On the morning of May 6, the National Assembly listened to the Submission and Report on the review of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality.
Among the main contents of the draft Law, the content on determining products and goods that can cause unsafety and product and goods quality control activities are noted.
Un convergence in determining products and goods that can cause unsafety
The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality has proposed removing the concepts of group 1 and group 2 in determining products and goods that can cause unsafety.
Instead, it will be replaced by classifying into 3 risk levels: low, medium and high, in accordance with international practice.
Products and goods that are likely to cause unsafety are classified as products and goods under the conditions of production, transportation, storage, preservation, and reasonable and proper use, still having the potential to harm people, animals, plants, property, the environment, security, order, safety, and information security.
The drafting agency of the Law assesses that currently, the determination of group 2 products and goods plays an important role in protecting the health and safety of consumers, animals, plants, assets and the environment.
However, the understanding and determination of group 2 products and goods by ministries managing sectors and fields have not been specifically regulated in the Law on Product and Goods Quality, leading to a lack of consensus.
The drafting agency has pointed out some shortcomings and limitations, requiring amendments to suit reality and promote development.
Firstly, the promulgation of the list of products and goods of group 2 but there is no national technical standards (QCVN) to manage, or issue a list of goods group names but are not fully detailed items and HS code (HS Code) or issue group 2 goods lists that cover goods subject to quarantine and food safety inspection.
This leads to problems for organizations and businesses when implementing measures to manage product and goods quality according to regulations.
Second, issuing the List of Group 2 products and goods under a separate management method leads to difficulties in implementation.
Third, it is unclear whether the scientific basis for the ability to cause unsafety of products and goods when included in the List of products and goods of group 2 or the amendment and supplementation of the List of products and goods of group 2 is not in accordance with the needs that need to be managed.
Fourth, the Law on Product and Goods Quality divides goods into 2 types according to the safety level. In fact, safety and product quality are not completely the same, there are products and goods with high safety but may not fully meet quality criteria, on the contrary, there are products with good quality but low safety level.
Causes of import goods congestion
Regarding product quality control activities, the agency drafting the Law believes that this work is currently being assigned to many sectors and fields of management.
There are products under the management of many ministries and branches, and many specialized inspection measures must be applied due to the regulations on management assignment in different specialized laws. This leads to overlap in inspection activities.
"There are items that must both have minimum energy performance checked by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and have quality checked by other ministries and branches such as fans, refrigerators, freezers, fluorescent bulbs...", the agency drafting the Law cited.
In addition, the implementation of product and commodity quality control in production and circulation on the market still faces difficulties, such as: not yet building a team of independent quality controllers; very few specialized agencies in the locality have units, departments or civil servants in charge of product and commodity quality;
The capacity of domestic product certification and testing organizations serving state management is still limited.
Regarding the quality control of imported goods of some ministries and branches, it is not yet completely complied with the provisions of the Law on Product and Goods Quality - this is one of the reasons for prolonging the storage time of goods of enterprises at border gates, causing difficulties, costs and loss of business opportunities for enterprises.
According to regulations, the central product and goods quality inspection agency is a general department or department performing the function of state management of product and goods quality or a local quality inspection agency is a department or branch.
However, the inspection agency is still thin, imported goods into our country go through many different routes, many different localities, leading to failure to promptly carry out inspection activities and prolonging the time...
This is one of the practical bases for implementing the Law on Product and Goods Quality, requiring amendments and supplements.
On the afternoon of May 6, the National Assembly will discuss in groups to record the opinions of National Assembly deputies on the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality.
