Enterprises carry out import and export procedures at a
seaport in Ho Chi Minh City
While facing difficulties due to the impact of the
epidemic, businesses believe that adding infrastructure fees at this stage will
make the recovery more challenging. In response to the recommendations of the
business community, the Government has also given opinions to the Ho Chi Minh
City for adjusting the fee in the next July.
Businesses propose to reduce
the fees
The Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Dong
Nai has a
large number of members and businesses engaged in production and business
activities in the province. The volume of export and import goods of
enterprises is huge. Mr. Wo Ming Ying, President of the Council of Taiwanese
Chambers of Commerce in Dong Nai, said that in October 2021, activities reopened, but
businesses still operate in moderation because of a shortage of workers, raw
materials and supply chains are disrupted. At the beginning of this year,
businesses were like "sitting on a fire" because sea freight rates
continued to increase, fuel costs, raw material prices all increased.
Especially, with the current collection of seaport infrastructure fee in Ho Chi
Minh City, businesses are really facing great difficulties.
“Enterprises’ expectation is that if considered about
reducing fees, the current level of costs will increase in addition to other
direct costs, making production costs become much higher, businesses really
face many difficulties and problems. The enterprises hope the provincial government
will suggest Ho Chi Minh City to have the further consideration", Mr. Wu wishes.
Likewise, Mr. Mizushima. Chairman of the Japanese
Business Association in Ho Chi Minh City also said that one of the issues that
Japanese businesses are most concerned about is the collection of seaport fees.
Since April 1, 2022, Ho Chi Minh City has implemented the collection of fees
for the use of seaport infrastructure, especially the fee for customs clearance
procedures in other localities is twice as high as when carrying out procedures
in Ho Chi Minh City. This makes the transportation costs of enterprises doing
customs clearance procedures in Dong Nai significantly increase.
“In Dong Nai, we have 130 members, in March this year,
our Dong Nai Association sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee
and the Provincial Customs Department. We know that Dong Nai Customs has also
submitted comments to the General Department and central agencies, we hope to
continue to receive support to soon have a solution and improve the current
regulations," Mr. Mizushima said.
Remove unreasonable problems
According to businesses and business associations, the
fee difference between customs declarations in Ho Chi Minh City and customs
declarations in neighboring provinces is not in accordance with the Law on
Customs, creating discrimination and causing difficulties for businesses in
neighboring provinces. This makes businesses in these provinces tends to flow
to Ho Chi Minh City for the customs declarations, causing congestion and
overloading in the process of customs clearance of import and export goods at
the ports of Ho Chi Minh City.
Specifically, the fee for imported and exported goods
that are declared in the provinces outside the city is VND500,000 per 20ft
container; VND1 million per 40ft containers and VND30,000 per ton for liquid
and bulk cargoes not packed in containers. This fee is twice as high as that
applied to imported and exported goods with declarations opened in Ho Chi Minh
City (VND250,000 per 20ft containers; VND500,000 per 40ft containers and VND15,000
per ton for liquid goods, bulk cargo not packed in containers).
In this regard, on June 8, the Government Office
issued a written notice of the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh
Khai. Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister proposed the City People's Committee
of Ho Chi Minh City to consider and collect opinions of ministries and
agencies, soon submitted to the City Council for consideration and adjustment
in July 2022.
After having the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Le
Minh Khai, the Department of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City has also proposed
the fee for seaport infrastructure of organizations and individuals doing
import and export goods in other localities to enjoy the same support fee as
that of Ho Chi Minh City. At the same time, it is proposed to reduce 50% of the
fee for imported and exported goods transported by inland waterways to
encourage enterprises to participate, contributing to reducing traffic
congestion and limiting road traffic accidents.
Phan Anh