The draft decree on management mechanism, methods and procedures for quality inspection and food safety inspection for import goods, developed and completed by the Ministry of Finance, has been consulted on by the Ministry of Justice. Le Nguyen Viet Ha, Deputy Head of Customs Control and Supervision Division No.1, spoke to Customs News about the highlights of the draft decree.

Le Nguyen Viet Ha, Deputy Head of Customs Control and Supervision Division No.1
(under the Customs Control and Supervision Department).

Could you tell us about the development process of the draft decree by the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Vietnam Customs? 

Following the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 38/QD-TTg, the Ministry of Finance directed and assigned the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) to urgently develop the draft decree to submit to the Government in the second quarter of 2021.

Although the time for developing the draft decree is short amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the wide scope and great impact of the decree on import and export activities and entities, the GDVC has held offline and online meetings to receive comments on the draft decree with the participation of the drafting board and editorial team, representatives of ministries, the Government office, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), associations, business communities in the north and south and provincial and municipal Customs Departments, conformity assessment organisations.

Basically, most participants have highly appreciated with the Government’s reform; 99% of enterprises agreed with the draft decree.

The GDVC has analysed, received and reported comments to amend the draft decree. The draft decree has been completed and submitted to the Ministry of Justice for an assessment in line with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.

What are the highlights in the draft decree?

The draft decree is developed on the principle of complying with seven reform contents approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No.38/QD-TTg. It does not only not change the competency of ministries managing sectors, but also improves the competency of ministries as prescribed in the Law on Product and Goods Quality, Law on Food Safety, Law on Standards and Technical Regulations and other laws. It strengthens the connection and sharing of information between state management agencies, maximum application of information technology systems to simplify and modernise inspection procedures; ensure information transparency and the effective application of advanced inspection methods.

The provisions in the draft aim to cut customs clearance costs and time, facilitate import and export activities while ensuring efficiency of State management, protection of domestic production, rights and public health, environmental protection and national security in line with provisions of current laws, international practices and international conventions/agreements signed and acceded to by Vietnam.

What is the role of Customs and specialised inspection agencies in the draft decree?

The draft decree provides the focal role of Customs in performing quality inspection and food safety inspection for import goods by building and operating software on the National Single Window to automatically receive applications for food quality inspection and foods safety inspection, to decide inspection methods based on collecting data on inspections, to send dossiers to designated inspection agencies and conformity certification organisations, to ensure transparent information in connecting and sharing data with agencies. Inspection procedures and processes will be processed online and firms will not have to submit dossiers at inspection agencies.

The decree does not stipulates that Customs is the only inspection agency in checking dossiers and taking samples to decide the customs clearance or violates the Competition Law as claimed by some units in the process of drafting the decree.

Agencies assigned or designated by ministries still perform quality and food safety inspections for import goods when businesses register for inspection at these agencies.

Specialised ministries will issue policies, technical regulations and national standards, and designate agencies for conformity assessment, inspection, examination and handling of violations to improve their management competency for import goods.

Seven reform contents in the draft decree:

Reform 1: Customs is assigned to be the focal point in quality inspection and food safety inspection for imported good.

Reform 2: Synchronously applying three methods of inspection for both quality inspection and food safety inspection to reduce number of import consignments subject to inspection.

Reform 3: Simplifying quality control and food safety inspection procedures for imported goods.

Reform 4: Inspecting by goods to reduce the number of consignments subject to inspection.

Reform 5: Applying risk management in quality inspection and food safety inspection for imported goods to ensure the role of State management and improve compliance of businesses.

Reform 6: Supplementing subjects exempt from quality inspections and food safety inspections.

Reform 7: Applying information technology systems for the deployment of the new model.