Managing entry and exit vehicles: Need for a comprehensive solution

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- From August 15, 2025, owners of all means of transport carrying goods across borders and border gates (exit, entry, temporary exit, temporary entry) must declare customs on means of transport (declaration of temporary import and re-export of road vehicles). The implementation of this new policy has encountered certain difficulties.

In order to manage means of transporting goods across the border, especially to strengthen the management of means of transporting goods temporarily exported - re-imported and temporarily imported - re-exported, the Government issued Resolution No. 167/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated May 21, 2015 of the Government detailing and implementing measures for the implementation of the Customs Law on customs procedures, customs inspection and supervision. Implementing this new regulation, customs at border gates in Lang Son province have proactively and flexibly deployed measures to ensure that customs clearance of goods is not hindered.

Proactively implement new regulations

According to previous regulations, owners of means of transport carrying imported and exported goods only had to declare the vehicle's license plate number in the customs declaration, but according to the new regulations of Decree 167, vehicle owners are required to declare the customs declaration of the means of transport (vehicle type, license plate number, vehicle code, chassis number, engine number, owner, vehicle paint color, etc.), along with declaring the list of exported and imported goods and are required to have a cargo transport license (or intermodal license).

Ms. Ha Thi Kim Dung, Captain of the Customs Team at Huu Nghi International Border Gate, said that in order for import-export enterprises and vehicle owners to promptly grasp the new regulations under Decree 167/2025/ND-CP, since the beginning of August 2025, the unit has notified and guided enterprises with import-export activities through the area to implement a number of regulations related to policies and customs clearance procedures. Thanks to that, since August 15 (since Decree 167 took effect), import-export enterprises and owners of vehicles transporting import-export goods of Vietnam and China have basically grasped the regulations, so declarations are made quickly, customs clearance and import-export activities through the border gate are carried out smoothly.

Owners of vehicles transporting temporarily exported goods through Huu Nghi International Border Gate must declare information about the means of transport according to the new regulations of Decree 167/2025/ND-CP.

Chi Ma border gate customs is the same. Since August 15, the unit has been proactive in implementing declarations for temporary import - re-export and temporary export - re-import means of transport through Chi Ma border gate.

Mr. Trieu Quang Hoa, Deputy Head of Chi Ma Border Gate Customs, said that according to regulations, owners of goods transport vehicles must make declarations before entering the yard, but the unit realized that if drivers were required to carry out all customs procedures for vehicles according to new regulations right at the customs control gate, it would cause congestion at the control gate. Therefore, the team proactively resolved for vehicles, especially vehicles carrying goods from China, to move to the assembly, inspection and supervision location, after which the vehicle owners would make declarations for the vehicles. This flexible measure helps customs declarations for vehicles to be quick and convenient, without affecting the customs clearance of goods.

In fact, since August 15, 2025, customs at Lang Son province's border gates have flexibly applied measures in implementing new regulations under Decree 167.

To do this well, customs at border gates have flexibly printed instructions for implementing new regulations, instructions for declaration forms in both Vietnamese and Chinese, then publicly posted them at customs clearance points before Decree 167 took effect so that businesses and vehicle owners could grasp them.

In particular, customs units at border gates proactively coordinate with enterprises operating wharfs at border gates to arrange separate declaration areas, and at the same time arrange officers (from customs units and enterprises) to support vehicle owners in making declarations according to the new declaration form. This flexibility has helped to avoid congestion of vehicles carrying goods at the area controlling vehicles carrying import and export goods, thereby ensuring smooth import and export activities.

With the proactive implementation of regulations under Decree 167, import-export enterprises and owners of goods transport vehicles of Vietnam and China have quickly grasped and easily declared vehicles carrying temporarily exported - re-imported and temporarily imported - re-exported goods through Lang Son province's border gates. Thereby, customs clearance activities at the province's border gates have been smooth since August 15.

There are still problems

Talking with the leaders of the Customs Department, Customs Branch VI, it is known that, besides the achieved results, the declaration, management and supervision of means of transport according to Decree 167/2025/ND-CP also encountered some problems.

In fact, at the border gates, we found that there is currently no software for automatic declaration, management, monitoring, and control. Therefore, all vehicle owners must manually declare on paper declarations, then submit them to the customs unit at the border gate to enter into the customs management software. After that, the customs agency at the border gate prints out 2 copies (1 copy for storage, 1 copy for the vehicle owner), and the vehicle owners continue to hold the paper declaration to submit to the officers conducting the inspection at the customs control area. Manual declaration and receipt on paper declarations causes customs units at the border gates to spend a lot of time processing the declarations.

In addition, due to manual declaration, each declaration for a means of transport is only made once. That is, after re-export or re-import, the vehicle owner must re-submit the declaration. If the vehicle continues to carry temporarily exported or temporarily imported goods for the next time, the vehicle must be declared again from the beginning.

Sharing about the difficulties in declaring means of transport according to the new regulations, Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha, representative of Phu Anh Company Limited (in Dong Dang commune) specializing in importing and exporting goods through Tan Thanh and Coc Nam border gates, shared that there is currently no electronic declaration software for declaring means of transport of temporarily imported - re-exported and temporarily exported - re-imported goods, so when having to re-declare, the owners of goods and means of transport spend a lot of time because the criteria in the declaration form have a lot of information that needs to be declared. In addition, the collection of fees and stamping on the declaration form for means of transport of goods are also done manually. Meanwhile, there is currently no electronic software to make remote declarations for declarants of means of transport. These things make the owners of goods or means of transport have to arrange more people to make declarations to reduce the time for customs clearance procedures.

Chi Ma border gate customs officers update the declared information about the means of transport of goods on the paper declaration into the customs software system.

Discussing this issue, Mr. Ngo Van Dung, Deputy Head of the Customs Department, Customs Branch VI shared: The new regulations on management, inspection and customs supervision of means of transport that regularly cross the border have helped the authorities strengthen the supervision and management of means of transport carrying goods. However, in reality, some problems have arisen in the process of declaring means of transport and receiving means of transport declarations. These problems not only cause vehicle owners to have to declare multiple times for a means of transporting goods for export and import but also increase the working time of customs officers and increase the cost of stationery (customs at the border gate must arrange to print paper declarations).

It is known that, in the face of these difficulties, with a proactive spirit, the leaders of the Customs Branch of Region VI quickly deployed specialized departments to research and develop their own software to support business owners and owners of means of transport to make declarations on the electronic system, as well as help customs agencies integrate information about means of transport on the electronic declaration system. This will initially help eliminate the need to declare and receive manual means of transport declarations, thereby creating convenience for businesses operating in the import and export of goods through Lang Son province.

However, if the specific software of the Customs Branch of Region VI is completed and put into use in the near future, it will only help to partially resolve the practical difficulties arising in the process of implementing the new regulations of Decree 167.

According to the proposal and recommendation of the Customs Sub-Department of Region VI, in the long term, the Customs Department needs to research and develop a modern management software for common use on the national single window system, integrating features that allow customs declarants to both declare goods and declare customs on means of transport for import and export. In particular, quickly amend the form of declaration of means of transport for temporary import - re-export, temporary export - re-import in the direction of shortening the declaration criteria.

Only then can we completely resolve the existing problems and difficulties in the management, inspection and supervision of customs for means of transporting goods regularly across the border.

According to the customs report at the border gates of Lang Son province, from August 15, 2025, the customs at the border gates in Lang Son province have managed, inspected and supervised the means of transport of individuals and organizations crossing the border to deliver and receive export and import goods according to Clause 48, Article 1, Decree No. 167. Thereby, the customs at the border gates have received more than 15,000 declarations for means of transport.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/trien-khai-quy-dinh-moi-ve-khai-bao-phuong-tien-van-chuyen-hang-hoa-xuat-nhap-canh-con-nhung-vuong-mac-can-thao-go-5057183.html