Circular No. 12/2017/TT-BKHCN dated September 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Science and Technology amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister of Science and Technology’s Circular No. 26/2012/TT-BKHCN of December 12, 2012, providing the state inspection of the quality of goods in circulation

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister ofScience and Technology’s Circular No. 26/2012/TT-BKHCN of December 12,2012, providing the state inspection of the quality of goods in circulation[1]

Pursuant to the November 21, 2007 Law on Product and Goods Quality;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP of December 31, 2008, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Product and Goods Quality;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP of April 14, 2017, on goods labels;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 95/2017/ND-CP of August 16, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

At the proposal of the Director General of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality and the Director of the Legal Affairs Department,

The Minister of Science and Technology promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister of Science and Technology’s Circular No. 26/2012/TT-BKHCN of December 12, 2012, providing the state inspection of the quality of goods in circulation.

Article 1.To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Minister of Science and Technology’s Circular No. 26/2012/TT-BKHCN of December 12, 2012, providing the state inspection of the quality of goods in circulation

1. To amend Clause 2, Article 3 as follows:

“2. Other terms referred to in this Circular will have the meaning as defined in Article 3 of the Law on Product and Goods Quality.”

2. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 2, Article 5 as follows:

“a/ According to the requirement of the state management of product and goods quality.”

3. To amend and supplement Points a and c, Clause 2, Article 6 as follows:

“a/ Samples shall be taken by the sampling method prescribed in relevant standards and technical regulations or relevant laws. In case there are no regulations on sampling methods, samples shall be taken randomly in a quantity sufficient for testing inspection criteria. Each sample shall be divided into two sample units, one to be tested and the other stored at the inspection agency. Depending on the category and shelf life of goods, the inspection team shall write in the sampling record the storage duration of the sample at the inspection agency which, however, must not exceed 90 days after obtaining testing results. Upon the expiration of the sample storage duration, the inspection agency shall dispose of the stored sample under current regulations.

c/ Goods samples shall be sent to a laboratory with a certificate of registration of product and goods quality testing operations or designated by a competent agency for testing in accordance with law.

Testing results provided by a laboratory with a certificate of registration of product and goods quality testing operations or designated by a competent agency will serve as the legal ground for the inspection agency to take subsequent steps in the inspection process.”

4. To amend and supplement Article 7 as follows:

“Article 7. Contents of goods quality inspection

1. Regarding goods labels:

a/ Inspecting goods labels according to the law on goods labels;

b/ Inspecting the display of announced applicable standards, standard or technical regulation conformity marks, and barcode in accordance with law.

2. Regarding quality:

a/ Inspecting goods preservation conditions according to relevant standards and technical regulations or announcements on goods labels;

b/ Inspecting goods’ conformity with announced applicable technical regulations or standards and enclosed documents;

When necessary to take samples, inspection teams shall take samples according to Clause 2, Article 6 of this Circular.”

5. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 8 as follows:

“1. An inspection team shall conduct inspection according to the following order and procedures:

a/ Producing the inspection decision, made according to Form No. 2a. QDKT provided in the Appendix to this Circular, before conducting inspection;

b/ Conducting inspection according to Article 7 of this Circular;

c/ Making an inspection record according to Form No. 3a. BBKT provided in the Appendix to this Circular. The inspection record must bear the signatures of representatives of the inspected establishment and the inspection team. In case the representative of the inspected establishment refuses to sign the inspection record, the inspection team will write down in the inspection record the sentence: “The establishment’s representative refuses to sign the record” and the reason. In this case, the record bearing the signatures of the head and members of the inspection team is still legally valid.

If the inspection team takes samples, a sampling record shall be made according to Form No. 4. BBLM provided in the Appendix to this Circular, and it shall request the inspected establishment to produce receipts relating to the sampled goods and determine the quantity of goods at the time of sampling;

d/ Reporting inspection results to the inspection agency and processing inspection results and proposing the processing of inspection results according to Article 9 of this Circular”.

6. To change the title of Article 9, and amend and supplement Clauses 2 and 4, Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9. Processing of inspection results

2. In case sample testing results reveal that goods are unconformable with announced applicable standards, standard conformity certification or relevant technical regulations, the inspection agency, the inspection team or quality controller shall:

a/ Within 24 hours, the inspection team shall report the results to the inspection agency.

Within 2 working days after receiving the testing results slip, the inspection agency shall issue a notice of suspension of goods circulation, made according to Form No. 5. TBTDLT provided in the Appendix to this Circular;

b/ Request the goods seller to provide information relating to the goods such as the quantities of unsold and sold goods and contact the producer or importer for the latter to know, handle and remedy violations and perform obligations in accordance with law; make a sealing record according to Form No. 7a. BBNP-DKT or Form No. 7b. BBNP-KSVCL provided in the Appendix to this Circular and seal up all unsold goods left at the inspected establishment according to Form No. 7c. TNPHH provided in the Appendix to this Circular. In case the inspected establishment’s representative refuses to sign the record, the inspection team’s representative or quality controller shall write down in the record the sentence: “The establishment’s representative refuses to sign the record” and the reason. In this case, the record bearing the signatures of the inspection team’s representative or quality controller is still legally valid;

c/ The inspection agency shall handle the case according to its competence and transfer the dossier and its proposal to a competent person or state agency for handling the case in accordance with law;

d/ After receiving a notice of violation-handling results from a competent person or state agency, within 3 working days, the inspection team’s representative or quality controller shall unseal the goods according to Form No. 8c. BBMNP-DKT or No. 8d. BBMNP-KSVCL provided in the Appendix to this Circular for the inspected establishment to work with the producer or importer to remedy violations and perform obligations in accordance with law.  After remedying violations, the inspected establishment shall send a report to the inspection agency for inspection and taking samples for testing unqualified criteria. The inspection agency shall issue a notice of resumption of goods circulation, made according to Form No. 9. TBTTLT provided in the Appendix to this Circular, only after inspection and testing results show conformity with the law.

4. If administration violations are detected in the inspection process, the inspection team’s head shall make an administrative violation record and propose the inspection agency to transfer the dossier and its proposal to a competent person or state agency for handling the violations in accordance with law.

If administration violations are detected upon the receipt of sample testing results, the inspection team’s head shall make an administrative violation record or the inspection agency shall transfer the dossier and its proposal to the related agency to coordinate in making an administrative violation record and handling the violations in accordance with law.”

7. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 12 as follows:

“1. Inspection agencies shall summarize and make annual reports on inspection and inspection results and extraordinary reports when so requested. The report contents, according to Form No. 6. BBCTKT provided in the Appendix to this Circular, are specified as follows:…”.

8. To replace and add the forms provided in the Appendix to this Circular as follows:

a/ To replace Form No. 4a. BBLM, Form No. 8a. BBNP-DKT and Form No. 8b. BBNP-KSVCL with Form No. 4. BBLM, Form No. 7a. BBNP-DKT and Form No. 7b. BBNP-KSVCL provided in the Appendix to this Circular;

b/ To replace Form No. 5. TBKQTNKD and Form No. 7. TBTDLT with Form No. 5. TBTDLT provided in the Appendix to this Circular;

c/ To add Form No. 7c. TNPHH on sealing stamp, Form No. 8c. BBMNP-DKT on the inspection team’s goods unsealing report; Form No. 8d. BBMNP-KSVCL on the quality controller’s goods unsealing report provided in the Appendix to this Circular.

Article 2.Effect

This Circular takes effect on January 1, 2018.

Article 3.Organization of implementation

1. The Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality shall guide the implementation of this Circular.

2. Any difficulties and problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Science and Technology for guidance or appropriate amendment and supplementation.

3. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and related organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular.-

For the Minister of Science and Technology
Deputy Minister
TRAN VAN TUNG

* The Appendix to this Circular is not translated.