Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue: Reform of specialised inspection must both facilitate trade and anti-trade fraud

	Many commodities overlap in specialised inspection
	Long An Customs collects arrears and sanction more than 9.3 billion VND from specialised inspections
	25 commodity groups were still overlapped when conducting specialized inspection

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue spoke at the meeting. Photo: T. Binh.

Three ministries amount to 75% of the target

On the afternoon of July 31, at the Government’s office, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the 1899 Committee, chaired a meeting on evaluating the results of the first six months of the year and orienting tasks for the last six months of 2019 related to the implementation of NSW, ASW, reform of specialized inspection and trade facilitation and logistics development.

Attending the meeting were Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung, Vice Chairman of the 1899 Committee, Deputy General Director of the General Department of Customs Mai Xuan Thanh, representative of the Standing Committee of the 1899 Committee and representatives of relevant ministries and agencies.

Addressing the meeting, Hue appreciated the performance results of ministries and sectors.

However, to complete the connection of 61 new administrative procedures in 2019 as planned, the task from now to the end of the year will be difficult.

This is because that at the end of July, only 16 procedures have been connected, so there are still 45 procedures to be connected.

In particular, the Ministry of Health has 14 procedures, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 12 procedures and Ministry of Defence 8 procedures

Thus, three ministries amount to 75% of the procedures to be connected from now to the end of the year.

Therefore, in the last months of the year, the Deputy Prime Minister asked ministries and agencies to make efforts and continue to follow and deploy the contents at the direction of the Chairman of the Committee at the 4th meeting to complete the connection of new administrative procedures as planned.

In addition, from now until the end of the year, ministries and agencies need to synchronise many related tasks.

In particular, the Ministry of Finance needs to complete the draft to submit to the Government for promulgating a Decree on Single Window; build a Decree on connecting and sharing information through NSW; submit to the Prime Minister for issuing a decision to amend Decision 1254 / QD-TTg in 2018 to comply with the practical situation.

To complete the connection target, ministries and agencies must focus on resources, especially IT.

Regarding the reform of specialized inspection (KTCN) for imports and exports, Hue asked for the synchronous implementation of two objectives of trade facilitation and anti-trade fraud, especially origin fraud. In particular, the Deputy Prime Minister noted the important role of "door guardian" of the General Department of Customs.

The Deputy Prime Minister instructed ministries and agencies to closely coordinate with Customs agency in amending documents on specialised inspection, thereby issuing documents that shall create favourable conditions for enterprises and relevant agencies.

At the meeting, Hue assigned the Ministry of Finance to assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with ministries and sectors to build a master plan on IT application to implement NSW under a centralised management model. At the same time, ministries and sectors need to transform the scattered IT system into a centralised system to connect with the NSW system.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the General Department of Customs to work with ministries and sectors to build a system of indicators to evaluate the implementation efficiency of administrative procedures though NSW.

Regarding solutions to promote logistics development, the Deputy Prime Minister agreed and requested effective implementation according to the proposals of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Some ministries fulfilled the target

According to the report at the meeting, as of July 10, 2019, 174 administrative procedures of 13 ministries have been connected to NSW, with over 2.3 million records of about 31,000 businesses.

In the first six months of 2019, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) worked with ministries to continue implementing administrative procedures through NSW.

Specifically, building new procedures and completing the connection of three administrative procedures of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; four administrative procedures of the Ministry of Health; and three administrative procedures of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Developing new procedures and testing seven administrative procedures of the Ministry of Health.

At the same time, adjusting the system to expand three procedures of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Remarkably, to date, some ministries have completed NSW connections.

The Ministry of Transport has connected 87 administrative procedures, including 75 procedures connected in 2018, and completed the implementation of administrative procedures on NSW.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has connected six administrative procedures in accordance with the schedule and the general plan of the Government.

Regarding the implementation of ASW and connections outside ASEAN, Vietnam has officially exchanged C/O form D information with six countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Cambodia.

As of July 10, 2019, the total number of C/O Vietnam received from other countries was 87,355, while the total number of C/O Vietnam sent to other countries was 153,872.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance is working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to prepare technical conditions to exchange information on ASEAN customs declarations (with Indonesia and Thailand) and phytosanitary certificates (with Indonesia).

Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance is working with other ministries and agencies to finalize the protocols unifying technical requirements and build a system to exchange information of customs declarations and certificates of origin with the Eurasian Economic Union; and electronic C/O information with South Korea.

Minister Dinh Tien Dung spoke at the meeting. Photo: T. Binh.

Assigning many organisations to conduct specialised inspections

Regarding specialised management for imports and exports, up to now, the ministries and agencies have amended and supplemented 84 of 87 documents, reaching 97%.

Regarding the specialized inspection sites, which have been established, the General Department of Customs is studying, reviewing and drafting criteria for the establishment and dissolution of the specialised inspection sites to ensure the effective operations and facilitate businesses in import and export procedures.

For the establishment of a new specialised inspection site in Cai Mep-Thi Vai port (Ba Ria-Vung Tau), on June 5, 2019, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Customs) worked with Ba Ria-Vung Tau People's Committee.

Then, on June 20, 2019, the General Department of Customs issued an Official Letter No. 4073 / TCHQ-GSQL requesting the Ba Ria-Vung Tau People's Committee to report on the development progress of the plan on establishing a new specialised inspection site at Cai Mep-Thi Vai port before July 10, 2019. However, at this meeting, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee did not submit the report.

Another important content is the socialisation of specialised inspection; some ministries have authorized or appointed many agencies and organisations to carry out specialised inspections for imports and exports.

Cutting specialised inspection: Facilitation associated with anti-trade fraud

For example, the Ministry of Industry and Trade appointed 14 agencies and organisations; the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development appointed 20 agencies and organisations; the Ministry of Health appointed 12 agencies and organizations to carry out specialised inspection of food safety for imported foods under the management of each ministry.