Positive change in specialised inspection is still less than expected

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Customs officers inspect import and export goods

Changes in specialised inspection and management

The seminar “Promoting reform in specialised inspection and management: Problems and proposals” was co-chaired by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) and GIZ Projecton September 16.

According to Phan Duc Hieu, Deputy Director of CIEM, the seminar aimedto evaluate the results of reform in specialised inspection and management in promoting cross-border trade transactions; identify problems and difficulties of businesses in implementing regulations and procedures, causing the increase in cost and risks for businesses.

At the same time, to identify the problems and difficulties of enterprises due to the impacts of theCovid- 19 pandemic and businesses’ expectation on the Government's reforms on the business environment.

Nguyen Minh Thao, Head of the CIEM’sDepartment for Business Environment and Competitiveness Studies said that items subject to specialised inspection and management are reduced from 100,000 items in 2015 to 78,000 items.

Currently, the rate of import and export shipments subject to specialised inspection during customs clearance has been cutby 19% mean while the Government’s target is below 10%.

Thao said the Ministry of Health’s replacement of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018 on food safety management by Decree 38/2012/ND-CPfundamentally changed thinking about food safety management, in line with international practices, changing from pre-inspection to post-inspection; overcomingthe overlap in management of procedures related to food safety inspection.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has reformed and simplified phytosanitary procedures and dossiers, and reformed animal quarantine regulations. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has led in the reform of specialised inspection and management in the field of chemical declaration and energy labeling.

As of June 10, 13 ministries and sectors have connected 198 administrative procedures to the National Single Window. However, the National Single Window doesnot yet operate effectively, there are still many formal connection procedures and alack of information and data connection between ministries and sectors.

According to Thao, this showed changes in the specialised inspection and management reform. However, she said the positive changes are still too few compared with the Government's request and the expectations of the business community. Problems and inadequacies in regulations and procedures of specialised inspection and management are still barriers, consuming time and costs for businesses.

“After nearly two years, the number of documents on specialised inspection and management for import and export goods increased more than 120 documents. The number of documents is too large, causing difficulties for customs and businesses in monitoring, updating and applying. The quality of documents is not high; the documents havebeen amended and supplemented regularly, causing difficulties for businesses to update and apply to meet requirements,” Thao said.

Still many shortcomings

In addition, some regulations have removed difficulties for businesses but some documents have caused shortcomings. There are even provisions in new documents that are contradictory and contrary to current law provisions.

For example, CircularNo.22/2018/TT-BLDTBXH (replacing the list in Circular No.03/2010/TT-BLDTBXH) requires labour safety inspection before customs clearance for products and goods that can only be checked when are installed and put into operation (such as escalators andelevators).

According to representatives of CIEM, the rate of illegible export and import shipments is low. The rate of import and export shipments that do not meet requirements from 2017 to October 2019 in three fields including quarantine, quality inspection (according to the Law on Product and Goods Quality)and food safety inspection is insignificant. Specifically, the rate of imported goods only accounts for 0- 0.27% andexported goods is 0%.

This shows the current method of specialised inspection and management is too large and has been not widely applied affectively according to international practices (such as risk management), causing many barriers for businesses.Many specialised inspection and management fields have not yet fully applied risk management rules based on the law compliance of businesses and risk level of goods according to the Government’s direction.

The time limit for carrying out specialised inspection and management procedures has decreased more than before but it still long, leading to many risks for businesses, and the costshavenot yet been cut in accordance with the direction of the Prime Minister.

Regarding items subject to specialised inspection and management, due to the large number of items (78,000 items) andsome items lack HS codes or do not meet technical standards and regulations.

Proposing solutions to continue to reform the specialised inspection and management, CIEM's representative said that reform, simplification and transparency in regulations and procedures should be prioritised, and continue to implement in accordance with international practices and FTA requirements.

“The Government should ask ministers to closely direct the implementation of the objectives, tasks and solutions in the Resolution 19 and Resolution No. 02 related to the specialised inspection and management. At the same time, strengthening dialogue with businesses, solving arising shortcomings,” Thao proposed.