Proposal to decentralize local inspection of imported food to reduce congestion

Faced with this reality, the Ministry proposes to flexibly apply risk management principles, prioritizing quick release of goods while still ensuring food safety, especially fresh agricultural products.

“The immediate direction is to move from pre-inspection to controlled post-inspection, to reduce pressure at the border gate, shorten customs clearance time and costs for businesses,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment stated.

This agency also proposed decentralizing the Provincial People’s Committee to carry out food safety inspection on imported goods under the management of the agriculture and environment sectors. This helps localities be proactive and limit recurring congestion based on the monitoring process of ministries and branches.

At the same time, the Ministry proposed that the Government assign the Ministry of Health to preside over reviewing and immediately amending Decree 46, or issue temporary guidance documents to remove obstacles.

Decree 46 was issued and took effect from January 26. The Decree sets out many stricter management requirements, especially for imported food, health protection food and state inspection activities on food safety.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, tightening food safety control is necessary in the context of a number of safety violations in recent times. However, implementing Decree 46 without detailed instructions and transition mechanisms causes businesses to face difficulties.

Many shipments must have additional stages of checking the status and taking samples for testing, extending the waiting time for results to 5-7 days. Restrictions on warehouses and storage conditions at border gates, especially land border gates, increase the risk of damage and costs for businesses.

In addition, current regulations do not clarify testing criteria and standards applicable to fresh agricultural products, causing confusion for both inspection agencies and businesses.

Another problem pointed out by the Ministry is the regulation that registration dossiers for food safety inspection of fresh agricultural products and goods that are not subject to declaration of conformity must be accompanied by product standards. This is a new requirement, but there are no specific instructions (form and content), causing difficulties for businesses and agencies in the process of appraising documents.

The pressure is even greater when the time to apply the decree coincides with the period approaching the Lunar New Year, the demand for importing fresh agricultural products increases sharply while warehouses at the border gate do not meet preservation requirements. Current regulations also do not allow businesses to bring goods to private warehouses while waiting for test results, increasing the risk of economic loss.

Previously, according to statistics from the Customs Department (Ministry of Finance), on January 30, about 1,300 trucks carrying agricultural products and food were stuck at border gates. In particular, Kim Thanh international border gate (Lao Cai) has about 300 vehicles of fresh agricultural products (vegetables, fruits) and confectionery that do not have food safety inspection results for customs clearance. Similarly, Hoa Lu border gate (Dong Nai) has 251 vehicles, Lao Bao (Quang Tri) 50 vehicles, Dinh Ba (Dong Thap) 100 vehicles, Vinh Xuong (An Giang) 200 vehicles…

Some localities such as Tay Ninh have temporary instructions to remove and allow customs clearance of agricultural products while waiting for instructions. By the afternoon of January 31, all vehicles carrying agricultural products stuck at the border gate area of ​​Tay Ninh had been cleared.

A representative of the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) also said that the goods congestion at many border gates was basically resolved on the afternoon of January 31.