Plant-origin products: Customs proposes solutions, Ministry of Health delays answer

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Illustrative photo: Internet

On October 28, 2020, the General Department of Customs sent Official Letter No. 6946 / TCHQ-GSQL to the Ministry of Health on problems related to the import policy of plant-origin products, and proposed the Ministry to give an answer soon to guide implementation.

However, after a month, the Ministry of Health has not yet provided an answer.

Recently, the General Department of Customs has repeatedly sent a written request to the Ministry of Health for reply to guide enterprises and local customs units to implement.

According to the General Department of Customs, in order to remove problems for enterprises and avoid cargo congestion at border gates, the Ministry of Health should urgently review and amend Circular No. 48/2018 / TT-BYT in the direction of only introducing products for medical use on the list of medicinal materials, removing products used for food production from the list and adding products used for food production to the list of food products according to previous recommendations of the General Department of Customs.

While waiting for approval on solutions to handle overlaps in the Lists of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the General Department of Customs proposes a temporary solution for import procedures for plant-origin products both on the list of medicinal materials issued together with Circular No. 48/2018/TT-BYT dated December 28, 2018 of the Ministry of Health and on the list of foods products originated from imported plants subject to food safety inspection dated October 29, 2018 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Specifically, as follows: if the enterprise declares the import of products used as food, the Law on Food Safety, Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP dated February 2, 2018 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety will be applied.

If the enterprises declares the import of products used as medicinal materials, the Law on Pharmacy and Decree No. 54/2017 / ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Pharmacy will be applied.

If the enterprise declares the import of products for other purposes (not for use as food or medicine), the enterprise shall temporarily choose one of the two options above.

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The customs agency shall, based on the purpose of use declared by the enterprise to apply management policies and implement customs clearance, the ministries in charge shall conduct post-customs clearance inspection.