Revenue from the General Department of Customs (GDC) in 2017 hit VND297 trillion (US$13 billion) last year, a year-on-year increase of 9.5 per cent and equivalent to a 4.3 per cent increase on the annual target.

This was revealed at a press conference by the GDC in Ha Noi on Thursday.

Regarding post-customs clearance inspections, the GDC has instructed local customs departments to focus on common, illegally trafficked products with high turnover, high tax rates and high risk of wrong codes and prices, such as automobiles, liquors, beer, paper and cosmetics.

In 2017, the GDC carried out nearly 9,000 post-customs clearance inspections, including 1,300 inspections at companies and more than 7,200 at local customs offices.

The department also boosted inter-sectoral co-operation to prevent and detect smuggling and trade fraud.

There were fewer smuggling cases unearthed in 2017, but they were high in value. Customs officers last year discovered 15,184 violation cases, down 1.97 per cent annually.

However, the value of smuggled goods was more than VND789 billion, up 89.58 per cent year-on-year. A total of VND334.8 billion of this was added to the State budget, marking a 95 per cent surge from 2016.

At border gates, smuggled goods were mostly foreign currencies, counterfeit money, alcoholic beverages and beer, cigarettes, sugar, poultry, food, apparel, footwear, mobile phones, and toys. Meanwhile, at sea ports, petroleum, timber, minerals, wildlife and second-hand electronic and refrigeration appliances continued to be smuggled.

Banned goods of high value, such as addictive substances, weapons, gold, and wildlife products were found among goods transported by air and post.

The customs sector launched criminal probes against 51 cases and transferred 68 others to other units for prosecution.

Luu Manh Tuong, director of the Import-Export Tax Department, said import tariffs would be cut following Viet Nam’s commitment to the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) as well as with many other free trade agreements, including the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area and the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement.

This, Tuong said, would significantly reduce import tax revenues and affect State budget collection.

Addressing the conference, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung asked the customs sector to raise State budget collection by 3-5 per cent higher than the amount assigned by the National Assembly.

To realise the target, Dung asked the GDC to tighten post-clearance inspections and intensify the fight against trafficking and trade fraud, along with accelerating the collection of overdue tax.

The minister stressed the role of a legal framework for the national single window and information exchange with trade partners.

He also instructed the efficient implementation of the project on monitoring seaports and infrastructure improvement for customs management. — VNS