Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Health has proposed to theGovernment reducing or simplifying the number of administrative procedures infood safety management.

Deputy Director of the health ministry’s Vietnam FoodAdministration Tran Viet Nga said recently that five groups ofadministrative procedures had been proposed to be cut, including foodproduction and trading conditions, announcement of food product and Stateinspection on foods, certification on meeting food safety standards, and foodadvertisement and food safety knowledge certification.

Specifically, the health ministry had proposed the reductionof eight out of 50 conditions related to food production and trading under theDecree 67/2016 NĐ-CP issued on July 1, 2016, of which five are for foodproducers and three are for food traders, Nga said.

Next month, the health ministry will also request theGovernment to amend three administrative procedures on food productannouncements under the Decree 38/2012/NĐ-CP which details regulations on theimplementation of some articles of the Food Safety Law.

The ministry proposes cutting down procedures on businesslicences, enterprise registration certifications for food importers or foodsafety certifications for imports, quality control and regular inspection ofplants and detailed product information and samples.

“If the proposal is approved, the time on verifying food certificates would bereduced from six to three days for food imports.”

Nga added that the health ministry will ask the Government torevise several contents relating to the management of imported foods that arecurrently under State management of the ministries of industry and trade, andagriculture and rural development, with an aim to unify the State inspectionprocedure of the three ministries.

However, Nga said, groups of health food and nutrient foodfor children under 36 months of age and mixed foodstuffs locally produced inthe country will still be strictly controlled and examined.

The health ministry also asked customs authorities to yearlyinspect a maximum of 5 percent of imported products that have already been grantedfood safety licences by exporting countries that Vietnam has signedinternational agreements on mutual recognition on quality inspection, andproducts that have been manufactured by companies with HACCP or ISO 22000, GMP,IFS or BRC standards.

The ministry has launched its online public services, level4, in several administrative procedures in the fields of food safety, drugs,cosmetics and medical equipment management.

The health ministry’s legal department director Nguyen HuyQuang said that the ministry has put in place plans to simplify itsadministrative procedures since 2010, cutting down 227 procedures and savingtime and money for local and international enterprises.

In 2015, the health sector simplified many administrativeprocedures relating to examination and treatment, saving 300 billion VND (13million USD) per year, according to him.-VNA