CIRCULAR 02/2017/TT-BNNPTNT AMENDING CERTAIN ARTICLES OF CIRCULAR NO. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT OF 13 FEBRUARY 2017 ON PRE-EXPORT INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION FOR SEAFOOD SAFETY

Pursuant to the Law on Product and Goods Quality No. 05/2007/QH12 of 21 November 2007;

Pursuant to the Law on Fees and Charges of 25 November 2015;

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

Pursuant to the Decree No. 38/2012/ND-CP of 25 April 2012 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 199/2013/ND-CP of 26 November 2013 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; 

Considering the request of the Director General of the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department,

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development promulgates the Circular amending certain articles of Circular no. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT of 13 February 2017 on pre-export inspection and certification for seafood safety.

Article 1. Amending certain articles of Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT of 13 February 2017 on pre-export inspection and certification for seafood safety, in details:

1.   Amending Article 1, in details:

“1. Registration document, procedure and competence to perform food safety inspection, audit, issue and withdraw Certificate of Compliance with food safety regulation (hereafter referred to as Certificate of Compliance) in regard to food business operators of fish and fishery products for export (hereafter referred to as seafood enterprises).

2. Registration, procedure and competence to conduct food safety inspection and certification of fish and fishery products for export (hereafter referred to as Health Certificate) to the countries requiring pre-export inspection and certification.”

2.   Amending Article 9, in details:

“Article 9. Fees

Collecting fees for document verification, on-site inspection and audit, sampling and testing for seafood safety inspection and certification as per this Circular shall be carried out in compliance with the Law on Fees and charges and existing regulations of the Ministry of Finance and other relevant legal documents.”

3.   Amending Item 2 Article 11 in details:

“2. In case of completed registration, within 03 (three) working days, inspecting, certifying body shall inform such seafood enterprise the timing scheduled for on site audit but no later than 07 (seven) days since receipt of valid documents.”

4.   Amending Article 12, in details:

a) Amending Point e Item 1 Article 12, in details:

“e) Enterprise which has been granted Certificate of Compliance and delay regular inspection for a period of more than 12 months;”

b) Amending Item 2 Article 12, in details:

“2. Regular inspection and ad hoc inspection:

a) Follow-up inspection (after Certificate of Compliance): Regular inspection means inspection without prior communication, aims to verify compliance of certified enterprise at following frequency: Enterprises classified as  being of Class 1 or 2: once a year; Class 3: once every 6 months; Class 4: depending on deficiencies, inspecting bodies decide inspection frequency but no later than 03 (three) months from last inspection.

b) Ad hoc inspection means inspection without prior communication, applies to enterprises which have been found non-compliant with food safety requirements as set forth by Article 17, Paragraph 3, Point b; Article 31, Paragraph 3 and Article 36, Paragraph 2 or involved in complaints.”

5.   Amending Point d Item 1 Article 14, in details:

“d) Sampling to verify effectiveness of own checks by such enterprise by the form in Appendix IA”

6.   Amending first paragraph of Article 17 and Item 2 Article 17, in details:

a) Amending first paragraph of Article 17, in details:

“Within 06 (six) working days after inspection, audit, inspecting, certifying body shall verify inspection, audit report and communicate inspection, audit outcome”

b) Amending Item 2 Article 17, in details:

“2. Regular inspection, ad hoc inspections:

a) For satisfactory outcome (Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3): inspecting, certifying body shall communicate inspection, audit findings and inspection frequency applied in coming time;

b) For unsatisfactory outcome (Class 4): Complying with provisions set forth in Paragraph 1, Point b of this Article.”

7.   Amending Item 2 Article 22, in details:

“2. The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department shall set up list of priorities, including enterprises fulfilling criteria as follows:

a) Being in the list of participants to the pre-export certification Program by a specific country;

b) Having export consignments and no consignment found non-compliant by Competent Authorities of Vietnam or importing countries at least 3 months from date of being classified as Class 1 or 2.

8.   Amending Point c Item 1 Article 27, in details:

“c) Sampling ratio for verification shall be determined upon enterprise’s classification; history of compliance; product’s risk level; production scale, production capacity or output as set force in Appendix IIA.

Base on implementation results, the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department shall review, amend Appendix IIA and submitt it to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval.  

9.   Amending Item 2 Article 28, in details:

“2. Review and issuance of Health Certificate:

Within 01 (one) working day on receipt of completed registration, inspecting, certifying bodies shall verify registration document, review verification result of corrective actions of food hazard control as set forth in Article 27 and issue Health Certificate by the form required by respective importing country or communicate in written reason of no pre-export certification.”

10. Amending Article 32, in details:

“Article 32. Review and issuance of Health Certificate

1. Within 02 (two) working days of dispatch of the consignment, consignor shall provide inspecting, certifying bodies with sufficient information required for certification by competent authority of importing country. Within 01 (one) working day on receipt of information sufficient for certification, inspecting, certifying bodies shall issue Health Certificate by the form of respective importing country when inspection and testing results are compliant with food safety requirements.”

11. Appendix IA shall replace Appendix IV of Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT ; Appendix IIA shall replace Appendix X of Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT

Article 2. Entry into force

1. This Circular shall come into force as from 30 March 2017.

2. All obstacles, difficulties arising during enforcement of the Circular shall be submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for consideration and appropriate amendment.

FOR THE MINISTER

 (signed and sealed)

VU VAN TAM

DEPUTY MINISTER