“Reform is a process of changing perception, which is very difficult. Therefore, to follow the Prime Minister’s direction in Decision 38/QD-TTg dated January 12, 202. It is necessary to cooperate to reform and bring economic and social benefits.”

Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai chaired the online conference

Decree is key legal framework in launching the new model

This was the statement of Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai at the online conference to finalize the draft Decree regulating quality inspection and food safety inspection for import goods, held by the Ministry of Finance on May 12, 2021.

The conference was attended by representatives of relevant ministries, branches and agencies, departments under the Ministry of Finance, representatives of business associations, businesses, members of Editing Team under ministries, the General Department of Vietnam Customs and municipal and provincial customs departments.

At the conference, Deputy Minister Vu Thi Mai said that when the Scheme on reforming the model of quality inspection and food safety inspection for import goods is approved under Decision 38/QD-TTg dated January 12, of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance issued a plan for implementing Decision No.38/ QD-TTg.

The most important content is to develop a decree as a legal framework for the management agencies to perform according to the new model.

“The goal of the decree is to reduce time and cost, facilitate businesses, promote production and business, improve management capacity of state management agencies, change management methods in a more effective manner by applying information technology, connecting and sharing information,” Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai said.

Mai also added that the decree is related to laws, ministries and importers and exporters. The Ministry of Finance is also under pressure to implement the Government’s directions in Resolution 99/NQ-CP and Resolution 02/NQ-CP.

However, the reform is an inevitable trend, requiring a process of changing perceptions, which is very difficult, so it needs the cooperation of relevant parties to reform and bring economic and social benefits under the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister.

Deputy Minister Vu Thi Mai asked parties to complete the decree to create a legal framework for implementing specialized inspection reform.

When it is promulgated, it will be consistent with reality, facilitate, boost economic growth and increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises.

"The Decree should inherit the regulations that have achieved positive results, and the reform should be better, more convenient and more effective," the Deputy Minister said.

Delegates at the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

At the conference, the delegates agreed with the Government’s reform policy and gave opinions on contents of the draft decree.

Widely comply with well-implemented regulations

The representative of The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham) expressed support for the province that the Customs is the focal point in quality inspection and food safety inspection for imported goods and implements the National Single Window.

The application of three risk management-based inspection methods to quality inspection (including tightened inspection, normal inspection and reduced inspection) is the key content in the decree. In addition, the IT application to connect information between state management agencies and integrate the automated customs clearance system with the National Single Window will help supervise and implement risk management in a more effective manner.

According to AmCham, during developing the draft decree, the drafting board received comments to supplement regulations that are being implemented well in Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, such as regulations on tax exemption and reduction for raw materials for domestic production, export production, or revise some provisions.

However, AmCham's representative proposed to continue to exclude food from point 1, Article 3 of the draft on identical goods, because unlike machinery and equipment, the color of the food is a decisive factor to quality. Therefore, food with different colors cannot be considered identical goods.

A representative of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality under the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs have made great efforts in proposing the reform of specialized inspection, and drastically implementing Decision 38/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

The representative also gave comments on the draft.

Particularly, the drafting board needs to assess the impact of this decree clearly.

At the same time, the order, procedures, mechanisms for coordination and information sharing between the Ministry of Finance and management agencies must be specified.

Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai hoped that ministries would comply with the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister to reform. The units need to carefully study Decision 38/QD-TTg and the contents of the Scheme on reforming the model of quality inspection and food safety inspection for import goods to continue to give comments to perfect the draft decree, meeting the Government’s goals.

Clarifying a number of contents, Mai said that in phase 1, businesses are still allowed to select the current model or apply the new reform model. Besides, the conformity assessment organization is still designated by the ministries, the businesses are allowed to select the existing conformity assessment organization.

The ministries need to strengthen management for conformity assessment organization, and only designate the organization that meets requirements and standards. They still need check and supervise the organization during their operation. Thereby, they will not waste current resources.

Mai requested the General Department of Customs and the Drafting Board to listen to, get opinions and coordinate with relevant parties (Government Office, Ministry of Justice) to prepare documents for submission to the Government.

Mai emphasized that the documents must specify the necessity of the decree and the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister in Decision 38/QD-TTg; provides reform contents compared to the current one; assesses the impact of the decree on enterprises, the economy, and management agencies; and report different opinions and clarify the performance when the decree is approved.

Deputy Minister Vu Thi Mai said that the Ministry of Finance will work with relevant parties to perfect the draft decree and submit it to the Government.