Too Many Documents Stipulating Specialised Inspection

 

According to Mr Ngo Minh Hai, Deputy Director of Customs Supervision and Management (General Department of Vietnam Customs), the number of legal documents above has increased, compared to the time when the Department built the Scheme to promote effectiveness of specialised inspection for imported goods (by August 2015, there were 259 legal documents on management majors). The reason is that some ministries have issued new guidance documents for the areas which have previously not been fully guided while there are many shortcomings that have not been amended and supplemented. There are too many overlapping unnecessary texts affecting the clearance time of the business and the performance of specialised section. It is difficult to achieve the target of 15 percent from 30 percent of specialised inspection stipulated in resolutions of the Government as offering to the end of 2016. The Customs Department is just law enforcement unit of the State in import and export, customs administrations are having difficulty in this area due to limited coordination of ministries.

 

For example, paragraph 1b of Article 38 of the Food Safety Act 2010 stipulated that "food, food additives, processing aids in food, utensils, packaging materials and containers of imported food must be provided Announced Results to confirm satisfactory food imports for each shipment of designated inspection agencies." Under the provisions of this Article, most import shipments under these headings must have food safety inspections conducted.

 

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued the List of Group 2 in Circular 50/2009 / TT-BNN 2009 and Circular 50/2010 / TT-BNN 2010 with wide range, including commodity groups: animals and animal products; horticultural products; seafood, etc which are subject to quarantine and food safety inspection.

 

There are currently 10 pilot sites for specialised inspection at the border gates for large import-export goods transactions, but merely receiving records, not giving results for businesses as desired. Therefore, it is necessary to have the determination of the heads of the relevant agencies to examine specialised inspection to help businesses reduce costs and improve the competitiveness of the economy. Reportedly, the Government has a policy to establish separate working groups in this area with the participation of leaders of ministries.

 

The Ministry of Finance has written proposal sent to 11 ministries to drastically review, amend and supplement 73 documents related to specialised management and specialised inspection. By June 30, 2016, the Ministry of Finance received 10 out of 13 notices about amended and supplemented legal texts on specialised inspection. However, there are many documents that did not meet the requirements of direction in Decision 2026 / QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

 

Earlier in July, the Ministry of Finance continued collaboration with several functional units of the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Planning and Investment to review 87 legal documents on specialised management that need to be amended and supplemented by Decision 2026 / QD-TTg and other legal documents related to specialised management and specialised inspection. Review results showed that 73 legal documents related to specialised management and specialised inspection under the jurisdiction of the ministries need to be amended and supplemented. Specifically, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have the most documents to be amended and supplemented, 27 documents; followed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, 7 documents; Ministry of Industry and Trade, 11 documents; Ministry of Health, 9 documents; Ministry of Transport, 7 documents; Ministry of Construction, 4 documents; Ministry of Information and Communications, 2 documents; Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 3 documents; Ministry of Public Security, 1 document and Defence Department, 1 document.

 

At the request of the Ministry of Finance, the progress to complete the modification of the documents is within the fourth quarter of 2016. The Ministry of Finance will report to the Prime Minister about plans, progress and results of ministries. As requested in Resolution 19/2016 / NQ-CP and Decision 2026 / QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on the comprehensive reform of regulations on specialised management and specialised inspection for export and import goods, including the "reduced rate of import shipments under specialised inspection in clearance stage from 30-35 percent to 15 percent by the end of 2016" and strive to achieve clearance time by the end of 2016” down to par with ASEAN 4, and by 2020 achieving the average level of ASEAN 3.

 

Le Hien