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It is expected that the provisions described in Decree 15, the specialized inspection procedures will be reduced. Photo: N.L

According to the representative of Food Safety Department under Ministry of Health, previously, 100% of imported food commodities must be subject to specialized inspection upon Customs clearance. Currently, commodities not subject to specialized inspection will be expanded. For example, the products that are granted the receipt of regulation conformity announcement are; products temporarily imported for sale at duty free shops, or imported goods only for internal production and processing.

According to Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, the food safety inspection is carried out under one of methods as follows. For the reduced inspection method, it means only inspecting maximum 5% of total imported shipments within 1 year randomly selected by the Customs authority.

The reduced inspection method is applied to shipment or commodity under one of methods as follows: the consignment was certified for food safety requirements by competent agencies and organizations of the country signing international treaties on mutual recognition in food safety inspection, of which Vietnam is a member; having the results of inspection issued by the competent agency of exporting country for consignment or commodity in accordance with Vietnam Law; Business meets import requirements under the normal inspection three consecutive times within 12 months; shipment or commodity was manufactured by production facilities that apply one of the advanced quality control system as: GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, IFS, BRC, FSSC 22000, or equivalent.

The manual inspection applies to all commodities of the import consignment, excluding the specified cases.

The strict inspection method applies to import consignment, commodities under one of the cases is as follows: The consignment, commodity does not meet the import requirements at the previous inspection; The consignment, commodity does not meet the import requirements in inspection (if any); warning issued by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, or the competent authority in the foreign country or the manufacturer.

In addition, Decree No. 15/NĐ-CP stipulates cases subject to exemption from State inspection on imported goods include products, and they are granted the receipt of regulation conformity announcement; Products are brought by passengers on exit or entry and sent in advance or after the trip to serve their demand or purpose.

Imported foods that are gifts, or a donation, are subject to the norm of import duty exemption according to the provisions of the Tax law; Imported products used for individuals subject to incentive, diplomatic exemption; Products in transit, Customs branch transfer, transshipment, temporarily imported, re-exported, stored in bonded warehouses; Products are samples or for research with quantity in accordance with purpose of testing or researching and certified by organization or individual.

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Imported foods used for displaying in fairs and exhibitions; Products and materials used for production or processing of export goods or for internal production of organizations and individuals not for sale in the domestic market shall also be exempted from State inspection on food safety; or temporarily imported products for sale at duty-free shops and imported goods for urgent requirements requested by the Government or the Prime Minister.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long, Deputy Minister of Health indicated that, with the change of provisions on the specialized inspection, about 95% of imported food consignment will be subject to exemption from specialized inspection. The time of manual inspection is also reduced from 7 days to 3 days. The time of strict inspection is reduced from 10 days to 7 days. This saves about 7 million working days and about VND 3,000 billion.