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Illegal importation of pre-chemicals will be subject to criminal penalties

Summary

Updated on : 29-06-2017

VCN- After the synthetic drug production line from some pre-chemicals was discovered in HCM city, public opinion questioned how to manage these pre-chemicals when they were imported into Vietnam? Around this issue, Mr. Nguyen Van Lich, Deputy Director of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department, General Department of Customs, gave an interview to the Customs News

Dear Sir, what has the Customs office been facing difficulties in tracking and managing for the importation of pre-chemicals?

Pre-chemicals are used as raw materials for manufacturing in the medical and industrial fields. Some of these pre-chemicals can be used to make synthetic drugs.

In order to manage the pre-chemicals import, the Government Decree No. 82/2013/ND-CP promulgated List of drugs and pre-chemicals and Decree No. 126/2015/ND-CP amending and supplementing the List of drugs and pre-chemicals issued together with Decree No. 82. In which, the Ministry of Industry and Trade managed 34 kinds of pre-chemicals; The Ministry of Health managed 9 kinds of pre-chemicals. Therefore, during the import process, the Customs office carried out the customs procedures for the businesses under the license of the line Ministries. The Customs offices monitor closely the import, production, raw material norms, redundant raw materials for converting in the production contracts…

Decree 82 and Decree 126 also stipulated that this list included all types of salt whenever were above listed substances possibly. So that, the number of licensed pre-chemicals are very bulk which it would make difficult for the Customs authorities to manage the import of pre-chemicals.

Specifically, the difficulties for the Customs authorities are mainly on the list of imported pre-chemicals in the health sector, the most common are two types of pre-chemicals Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine contained in the composition of cold medicines and cough medicine. Therefore, in order to prove a list of pre-chemicals, it is required to have a close cooperation with the Drug Administration (MOH). The Customs office can check the companies importing these drugs easily, but it is difficult to identify the imported goods containing pre-chemicals. Similarly in the field of industry, aside from the 34 kinds of imported pre-chemicals licensed the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Customs office can not identify all kind of salt to carry out the Customs procedures.

The enterprises declare themselves and are responsible for the law. If the importers do not read the rules carefully, just leave out all kinds of salt without a license when importing, the Customs will handle. The majority of the enterprises violate because of the unintentional mistake, if the enterprises violate intentionally, in the heaviest case, they will be prosecuted for criminal responsibility.

In the process of dealing with violations in importing pre-chemicals, how do you assess the attitude of the enterprises?

In the processing, many enterprises responded to the Customs office due to unclear documents, some said that due to not study the legal documents carefully, they did not apply for an import license, it leads to wrong...

Whether or not the situation that the subjects abroad collude to import pre-chemicals through the domestic enterprises? How to both control strictly from importing and avoid the pre-chemicals leak out the market, Sir?

At the present, there is no basis to prove the foreign subjects collide with the domestic subjects to import pre-chemicals. In fact, the imported pre-chemicals must have the licenses (issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Health). The use of floating pre-chemicals in the market for the production of synthetic drugs has been detected and processed by the functional forces. Currently, the functional forces detected, arrested 26 violations. Typically, a violation happened in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Customs office is proposing to the Government to amend the Decrees, especially focusing on the pre-chemicals to produce drugs. The nature of licensing is the same as "double-edged sword", which both ensures management and obstructs the production and business process of the enterprises. Therefore, the authorities need to consider carefully before issuing the list of pre-chemicals licensed to import.

The Customs offices always pay attention to control strictly from the admission of import declarations, and in the case of necessity, they will be included in the risk management portfolio, serving the distribution of goods in order to supervise goods inspection.

Thank you, Sir!

By Quang Hung (interviewing)/ Binh Minh