Vietnam’s new customs renovation hopes to save millions of dollars each year

36 percent of shipments entering and leaving Vietnam now have to go through technical checks. Photo by VnExpress

Many shipments have to go through one-week technical checks which have not proved effective.

Vietnam government is pushing for a series of rule amendments that are expected to simply customs check procedures to save businesses time and money.

Officials said at a meeting Wednesday that customs check now takes around ten days for an import consignment and 12 days for exports, which has been reduced from 21 days last year but is still twice the region’s average.

Do Hoang Anh Tuan, vice minister of finance, said at the meeting that if the procedure can be shortened by just one day, businesses can save themselves $200 each consignment, or $800 million for the whole country each year.

Tuan said 36 percent of the shipments have to go through technical checks which take around seven days. The rate is three times of E.U.’s and 2.5 times of the average of Trans Pacific Partnership members.

But the big number of tests has not proved very helpful, he said.

“We’ve discovered few violations. Most of the shipments put through tests passed.”

A new regulation by the government aims to reduce the rate of shipments subject to technical tests to 15 percent by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has been asked to amend its laws regarding measurement rules and product quality to serve the purpose.

By Anh Minh / VnExpress