How to quarantine imported aquatic products for domestic consumption?

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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 the difficulties of enterprises related to quarantine regulations for aquatic products imported for export production or export processing to change the purpose of use 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 imported aquatic raw materials for export processing and export production, which are exempt from quarantine.

Therefore, raw material shipments are imported from many different countries and establishments; including countries and establishments that have not been approved to 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 provisions, all shipments are not required to have a Quarantine Certificate issued by a competent authority of the exporting country according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 44 of the Law on Veterinary Medicine; It is not required to submit an import quarantine declaration according to the provisions of 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 converting the purpose for domestic consumption, the shipment is at risk of not meeting the regulations for imported aquatic products consumed domestically, 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 no longer be sealed or lead-sealed as prescribed; the shipment put into production will no longer be in its original state; the information of the shipment is not consistent with the Quarantine Certificate of the exporting country to carry out import quarantine procedures.

In cases where the owner brings aquatic raw materials to the warehouse of the enterprise 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, food safety, and of unknown origin imported into Vietnam for export processing or imported for conversion of use purposes.

The risk of shipments having to handle expired goods (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 where the importing enterprise has not used them for a long time and then proposed to convert the use purpose.

The shipment may have product labels and packaging that are not in accordance with current regulations on product labels and packaging for imported food products for domestic consumption, because imported seafood raw materials for the purpose of export processing or export production can be packed in the whole container or packed into frozen blocks without packaging and labels that are common labels for the whole container.

Costs arise due to having to take samples to test for 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.

This may lead to unfair competition for domestically produced goods, goods imported under quarantine procedures for domestic consumption, and there may be trade 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 study 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, ensuring state management of imported aquatic products for processing and export to change the purpose of domestic consumption food.