The list of import and export goods subject to the specialized inspections late promulgated

Promote the efficiency of specialized inspections at the border

The shortcomings on specialized inspections are reported to the National Assembly

Difficult to reduce the rate of specialized inspections to 15% without institutional reforms

This is requested by Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue to the relevant ministries and sectors. For this issue, the Customs Newspaper had a talk with Mr. Ngo Minh Hai, Deputy Director of Customs Control and Supervision Department (General Department of Vietnam Customs).

The implementation of solutions to renovate the specialized inspection for the import and export goods continues to be the key task that the Government and the Prime Minister directed the ministries and sectors to implement in 2017. How do you think about the specialized inspection at this time?

The renovation of specialized management and inspection are requested by the Government and the Prime Minister to ministries to shorten clearance time for enterprises and improve the national competitive environment but there are still many shortcomings in the specialized inspection which are not handled.

In Resolution 19-2017/NQ-CP dated 6th February 2017, the Government requested the specialized management ministries in the first quarter of 2017 to issue the list of import and export goods subject to the specialized inspections at the Customs clearance stage toward inspection as little as possible, simplified procedures and shortened inspection time; Shifting to post-clearance audit; Reviewing and amending the regulations on the receipt of Certificate of conformity of imported goods in the direction of abolition or simplification of procedures; It is not required to receive Certificate of conformity for products and goods that do not have national standards. However, until now (April 2017), there are no specialized management ministries promulgating this list.

As required by the Prime Minister's Decision 2026/ QD-TTg in 2015, the ministries and sectors must amend and supplement 87 specialized management documents, but currently, there have been only 38 documents which were amended and supplemented. There are still 49 documents (accounting for 56%) that have not been revised. There are still many categories subject to wide inspection, without enclosed details of goods names, without HS codes and standards. Requirements on simplifying the procedure and shortening inspection time; and moving to post-clearance audit for low-risk categories have not been implemented by the ministries. For example, the recent dispatch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development still requires for quality inspection in Customs clearance for some agricultural machinery and equipment.

In order to overcome the shortcomings in the specialized inspection, in your opinion, in this period which solutions do the ministries and sectors need to focus on?

Over the past time, implementing the Prime Minister's Decision No.2026/ QD-TTg and the Government’s Resolutions 19 of 2015, 2016 and 2017, the General Department of Vietnam Customs chaired and collaborated and urged the specialized management ministries to complete the legal system on the specialized management and inspection.

Upon the implementation of Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, the Ministry of Finance proposed the ministries and sectors to review the import and export goods which are implemented many procedures and provided many specialized inspection documents at the same time, but only two ministries answered. In order to boost the review process, the General Department of Vietnam Customs asked 10 specialized management ministries to review documents and found that the number of the specialized management documents was not reduced but they increased.

11 Ministries urged to amend documents on specialized inspections VCN- The Ministry of Finance has proposed to 11 Ministries to amend and supplement 76 groups of ...

The Customs authority showed that many import commodities subject to specialized managements and inspections regulated by one or more ministries at the same time. For example, there are goods quarantined and inspected for food safety or quality control; There are commodities that must be implemented both veterinary and phytosanitary quarantine; Or there are goods must be inspected on the standards, import conditions and quality and labor safety. Many ministries and sectors apply many different management methods for one export or import category as above causing the difficulties not only for businesses but also cause confusion for State management agencies in the process of goods clearance.

The Ministry of Finance will continue to coordinate with the specialized management ministries in reviewing and promulgating the list of goods subject to the specialized inspections at the Customs clearance stage toward reducing the number of categories which must be inspected with HS codes; Concurrently, allocating sufficient resources and necessary equipment to carry out the specialized inspections at the border gates where many export and import goods subject to specialized inspection to create favorable conditions for import and export activities and reduce Customs clearance time.

Thank you, Sir!