(HQ Online) - Hundreds of enterprises' seafood containers in inventory cannot be exported due to regulations in issuing H/C certificates accompanying seafood shipments imported into Vietnam for processing and export to the EU. .
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), regarding the implementation of requirements on exporting seafood to the EU market, recently, VASEP has received feedback from a number of seafood businesses. about the problems in complying with Official Dispatch 629/CCPT-ATTP dated August 17, 2023 of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development (NAFIQPM) - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Accordingly, in Official Dispatch 629, NAFIQPM introduces new requirements on certification content in certificates (H/C) accompanying seafood shipments imported into Vietnam for processing and export to the EU.
According to businesses importing raw materials for processing and exporting to the EU, the requirements according to Official Dispatch 629 are not consistent with many good product lines of international practice and are not feasible, so they have limited many lines of imported seafood materials. exports to Vietnam and causing export processing activities to the EU of businesses to be congested.
Up to now, businesses in this group are having hundreds of containers of goods in inventory that cannot be exported because NAFIQPM's Regional Centers have not been able to issue H/C for export because the batches of imported raw materials do not meet regulations. regulations of Official Dispatch 629 mentioned above.
Among the blocked containers that cannot be exported are batches of raw materials that were imported and completed before August 17, 2023 (the date of dispatch 629) and batches of raw materials that are in progress of being exported. Thus, Official Letter 629 is in effect adjusting decisions on requirements, documents, and procedures in production and business of enterprises even though this document is completely not a legal document.
Businesses believe that, in fact, very few countries have responded and agreed to issue H/C for seafood shipments exported to Vietnam in accordance with the requirements of Official Dispatch 629 - except for the condition of raw materials. must be imported into that country by an enterprise with legal status, then exported back to a Vietnamese enterprise.
Therefore, raw materials qualified to process goods for export to the EU are running out. Meanwhile, a large amount of raw materials have been imported to Vietnam since before Dispatch 629 was issued and currently products processed from these batches of raw materials cannot currently be exported to the EU, because businesses do not It is possible to have a HC that meets the requirements of Official Dispatch 629.
Shipments of raw materials imported from Europe and America often take 40-50 days. When Official Dispatch 629 was issued, this quantity of imported materials was on its way back and could not be certified according to new regulations. Meanwhile, other countries do not have strict regulations on H/C like Vietnam, so imported raw materials will flow to these countries and make it even more difficult for Vietnam to find raw materials. serving export. This will lead to many businesses losing sources of goods, losing orders, losing customers, and Vietnam's seafood export turnover to the EU will decline seriously in the near future.
To remove difficulties for businesses, VASEP recommends that NAFIQPM review and amend Official Dispatch 629 to have minimum requirements to meet the goal of managing goods entering the EU without restricting many good product lines from the country. In addition to meeting the requirements of the European Commission, maintaining legal production and business activities from imported raw materials and not losing market share of Vietnamese seafood.
In the context of an extremely difficult competitive market and based on the review and amendments as recommended above, VASEP requests NAFIQPM to consider resolving export procedures for shipments that have not yet been issued H/C for export. Exports have been in stock for the past 2 months but the enterprise has completed the export documents except H/C of the incomplete batch of raw materials as per Official Dispatch 629.
SOURCE: ONLINE CUSTOMS
