Why have 40 OCOP Nghe An products expired but not been re-evaluated and re-rated?

Tuong Sa Nam (Nam Anh, Nam Dan) is currently completing the dossier to evaluate and re-recognize the OCOP star. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Up to now, although the deadline for OCOP product recognition has passed for more than 2 months, 40 products have not been re-evaluated. Specifically: Vinh City has 11 products, Nam Dan 6 products, Thanh Chuong 7 products, Anh Son 3 products, Quynh Luu 4 products, Con Cuong 3 products, Yen Thanh 1 product, Dien Chau 2 products, Hoang Mai Town 1 product, Tan Ky 2 products. According to actual research, currently, the organization of evaluation and re-classification of expired OCOP products is facing certain difficulties and obstacles.

One of the difficulties for the subjects is the procedure for verifying finances, tax codes, and environmental reports. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Nam Danis one of the localities with the number of OCOP products in the top of the province with 69 products achieving 3 stars or more. Of which, 6 products achieved OCOP stars in 2019, now the deadline for re-evaluation and recognition has come, but only 1 product has completed the re-recognition dossier in 2021. The remaining 5 products are currently completing the dossier for re-evaluation according to regulations. The difficulty that OCOP subjects in Nam Dan encounter when participating in re-evaluation is a number of new regulations in the dossier such as: Financial verification for 3 consecutive years (for 4-star products), environmental assessment...

Ms. Ho Thi Xuan Huong, owner of the 4-star OCOP product Tuong Sa Nam (Nam Anh commune, Nam Dan) said: “When we were recognized as 4-star OCOP in 2019, our scale was household production. In 2020, we established the Tuong Sa Nam Cooperative. Therefore, now to participate in the re-evaluation of OCOP, we have to have financial verification for 3 consecutive years, register for a tax code, and apply for environmental protection registration... which is quite difficult.

Therefore, in 2022, before the deadline, we made a dossier but it was not approved. We are currently completing the procedures and documents to send to the district to participate in the re-evaluation."

Kim Nhan orange product (Hoi Son, Anh Son) has expired its 3-star OCOP recognition. Photo: Thanh Phuc

After reviewing the products that were due for re-evaluation, the People's Committee of Nam Dan district invited the subjects to discuss, urge and provide specific instructions on preparing documents for re-evaluation and re-recognition of OCOP. Up to now, the subjects have registered for re-evaluation and are currently completing the documents and procedures.

However, according to Mr. Tran Manh Hong, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nam Dan district, due to re-evaluation and recognition, the bonus is no longer as it was recognized the first time (3 OCOP stars are awarded 30 million VND, 4 stars are awarded 40 million VND), so some entities are not interested.

And according to the new regulationsDecision 148 of the Prime MinisterNow, OCOP products with 3 stars or less are assessed, recognized and announced by the district, only products with enough 4-star points are submitted to the province for assessment and recognition. Meanwhile, the district council has at least 3 members from the Department, so the council's human resources are dependent on the arrangement and deployment of the departments.

7 Bometa products were recognized as OCOP in 2019, now the subject is considering re-evaluation according to regulations. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In addition to objective difficulties, some subjects are not interested in participating in the evaluation and re-recognition of products that have been recognized as OCOP stars in 2019. Mr. Nguyen Van Hoc (Hung Dong, Vinh City), the subject of 7 3-star OCOP products in 2019, said: “I am currently considering participating in the evaluation and re-recognition of my OCOP products. Because some of my products have now been converted to other products (pure green tea extract has now been converted to pill form); 2 honey products have been merged into one group. Besides, comparing the criteria to evaluate and upgrade the products to 4 stars is not enough, but re-recognition of 3 stars, I am not interested in redoing the profile. Therefore, instead of re-evaluating the OCOP products that have expired, I am focusing on improving product quality and developing new products.”

According to regulations, expired products will be forced to be recalled and the subject is not allowed to use the OCOP product certification mark to print or stick on the packaging or labels of their products when circulating or consuming on the market. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to Mr. Nguyen Ho Lam, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the re-evaluation and recognition of OCOP products encountered difficulties such as: Firstly, due to the lack of bonuses as in the first recognition, the subjects were not interested; secondly, some subjects determined that re-evaluation would also be difficult to "upgrade" the stars, so they did not participate in the re-evaluation; thirdly, some localities encountered financial difficulties in establishing a council to re-evaluate and recognize expired products; fourthly, the objective reason was that at the end of February 2023, the Prime Minister had just issued Decision 148 "on the set of criteria and procedures for evaluating and classifying products under the program "One commune, one product", so some localities had just approached it, had not yet implemented it, and still had certain difficulties.

On the other hand, in the perception of some subjects, the 3-star OCOP products in 2019 are recognized and ranked by the Provincial People's Committee; now according to decentralization, the district-level council evaluates, recognizes, and announces them, so they consider it as "downgraded" and do not want to participate in re-evaluation and recognition.

The brocade weaving group products (scarf, skirts, tablecloths) of Hoa Tien brocade weaving village cooperative (Quy Chau) went from 4 OCOP stars in 2019, after re-evaluation in 2022, down to 3 OCOP stars. Photo: Thanh Phuc

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Ho Lam, re-evaluation and re-classification are mandatory for provincial OCOP products when the deadline is 36 months from the date of recognition. If not complied with, the certification will be revoked. The subject is not allowed to use the OCOP product certification mark (OCOP logo with star) to print or stick on packaging and labels for its products when circulating and consuming on the market from the date of expiration. Therefore, production subjects need to proactively and actively prepare registration files for re-evaluation and re-classification of products according to the prescribed time.