How are imported seafood products transferred to domestic consumption quarantined?

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Processing tuna for export. Photo: T.H

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in response to enterprises' concerns regarding quarantine regulations for seafood products imported for export production or processing for export and then transferred to domestic consumption, VASEP has made recommendations and received answers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

According to the provisions of Circular No. 06/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated July 28, 2022 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circulars regulating the quarantine of animals, aquatic animal products, and aquatic raw materials imported for processing and export, production for export subject to quarantine exemption.

Therefore, raw material shipments are imported from many different countries and facilities; including countries and facilities that have not been approved for export to Vietnam according to the provisions of Point c, Clause 2, Article 44 of the Law on Veterinary Medicine, Clause 1, Article 14 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018.

According to the above regulations, all shipments are not required to have a Quarantine Certificate issued by a competent authority of the exporting country as prescribed in Point b, Clause 2, Article 44 of the Law on Veterinary Medicine; It is not required to submit an import quarantine declaration as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 45 of the Law on Veterinary Medicine; When importing, the shipment is transferred directly to the production facilities of the enterprise, and does not have to comply with the provisions of Article 47 of the Law on Veterinary Medicine.

Therefore, according to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, when transferring the purpose for domestic consumption, the shipments are able not to meet the regulations for imported aquatic products for domestic consumption, leading to violations of the regulations on administrative sanctions in Decree No. 90/2017/ND-CP dated July 31, 2017 of the Government.

The shipment will not be sealed or lead-sealed as prescribed; the shipments put into production will no longer be in its original state; the information of the shipments is not consistent with the Quarantine Certificate of the exporting country to carry out import quarantine procedures.

In cases where the owner brings aquatic products to the enterprise's warehouse in many places across the country, the quarantine agency does not have enough human resources and resources to organize the implementation.

The risk of seafood raw materials originating from places that are not strictly controlled for disease and food safety, and unknown origin, being imported into Vietnam to be used as raw materials for export processing, or imported to change the purpose of use.

The risk that shipments having to be handled due to expired (in fact, in 2018 and 2021, there were a number of incidents leading to complaints at many levels, for many months), damaged goods, poor quality goods in cases that imported in long time but not using it as raw materials, which are proposed to change the purpose of use by enterprises.

The shipment may have labels and packaging that do not comply with current regulations on labels and packaging for imported food products for domestic consumption, because imported aquatic products for the purpose of processing for export or producing for export may be packed in the entire container or packed into frozen blocks without packaging and labels are common labels of the entire container.

Costs arise due to having to take samples for testing of disease indicators; in case the shipment does not meet the requirements, it will be very difficult to handle; the time to organize quarantine and take samples for testing cannot be guaranteed in accordance with import quarantine regulations.

It may lead to unfair competition for domestically produced goods, goods imported under quarantine procedures for domestic consumption, there may be commercial fraud...

Based on the above reality, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development continues to assign the Department of Animal Health to coordinate with relevant units to research and evaluate the subjects affected by the proposed content of VASEP, thereby proposing a plan to both ensure limiting the impact on the production and business activities of enterprises as well as ensuring that Vietnamese people can use products that ensure food safety;

At the same time, ensure state management of imported aquatic products for processing and producing for export to change the purpose of making food for domestic consumption.