Customs Verification provides positive support to specialized inspection

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Launching Customs Verification Branch 5 in Quang Ninh

Catching the sector’s needs

As a reporter monitoring the operation of the unit in charge of verification, I have witnessed the rapid change of the Customs Department of Goods Verification during the past time. Particularly, the establishment of the Customs Verification Branch shows that the implementation of the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Customs Department of Goods Verification under Ministry of Finance’s Decision No. 1388 / QD-BTC and the determination to bring the verification to catch up with the development process of the Customs sector have been basically completed.

More than one year ago, many local units found it difficult to send samples for analysis, while enterprises had to travel a lot, and looked forward to removing obstacles for the Customs verification and specialized inspection. But until now, with the launching of three more branches, the Customs Department of Goods Verification has confirmed its steps towards the orientations to carry out and specialize this work in the new situation, facilitating and reducing cost for business.

As well as determination to put the specialized inspection into practice, in addition to the launching of three new verification branches: Customs Branch of Goods Verification No. 1 (in Hanoi); Customs Branch of Goods Verification No. 5 (in Quang Ninh); Customs Branch of Goods Verification No.6 (in Lang Son province), the General Department of Customs has approved the "Proposal for the development of the Customs Department of Goods Verification in the period 2017-2020"; promulgated the Regulation on Verification and Analysis of Import-Export Goods; and the Customs Department of Goods Verification has also completed the construction of Vilas standard laboratory for Customs Verification Branch 2 in Hai Phong.

At present, 4 out of 6 laboratories of the Customs Department of Goods Verification have been certificated by the Bureau of Accreditation (BoA) of the Ministry of Science and Technology on TCVN ISO / IEC 17025: 2005 (VILAS). Particularly, Customs Branch of Goods Verification No. 4 has been accredited as a verification organization according to TCVN ISO / IEC 17020: 2012 (VIAS) standards.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have appointed Customs Branch of Goods Verification as a verification organization of the organic and inorganic fertilizers, contributing to the state management of goods quality. Director of the Customs Department of Goods Verification Do Van Quang, affirmed that the Department has been equipped with human resources and essential equipment to serve well the sector’s work in general and specialized inspection of import and export goods in particular.

"The Department has just invested four mobile verification stations with modern equipment which can flexibly move and assess border gate areas for quality inspection; sampling and implementing on-spot verification. The establishment and operation of three new Customs Branches of Goods Verification; the development and expansion of testing measures for VILAS laboratories at the department and branches; the investment in physio-chemical analysis equipment, microbiological laboratories and four mobile verification stations to facilitate the verification, analysis and specialized inspection. Receipt, analysis and proposal for issue of announcement of advance ruling on codes have basically met regulations and facilitated export and import activities, " shared Do Van Quang.

However, in the period 2017-2020, in order to have a legal basis to fulfil and its tasks in the field of specialized inspections, the Customs office must be accredited, appointed or authorized by the specialized management agency to participate in the specialized inspection. Mr. Do Van Quang also said that the Department was planning to advise the General Department of Customs and Ministry of Finance to finalize the scheme to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval of pilot implementation of specialized inspection for import and export goods at the Customs office.

At the same time, ministries and sectors shall coordinate with the General Department of Customs in assigning Customs Department of Goods Verification to handle export or import shipments which fail to meet the standards on quality, food hygiene and safety; and developing a mechanism for appraising and accrediting laboratories capable of specialized verification.

Desired targets

Receiving positive signs of progress in finalizing the scheme to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval of pilot implementation of specialized inspection for import and exports goods at the Customs office, Director Do Van Quang shared that the scheme on “ pilot implementation of specialized inspection for import and export goods at Customs office” has introduced measures to facilitate trade in the current time, and created a legal basis for Customs agencies to take part in the specialized inspection. Moreover, the scheme has provided further support to enterprises, shortening the clearance time at the border on the selective basis for some hot items that are the concern of enterprises, especially those related to the protection of domestic production and the people’s health.

Accordingly, in the immediate future, the Customs Department of Goods Verification will participate in the quality inspection of fertilizers and food hygiene and safety (identification of heavy metal toxins, microbiological indicators) for some groups of agricultural products at key border gates. Specifically, it is expected to participate in inspection at the border gates in Lang Son and Lao Cai border gates in the northern border area; and in Ho Chi Minh City port border gate in the southern area.

Mr. Do Van Quang emphasized that when being assigned as a unit in charge of the pilot implementation of specialized inspection at the customs office, in addition to asserting the role of modern Customs laboratory, the Department also urged organizations in charge of verification to implement specialized inspection publicly and transparently in order to accelerate the reform of specialized inspection. Furthermore, the scheme will be a precondition for creating a coordination mechanism in the specialized inspection of Customs and agencies under the specialized management ministries and facilitate the modernization of administrative procedures.

Customs verification helps to support specialized inspections VCN- Many enterprises said that upgrading the Center for Analysis and Classification of export-import goods (the General ...

The pilot implementation of specialized inspection at Customs office on the basis of applying risk management on specialized inspection for import and export goods will be socialized in the future and the Customs shall only test the inspection results under risk management to provide the best support to state management on Customs in the goods clearance. With the advantages mentioned above, if the Customs Department of Goods Verification is assigned to collaborate in specialized inspection for import and export goods, targets of administrative reform, on-spot inspection, reduction of clearance time and cost as well as trade facilitation shall be endured”. Mr. Quang noted