VAMA is concerned about car import procedures.

The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) is concerned about new issues arising during the customs clearance process for imported automobiles.

According to VAMA, since April 1, 2014, customs authorities have implemented the electronic customs clearance system (VNACCS/VCIS) in many provinces and cities nationwide. A VAMA representative frankly stated that, although the VNACCS/VCIS system has many advantages, it is only effective when the number of goods in a shipment is not large and the customs' internal network is strong enough to transmit data quickly.

“Each import invoice for automotive components and spare parts from VAMA members contains thousands of different items. Meanwhile, the new system only allows a maximum of 50 items per declaration. Therefore, for a shipment with more than 50 items, the customs declarant will have to declare on multiple declarations, and these declarations for the same shipment must be linked together based on the branch number of the declaration. Consequently, instead of opening one customs declaration for a shipment, businesses have to open dozens, or even more than 100 declarations with the new system,” a VAMA representative commented.

According to the new system, after completing the customs declaration at the local customs office (with the customs declaration bearing the signature and seal of the local customs office and other relevant documents), VAMA members proceed to the border crossing to receive their goods. There, VAMA members must wait for customs officers to download the data (declared from the server at the General Department of Customs), print it out, and then conduct an inspection. Only if all steps go smoothly can VAMA members receive their goods.

This process is considered time-consuming, partly due to the large volume of declarations and partly due to slow internet speeds.

In fact, many businesses (belonging to VAMA) report that it takes an average of 3-5 minutes to download and print a customs declaration form at the border. This means that if a shipment has 100 declaration forms, businesses have to wait 300 to 500 minutes (equivalent to 5 to over 8 hours). Not to mention, in some cases, when a VAMA member arrives at the customs border (with all the declaration forms signed and stamped by the local customs office), the declared data has still not been transmitted.

“This has increased the customs clearance and delivery time for VAMA members by 2-3 working days compared to before, despite the efforts and active support of customs officials. Some VAMA member factories have had to halt production for many hours since the electronic customs clearance system was implemented due to a lack of production parts. This has affected the business efficiency of enterprises and increased production costs,” commented Jesus Metelo N. Arias Jr., President of VAMA.

In response to this situation, VAMA has requested the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs to provide guidance to VAMA member businesses, stating that once a customs declaration (with the signature and seal of the local customs office) is available, goods can be inspected and received immediately at the border customs office, regardless of whether the declared data has arrived or not. Internal customs procedures will be processed and completed later. Furthermore, solutions are needed to improve the speed and quality of the customs' internal system to ensure faster data transmission.

This concern from VAMA comes at a time when sales in April 2014 increased by 5% compared to the previous month of March. VAMA projects that total sales for 2014 will still reach 125,000 vehicles. As of the end of April 2014, sales of domestically assembled vehicles reached 30,585 units, an increase of 24%, while imported vehicles increased by 89% compared to the same period last year.

According to Investment Newspaper