Many associations and industries petition the General Secretary about the bottleneck of product declaration.

Nine associations and professional associations have pointed out many shortcomings in the regulations on product conformity declaration and made recommendations to the General Secretary about this regulation.

Compliance knot

Recently, 9 professional associations have sent official dispatches to General Secretary To Lam on institutional improvement. The associations include: Vietnam Animal Husbandry Association, Vietnam Veterinary Association, Vietnam Animal Feed Association, Vietnam Poultry Association, Vietnam Large Livestock Association, Vietnam Veterinary Medicine Association, Vietnam Fertilizer Association, Vietnam Dairy Association, and Vietnam Food Safety and Safety Science and Technology Association.

The dispatch sent to the General Secretary stated: The Law on Technical Standards and Regulations (TCQC Law) and the Law on Product and Goods Quality (CLSPHH Law) after nearly 20 years of implementation have had a certain effect in controlling the quality and safety of products and goods in our country. Up to now, due to the level and capacity of production and business, our country's products and goods have changed; the country's international economic integration is increasingly deep, so many regulations of these two Laws are no longer suitable, causing unnecessary production costs, missing many competitive opportunities for Vietnamese goods in the international market. In addition to the highly competitive export products of the FDI sector (less affected by administrative regulations and production and business conditions of these two Laws), most Vietnamese goods are still in the group with limited competitiveness, due to high prices (due to too many costs) and low value (deep processing level and low technology content); Most of Vietnam's exported goods are still in raw, low-processed form...

The main shortcomings of these two Laws are in the approach to management, quality control, and product safety, which still tends to be pre-inspection, introducing too many administrative procedures and business conditions; overemphasizing the role of the state, failing to promote the initiative, creativity, and self-responsibility of producers, traders, and industry associations with the law and consumers for the quality and safety of their products; not being consistent with the level of science and technology and current international practices, which are system-based management, risk control, hazard analysis, and mutual recognition... In particular, the regulation on product conformity declaration is the root cause of great pressure and inconvenience for the production and business activities of domestic people and enterprises.

The Vietnam Dairy Association and many other associations and professional associations have proposed to remove the regulation on product conformity declaration. (Photo: VietFair)

Currently, the National Assembly is allowing amendments to these two Laws, which is a very good opportunity to remove the above-mentioned bottlenecks and shortcomings, creating new momentum for production and business activities to develop, achieve double-digit growth and raise the brand of Vietnamese products in the international market.

However, the content and approach to the management and control of product quality and safety in the latest drafts of the Law on Quality Management and Control, expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval in the May 2025 session and the Law on Quality Management and Control approved in the October 2025 session, are not significantly innovative compared to the provisions of the current Law nearly 20 years ago. The content has not met the Party and State's policy on simplifying and reducing administrative procedures, business conditions, and production costs; shifting from pre-control to post-control, from behavioral control to effective control; and has not kept up with domestic production practices and integration requirements and international experience.

Proposal to merge the Law on Quality Assurance and the Law on Quality Assurance

Faced with the above shortcomings, the business community, industry associations, experts and scientists have shared and recommended to the General Secretary the content of institutional improvement in adjusting these two important Laws.

Specifically, the Law on Quality Standards and the Law on Quality Management System will be merged into one Law, with a number of chapters and articles devoted to regulating technical standards and regulations. This is because the content of these two Laws currently has many overlapping points. Quality standards and technical regulations are just a tool to manage and control the quality and safety of products and goods. When this is done, it will facilitate access and implementation by management agencies, people and businesses.

Eliminate the regulation on product conformity declaration. Because this is a very formal regulation, has no meaning in management activities and no country in the world applies it. According to associations, this is the root cause of many difficulties and negativity for people and businesses. This regulation creates additional administrative procedures, business conditions, production costs, waiting time for goods to go into production and circulation; increases inspection costs, customs clearance time, logistics for imported goods, due to the requirement to take samples to declare conformity of 100% of goods batches before customs clearance (pre-inspection).

In addition, associations and unions also recommended to the General Secretary that, for export goods, the state should not have specific regulations but should follow the requirements of the importing country (as per current regulations), in order to promote export activities.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/nhieu-hiep-hoi-nganh-hang-kien-nghi-tong-bi-thu-ve-nut-that-cong-bo-san-pham-hang-hoa-378496.html