Minimize the overlap in specialised inspections

	Ministry of Finance cooperates with other ministries to reform specialized inspections
	Already has “judge” to handling the overlap in specialized inspection
	Over 70,000 items subject to specialized inspection

Specialised inspection units take sample of import and export goods. Photo: N.L

According to the Legal Department, from 2014 to the present, the Government has made great efforts to direct key tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness. Although ministries and sectors have made great efforts in implementing the scheme to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of specialised inspection under Government Decision 2026/QĐ-TTg dated November 17, 2015, the specialised inspection for imported goods has not yet ensured transparency, forecasting and consistency in the legal system on specialised inspection as well as the implementation; the inspection rate in customs clearance has not sharply decreased, prolonged time and increased cost for businesses.

The Decree has specified some contents on specialised inspection to remove shortcomings and problems. Especially, the decree is also consistent with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents on the Government's promulgation of a decree to specify measures to perform the law; measures to implement socio-economic policies andissues related to the tasks and competencies of two or more ministries.

Article 21 of the decree stipulates the principle of specialised inspection changing from pre-inspection to post clearance audit is based on applying risk management, assessing compliance of organisations and individuals to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of State management and facilitate import and export activities and transit.

Also, Article 21 specifies the application of exemption and reduction of specialised inspection for goods that have certified standards, technical regulations, announced the standard, technical regulations, and certified the use of advanced management systems according to international standards andregional standards as prescribed by management ministries and sectors.

Article 22 of the decree stipulates cases subject to exemption from specialised inspection before customs clearance. This has increased transparency and publicity of inspection methods and criteria through the promulgation of technical standards and regulations, as well asremoved overlaps in specilised inspection.

For import and export goods subject to specialised inspection before customs clearance, Article 23 and 24 of the decree simplifies documents in customs dossiers. Accordingly, the registration certificate for specilised inspection after post clearance is not required as a basis for Customs to decide customs clearance as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree 74/2018/ND-CP, because with the implementation of specialised inspection under the National Single Window mechanism, the specialised inspection agency has been shared information on cleared consignments to determine whether consignments are subject to specialised inspection after clearance or not.

Arepresentative of the Legal Department said that to ensure the consistency and standardisation of implementation of specialised inspection procedures under the Government’s direction, the decree specifies responsibilities of the customs declarant, specialised inspection agency and designated conformity assessment organisation. Accordingly, thespecialised inspection agency is responsible for the implementation of specialised inspection and the results of specialised inspection (Articles 25, 26, 27).

Notably, the decree specifies the coordination mechanism to handle cases that do not meet requirements of standards and technical regulations; imported goods have quantities and categories that are inconsistent with the registration dossier for specialised inspection and are consumed arbitrarily in the domestic market.

Also, the decree has created a unified legal basis to comprehensively reform specialised inspection in the direction of reducing the quantity of items subject to specialised inspection in customs clearance, facilitate import-export activities of goods, implement transparency in specialised inspection by announcing technical standards and regulations and inspection methods. At the same time, ensuring uniformity of the system of legal documents, overcoming overlaps, and inadequacies in documents on specialised inspection for import and export goods and facilitating import and export goods.