Experts give feedback on draft Decree on information connection for National Single Window

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The Workshop on gathering feedback on the list of information and the draft Decree regulating the connection and sharing of information in export, import, goods transit, exit and entry of people and means of transport under the National Single Window jointly held by the GDVC and USAID on July 18 in Hanoi. Photo: T.B

Regulations on sharing each type of information

According to Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh, the draft Decree supplements regulations in Decree 85 stipulate on the implementation of administrative procedures for imports, exports, goods transit, means of transport on exit and entry under the NSW, ASEAN Single Window; specialized inspection of exported, imported and transited goods; management, exchange and sharing of information via the National Single Window.

“The goals of information sharing and providing in the draft decree are more expanded compared with the Decree 85. In addition, the draft decree also provides information for state management and information for law enforcement at the border," said Mr. Ngoc Anh.

Decree 85 specifies regulations on these contents, so do regulations on these contents in the draft overlap or conflict with those in the Decree 85 or not? Is it necessary to issue the regulations or it only needs reference to the Decree and adds missing regulations?

Regarding the provision and sharing of information, there are two different types of information.

Firstly, information related to the handling of administrative procedures, including information on the State’s management regime for imports, exports and means of transport on exit and entry; information related to the management agency and inspection agency for goods and means of transport; administrative procedures carried out by the State management agencies and relevant organizations and individuals to put goods into circulation.

Secondly, information related to state management, such as; information on enterprise assessment, risk, violations and handling of violations, and information on operation of law enforcement agencies.

The expert said that these two types of information must be provided and shared in separate ways and formats. However, the draft does not regulate in a clear manner.

“The first information is published widely according to the publication schedule or updated directly during the implementation of administrative procedures. The second information must be classified and analyzed before sharing and be shared only in a limited scope," said Vu Ngoc Anh.

On the other hand, shared or provided information may depend on the needs of the regulatory or inspection authorities. But the draft Decree only focuses on sharing information for customs clearance or inspection, but does not base on the information needs of other relevant agencies for the State management responsibilities.

The draft Decree does not provide the integration of shared information to create a general database.

Information security

In the draft Decree, the scope of connection and sharing of information only in the import, export and transit of goods and the exit, entry, transit of people and means of transport under NSW may be not reasonable. Because other ministries and sectors can not only share and use information related to imports and exports, but also share other information. For example, the information related to buying, selling, transferring, and using imported goods or domestically processed goods.

Regarding the confidentiality requirements in a number of articles of the draft, Clause 2, Article 1 of the draft provides that the information within the scope of state secrets specified in the Law on Secrets Protection will not be allowed to share. The shared information as per the regulations of the draft Decree must be published, freely accessed and used in accordance with the law. However, some articles of the draft still stipulate the information security (Article 5, Article 6, and Article 21).

If there are regulations on information security, only information shared between state management agencies for inspection, examination and audit will remain confidential. The information for administrative procedures should not be confidential.

Regarding the responsibilities of the management agencies of the National Single Window, Decree 85 stipulates quite detailed in Article 7, but Article 23 of the draft also regulates this responsibility but does not refer to it in the regulations in Decree 85. Therefore, it is necessary to compare to avoid overlapping between these regulations. Only new content should be specified that have not been provided in Decree 85.

“In addition, Decree 85 stipulates in detail the competency and level of access to the National Single Window and the storage and security of information and data. But this draft Decree only focuses on information sharing, and does not provide the regulations in this field not as specific as those in Decree 85,” said Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh.