Hanoi (VNA) – The National Single Window (NSW) customs mechanism has madesignificant contributions to administrative reform in Vietnam since it wasofficially launched in November 2014, notably creating more favourableconditions for enterprises.

The Customs Department under the Ministry of Finance said onJuly 23 that a total of 53 administrative procedures in 11 ministries andsectors have to date connected to the NSW mechanism.

As of July 15, 1.34 million dossiers from 22,800 businesseswere handled through this mechanism.

Through the NSW, enterprises do not need to directly workwith each State agency to complete administrative procedures, thus helpingreduce time and costs, and shorten the duration for customs clearance of goods.The mechanism has contributed to building an open and transparentadministrative sector, improving competitiveness of businesses and the economy,and increasing the efficiency of State management.

Besides benefitting enterprises, the implementation of theNSW mechanism has also brought a lot of benefits to State management agenciesas they get familiar with conducting administrative procedures withoutpaperwork, and have more experience in simplifying and modernisingadministrative procedures. It has prepared Vietnam well for negotiations ofbilateral and multilateral agreements on the mutual recognition of technicalstandards, and e-licenses and e-certificates in order to simplify administrativeprocedures in importing countries, thus shortening customs clearance andfacilitating the export of Vietnamese products.

According to a World Bank report, in 2017, Vietnam was ableto slash 3 hours for customs procedures for exported goods from 58 to 55 hoursand 6 hours for imported goods from 62 to 56 hours. Meanwhile, the cost ofdirect customs clearance at the border gate for a consignment dropped down by 19USD. It is estimated that with more than 11 million customs declarations in2017, the enterprises were able to save over 200 million USD while saving morethan 16 million hours from storing the exported items in warehouses and morethan 34 million hours from storing imported goods in warehouses.

However, Nguyen Cong Binh, deputy head of the VietnamCustoms, said that the number of procedures connected to the NSW – 53 out of251 – is still modest compared to the target set.

To speed up the implementation of the NSW and the ASEANSingle Window (ASW) customs mechanisms, the department said that it is necessaryto continue completing legal foundations and reforming administrativeprocedures to create a sufficient legal framework for the use and exchange ofe-dossiers.

Binh emphasised the importance of implementing aninformation technology system to serve the implementation of the NSW mechanism aswell as building a supervision and assessment mechanism within the businesscommunity on the implementation of tasks by ministries and sectors.

In 2018, the Finance Ministry will coordinate withministries and sectors in completing and submitting an action plan for theapproval of the Government and Prime Minister. The plan looks to boost the NSWand ASW customs mechanisms and reform specialised inspections over imports andexports for 2018-2020.

According to Deputy Finance Minister Vu Thi Mai, by the endof this year, an additional 143 administrative procedures will be carried outthrough the mechanism, raising the total to 196, equivalent to 78 percent ofthe 251 procedures expected to be implemented by 2020. –VNA