Quality inspection in the field of Industry and Trade is easier to breathe

Professional activities at the Northern Hanoi Customs Branch. Photo: N. Linh

A recent survey by the Vietnam Chamber of Trade and Industry (VCCI) has recorded the assessment of businesses about the favourable level when they comply with specialized inspection procedures in the field of goods quality management; it includes 3 main procedures: procedures for granting licenses and equivalent papers, procedures for the announcement of regulation conformity and procedures for quality inspection.

The results show that with the procedure of “Issuing licenses and equivalent documents”, enterprises are most favourable when complying with the procedures of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (68.6% of enterprises choose easy or relatively easy), followed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (67.8%) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (67.4%). On the other hand, the specialized inspection procedures of the Ministry of Health have the lowest percentage of enterprises that consider it easy or relatively easy to comply (61.6%) and, at the same time, have the highest percentage of enterprises that are difficult or relatively difficult to comply ( 10.2%).

With the “Regulation conformity announcement” procedure, the group of procedures that are easier to comply with are those of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Science and Technology with the rate of enterprises with easy/comparably easy implementation are 64.0%, 63.1% and 62.5%. Enterprises rated the convenience when carrying out the procedures for announcing the regulation conformity of the remaining ministries and branches at quite similar levels.

However, if considering the percentage of enterprises that perceive compliance with the regulation conformity announcement procedure as “relatively difficult” or “difficult”, the procedures of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport have a percentage of enterprises with bigger problems, 11% and 10.9%, respectively.

The “Product Quality Inspection” procedure is another important specialized inspection procedure in goods quality control. The survey results also show that the percentage of businesses that are favourable when carrying out this procedure with three managing ministries that are valued quite similarly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, respectively 65.2%, 63.4%, 63.4%.

The rate of enterprises having difficulty in complying with quality inspection procedures of the Ministry of Science and Technology (9.7%) is slightly higher than that of the other two ministries (the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is 8 .5% and the Ministry of Industry and Trade 7%).

According to VCCI, the results show that the level of convenience of enterprises when complying with specialized inspection procedures in the field of goods quality management is at an average level, and the room for improvement is still very wide.

The procedure “Issuing licenses and equivalent documents” of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is the easiest to comply with, but less than 70% of enterprises consider it easy or relatively easy.

Meanwhile, the most difficult procedure to comply with within the field of goods quality management is the “Declaration of Conformity” issued by the Ministry of Health (with the lowest percentage of enterprises that are easy/relatively easy to implement (58.5%)). Therefore, all assessed ministries and sectors need to continue to reform and facilitate enterprises to comply with specialized inspection procedures, especially those of ministries, including the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport.