The General Department of Customs officially announced its “Client Charter” on customer service at a press conference in Hanoi on February 22.

The “Client Charter” aims to ensure that import-export activities are implemented in a more professional, effective and transparent manner.

Under the charter, the customs sector also has specific commitments on customs procedures time, such as: Deadline for receiving and registering declaration; deadline for dealing with duty exemption dossiers; deadline to solve difficulties of clients; deadline to solve clients’ appeals.

Accordingly, customer officers must complete the consideration and registration of most custom declarations within 30 minutes after they are received (excluding declarations with more than 10 items), and must respond to any questions from customers within five days.

In addition, the customs sector will also publicize addresses, phone numbers and email addresses for information relating to customs services, tax evasion and illegal trafficking. 

Nguyen Duong Thai, Deputy Head of the General Department of Customs, said that the “Client Charter” shows the sector’s determination to modernize itself and provide better service. “We will issue specific regulations to implement the charter from March 1”, he said.