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Customs officers of the Northern Customs Branch of Hanoi check imports and exports. Photo: Hong Van.

Therefore, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to have specific provisions in line with the direction of the Prime Minister in a Draft Decree amending and supplementing some articles of Government Decree 132/2008/ND CP on products and goods quality.

Quality control provisions are inadequate

In the implementation of Customs procedures for goods which need to be checked for quality, Customs offices have proposed to amend several irregularities related to quality control of goods. The Deputy Chief of the Customs Surveillance and Management Division 1 (under the General Department of Vietnam Customs), Mrs. Le Nguyen Viet Ha said, according to the provisions of Article 34 of the Law on Products and Goods Quality, said goods in Group 2 must be published in conformity with certificates of quality when they are imported into Vietnam. Customs officers shall conduct clearance of goods only after enterprises present the certificate of quality. Therefore, with the same importers and manufacturers, Customs officers must still check the origin of goods for each shipment, increasing the cost and time of import enterprises.

In order to reduce the time of quality control of imported goods, we need to conduct a comprehensive reform on regulations of conformity certification and quality control of imported goods in Group 2. Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance will propose to the relevant Ministries to review and advise the National Assembly and the Government to amend the contents related to the quality control of imported goods in the Law on standards and technique and the Law on Products and Goods Quality as follows: For imported goods subject to certification of conformity, the process of certification of conformity must be conducted before the goods are traded in the market. Customs officers only check the quality of goods for the first shipment without the certificate of conformity or businesses violating regulations on quality control.

In addition, according to the provisions of the Law on Products and Goods Quality (Article 45) and Decree No. 132/2008 / ND-CP (Article 20), the process of product quality control in Group 2 is divided into two steps: Step 1: Reviewing the conformity on the basis of the specialized management Ministries. Step 2: Check the quality of goods on the basis of the results of step 1 (the main tasks in step 2 are to consider the sufficiency and appropriateness of records and procedures).

In fact, many Ministries have appointed or authorized organizations of conformity assessment to conduct inspections and examination (particularly for steel under the management of the Ministry of Science and Technology, it is still performed in 2 steps as stipulated in the Law on Products and Goods Quality).

According to Mrs Ha, the regulation on Goods through Step 2 to check quality is not necessary because it may prolong clearance time and increase costs of businesses. As an agency assigned by the Government in leading and coordinating with relevant agencies to implement the tasks in Decision No. 2026/QD-TTg on raising the effectiveness and efficiency of specialized inspections for exported and imported goods, the Ministry of Finance has proposed that the Ministry of Science and Technology needed to collaborate with the relevant agencies to review and narrow the list of goods in Group 2 for quality control before clearance. In addition, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to the National Assembly to amend regulations on quality control of imported goods in the Law on Standards and Technique and the Law on Products and Goods Quality to reduce the clearance time of exported and imported goods in line with Government Resolution No. 19/2016/NQ-CP.

Need to narrow the scope of inspections

Commenting on the amendment of Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP, the Ministry of Finance said the amendment should to meet the spirit of administrative procedure reform, the improvement of national competitiveness and the reduction of Customs clearance time in Resolution 19/2006/NQ-CP, Resolution 35/NQ-CP and Decision 2026/QD-TTg.

The Ministry of Finance has commented on the issue of the list of imported goods in Group 2. According to the Ministry of Finance, in recent years, the implementation of Clause 3, Article 3 of the Decree 132/2008/ND-CP, the list of imported goods in Group 2 is too large and complicated, leading to many problems. In addition, the process and time of quality control for imported goods in Group 2 is inconsistent. In order to resolve these problems, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to have specific solutions as follows: The Prime Minister will promulgate the list of imported goods in Group 2. The Ministry of Science and Technology will help the Prime Minister in the promulgation of the list of imported goods in Group 2. The list of the proposals must be fully detailed with criteria such as the name of goods, HS codes and applicable regulations; and the Ministry of Finance is responsible for reviewing agreed HS codes of the list of goods in Group 2 before submitting it to the Prime Minister.

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Besides, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to add the cases of exemption of quality control when importing. Currently, there are no common regulations on cases of imported goods which are exempted from quality control. Therefore, in order to reduce the time of Customs clearance of goods and facilitate businesses, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to add cases of exemption of quality control for imported goods as follows: Baggage of entry; movable assets of organizations and individuals in the duty-free allowance; goods of diplomatic organizations, individuals or international organizations in the duty-free allowance; samples for advertisement; samples for scientific research, goods temporarily imported for display at trade shows, gifts and donations in the duty-free allowance.