Government Resolution 19 dated February 6, 2017, on improving the business climate and national competitiveness has helped improve the business environment significantly, but there remain shortcomings in its enforcement, especially in terms of specialized inspection in customs sector, heard a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on June 20.
Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Nguyen Dinh Cung said the resolution was revised regularly in line with the evolving business situation, but has not been as efficacious as expected.
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| Shortcomings in specialized inspection in customs sector__Photo: Internet |
Regulations on quality standards, especially specialized inspection of imports and exports still caused difficulties for businesses and affect clearance of goods, he said.
Pham Thanh Binh, an expert from the USAID’s Governance for Inclusive Growth project, said too many items were subject to quality inspection.
All imports are ruled by this, something not required, especially in the case of goods like machinery, equipment and industrial products, and cost businesses much time and money, he said.
Besides, many import items are managed by multiple agencies with varying regulations, which causes much difficulty and confusion in the process of clearance, he said.
Deputy Director of the HCM City-based Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tran Ngoc Liem said there was a lack of coordination between ministries and agencies and use of IT in specialized inspection.
Workshop participants agreed that relevant ministries needed to thoroughly overhaul regulations on quality control of imports and put off inspection of imports to the post-customs clearance stage.
They also called for only inspecting goods that are likely to become “unsafe” and those that businesses register for inspection.
Besides, comprehensive reform of conformity certification and quality control regulations were also needed, they said.
Aware of the need to overhaul problematic formalities involved in specialized inspection of imports and exports, Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue has assigned the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with related agencies in revising and reaching agreement of the list of goods subject to specialized inspection in order to prevent the situation that a commodity item is required to undergo repeated inspection by different agencies.
The deputy PM also required related line ministries to promptly promulgate a list of imports and exports subject to specialized inspection at the stage of customs clearance according to their respective tasks assigned by the Government in Resolution 19.
The line ministries will also work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies to clarify legal grounds and requirements of each type of specialized inspection documents. In case an inspection involve different document titles but has the same content of inspection, a sole document will be used.-(VLLF)
