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Practical suggestions from businesses show the need to improve the Customs Law towards modernity, comprehensive digitalization, while ensuring a balance between state management requirements and facilitation of import and export activities. Download Workshop to collect business opinions on the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Customs Law - Photo: VGPPromoting digital customs, facilitating tradeOn June 11 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) coordinated with the Ministry of Finance (Customs Department) to organize a workshop to collect business opinions on the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Customs Law. After more than 10 years of implementing the Customs Law this year In 2014, customs operations have had many changes towards modernity, transparency and application of digital technology. However, the rapid development of e-commerce, digital economy, global supply chains and the need for institutional reform are creating a need to continue improving the legal framework. At the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Director of the Customs Department (Ministry of Finance), said that the amendment of the Customs Law is carried out on the basis of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents No. 64/2025/QH15 and Resolution No. 123/2026/UBTVQH15 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on adjusting the 2026 Legislative Program. According to Mr. Hung, many important resolutions of the Central Committee and the Politburo have set requirements to promote institutional reform, streamline the apparatus, promote digital transformation, modernize administrative procedures and improve the quality of service to people and businesses. Meanwhile, the actual implementation of the 2014 Customs Law shows that a number of regulations have revealed limitations and have not kept up with the pace of technological development and requirements for building digital customs. This draft law is expected to amend, supplement or abolish 42 articles and add 4 new articles, in order to institutionalize major policies on science - technology development, innovation, national digital transformation and private economic development. Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Deputy General Secretary and Head of the VCCI Legal Department, said that the draft focuses on amending many important contents such as customs inspection and supervision of imported and exported goods via e-commerce platforms; procedures for goods in transit and transshipment; Responsibilities of warehouse, yard and port businesses; post-customs clearance inspection and compliance management. According to Mr. Tuan, the business community highly appreciates the reform results of the Customs industry over the past decade. From the manual declaration model, now almost the entire process has been electronicized. Customs clearance time for the green channel is only measured in seconds, while the rate of physical inspection of goods decreased to about 2.65% despite a sharp increase in the number of declarations. These results create an important foundation for building digital customs and smart customs in the coming period. The addition of regulations on compliance management, electronic records, national single window mechanism, application of digital technology and artificial intelligence also demonstrates efforts to realize national digital transformation policies. Businesses propose to increase transparency and reduce procedural burdens. However, VCCI representatives said that along with modernization requirements, new regulations need to ensure transparency and predictability. Switching completely to an electronic environment or applying automatic decision-making mechanisms is an inevitable trend, but there needs to be a clear accountability mechanism to handle cases of errors arising from the system. Many opinions at the conference were especially interested in regulations related to cross-border e-commerce. Mr. Phan Manh Ha, Director of Shopee External Relations, said that it is necessary to review the customs declaration responsibilities of e-commerce platform owners. According to him, the e-commerce platform only plays the role of connecting sellers with buyers, does not own the goods and does not fully grasp the original customs data. Therefore, the exchange should perform the role of providing information to the Customs authority instead of directly declaring. Shopee representatives also expressed concerns about the regulations on buyer authentication in cross-border e-commerce. According to Mr. Ha, most of the current goods have low value and come from countries that have signed free trade agreements with Vietnam. Adding additional authentication procedures can increase technical costs and prolong customs clearance time. From the perspective of international investment enterprises, Ms. Le Thi Xuan Hue, Deputy Director of BowerGroupAsia Vietnam Co., Ltd., assessed the priority business regime as one of the bright spots of the current Customs Law. According to her, the mechanism that allows businesses to prioritize putting goods into production before completing documents has supported the operational efficiency of many multinational corporations and needs to be legislated to ensure long-term stability. Ms. Hue also proposed adding an explanation mechanism in assessing compliance levels and only applying extended post-customs clearance inspection periods to businesses with high levels of risk. Opinions at the workshop all aim to build a modern and transparent customs legal system. transparent, easy to implement and accompanying businesses. This will be the basis for further draftingContinue to complete the draft law in the direction of balancing state management requirements and trade facilitation, contributing to improving the competitiveness of the economy in the context of digital transformation and increasingly deep international integration. Anh Minh See moreCustoms drast
