Deputy Minister of Health answers many questions about food safety inspections

	The General Department of Vietnam Customs guides implementation of Decree 15 on food safety
	Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long: "Avoid the situation that a cake is subject to 13 licences”
	Hai Phong Customs takes initiative in implementing Decree 15 on food safety

Customs officers of Sai Gon port, Region 1 check imported goods. Photo: T.H.

Only management for products

One of the biggest obstacles of Customs units when implementing Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP is the regulation on imported materials for internal production.

Answering this problem, the Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long explained the imported raw materials for internal production were considered as all the raw materials for the production of the company, sold domestically or abroad, which was exempt from State quality inspections. In the case where enterprises use such imported raw materials for sales, they must disclose or obtain written certification.

"Our view is management for products, not for materials, to avoid a chocopie cake using 13 ingredients having to go through 13 quality control agencies.

The Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the specialized inspection agencies remained unchanged, but to ensure the implementation of favourable conditions, the Ministry of Health has proposed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, there are to continue using State inspection units as before.

The basic HS codes are still the same, only some HS code changes will be updated by the modifications to suit the practice.

The Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long affirmed that Decree 15 was based on the principle of moving from pre-clearance inspections to post-clearance audit, applying global risk management practices. Particularly, the specialized inspections on food safety are still complicated because the Decree takes effect from the date of signing.

In order to solve these problems, the Ministry of Health shall be in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to resolve any problems that may arise, for eliminating all difficulties and problems but still retain the safe management of imported goods.

Do not make businesses confused

At the meeting, the Customs office and the specialized inspection agency also said that due to lack of guidance and specific regulations when implementing Decree 15, it caused problems that made businesses confused.

Ms. Phan Ngoc Mai Liem, the Deputy Manager of Tan Son Nhat International Airport's Customs Branch said that imported avocado shipments through Tan Son Nhat International Airport were really large, but in this case, these products had to be checked both for quarantine and food safety.

Together with this problem, Mr. Mai Van Sung, the Deputy Manager of Center 3 shared, that after a short time of implementation, enterprises encountered problems when enterprises have imported products subject to the management of two ministries. One of them is managed by the Ministry of Health, one is managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the other is not managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development refused to resolve this problem.

In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Circular No. 24, dated 20 February 2018. Therefore, the goods listed in the Decree 15, but not in Circular 24, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Village also refused to solve.

In addition, Mr. Sung also reflected that the forms on the Single Window system still remained unchanged under Decree 38, not changed as stipulated in Decree 15, which also caused businesses confusion.

Answering these problems, Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said before the issue of Decree 15, all 3 ministries agreed that if enterprises imported more than 2 products subject to specialized inspections and even if the product did not belong to the management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this Ministry would still receive the samples.

"The situation that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development refused to receive samples from enterprises when there were not imported products under their management, was not in line with the spirit and content as stipulated in the Decree", Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said.

Decree 15 on Food safety still faces with obstacle in implementing VCN- The Government’s Decree 15/2018 / ND-CP dated 2nd February 2018 on food safety, was issued with many ...

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that for the management of procedures for large quantities of imports and exports, the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City took initiatives to have flexible solutions to facilitate businesses in accordance with Decree 15.