Seafood processors fret over new criteria, standards

Ho Chi Minh City - That Government agencies have set out new criteria and standards has forced enterprises to shoulder a heavier cost burden, heard a seminar on October 23 on wastewater standards in the seafood processing sector.

Nguyen Quoc Viet, a lecturer of the University of Economics and Business under Vietnam National University Hanoi, said at the seminar in HCMC that any business conditions would put local companies under greater economic and opportunity cost pressure.

The corporate sector is already struggling with costs for compliance with regulations on goods quality safety, and fire and explosion prevention; costs for customs, logistics, tax and social insurance procedures; and costs for meeting technical standards, among others.

According to the lecturer, the Government’s Resolution 19-2017/NQ-CP is intended to make the business environment more favorable and improve the nation’s competitiveness through the abolition of business conditions.

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade has already removed as high as 600 business conditions,” he said, but State agencies would find ways to convert their business conditions into criteria and standards.

He took the Transport Ministry’s new regulation on speed limits as an example. “In principle, setting speed limits is vital to protect human lives but the regulation would cause high compliance costs for residents and businesses if improperly implemented,” he noted.

“If we do not thoroughly look into the rationale of criteria and standards, they would result in additional costs for residents and companies.”

Le Van Quang, chairman of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, said his enterprise spent more than VND50 billion (US$2.2 million) on a wastewater treatment system for his seafood processing factory.

The environmental impact assessment report on the system which was approved prior to its construction does not necessarily include phosphorus criteria for controlling seafood processing wastewater, he said.

“However, a set of relevant criteria is now included. We cannot manage (to meet the criteria), as the treatment system has been already built,” he said. Consequently, the corporation was imposed a hefty fine of VND750 million (around US$33,000).

Some delegates at the seminar wondered whether it would be necessary to control phosphorus criteria or not.

Luu Duc Hai, deputy president of the Vietnam Association of Environmental Economics, said seafood is mainly for export, so local companies should pay special attention to regulations in foreign markets.

If these regulations are a must, local enterprises should voice their objections as they may be technical barriers, he said.