Enterprises say national single window must be improved
Enterprises say national single window must be improved
Though the basic features of the National Single Window (NSW) were fine, unstable operation and slow processing of tasks have been problems, a report has found. 
The report announced yesterday in Ha Noi revealed basic features of creating login an account or seeing a record in the portal after a year of use were running smoothly.
At the seminar held by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and General Department of Viet Nam Customs (GDVC), delegates from nearly 3,100 enterprises said they still faced difficulties using the portal.
Twenty-seven per cent of the surveyed businesses were not satisfied with the unstable operation of the portal and 20 per cent responded that the speed of processing tasks was still slow.
The NSW, a one-stop-shop for customs clearance that aims to simplify import/export procedures, is managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Health.
According to the enterprises which have been using it, there is a need to publicise all the ministries and sectors that have completed or not completed their procedures on the portal, increase information disclosure and unify application forms to avoid duplication of papers and electronic records among different ministries and sectors on the portal.
Enterprises also asked ministries and their branches to improve transparency in providing information on the progress of processing records, publicising results of administrative procedures and sharing data, especially data of the General Department of Customs on the portal.
Dau Anh Tuan, head of the VCCI's legal division said: "Among the managing ministries on the portal, the procedures of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are easier to implement than the other three ministries.”
The representative of the VCCI said as some of the procedures were not yet fully electronic and required enterprises to amend records time after time, they took longer for ministries to process.
“Enterprises say that they have to go to the administrative offices to carry out procedures that were partly done with the portal,” he said, adding: “It is unreasonable”
Tuan also said due to a lack of time and resources, the report was the result of the survey of 12 procedures while there are 198 procedures on the portal.
Nguyen Manh Ho, general director of Viettel Enterprise Solutions Corporation, which runs the portal said: “ The portal has recorded positive changes, cutting cost and time,” adding: “To date, the system has implemented 198 procedures out of a total of 250 administrative procedures, connecting 13 ministries and branches, licensing more than 3 million records of more than 39,000 businesses, contributing to facilitating trade.”
For customs clearance, it helps to reduce time spent on normal procedures and save more than US$4.55 billion, said Ho, adding that Viettel plans to research and apply new solutions such as AI, big data and blockchain technology to enhance the value of the national portal.
Tuan from the VCCI said: “In the future, agencies on the portal need to boost the digital signatures and their own network infrastructure while the portal needs to improve many functions, especially the electronic payment function soon.”
