further encourage businesses to make the switch to the new system.

Currently, five administrative procedures are accessible on the new “single door” system. The remaining procedures, as well as other import-export procedures, will soon be added to the system.

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