Coordinated specialized inspection in HCM City has initial positive results

	There is no need to apply specialized inspection for some kinds of products
	Avoiding checking the same enterprise many times for the same reason
	Put the qualified test, analysis and inspection into the reality

Civil servants of Saigon Port (KV1) inspect the imported goods. (Photo: Thu Hoa).

Reduce the declarations lacking results of specialized inspection

According to HCM City Department of Customs, in order to support import-export enterprises operating in the field of specialized inspections, in August 2015, the HCM City Department of Customs has signed cooperation regulations with 10 agencies in the field of specialized inspection in HCM City, including: the Department of Science and Technology; Technical Centre of Quality Measure Standards 3; Vinacontrol Ho Chi Minh Inspection Company Ltd.; Animal Health Agency Region IV; HCM Institute of Public Health ; Southern Plant Protection Drugs Testing And Inspection Center; Centre for Quality Assurance of agro-forestry and fisheries products, region 4; SGS Vietnam Ltd; JSC FCC Inspection and Sterilization Center for Evaluation and Certification of conformity to standards (Vietcert).

After obtaining the coordination regulations, the number of enterprises’s declarations lacking results of specialized inspection have decreased significantly. According to HCM City Customs Control and Supervision Division, previously, the amount of enterprises’s declarations lacking results of specialized inspection were high, a few hundred declarations per month. But now, this figure has decreased drastically, only 160 declarations (of which, the number of declarations of 10 agencies signing cooperation regulations was more than 100 declarations, and the rest are the agencies having not yet signed cooperation regulations). According to reports of Customs Branches, most remaining declarations included items taking a long time for trials, not directly affecting people's health.

According to agencies in the field of specialized inspection, the cooperation among HCM City Department of Customs and other agencies has improved the efficiency of specialized inspection in recent years. Currently, most of the enterprises no longer register records but do not implement the responsibility to bring goods for specialized inspection, except for some specific cases. For example, at the Centre for Expertise and Certification of conformity to standards, conformity (Vietcert), enterprises which have changed the type of business from import to temporary import for re-export should not have to bring the goods for specialized inspection.

Connect four sides

According to HCM City Department of Customs, due to no private network among Local Customs Branches and agencies in the field of specialized inspection during the time of implementation of regulations on coordination, the activities of updating information and tracking the results of specialized inspection for import-export shipments are limited. In some cases, when registering specialized inspection, enterprises declare at a Customs Branch, but in fact they implement procedures at other Customs Branches or other provinces/ cities. Therefore, when problems relating to this shipment arise, the results of handling violations are not sent to the agency directly conducting the specialized inspection.

In some cases, the notification time of results is extended, causing difficulties in monitoring and management of companies. Currently, there is a large amount of remaining goods for specialized inspection in excess of the time limit of 30 days but no results mainly at Vietnam Register Department, which the Customs has not yet signed the regulations on coordination yet.

In order to overcome the above problems, HCM City Customs Department has implemented an information technology network among the customs authorities and agencies in the field of specialized inspection, import-export enterprises and trading agencies at ports to coordinate and exchange information to ensure compliance with the law on specialized inspection, which has reduced the clearance time of goods and the management of legal compliance of enterprises recently.

In particular, these units will strengthen the coordination of specialized inspection for overdue cases without legal reasons. Customs Branches under HCM City Customs Department in cooperation with the inspection agencies and enterprises will comply with the provisions in the process of customs procedures.

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HCM City Customs Department proposes agencies in the field of specialized inspection to note the notification time of results as prescribed (30 days from the date of goods for preservation under Point a, Clause 6 of Article 32 of Circular 38/2015/ TT-BTC). In some cases, the request of the inspection beyond the time of specialized inspection, the agencies in the field of specialized inspection should propose in writing to the customs authorities and enterprises to have a basis for determining how late documents submission are deal with under the law.