That is one of the crucial contents of the draft on granting growing zone codes and packing agricultural products constructed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to submit to the Government.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the draft Government Resolution regulating the simplification of administrative procedures regarding growing zone codes and packing facility codes sets the target of managing by data, declaration responsibilities of organizations and individuals, and post-inspection mechanisms. Removing the "apply - inspect - grant" management method, switching to data and post-inspection.

The draft is constructed as an immediate solution to untie obstacles of Decree 38/2026/ND-CP while waiting for a comprehensive amendment of this decree under a shortened sequence. Accordingly, instead of viewing the granting of growing zone codes as a pre-inspection process with multiple dossier components and multiple verification stages before deciding to grant or not grant, the new mechanism heads toward simplifying procedures to the maximum, but upgrading management responsibilities after codes have been granted.

Dossiers requesting the grant of growing zone codes and packing facility codes are shortened to merely an application form under a template. People, cooperatives, or enterprises submit dossiers online through the National Public Service Portal. Within a maximum timeframe of 3 working days since receiving full valid dossiers, the agency assigned with tasks by the provincial People's Committee must notify the code grant or reply in writing if refusing, clearly stating the reason.

In cases of merely altering representatives, administrative boundaries, or supplementing export markets, the processing time is down to two working days. Compared to the current process, this alteration does not merely shorten the time but also significantly reduces compliance costs for people and enterprises. The draft also clearly determines the principle of not arising new administrative procedures, while concurrently guaranteeing publicity, transparency, and appropriateness with production reality.

Previously, granting codes primarily relied on inspection rounds prior to granting codes; under the new draft, management agencies can monitor the operational status of growing zones and packing facilities and trace the entirety of information on a unified data platform.

The draft still retains requirements against growing zones serving export. Apart from complying with Vietnam's regulations, growing zones and packing facilities must also satisfy the requirements of each individual importing market. When registering for export, organizations and individuals must notify in writing about the projected market so that specialized agencies can execute post-inspection on satisfying the technical requirements of the importing nation. The processing time for this content is not over 10 working days.

However, according to localities, reality also sets out a number of difficulties in that growing zone codes are granted under land plot locations and determined on the basis of land identification codes. Households that already possess data on the national land database can utilize it immediately to register for code grants, while cases not yet possessing data must be confirmed and supplemented with information by the commune-level People's Committee prior to executing procedures. The entire country still possesses nearly 30 million land plots not yet standardized with data, the majority of which is agricultural land. If forced to perfect land data (projected in October 2026) prior to granting growing zone codes, dossier processing progress carries risks of being prolonged, going against the target of untying difficulties for production and export.

Source: Bao Thanh Nien