Customs only office for specialized inspection at the checkpoint

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General Director Nguyen Van Can spoke at the meeting. Photo: T. Binh.

A box of milk produces two different test results

On the morning of December 18, at the headquarters of the General Department of Customs, General Director Nguyen Van Can chaired a working session with relevant ministries and agencies on the implementation of Resolution No. 99 / NQ-CP of November 13, 2019 of the Government on developing the project of specialized inspection reform at border gates.

Attending were Deputy General Director of General Department of Customs Mai Xuan Thanh, representatives of the Government Office and related ministries and branches.

Speaking at the meeting, General Director Nguyen Van Can said that recently, related ministries and agencies have made great efforts in improving the management and specialized inspection of import and export goods.

In fact, this activity has many limitations causing difficulties and problems for the business community and prolonging clearance time for goods.

“Therefore, in the Resolution of the regular meeting of the Government in October 2019 (Resolution 99-PV), the Government assigned the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) to preside over the development of the specialized inspection reform project according to the direction of the Customs office asthe focal point for specialized inspection at the border gate,” General Director Nguyen Van Can said.

In order to keep up with the progress submitted to the Government in the first quarter of 2020, under the authorization of the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Customs is urgently drafting and organizing the consultation of ministries and branches.

Director General Nguyen Van Can said that this was a "workshop" meeting, so it was necessary for delegates to contribute enthusiastically and frankly to the General Department of Customs to finalize the project before submitting to the Government.

Given the current situation, if the projectis not urgently implementedproject and there are breakthrough steps, it will be difficult to improve difficulties and shortcomings in the current specialized inspection, especially one item under the management and inspection of many ministries and branches.

“Unifying to have a final responsible agency before customs clearance of exported goods, avoid the current situation, checking a box of milk (the same famous global brand) produced different resultson quality," Director General Nguyen Van Can said.

Supplementing the opinion, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said that the representatives of ministries and agencies should agree on the viewpoint and grasp the Government's policy as to unify a specialized inspection focal point for the exported goods at the border gate (except items related to security, defense, quarantine).

“According to the Government's policy, the customs office is the only office to perform the task of specialized inspection at the border gate, except for some goods as prescribed. This is a new breakthrough compared to the current practice, an important step to create favorable conditions for businesses and reduce the clearance time for goods according to the Government's policy. Therefore, the ministries and branches are requested to contribute practical ideas and solutions to soon deploy effectively," Deputy General Director Mai Xuan Thanh said.

Avoid overlapping checks

At the meeting, representatives of ministries and agencies agreed with the policy of unifying the focal point of specialized import and export goods inspection at the border gate. However, in order to implement it, it is necessary to carefully calculate the roadmap and organizational structure, and at the same time to specifically assess the efficiency and benefits for the business community.

"We need to quantify the implementation of this project will save much time, costs for businesses," Director of the Department of Administrative Procedures (Government Office) Ngo Hai Phan said.

To implement it effectively, Director General Nguyen Van Can said, in addition to the efforts of the state management agencies, it is necessary to promote the socialization of specialized inspection. However, in order to raise the sense of responsibility and compliance of inspection organizations, the Customs Department will propose the competent authorities to amend the regulations in the future to increase the sanctions for the assessment organizations making mistakes to be adeterrent.

At the same time, General Director Nguyen Van Can said that it is necessary to promote the application of risk management with the goods that an import enterprise repeatedly only checked the first shipment, the following consignments were only inspected with high risks or showing signs of violation,avoiding the situation that any imported consignment is inspected but no violations are detected, increasingtime and costs for enterprises.

In addition, the Director General requested the Ministry of Science and Technology to consider and issue early confirmations to inspection agencies of the Customs sector that are eligible to perform the tasks of an assessment organization in order to improve the use efficiency.

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Notably, Director General Nguyen Van Can said that the Customs Department is promoting to increase investment in equipment for customs inspection and control, especially the modern container scanner systems from the USA. The modern US scanners not only produce images but also a lot of data about the ingredients in the product with reducedtime to clear customs quickly and ensure management requirements.