Quality inspection model of imports and exports amended

	Urgently complete scheme on unifying the focal point for goods quality inspection
	Many commodities overlap in specialised inspection
	Three more quality inspection procedures implemented on National Single Window mechanism

Customs officers at Da Nang port border gate customs branch inspect import and export goods. Photo: N.Linh

Finalizing the scheme

Mr. Au Anh Tuan said that the scheme would not only apply to customs inspection authority but also customs branches, especially customs officers at the border gate, directly perform the inspection and identification of goods and whether or not they meet the requirements of standards, thereby deciding customs clearance.

“The General Department plans to providemachinery, equipment, quick test tools andmobile testing devices to help local customs officers decide customs clearance,”said Director of Au Anh Tuan.

He also added that this would be a key project in the first months of 2020 forthe Customs sector. To carry out the task, the Customs Control and Supervision Department will work with relevant units to submit it to the leader of the General Department of Customs, the Ministry of Financeand the Government for approval. On that basis, the Customs officer will reviewand propose amendments to related legal documents.

According to the current law, traders must follow customs obligations stipulated in the Customs Law and the specialized laws so that their goods are cleared. Accordingly, for each specific case, to clear the goods, traders must submit and present to the customs authority a permit or document on the inspection results (quarantine, quality, food safety, conformity and standards).

Currently, the National Assembly and the Government issued an adequate system of specialized regulations, creating the necessary legal environment under the policy of ensuring safety, protecting people's lives and health, protecting theenvironment, ensure economic and national security. However, the specialized inspection process forimported and exported goods still facesshortcomings that raise administrative procedures, costs and time for traders and waste resources for society, reducing Vietnam's competitiveness in trade exchange and international economic integration.

Recently, thanks to the drastic guidance of the Government, the specialized inspection of imported and exported goods has achieved some results but has not met the requirements of reform and improved national competitiveness in cross-border trade.

Continuing reform goal

To save time, costs and resources for businesses and society while meeting the requirements of state management of goods quality, on November 13, 2019, the Government issued Resolution No. 99 / NQ-CP, at the Government's regular meeting in October 2019, in which “the Ministry of Finance is assigned to strongly reform customs procedures in digitalization, towards electronic customs in accordance with international standards; assume the prime responsibility in formulating a scheme on specialized inspection reform that customs office will be the focal point for specialized inspection at border gates (except for goods related to security, defense and quarantine) and specialized management ministries shall conduct post-audit and then submit that scheme to the Government in the first quarter of 2020 for adoption.”

According to Deputy Head of Control and Supervision Division 1 under the Customs Control and Supervision Department, the scheme aims to substantively reform the qualityinspection of imported and exported goods according to thelawand improve the competitiveness of businesses.

The scheme targets to reform the model of quality inspection of imported and exported goods in order to create favorable conditions for import and export activities simply, quickly and conveniently; reduce costs and resources for businesses and society; clarify the responsibility of state management of goods quality of management ministries and the agencies and organizations in charge of inspection.

Quality inspection under the new scheme must be in line with international practices, with treaties and conventions that Vietnam has signed and acceded to; apply risk management methods in specialized inspections; acknowledge and recognize the results of quality inspections of importing and exporting countries; andapply traceability.

15 types of goods are exempted from quality inspection when importing VCN – The Government has issued a Decree No.74/2018/NĐ-CP on amending and supplementing some articles of the ...

In particular, under the new model, each import and export shipmentisonly subject to one-time inspection and at one place, that is conducted by the customs office.