Specialized inspection is still a bottleneck in import-export activities of enterprises. Photo: ST

According to HCM City Customs Department, at border gates, enterprises have faced difficulties relating to state inspection on quality for the list of products and construction materials attached to Circular No.19/2014/TT-BXD dated December 31, 2019.

Pursuant to Point 2, Article 20, Decree No.132/2008/NĐ-CP dated December 31, 2008 amending and supplementing Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality, stipulates: “The inspection agency on local product and goods quality is a specialized agency under the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the control of the Government performing the function of state management of product and goods quality in the locality in charge of the inspection of product quality in the management area in accordance with the regulations of the line Ministries.”

Every day, there is a huge amount of construction materials imported for enterprises in ​​​​Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the provisions of the law on customs, for goods imported for businesses, enterprises can choose the most convenient place to carry out customs procedures.

Therefore, for businesses that do not have a business address in Ho Chi Minh City, if they import goods to ports in the city, the HCM City Customs Department will still carry out customs procedures following regulations. However, according to the instructions in Official Dispatch No. 4945/BXD-KHCN dated October 12, 2020 of the Ministry of Construction, HCM City Construction Department does not accept to carry out state inspection of quality for businesses without a registered address in the locality and requests these enterprises to go to the construction department of the province or city where they registered to carry out procedures.

This leads to longer processing time, especially in cities where the inspection has not been carried out (Hanoi, Da Nang) resulting in congestion of imported goods at HCM City ports and businesses also changing to local customs departments to carry out customs procedures where the Department of Construction receives specialized inspection.

Regarding this problem, HCM City Customs Department reported and the General Department of Vietnam Customs issued a document to petition the Ministry of Construction. On September 16, 2021, the Ministry of Construction issued Official Letter No. 3772/BXD-VLXD in reply to the letter stating: “…the state inspection agency for the quality of imported building materials and products is the construction departments of the provinces and cities in the locality where the importer registers his/her business or the locality where the goods are imported.” However, this issue has not yet been implemented by the HCM City Construction Department.

In order to support businesses in specialized inspection, reducing time and costs as well as storage costs, especially in the current period when the Government and Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee are implementing a plan to support businesses to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic, HCM City Customs Department proposed HCM City People's Committee to direct and create conditions for HCM City Construction Department to carry out specialized inspection for imported construction materials following Official Letter No. 3772/BXD-VLXD dated September 16, 2021.

To facilitate businesses, the General Department of Vietnam Customs proposed, the order of state inspection of the quality of products and goods as imported construction materials: “the importer submits the registration for state inspection of quality, quantity of products and goods being construction materials, certified by the inspection agency for the customs authority to be allowed to clear the goods”.

However, the Ministry of Construction said that, currently, the order and procedures for state inspection of imported goods quality are prescribed in Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 of the Government. Therefore, the permission to apply is different from the provisions in the Decree within the authority of the Government. The Ministry of Construction will study and propose the above opinion to the authority to chair the drafting of the Decree amending, supplementing or replacing Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 of the Government.

According to the Ministry of Construction, in order to shorten customs clearance time and reduce congestion at the border gate, the General Department of Vietnam Customs can guide importers to carry out procedures for exemption from quality inspection of imported goods belonging to group 2 if it satisfies the conditions specified in Decree No. 154/2018/ND-CP dated November 9, 2013 of the Government to be cleared.