Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue: Continue to thoroughly implement the spirit of cutting procedures

On the afternoon of November 17, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the National Steering Committee on the ASEAN Single Window, the National Single Window and Trade Facilitation, had a working session with the Ministry of Health.

The Deputy Prime Minister assessed that the Ministry of Health is one of the agencies that actively cut down administrative procedures, effectively managed the prices of medical supplies and medical examination and treatment services, contributing to reducing costs for people and businesses, and improving national competitiveness. The Ministry of Health has cut 72.85% of business conditions, compared to the target of 50% reduction assigned by the Government.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong, implementing Decision No. 1254/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister approving the Plan to promote reform of specialized inspection work for import and export goods, in 2018, the Ministry of Health continued to maintain stable and effective operations with 4 groups of administrative procedures that have implemented the national one-stop mechanism in the fields of pharmaceuticals, food safety, and medical equipment.

However, by the end of this year, the Ministry of Health had only connected 17 administrative procedures to the national single window in the fields of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, while the remaining 6 procedures related to the medical environment and food safety were only completed in January 2019, 1 month later than the regulation.

Regarding the reduction of items in the list of goods subject to specialized inspection, Deputy Minister Truong Quoc Cuong said that up to now, 98% of imported food shipments under the management of the Ministry of Health will not have to undergo specialized inspection at the border gate but will have to undergo post-inspection when consumed in the market.

Regarding imported shipments, 95% of shipments have had specialized inspections reduced, leaving only 5% of shipments to be inspected, while the Deputy Prime Minister's direction in Notice No. 50/TB-VPCP issued in early 2018 was to eliminate 50% of product lines in the specialized inspection list.

The representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the Ministry and the Ministry of Health have basically eliminated specialized inspections for items that have overlapping management between the two sides. For example, specialized inspections for pharmaceuticals subject to animal quarantine have been eliminated. As for items related to plants that have a high risk of affecting domestic crops, or confusing the quarantined items (such as dodder seeds and rabbit seeds), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed to continue quarantine. However, if the goods are packaged, steamed or preserved with sulfur, they will not be quarantined.

Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai said the Ministry of Finance is working with the General Department of Customs to integrate electronic toll collection into the national single window mechanism to truly become a level 4 public service.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said that the Ministry of Health's implementation of connecting procedures to the national single window mechanism is still quite slow, only connecting 4/5 groups of administrative procedures. The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Health and other ministries to connect administrative procedures to the national single window mechanism on schedule, while maintaining and continuing to improve the efficiency of implementing procedures.

The Ministry of Health continues to carry out the tasks assigned to it by the Government and the Committee in specialized inspections, protecting the legitimate rights of other organizations and individuals, facilitating trade but must ensure the prevention of counterfeit and fake goods, especially in areas related to people's health that the Ministry of Health manages.

“Continue to thoroughly implement the spirit of cutting and not issuing unnecessary administrative procedures that do not serve the goal of state management and burden businesses, and promote post-inspection instead of pre-inspection,” the Deputy Prime Minister stated.