The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Department of Vietnam Customs held a workshop in Hanoi to gather business feedback on proposed amendments to the Customs Law on June 11.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Director General of the Department of Vietnam Customs, said the existing law has been in force for 12 years and requires updates to meet evolving economic and trade demands.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, the current legal framework remains heavily focused on administrative oversight through paperwork rather than facilitating increasingly rapid trade flows. As non-traditional trading models continue to expand, particularly in the digital economy, outdated manual control mechanisms have become bottlenecks, increasing both compliance costs and opportunity costs for businesses and the broader economy.
He emphasized that the proposed amendments represent a shift from a control-oriented approach to a service-oriented model. The reforms aim to eliminate unnecessary administrative barriers, reduce compliance costs, and move customs management from extensive pre-clearance inspections toward more effective post-clearance supervision.
The draft law also seeks to institutionalize major policy directions outlined in recent Politburo resolutions, including Resolution No.68-NQ/TW on promoting private-sector development and Resolution No.66-NQ/TW on improving the quality and effectiveness of lawmaking.
Contributing comments at the workshop, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, VCCI Vice Secretary General and Head of its Legal Department, stressed that legislation with long-term relevance must address practical business challenges arising from emerging commercial models such as cross-border e-commerce and the ongoing restructuring of global logistics and supply chains.
He argued that the reform agenda should be translated into clear, measurable provisions rather than shifting administrative burdens from State agencies to the private sector. Transparent and quantifiable regulations, he said, would help ensure greater predictability and efficiency for businesses.
Representatives from several enterprises echoed these concerns, calling for clearer provisions on the responsibilities of declarants operating on e-commerce platforms and more transparent criteria for assessing corporate compliance.
Enterprises proposed incentives to enhance internal compliance controls while reducing expenses related to post-clearance inspections.
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