Station for specialized inspections in Lang Son: Not really effective

	Specialized Inspection: MOIT slow due to “process”
	National Steering Committee for ASW, NSW and trade facilitation: Connecting NSW and specialized inspections
	How is risk management applied in specialized inspections?

There is very few enterprises to register at the station for specialized inspections at Tan Thanh. Photo: Hong Nu.

Unreasonable location

Although civil servants still operate regularly, enterprises don’t pay much attention because of the long distance. This is a sad situation in recent 9 months at the station for specialized inspections of Tan Thanh border gate. In addition, the area for specialized inspections is limited and lacks laboratory equipment. The station operates as an intermediate agent for receiving records and sampling goods, then transfers the samples to the Quality Center for resolving. Therefore, the clearance time has not really been shortened to facilitate import and export enterprises.

Speaking to a reporter of the Customs Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Vu Tru, the Director of Vietnam Investment and Development of Machines (based in Hanoi) said his company specialized in the import of CBU cars through Huu Nghi border gate, which was subject to specialized inspections of the Ministry of Transport. Although the Registry Department has opened an office at Huu Nghi border gate, it cannot operate effectively due to the narrow area which it is only effective for agricultural products or home appliances instead of goods with a big size under the specialized inspections of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Trade. In addition, due to the long distance, most enterprises have proposed to implement specialized inspections at their headquarters or in Hanoi for sample testing. Mr. Tru explained that if enterprises stored their goods in border gate warehouses, the cost will be very high, so they tend to prefer to be checked at their headquarters to save the cost.

According to Mrs. Trinh Tu Anh, the Director of An Do Trading and Construction (an enterprise specializing in importing raw materials for textiles and chemicals), the station for specialized inspections at Tan Thanh border gate has not been suitable for businesses. Because most enterprises import goods under the specialized inspections through Coc Nam, Huu Nghi, Chi Ma gate, it will take too much time and cost for them to return goods to Tan Thanh border gate for specialized inspections. Then, they transfer their samples to Hanoi and wait for the results, which saves a lot of cost and time for them.

Notably, exported and imported goods through the territory of the Tan Thanh Customs Branch are mainly fruits and agricultural products (accounting for 80% of total exported and imported goods) under specialized inspections of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. At Coc Nam, Chi Ma, and Huu Nghi border gate, there have been a great number of goods of the Textile Institute and the Institute for Testing Food Hygiene and Safety, but due to inconvenient distance, they have registered for specialized inspections in Hanoi instead of the station for specialized inspections of Tan Thanh border gate.

According to the investigation of a reporter of the Customs Newspaper, the goods subject to specialized inspections at Tan Thanh border gate are mainly imported fruit, while the demand for other commodities for specialized inspections in other border gates is still very high. Therefore, in the last 9 months, the station for specialized inspections of Tan Thanh border gate has often been closed.

Need some changes

Circular 38/2015 / TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance regulates that enterprises can transport their goods into warehouses for storage. In fact, most enterprises importing goods through Lang Son province have storage warehouses in Hanoi, so they tend to register and implement sampling and results receipt in Hanoi.

According to a representative of the Lang Son Department of Customs, in the North of Vietnam, in addition to the Center of Standardization Metrology and Quality Control 1 (under the Ministry of Science and Technology), there are another 3 units of the Ministry of Health for quality testing including: the Institute for Testing Food Hygiene and Safety, the National Institute of Nutrition and the Hai Phong Preventive Health Centre Haiphong selected as 4 effective agencies for smooth operations. In particular, the Ministry of Health is one of the ministries implementing the connection with the General Department of Vietnam Customs under the National Single Window, therefore, the amount of records at stations for specialized inspections are very few.

According to Mr. Tran Bang Toan, the Director of the Huu Nghi Customs Branch, goods subject to specialized inspections through the Customs Branch are under the management of the Registry Department (under the Ministry of Transport) related to automotive and machinery, etc and a small number managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Mrs. Trinh Tu Anh said that the functional authorities should study the plan for relocating the station for specialized inspections from Tan Thanh to Lang Son City to facilitate enterprises to carry out the procedures, sampling and receive results. In particular, in the near future, the Ministries will implement procedures through the National Single Window, which facilitates enterprises, reducing their time and cost.

Vietnam Customs and MARD review work relating to the NSW and specialized inspections On September 7th, 2016 at the meeting between Mr. Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry ...

In order to implement specialized inspections efficiently, the Lang Son Department of Customs said that both companies and State agencies should consider the relocation of the station to facilitate enterprises, which supports specialized inspections for goods through Coc Nam, Huu Nghi and Chi Ma border gate. Also, the functional authorities need to amend and supplement the provisions related to specialized inspections to create more favourable conditions for enterprises. Besides, the authorities should publicize the operations of specialized inspections more drastically and invest more modern infrastructure and equipment for specialized inspections to be efficient.