Some new regulations on implementing electronic border procedures at seaports

Illustration photo.

Accordingly, Decision No. 31/2025/QD-TTg amended, supplemented and abolished a number of articles of Decision No. 10/2016/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on implementing electronic border procedures at seaports and Decision No. 15/2019/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on implementing electronic border procedures at border gates managed by the Ministry of National Defense , which were amended and supplemented in Decision No. 03/2025/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

Expanding the way to carry out procedures and priorities through the National Single Window

Decision No. 31/2025/QD-TTg amended, supplemented and abolished a number of articles of Decision No. 10/2016/QD-TTg on implementing electronic border procedures at seaports, specifically as follows:

Amend and supplement Point c, Clause 1 of Article 2 on applicable subjects, specifically:

“c) Vietnamese ships and boats entering and exiting the country; foreign ships, boats and crew entering, exiting, transiting, and changing ports (including oil and gas exploration, exploitation, and service ships operating offshore; foreign ships licensed for inland transport by the Ministry of Construction ; ships and boats owned by Vietnam flying foreign national flags);”.

Amend and supplement Clauses 1, 6, 7, 9 of Article 3 in the direction of expanding the way of performing procedures (priority through the National Single Window) as follows:

Amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 3, specifically:

"1. Electronic border procedures at seaports (hereinafter referred to as electronic border procedures), including entry procedures, exit procedures, transit procedures, and port transfer procedures, are seaport border procedures in which the person carrying out the procedures and the port border guards declare, receive, process, exchange information, and confirm the completion of border procedures for ships, boats, and crew members entering, exiting, transiting, and transferring ports through the National Single Window Portal or the Seaport Electronic Border Procedures Portal (in case the National Single Window Portal has problems)."

Amend and supplement Clause 6, Article 3, specifically:

"6. Electronic border procedure declaration is when the person carrying out the procedure uses the internet to make electronic declarations and send electronic records to the Border Guard at the port via the National Single Window Portal or the Information Portal (in case the National Single Window Portal has problems)."

Amend and supplement Clause 7, Article 3, specifically:

"7. Confirmation of completion of electronic border procedures is the use of the Border Guard at the port gate to receive, check, process information, and send notifications of completion of border procedures for ships, boats, and crew members entering, exiting, transiting, and transferring ports to the person completing the procedures via the National Single Window Portal or the Information Portal (in case the National Single Window Portal has problems)."

Amend and supplement Clause 9, Article 3 as follows:

"9. Refusal to carry out electronic border procedures means that the Border Guard at the port sends a notice via the National Single Window Portal or the Information Portal (in case the National Single Window Portal has problems) to the person carrying out the procedures about changing the form of performing electronic border procedures to the form of checking and performing border procedures directly at the ship."

At the same time, abolish Clause 8, Article 3: "Paper records are a collection of documents that the person carrying out the procedure must submit and present according to the provisions of Article 8 of Decree No. 50/2008/ND-CP dated April 21, 2008 of the Government on management and protection of security and order at seaport gates."

Reduce administrative procedures for ships entering, exiting and transiting

Decision No. 31/2025/QD-TTg amends and supplements Clauses 5 and 7 of Article 6 of Decision No. 10/2016/QD-TTg in the direction of reducing paperwork and administrative procedures specifically:

Amend and supplement Clause 5, Article 6 as follows:

"5. After completing electronic border procedures for ships entering, exiting, or transiting, the person completing the procedures must present the following documents: Passport or valid international travel documents of crew and passengers or crew book for foreign crew members in the cases specified in Clause 3, Article 13 of Decree No. 77/2017/ND-CP dated July 3, 2017 of the Government regulating the management and protection of security and order at port gates."

Amend and supplement Clause 7, Article 6 as follows:

"7. In case electronic border procedures cannot be performed due to problems with the Information Portal: The port border guards must notify the person performing the procedures in writing, by phone or email to perform border procedures for ships and boats entering, exiting, transiting, and transferring ports manually according to the provisions of Articles 13 and 14 of Decree No. 77/2017/ND-CP dated July 3, 2017 of the Government on management and protection of security and order at port border gates."

Decision No. 31/2025/QD-TTg amends, supplements and abolishes a number of points and clauses of Article 7 of Decision No. 10/2016/QD-TTg, specifically:

Amend and supplement Point a, Clause 2, Article 7 to specify the types of documents and procedures as follows:

a) Deadline for declaration and confirmation of completion of electronic border procedures; presentation of passport or valid international travel documents or crew book:

At least 04 hours before the ship or boat is expected to arrive at the port and 02 hours before the ship or boat is expected to leave the port, the person carrying out the procedure must declare the electronic border procedures. The time to start the electronic border procedures is determined from the time the port border guards receive the complete electronic documents via the Information Portal.

No later than 01 hour from the time of receiving the complete electronic dossier, the Border Guard at the port must confirm the completion of the electronic border procedure. The time of determining the completion of the electronic border procedure is the time when the person completing the procedure receives confirmation of the completion of the electronic border procedure via the National Single Window Portal.

For incoming ships and boats; ships and boats in transit arriving at the port, no later than 10 hours after the ship or boat is safely anchored at the port, the person completing the procedures must present the documents as prescribed in Clause 5, Article 6 of this Decision to the port border guards.

For ships and boats leaving the country; ships and boats in transit leaving the port, at the latest before the ship or boat leaves the port, the person completing the procedures must present the documents as prescribed in Clause 5, Article 6 of this Decision to the Border Guard at the port gate.

For ships and boats anchoring at the port for less than 24 hours, with no change in crew or passengers, the person carrying out the procedures is allowed to declare exit procedures for the ship or boat immediately after declaring entry procedures; present the documents specified in Clause 5, Article 6 of this Decision once to the Border Guard at the port gate."

At the same time, Decision No. 31/2025/QD-TTg abolishes Point c, Clause 2, Article 7 of Decision No. 10/2016/QD-TTg on the time limit for performing border procedures in case the seaport border electronic data processing system has problems./.

According to VNA

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/mot-so-quy-dinh-moi-ve-thuc-hien-thu-tuc-bien-phong-dien-tu-cang-bien-260428.htm