Hanoi (VNA) - There has been a 91 percentreduction in the amount of goods controlled by the Ministry of Science andTechnology inspected before customs clearance.

The move followed a Government order to 12 ministries toreduce commodities considered possibly unsafe and possibly unhealthy toconsumers.  

From October, most of the goods are subjected to Stateinspection after customs clearance, said Nguyen Hoang Linh, deputy director of theministry’s Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality.

Before the circular took effect, 24 commodity groups managedby the ministry must be inspected before customs clearance. Now there are onlytwo – oil-petrol and Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Linh said that this meant more than 30,000 commodities wereno longer subjected to inspection before custom clearance every year, savingtime and costs for enterprises.

At the time, the Government also assigned the Ministries ofIndustry and Trade, Transport, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Health toreduce the ratio of imported goods subject to specialised inspections at theclearance stage to 15 percent from the current ratio of 30-35 percent.

“Relevant ministries are taking efforts to implement thiswork. The Ministries of Construction, Agriculture and Rural Development,  Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs andHealth have now proposed to add to the list of commodities that need to beremoved,” Linh said.

In fact, the Group 2 commodity list is still said to be toolong. Linh said that it should be narrowed down further to include those thathave no national quality standards or inspection criteria -and those considerednot to be unsafe or have any risk. Narrowing down the list was theresponsibility of every ministry, he said.

Linh added that there were no clear inspection criteria andinspection methods for quite a few import groups.

Dau Anh Tuan, Head of the Legal Department of the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry, said that besides cutting procedures, it wasnecessary to remove regulations no longer relevant.

He also admitted that the new regulation could cause risksto enterprises if commodities were not approved after after customs clearance.This could create a burden for importers.

Linh said that to handle the risk, the ministry had provideddetailed instructions to inspection agencies in all sectors and provinces and citiesnationwide.

Enterprises still have to take legal responsibility for thequality of their imported commodities. The State will inspect and assesswhether enterprises follow the laws or not,” Linh said.-VNA