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The Ministry of Industry and Trade is seeking solutions to remove shortcomings of energy labeling procedures. Photo: Quang Tan.

Do not dare to import goods

"It is very complicated and frustrating", Mrs. Luong Thi Nguyet Anh, Head of the import and export division of Anh Sao Lighting Equipment Company complained about energy labeling procedures under Circular 07/2012 /TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Verbose procedures have made Anh Sao Lighting Equipment Company not import fluorescent and compact lamps, but import LED lamps. Mrs. Anh said that from the beginning of 2016 to date, her company has had to focus on Customs procedures. Customs authorities allowed her company to submit additional procedures in 30 days, but in fact it took 3 months for her company to accomplish procedures at the Technical Centre for Standardization, Metrology and Quality (Quatest 1). Specifically, there is a need for 1-2 bulbs for criteria on energy efficiency, color temperature and long life, but it takes up to 20 bulbs and 2,000 hours of examination for the criterion on broken light bulbs. Therefore, it may take up to 3 months to meet requirements of these criteria. "In 3 months, we have to accept fines from Customs authorities to take the goods because we have to meet the deadline of the project", Mrs. Anh said.

Other companies have faced similar difficulties when importing air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, electric fans and cookers, etc. Has the Ministry of Industry and Trade received feedback about enterprises’ difficulties?

Recently, Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, the Minister of Industry and Trade has "summoned" the leaders of the General Department of Energy and members of the Group drafting amendments on Circular 07 to seek solutions to remove difficulties in energy labeling procedures. Compared with Circular 37/2015/TT-BCT on examination of formaldehyde content of textile products which the Ministry annulled a week ago, the provisions of Circular 07 are much more complicated and confusing.

Upon hearing this information from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Mrs. Anh was very excited: "If the authorities eliminate these procedures, it not only saves a lot of money for businesses, but it also reduces the time for accomplishing procedures. I hope these regulations will be changed to facilitate businesses".

“Need to solve existing problems”

This is a comment of a representative of a large electronic firm in the world which operates in Vietnam. Regarding procedures for minimum energy performance and energy labeling, he said that electronic companies encountered many difficulties of paperwork, so procedures for minimum energy performance and energy labeling will put more burdens on enterprises about costs and clearance time. In fact, enterprises have no objection to the implementation of procedures to ensure the quality of goods in the market but current regulations are not appropriate. Because energy items are not directly related to human health, the inspections at border gates are not really necessary as it is vital for inspections on food, livestock, poultry, drugs, or cosmetics at border gates.

In addition, one of the main limitations is that Vietnam currently lacks testing organizations. There are only 4 testing organizations in Vietnam and 2 testing organizations in Thailand and Korea under current regulations. However, large companies in the world do not bring their products to these countries to conduct testing or examination, because they have strict control processes which meet ISO requirements.

Therefore, the draft Circular amending Circular 07 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade has changed little, but not really created a breakthrough.

In order to resolve shortcomings in procedures for energy performance and energy labeling, many enterprises have proposed to expand the standards internationally; specifically, for prominent companies with a famous history and no violations, they should be accepted with ISO instead of conducting examination again in Vietnam. In fact, the authorities should focus on post-clearance audits. It means that when functional forces detect goods which do not comply with common standards in the market, then they can cancel the permission for importing goods and apply measures to handle the violations.

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Regarding the above information from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, an expert of USAID GIG project said that this was good news, because the reduction of administrative procedures to facilitate businesses is the right thing to do. The implementation of energy labeling is the trend of the world. There are currently more than 80 countries implementing energy labeling for appliances and vehicles using energy. In the world, the number of commodity groups which must be labeled are more than 50 groups (with 16 groups in Vietnam).