Enterprises are tired of waiting to take phytosanitary samples at the port

	Phytosanitary certificates for export implemented on the NSW nationwide by mid 2018
	From April 1st, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Area connects one more procedure to National Single Window Mechanism
	From October 17, not required to submit paper of phytosanitary certificate

Cat Lai Port (HCMC). Photo: collected

Queuing for samples

In addition to difficulties from domestic and foreign markets causing production and business activities to decline, since the beginning of 2023, V.A.M Company - trading in wood materials, has also faced additional difficulties due to changes in the plant quarantine sampling process of the Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2. Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh, in charge of import and export of V.A.M Company, said that previously, when imported goods arrived at Cat Lai port, the company picked up the same day to the warehouse for storage. After that, they submitted the registration dossier for quarantine, the quarantine officer would go to the warehouse to take samples and carried out customs clearance after having the quarantine certificate.

However, from the beginning of 2023, the quarantine agency informed that it would process customs clearance at the port and enterprises were not allowed to bring goods to the warehouse for self-preservation as before. Accordingly, the company must get the registration number on the system and wait for their turn. According to regulations, the results of quarantine would be sent within 24 hours, but in reality, it usually took 3 days for enterprises to receive the certificates because of queuing for samples. Even, sometimes, it might be incidents to take a long time waiting. “Sometimes the quarantine officers are away, or when it rains heavily, the officer cannot come to take samples, or it is on the weekend… Many times, the company have to run fast on Friday to take samples in time, otherwise they will have to wait until next Monday while the fees for storing containers and yards continue to increase”, said Ms. Oanh.

Accordingly, on average, V.A.M Company imported 15-20 containers of raw wood every month, at peak, import volume was up to 35-50 containers. While charges of shipping lines increased gradually over time, so overnight, the cost of the company was increased quite a lot. “At the moment, import and export activities are falling sharply, but the company is tired of waiting so long, next time when exports and imports recover, the waiting time may be even longer” - Ms. Oanh worried.

According to the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS), a number of enterprises under VINACAS had also reported to the association about similar problems related to plant quarantine. The sampling at the port caused the storage time to be prolonged and the cost to increase, causing damage to enterprises.

Delay due to… lack of staff

VINACAS said that, in a recent meeting with VINACAS, Mr. Nguyen Vu Phi Long, Deputy Director of the Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2 said that, according to the Law on Plant Quarantine Protection 2013, the plant quarantine location for imports was the first border gate. In the past time, the plant quarantine agency had flexibly applied regulations to support enterprises, but in the process of implementation, there were difficulties and obstacles, so they had to adjust the method.

Accordingly, the quarantine at the bonded warehouse or at the port was on the basis of considering the harmony between the resources of the quarantine agency and the reduction of costs and time for enterprises. Previously, the Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2 applied to support at the request of enterprises, but now, when considering the provisions of the law and the resources of Sub-Department, the level of goods clearance... it must be done at the port.

According to Mr. Long, the Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2 was in charge of 13 provinces, accounting for 70% of export goods in the Southern region; The processing mode was very diverse, so the workload was very large, while the personnel was reduced a lot. At the port, an employee could inspect and sample over 30 shipments per day; If it implemented in a bonded warehouse, with the whole time for going and coming back, a person could only do a shipment per day. Therefore, current resources and large workload do not allow to do as the previous time.

With the enterprise's reflection on the fact that although the plant quarantine agency met the regulations on issuing the certificate within 24 hours after taking the sample, the long sampling time caused enterprises to wait for a long time, according to the representative of the quarantine agency, the fact that enterprises had to wait for the container to be assembled and arranged a time for inspection personnel to take samples was the responsibility of the port authority and the loading and unloading party, not the responsibility of the plant quarantine agency. The Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2 said that they would make efforts to shorten the time and better serve enterprises. But current number of staff was not allowed to increase while the workload was increasing. The simplification of procedures also did not have much room because it had been reduced from 6 types of papers to 3, especially for the cashew industry, there are only 2 types of papers.

Mr. Long also affirmed that the Plant Protection Department and the Sub-Department did not have a policy of taking holidays, Saturdays and Sundays, if enterprises requested, they still had to be on duty to met the requirements of enterprises. However, the Labor Code stipulated the maximum number of working hours, and the leaders of the Sub-Department could not violate it. Therefore, enterprises should notify the plan early so that the Sub-Department could arrange staff, avoiding the announcement close to day. Because, when the Sub-Department arranged to be on duty, it must include the system from administrative staff stamped to quarantine officers, and leaders.

The representative of the quarantine agency also recommended that enterprises faced any cases causing difficulties or delays, they should immediately notify the leaders of the Sub-Department to rectify and handle. If necessary, enterprises could report directly to the Plant Protection Department. This not only helped businesses' work be handled in time, but also was necessary information to better strengthen the industry as a whole.