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Customs officials of Noi Bai airport Customs branch inspecting imported goods. Photo: N.Linh

According to the recent review by VCCI, the Law on technical specifications and Circular No. 28/2012/TT-BKHCN by the Ministry of Science and Technology, each product and goods subjected to technical specifications shall be publicized for their conformity with the respective technical specifications. VCCI supposes that this regulation is right but insufficient. So, it becomes hard to be applied to imports. For products and goods made in Viet Nam, this stipulation is reasonable because each product/ HS code is made by one producer. Thus, the product is certified and its accordance with technical specifications is publicized once (the certification validity is 3 years in the light of the item 2a, Article 15 under the Circular 28/2012/TT-BKHCN).

For imported goods, it is different. Each item/model made by a foreign producer is imported by many traders in Viet Nam, leading to the fact that one item/model made by one producer with the same production lot, the same criteria and technical specifications shall be certified and published in accordance with technical specifications many times when imported. To achieve certification, products must undergo experiments and may be destroyed, causing huge waste. In addition, the certification formality shall be applied to all goods of high technology, good quality and the world’s standards produced by huge manufacturers under the famous brand names over the world.

Measures forwarded by the units in charge are to amend the Law on standards and technical regulations in the direction as follows: one item/model made by one foreign producer which is subjected to technical regulations must only undergo the procedures of certification and publicity once for the imported consignment for the first time of importing into Viet Nam. If the consignment meets Viet Nam technical regulations, the succeeding consignments must not undergo this formality.

Concerning assessment of implementing the procedures of testing imports’ quality, according to VCCI, Article 34 of the Law on Goods’ Quality, Circular 27/2012/TT-BKHCN, the Article 38 of the Law on Food Safety, Circular 07/2012/TT-BTC, the procedures of testing imports’ quality shall be applied to each consignment, causing the fact that one item must be tested many times with the same procedures and the same results for the preceding consignments. Meanwhile, basing on surveys conducted at various Customs offices; many traders have less than 1% proportion of goods that do not meet quality standards and technical regulations of the total consignments. The findings show the inefficiency in regulating specialized inspection for each consignment.

In the light of the Law on Goods Quality, at the item 15 Article 3 and the Circular 27/2012/TT-BKHCN to guide the implementation of the Law on Goods Quality, importers shall conduct the procedures at both the assessment organization and the state agency of quality control. The assessment organization performs the testing of goods for verification and then the agency in charge of quality control would publicize the fact that consignment meets the standards or not. However, in reality Customs and traders suppose that it is not necessary to undergo the two steps to produce testing findings because it would take time to clear goods and increase costs for traders. Some ministries have issued measures to shorten the procedures by appointing or mandating its units to assess the conformity and testing results (particularly for steel and items subjected to the Ministry of Science and Technology’s management under the two-step procedure as regulated in the Law on Goods’ Quality). Therefore, it is necessary to revise the definition “State control of quality” in the direction of abolishing the two-step testing of goods quality by the two agencies. Instead of that, the quality assessment agency is also responsible for issuing the notification of goods’ conformity or inconformity with standards. The notification would be sent to the Single Window Portal in case testing units get involved or directly sent to Customs at border gates via electronic means in case the testing units do not involved.

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Besides, regulations of other legal texts have not played into full efficiency such as regulations on chemical declarations, the procedures of labeling electrical devices to certify their energy saving…

By Ngoc Linh / Phuong Lien