At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, information surrounding the export of agricultural products after the Implementation of Decree 46/2026/ND-CP (Decree 46) took effect has received much attention.
According to Mr. Le Ba Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, immediately after receiving reports from localities and specialized agencies on some difficulties and obstacles arising in the process of implementing some new points of Decree 46, the Minister and Deputy Ministers of Agriculture and Environment gave very drastic directions.
Right in the early days, specialized units such as the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine, the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection held meetings throughout the Saturday and Sunday holidays with the entire system in online form to guide and direct the removal of difficulties and obstacles. At the same time, the Ministry also coordinated with each locality with large border gates, including Tay Ninh, to handle them promptly.
By the end of January 31, the situation of congestion of fresh agricultural products at some border gates has basically been resolved by units," Mr. Le Ba Anh informed.
Regarding this issue, the Government has also issued close directions such as issuing Notice No. 58/TB-VPCP and Official Dispatch No. 08/CD-TTg dated February 3, 2026 of the Prime Minister on focusing on removing difficulties and obstacles in implementing Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP. In the afternoon of February 3, the Prime Minister continued to issue Official Dispatch 08/CD-TTg removing obstacles to Decree 46 on food safety.
On February 4, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also actively participated with the Ministry of Health to develop guidance documents. At the same time, it organized a meeting with the entire system, including testing laboratories and Departments of Agriculture and Environment of provinces, to grasp difficulties and obstacles in reality and mobilize forces, prioritize resources to focus on analyzing and testing imported agricultural product samples, and promptly release goods to serve the Lunar New Year as well as domestic production needs.
The Ministry has also established a 24/7 hotline at the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection and the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine to promptly answer and guide arising difficulties," Mr. Le Ba Anh informed.
In addition, the Ministry has also publicly announced 43 testing laboratories of the Ministry and localities that have been designated in the field of agricultural products, serving the operation of enterprises for imported goods.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has reported to the Prime Minister on guiding the implementation of some contents of Decree 46. Accordingly, by January 29, 2026, the amount of imported goods in stock waiting for food safety (ATTP) inspection reached about 300,000 tons, mainly vegetables, tubers, fruits, rice, rice, cassava and processed and pre-packaged food items. This situation coincides with the peak period near the Lunar New Year, increasing pressure on businesses and management agencies.
The Ministry also proposed that the Government assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to carry out procedures to decentralize the implementation of import food safety inspection under local management to create favorable conditions for importing organizations and individuals and create favorable and synchronous conditions in the implementation process.
In addition, the Ministry also has a document requesting the People's Committees of provinces/cities with import and export border gates to continue to direct specialized agencies to proactively handle problems in import and export of goods in general, and agricultural products in particular, to handle them according to their authority; closely monitor the situation at local border gates to provide information to the Ministry (through the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development) for support in solving.
