Health enterprises join the National Single Window: Saving time, cost and human resources

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NSW is considered as one of the important solutions to reform, simplify procedures, reduce the time of Customs clearance for imports and exports in line with the policy of the Government. Photo: Quang Hung.

To date, the implementation of the National Single Window has benefited management agencies and the business community. The licensing time for medical equipment imports decreased by 50% compared to previous time.

Obvious effects

According to Mr. Tuan, the National Single Window has also brought convenience to management agencies and members of the unit. At the same time, members of the Medical Equipment Import Licensing Board can also look up and process files on the system to handle the procedure, even on a business trip. Moreover, the time of the board meeting to permit businesses to import has been significantly shortened, from 2 - 3 hours, to only 1 to 1.5 hours. That means that the number of applications for approval of enterprises also increased significantly compared to the previous time.

As for the effectiveness of the National Single Window, Mrs. Pham Thi Thu Ha, the Head of Quality Management, Siemens Co, Ltd said that the implementation of the National Single Window helped businesses to significantly reduce workload, time, money and efforts. Accordingly, instead of having to go to the work office to submit, modify, supplement the file, pay the application fee and get the license as before, enterprises just need a networked computer to perform all steps. At the same time, enterprises can track the processing stages and their status on the National Single Window records. "Without this system, Siemens would have to recruit twice as many as employees if it had submitted records in print", she said.

Mr. Tran Van Thi, the Director of My Thanh Company specializing in laboratory related machines, when implementing the National Single Window, enterprises will how to edit and revise their records. In the past time, enterprises must wait for the management agency to return documents by official and did not know whether their records were returned or not.

"Through the implementation of the National Single Window mechanism, enterprises can submit their records anytime, conveniently, quickly, and, the regulatory authorities are also convenient in the traceability of product quality, overcome the unclear status of origin in the past time, bringing the high-quality products to the market, ensuring the interests of consumers, "Mr. Tran Van Thi said.

The specifications need to be improved

In spite of effectiveness, according to the acknowledgment of some enterprises, operating system sometimes has problems and errors. According to Mrs. Pham Thi Thu Ha, the loading of files to the system in many time still has certain difficulty because, in the system, there have been too many people to access information about the shipment has been licensed. However, this information has not been shared and widely available on the National Single Window system, so the relevant agencies have not yet known the information so clearance time is also affected. Mrs. Ha proposed that the health authorities and the Customs authorities should share and disseminate shipment information of licensed enterprises on the National Single Window system, thereby reducing the need for quick procedures and clearance for businesses.

The Director of My Thanh Company, Mr. Tran Van Thi suggested that in order to create more favorable conditions for enterprises and management agencies, the Ministry of Health and the Customs authority should stipulate and instruct in detail, especially the relevant documents and procedures for enterprises to implement. For example, for businesses such as My Thanh Company specializing in laboratory equipment, it is necessary to regulate specific documents such as certification of ISO quality management, the certificate of product circulation in the country to avoid the only requirement for enterprises to have standardized documents in a general way that businesses do not know what the papers of compliance are, whether it is wrong or not, causing delay, as well as affecting the production and business activities of enterprises.

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As for the difficulty in the implementation of the National Single Window, on the side of the management agency, according to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tien, the Head of the Division of Quality Management of Drugs and Cosmetics, the Drugs Administration Department, under the Ministry of Health, the time for the registration of enterprises’ account and the time of receipt of payment of the enterprise to transfer data to accounting account on the National Single Window system is too long. In addition, the National Single Window system has not yet updated and forwarded data sheets of cosmetic products received by the Drug Administration of Vietnam on the Ministry of Health system to the National Single Window system and vice versa. The Ministry of Health has not yet exploited the data related to cosmetics from Customs system. “In addition, some errors are not appropriate on the declaration of publication of cosmetic products as listed in the manufacturer's information on the unpublished declaration of origin, the country of production, some enterprises have the signature and seal which are too small or not in line with the reality", Mr. Tien said.