The fishing industry is facing many limitations for development, as a result there are many policies issued to control the operation. However, there are also many shortcomings that need to be adjusted.
Simplify Fisheries Law
The Law on Fisheries stipulates that imported fishing vessels must be licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This regulation will increase unnecessary administrative procedures for the import of fishing vessels. Imported fishing vessels must have a valid technical safety certificate and must be granted a fishing license before carrying out fishing activities. Therefore, according to VCCI, this provision is not necessary.
The Fisheries Law also stipulates that the conditions of establishments building new or converting fishing vessels must include conditions on physical foundations and equipment; department of supervision, quality management, human resources. According to VCCI, this regulation is also unnecessary, because all new or converted fishing vessels will be registered before being put into actual operation. Thus, the quality and safety of fishing vessels have been ensured by strict measures and it is not necessary to strengthen by stipulating the conditions of the new building and converting fishing vessels. In case the registry is not qualified to ensure the quality and safety of fishing vessels, it should be enhanced for this activity, not regulated as a condition for business investment. In addition, the inflexible regulation of establishments building new and converting fishing vessels to have each specific type of machinery will reduce the flexibility of the market. For example, a production facility only focuses on constructing the machine part, the fishing gear part, or the wood part, the anchor part and selling it to other establishments for further assembly and completion. Mandating a full range of machines will not help establishments specialize in improving efficiency and productivity.
Therefore, VCCI proposed the drafting agency of the Administrative Procedure Reform Advisory Council to suggest a plan to reduce and simplify regulations related to business activities within the scope and function of its management. The State of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has supplemented the reduction plan in the direction of eliminating the two regulations mentioned above.
The difficulty of implementation of Decree 42/2019/ND-CP
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, after more than two years of implementing Decree No. 42/2019/ND-CP nationwide, there have been positive changes, the state management has gradually come into order. The majority of administrative violations were detected and promptly sanctioned to ensure the proper authority, order and procedures as prescribed by law… Nevertheless, the implementation of Decree 42/2019/ND-CP still faces many difficulties; because operating funds, equipment, working facilities, database systems, archives … have not yet been paid attention by ministries, branches and localities in a timely and adequate manner. In most ministries, branches and localities, activities related to sanctioning administrative violations are integrated in a number of professional activities of each specific field and using funding sources for regular activities of each level. However, a few localities have actively allocated budget for specialized agencies to conduct regular inspection, examination and handling of violations such as Quảng Ninh, Kiên Giang, Cà Mau, and Bến Tre, Bình Định, Bình Thuận…
Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and relevant ministries have implemented the consolidation of the organizational apparatus, allocating personnel to perform the state management task of sanctioning administrative violations. However, due to only specific officers assigned to perform part-time specialized inspection functions, there are still many difficulties and obstacles in the process of performing tasks; especially for consulting and handling cases related to professional expertise… Therefore, it has not regularly met the requirements of inspection and examination, especially patrolling and controlling on sea and inland waters.
Regarding the authority and classification of authority to penalize administrative violations, Decree 42 has not yet fully provided for the authority to implement administrative violation sanctions of the Vietnam Coast Guard; especially serious violations such as “fishing in the waters of other countries and territories” and “foreign fishing vessels operating in Vietnamese waters without a license”, are not appropriate with the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard 2018. This regulation has shortcomings, does not ensure consistency in the legal system, leading to difficulties in practical inspection, control and handling of violations, especially IUU fishing activities that have affected the process of removing the “yellow card” of Vietnam.
VFM
