The Laws on specialized management on the basis of risk management modified

	The Ministry of Finance proposes to amend 3 Laws related to specialized management
	The shortcomings on specialized inspections are reported to the National Assembly
	Submitting specialized inspection results slowly to be punished

Customs officers at the Customs Branch of Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: N. Linh.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance has requested to carry out physical inspections of the goods at high-risk before Customs clearance and the other cases should be implemented post-clearance audits.

Regulations on the certificate of conformity before circulation

According to Customs authorities, the results of reform of management and specialized inspections for imported goods have not been really good, due to problems in the regulations of Ministries and the Laws. Therefore, in order to promote production and business, and create favourable conditions for enterprises, especially enterprises in the field of export, the authorities should amend and supplement some provisions on specialized management of exported and imported goods.

Specifically, under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 47 of the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations, most imported goods which must comply with technical regulations are on the list of goods subject to specialized inspections. Currently, the certificate of conformity and announcement of conformity are carried out under the provisions of Circular 28/2012 / TT-BKHCN of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Because the above Circular has no regulations on the duration of effect and regulations on certificate for the first time of import, enterprises must submit to Customs officers for each time of import, which increases the cost of regulations and clearance time.

In order to unify the requirements for the certificate of conformity and announcement of conformity, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to amend Article 47 (the certificate of conformity) and Article 48 (the announcement of conformity). For imported goods subject to conformity certification, the procedures of conformity certification must be implemented before the goods are put into circulation. Cargo owners are responsible for preserving goods until they have the certificate of conformity. Conformity certification only applies to imported goods for the first time.

For imported goods subject to announcement of conformity, the announcement shall be made before the goods are put into circulation. Cargo owners are responsible for preserving goods until the competent authorities confirm the announcement of conformity. The announcement of conformity only applies to imported goods for the first time.

Proposal to amend Article 34, 35, 36 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality

Regarding the Law on Product and Goods Quality, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to add a number of measures to reform administrative procedures, reducing the amount of goods to be inspected before Customs clearance. Under Clause 4, Article 34 and Article 35 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality, all goods imported on the list of group 2 must be checked for quality. Currently, the number of goods of group 2 is so large that many actual goods must have physical inspections. Thus, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to amend Article 34, 35, 36 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality.

Accordingly, only goods of group 2 must be checked on quality when imported instead of all imported goods. For the sequence and procedures for quality control of imports, the Ministry of Finance has also proposed to apply quality control for the goods of groups 2 before Customs clearance and post-clearance. In order to implement uniformly, the Ministry of Finance has proposed that the Government should regulate the process of inspections, mutual recognition, risk management and the handling of administrative violations.

Closely inspect goods at high-risk

The Law on Food Safety includes legal documents which have a major impact on import-export activities. Thus, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to amend and supplement several provisions of the Law on Food Safety. Specifically, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to amend Point a, Clause 1, Article 38 to ensure the safety of food imports. The current regulation is "goods must be registered for the announcement of conformity in competent authorities before they are imported". However, the Ministry of Finance said that this provision should be changed to: "Goods must be registered for the announcement of conformity by competent authorities before they are put into circulation".

Regarding Article 40 on the procedures and methods of examination of imported food, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to amend and supplement as follows: "The goods that must have food safety inspection, include fresh food (animals); and imported food for the first time without the following certificates: The certificate of food safety; the certificate of announcement of conformity; and the certificate of food safety recognized by manufacturers or foreign organization; and imported goods of enterprises violating the Law on Food Safety for 2 years.

Regarding the goods subject to food safety inspections but not mentioned above, the Ministry of Finance has proposed the registration for food safety inspection is done before Customs-clearance and the physical inspections shall be implemented after the goods are cleared. The importers are responsible for preserving the goods until the competent authorities release the test results to put goods into circulation.

Specialized Inspection: MOIT slow due to “process” VCN- The specialized inspection procedures have caused much annoyance, and many difficulties for businesses, including the procedures ...

According to the above provisions, the Prime Minister has issued the list of imported food subject to food safety inspections, sequences, test procedures, the application of risk management, inspection exemption, mutual recognition and the handling of administrative violations in the inspection process.