Necessary to amend law on quality management and standards

Huu Nghi Customs officers inspect imported goods. Photo: H.Nu

Shortcomings

Lang Son Customs Department said since the Law on Product and Goods Quality and the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations took effect, the system of legal documents on quality management, standards and technical regulations has been improved and applied and expanded to many types and groups of products, domestically produced goods and import and export products and goods. However, ​​Lang Son Customs Department has faced difficulties in implementation.

Specifically, Article 70 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality stipulates that ministries that exercise state control of product and goods quality in their assigned domains are responsible for promulgating a list of products. But in the issued list, many items do not have HS codes, making it difficult for enforcement agencies in accurately identifying goods; and name of goods. A product can be presented in many different lists and managed by many specialized agencies, leading to overlaps.

Lang Son Customs said that the current management of product and goods quality only focuses on group 2 (products and goods managed according to technical regulations) or other products with specific regulations on quality management, but does not focus on quality inspection of group 1 (products and goods managed according to applicable standards). Meanwhile, the ministries and agencies have not applied the method of risk management and compliance assessment in product and goods quality inspection when building the list of goods and products of group 2.

In particular, frequent changes in inspection methods have taken a long time and raised costs as well as increased product prices, affecting the reform of the business climate and specialized management.

Article 34 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality also stipulates that imported goods of group 2 must be announced in terms of regulation conformity and certified in terms of conformity with relevant technical regulations related to the production process and end products by a designated or accredited organization. If the imported goods of group 2 do not meet the regulations, they must be inspected by a designated or accredited organization at entry or exit border gates.

Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree 74/2018/ND-CP specifies that the quality inspection of goods in group 2 is conducted from reviewing the announcement of regulation conformity by the importer.

The Customs official said that the appointment or recognition of these certification and inspection organizations still has not been agreed by some ministries and agencies, raising difficulties for the import of goods in the list of group 2.

Lang Son Customs gave specific examples to the Ministry of Construction, since Circular 10/2017/TT-BXD dated September 29, 2017 promulgating national technical regulations on products and goods of building materials took effect until Circular 19/2019/TT-BXD promulgating national standards on products and goods of building materials was issued, the Ministry of Construction has not approved inspection of the quality of imported building material products.

So far, the Ministry of Construction has not accredited any certification organizations.

According to Lang Son Customs, the state inspection of quality and receipt of regulation conformity announcement for imported building material products and goods are being assigned to the Department of Construction where enterprises have registered their operation. Thus, the implementation of the provisions of Article 34 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality is not yet feasible.

It is necessary to supplement and amend policies clearly

Facing the requirements of increasing international integration and trade, specialized agencies should propose the National Assembly to supplement, amend and clarify policies in the Law on Product and Goods Quality and the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations, said Lang Son Customs Department.

Accordingly, it is necessary to review the quality inspection results for imported goods of group 2 conducted by the ministries and agencies.

In particular, the Law documents and the sub-law documents should clearly stipulate the application of international practices in the specialized inspection with contents such as: mutual recognition; acknowledgement of foreign quality certification for imported goods from developed countries and famous brands such as the EU, US, UK, Japan and Korea.

In addition, it is clear that state management agencies only perform management, inspection and supervision; the verification and assessment shall be transferred to authorized conformity assessment organizations; the inspection results of these organizations will be inspection results which are used to carry out customs clearance procedures.

Lang Son Customs proposed amending and supplementing the above two laws, on the principle that pre-clearance inspection is only conducted for goods at high risk of being unsafe, disease spreading, and harming human health and life, polluting the environment, hampering social ethics, customs and traditions and the country’s economy and national security.

Risk management and classification of organizations and enterprises is carried out based on their compliance with the law, and goods are classified according to their risk level to apply an appropriate inspection method and level.