The automatic customs clearance system operates stably and durably even exceeding the design threshold by 200%.

According to the assessment of the Customs Department, the Automated Customs Clearance System (VNACCS/VCIS) is still operating stably and durably despite being overloaded and exceeding the design threshold by 200%.

According to the assessment of the Customs Department, the Automated Customs Clearance System (VNACCS/VCIS) is still operating stably and durably despite being overloaded and exceeding the design threshold by 200%.

On the morning of March 27, the Steering Committee on Science and Technology Development, Innovation and Digital Transformation of the Customs Department (Ministry of Finance) held its first meeting after being established in mid-March 2025.

Leverage for customs to complete reform goals

Reporting at the meeting, Mr. Le Duc Thanh - Head of the Customs Information Technology and Statistics Department pointed out the current status of the customs information technology system, including the core system, the VNACCS/VCIS Automatic Customs Clearance System.

The VNACCS/VCIS system plays an important role in the Vietnamese economy, promoting economic growth, attracting investment and tourism, and improving the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises. Putting this system into use is also a driving force for reforming administrative procedures in the customs sector and ministries and branches, towards e-Government.

Director of Customs Department Nguyen Van Tho chaired the meeting.

For businesses, the recent implementation of the VNACCS/VCIS System has brought many benefits such as: Documents and papers related to customs and ministries and branches are much simpler, the time to complete procedures for import and export goods and means of transport for import and export is significantly reduced.

Regarding state management of customs, the implementation of the VNACCS/VCIS System has helped improve the capacity of state management of customs, apply modern customs management methods, and contribute to realizing the goal of forming a modern, professional, and effective Vietnam Customs agency.

The implementation of the VNACCS/VCIS system is also considered a prerequisite and a lever for the Customs sector to complete the goal of administrative procedure reform, continue to improve the business environment, and enhance national competitiveness.

On the other hand, the VNACCS/VCIS system creates an effect on improving the efficiency of the entire state management process for import and export goods and means of transport entering and exiting the country at all stages and administrative procedures, requiring ministries and branches to quickly deploy the National Single Window Mechanism, connect the ASEAN Single Window Mechanism, promote administrative reform of ministries and branches, and reduce specialized inspection time for import and export goods.

One of the advantages of the VNACCS/VCIS System is its very fast processing time. Customs clearance for green lane goods only takes 1 - 3 seconds.

The VNACCS/VCIS system has helped realize the goals of the Vietnamese Government in implementing the National Single Window and connecting the ASEAN Single Window, completing the administrative reform goals of the Vietnamese Government according to the Government's Resolutions.

According to Mr. Thanh, in 10 years of use, the VNACCS/VCIS system has the advantage of stable, secure and safe operation. The system's performance is very high (about 99%), rarely interrupted, fast processing and response speed, and technical problems or failures almost never occur.

Urgently build replacement system

However, with the growth rate of Vietnam's trade, from 2018 to present, the VNACCS/VCIS system has been overloaded and has exceeded the design threshold by more than 200%.

Of which, the number of declarations in 2024 exceeded the design threshold for 2018 by more than 37%. The number of import-export enterprises using the system exceeded the design threshold for 2018 by more than 23%. During the entire period of use, the system has not been replaced or upgraded. The data flow and transactions to be processed… are all overloaded.

Professional activities at Tra Linh border gate customs, Cao Bang. (Photo: Thai Binh)

From a management perspective, the VNACCS/VCIS system still has some limitations such as only meeting part of the requirements for customs clearance, but not fully covering other functions such as tax management, customs supervision and risk management. That is the reason why the Customs sector must maintain satellite systems to support the missing operations.

In addition, during use, businesses encounter some difficulties such as customs declarations being limited in the number of characters and lines, leading to having to fill out multiple declarations for large shipments. The system also does not fully support the tracking of temporarily imported and re-exported goods for specific purposes and does not allow declarations in cases where the re-exporter is different from the temporary importer. Independent transportation management is difficult due to the delay in information transmission between systems.

The Customs Department has been implementing remedial measures, including upgrading the system and adding new functions to meet the actual needs of businesses. The VNACCS/VCIS Efficiency Improvement Project Phase II has been implemented to address limitations and improve the efficiency of the system.

To thoroughly resolve the issue, the Customs Department proposed to continue receiving support from Japan to maintain the stable operation of the VNACCS/VCIS system until the new system is deployed, expected in 2030. At the same time, it recommended to urgently build a system to replace VNACCS/VCIS and develop a backup system for incident cases.

Currently, the Customs Department has 21 information technology systems, including: VNACCS/VCIS automatic customs clearance system and 20 satellite systems serving state management of customs. These systems operate stably, smoothly, covering and supporting most of the key areas of customs management.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/he-thong-thong-quan-tu-dong-hoat-dong-on-dinh-ben-bi-du-vuot-nguong-thiet-ke-200-d259512.html