Quyết định 4041/QD-BNN-QLCL

DECISION

TO ENHANCE THE CONTROL OF THE QUALITY, SAFETY AND HYGIENE OF AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS EXPORTED TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 01/2008/ND-CP dated January 03^rd 2008, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on food safety and hygiene dated July 26^th 2003 and the Government's Decree No. 163/2004/ND-CP dated September 07^th 2004 elaborating the the Ordinance on food safety and hygiene;

Aiming to ensure the quality, safety and hygiene of Vietnam’s aquaculture products to meet the conditions of Russian Federation;

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

DECIDES

Article 1. Taking measures for enhancing the control of the quality, safety and hygiene of aquaculture products exported to Russian Federation, in particular:

1. The enterprises that process aquaculture products (hereinafter referred to as enterprises) that satisfy the conditions below shall be added to the list of exporters of aquaculture products to Russian Federation:

a. Satisfy the conditions for food safety and hygiene in aquaculture production prescribed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development.

b. Satisfy the requirements of competent authorities of Russian Federation:

- The enterprises that process frozen aquaculture products must be able to supply themselves with at least 1/3 of the ingredients needed for their production.  Enterprises shall sign contracts with aquaculture farms that meet the veterinary hygiene standards to provide the rest of the ingredients, and carry out regular inspections at such aquaculture farms.

- Other enterprises shall satisfy the conditions for food safety and hygiene in the whole production chain from ingredients to finished products.  Ingredients shall only be purchased from enterprises that have Certificates of food hygiene and safety.

- There must be cold storage that suit their production capacity.

- The enterprises that process frozen aquaculture products and sign contracts with importers of Russian Federation shall be prioritized, which indicate the ice glazing ratio does not exceed 10%.

2. Aquaculture products shall be exported to Russian Federation when the conditions below are satisfied:

a. They are produced by enterprises that:

- Satisfy the conditions in Clause 1 of this Article, and

- Are inspected and certified by Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service of Russia (VPSS), and added to the list of exporters of aquaculture products to Russian Federation.

b. They are inspected and issued with Certificates of satisfactory quality according to the Decision No. 07/2007/QD-BTS dated July 27^th 2007 of the Ministry of Aquaculture and the Decision No. 2670/QD-BNN-QLCL dated August 29^th 2008 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development.

The ice glazing ratio of frozen aquaculture products must satisfy the current requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development. Enterprises shall report the amount of aquaculture products in stock with improper ice glazing ratio to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development (National Agro - Forestry - Fisheries Quality Assurance Department) up to December 20^th 2008, and suggest solutions.

d. The packages and labels of products must indicate:

- The products are made in Vietnam;

- The code of the producer;

- The code of the shipment;

- The ingredients of the products (specify the additives and bulking agents);

- The net weight and ice-glazing ratio of the product.

3. An enterprise shall have the issuance of Certificates of quality to aquaculture product shipments to Russian Federation suspended when:

a.It violates the regulations on certification codes or regulations on labeling;

b. It violates the regulations on the use of chemicals and additives issued by competent authorities of Russian Federation and Vietnam, especially the regulations on chemicals and additives for frozen fish in the Decision No. 01/2008/QD-BNN dated January 04^th 2008 and the Decision No. 53/2008/QD-BNN dated April 21^st 2008 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development;

c. It violates the regulations on the use of banned chemicals and banned antibiotics;

d. It violates the regulations according to the result of inspections and supervision of aquaculture product quality, safety and hygiene according to the periodic result notifications of National Agro - Forestry - Fisheries Quality Assurance Department;

dd. Within 06 months, more than 02 shipments of the same articles of the enterprise receive warnings about the same food safety and hygiene criterion, or 01 shipment of the enterprise receives a warning about the infection of Listeria monocytogenes.

Article 2. National Agro - Forestry - Fisheries Quality Assurance Department shall:

1. Review, carry out inspections, and make a list of qualified enterprises as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 1 of this Decision, and request VPSS to verify and allow the export of aquaculture products to Russian Federation.

2. Inspect and certify shipments of aquaculture products to Russian Federation:

a. Supervise the origins of ingredients of shipments of aquaculture products to Russian Federation during the inspection and certification of shipment quality.

b. Check the shipments at the enterprises certified by VPSS, including the documents about quality control from the receipt of ingredients to the completion of finished products, the preservation process, and the information on product labels. Only inspect and issue certificates to the shipments that follow the certified process and quality control program.

c. Carry out unscheduled inspections of shipments at ports of departure to ensure that they satisfy the requirements (including the loading of goods on the container, the ship, the seal of the shipment, etc.)

3. Improve the capability of Laboratories of food safety and hygiene centers in order to ensure the punctuality.

4. Comply with the requests of Russian Federation for the issuance and management of the Certificates of safety and hygiene to aquaculture product shipments to Russian Federation.

Article 3. This Decision comes into force from the day on which it is signed.

Article 4. The Director of National Agro - Forestry - Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, Directors of Services of Agriculture and Rural development, Heads of relevant units, and Directors of enterprises that produce and export aquaculture products to Russian Federation are responsible for the implementation of this Decision.