Ministries and sectors are not drastic enough to reform specialised inspection

	Customs sector works to complete many specialised regulations and policies
	The Prime Minister requested to reduce 50 percent of goods subject to specialised inspection
	The quantity of procedures and records processed through National Single Window increases

The meeting. Photo: Q.H

Attending were Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai, Commissioner of Committee 1899, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh, representatives of the Standing Office of Committee 1899 and leaders of relevant ministries and sectors.

More than 2.8 million dossiers connected to National Single Window

At the meeting, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said as of January 31, 188 administrative procedures of 13 ministries and sectors with more than 2.8 million dossiers of more than 35,000 enterprises were connected to the National Single Window.

In 2019, ministries and sectors had to complete deployment of 61 new administrative procedures. Ministries and sectors proposed cutting 10 procedures. Thus, the number of procedures that had to be deployed in 2019 was 51.

Ministries and sectors have deployed and connected 37 of 51 procedures, accounting for 72.5 percent. Of which, 15 of 51 procedures have been deployed, making up 29.4 percent, 22 of 51 procedures have been tested and connected, accounting for 43.1 percent; 14 of 51 procedures of the Ministry of Health have not been deployed, accounting for 27.5 percent.

As a standing office, the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Vietnam Customs) has submitted Decree 85/2019/ND-CP dated November 14 regulating the implementation of administrative procedures according to National Single Window, ASEAN Single Window and specialised inspection for import and export goods to the Government for promulgation and proposed to the Prime Minister the plan of performing Decree 85 to direct ministries and sectors.

The Ministry of Finance has completed a dossier proposing the development of a Government decree on connecting and sharing information between Government agencies and concerned parities through the National Single Window in import, export and transit goods.

As of January 31, some ministries and sectors had completed connection of administrative procedures to the National Single Window. For example, the Ministry of Science and Technology deployed six administrative procedures while the Ministry of Transport deployed 72 and 18 inter-sector procedures.

The Ministry of Public Security connected two procedures (it did not connect more new procedures in 2019); the Ministry of Industry and Trade connected 11 procedures (it did not connect more new procedures in 2019) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development connected 17 procedures via the National Single Window (two new procedures in 2019).

Specialised inspection procedures for 25 groups of product and goods still overlap

For specialised inspection reform, the report also stated that in 2019, the Ministry of Finance coordinated with ministries and sectors to organise working sessions to review shortcomings and problems in specialised inspection; reviewed tasks assigned by the Prime Minister in Decision 2026/QD-TTg; 1254/QD-TTg and discussed solutions.

Based on the review and coordination with other ministries and sectors, on May 30, the Ministry of Finance issued Dispatch 6208/BTC-TCHQ to report to the Prime Minister on overlapping in specialised inspection for goods.

Specifically, 25 groups of products and goods are overlapping in the specialised inspection and many procedures and forms must be implemented in speclised inspection and management. Also in Dispatch 6208/BTC-TCHQ, the Ministry of Finance proposed solutions to remove the problem.

Based on the report of the Ministry of Finance, the Government Office issued Dispatch 7957/VPCP-KSTT announcing the Prime Minister’s direction on focal points in conducting specialised inspection for an item. Accordingly, the Prime Minister assigned ministries and sectors to handle each specific commodity group, including the Ministry of Finance to study and propose solutions for electric winches and boilers.

In December 2019, the Ministry of Finance issued Dispatch 1457/BTC-TCHQ to consult the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade for agreement before submitting to the Prime Minister on the handling plan for electric winches and boilers. However, the Ministry of Finance has not yet received consultation from the Ministry of Transport in this matter.

The report also stated that some ministries and sectors are not still drastic or urgent enough in performing tasks to reform specialised inspection and share information between specialised inspection agencies and Customs, causing difficulties for the implementation process.

On the other hand, risk management in quality control of export and import goods has not been applied; or has been applied but is not yet effective.

Many ministries and sectors have delayed issuing guidance circulars or promulgating circulars that are not in line with the Government's direction, causing difficulties for businesses and related agencies in implementation process.

Customs News will update information from the meeting.