Thông tư 23/2014/TT-BNNPTNT

CIRCULAR

PROVIDING GUIDANCE ON IMPLEMENTING DECREE NO. 36/2014/ND-CP OF THE GOVERNMENT DATED APRIL 29, 2014 ON RAISING, PROCESSING AND EXPORTING PANGASIUS

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

Pursuant to the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP dated April 29, 2014 of the Government on raising, processing and exporting pangasius;

At the request of Director General of Directorate of Fisheries and Director of National Agro- Forestry- Fishery Quality Assurance Department;

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development promulgates the Circular providing guidance on implementing the Decree No. 36/2014/ND – CP dated April 29, 2014 of the Government on raising, processing and exporting Pangasius.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Circular provides guidance on inspecting the raising conditions, issuing ID numbers of farming facilities and certifying registration of commercial pangasius farming facilities; inspecting quality, food safety in processing and exporting pangasius products; certifying pangasius export contracts.

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular is applied to any Vietnamese and foreign entities involving in raising, processing and exporting pangasius within Vietnamese’s territory.

Chapter II

INSPECTING CONDITIONS, ISSUING ID NUMBERS OF FARMING FACILITIES AND CERTIFYING REGISTRATION OF COMMERCIAL PANGASIUS FARMING FACILITIES

Article 3. Issuing ID numbers of farming facilities and certifying registration of commercial pangasius farming facilities

1. Principle:

a) Any farming facility shall be issued with an ID number if it is listed in a planning approved by a provincial People’s Committee;

b) If a farming facility has multiple fish ponds, each of them shall be issued with a different ID number.

c) ID numbers of a farming facility and its fish pond shall be only issued upon the first registration and re-registration;

d) Registration of ID numbers in the first time and re-registration are made separately or along with certifying registration of commercial pangasius farming facilities.

dd) The registration of commercial pangasius farming facilities includes area and capacity registration.

2. Regulation on ID numbers:

An ID number consists of 11 digits separated into AA-BB-CCCC-DDD, where

a) AA: the code of province, applied to fishery management (according to Appendix 1 enclosed with this Circular)

b) BB: the code of the fish (01 for pangasius);

c) CCCC: ordinal number of facility ranging from 0001 to 9999;

d) DDD: ordinal number of fish pond ranging from 001 to 999.

For example: ID number of a pangasius pond in Dong Thap Province is 87-01-0008-009

Where: 87 is the code of Dong Thap Province; 01 is the code of pangasius; 0008 is ordinal number of farming facility and 009 is ordinal number of the pond.

3. Provincial Fishery Authority shall issue ID numbers to local farming facilities and certify registration commercial pangasius farming facilities.

4. Application documents for ID numbers of a farming facility and registration of commercial pangasius farming facility

a) When applying for only the ID numbers or registration of the commercial pangasius farming facility, application documents include: application for ID numbers of the farming facility (according to Appendix 2 issued with this Circular) and a diagram showing the layout of the farming facility built by the owner or 02 applications for registration of commercial pangasius farming facility (according to Appendix 3 issuing with this Circular)

b) When applying for both the ID numbers and registration of the commercial; pangasius farming facilities, application documents include: application for ID numbers of the farming facility (according to Appendix 2 issued with this Circular) and a diagram showing the layout of the farming facility built by the owner; 02 applications for registration of commercial pangasius farming facility (according to Appendix 3 issuing with this Circular)

5. Procedures:

a) At least 20 days before breeding, the owner shall apply for an ID number of the farming facility (in the first time or re-registration) and apply for commercial pangasius farming facility with Provincial Fishery Authority.

b) The owner shall send 01 set of application mentioned in Clause 4 of this Article directly or by post to Provincial Fishery Authority;

c) Within 01 working day (if the application is submitted directly) or 02 working days (if the application is sent by post), Provincial Fishery Authority shall guide the owner to complete the application;

d) Within 05 working days after receiving the valid documents, Provincial Fishery Authority shall issue the certificate of ID number to the pangasius farming facility (according to Appendix 4 issued with this Circular) and certify the application for registration of commercial pangasius farming facility, keep 01 copy and return 01 copy to the owner directly or by post. If the application is rejected, Provincial Fishery Authority shall reply the owner in writing, provide explanation, and shall not return the documents.

6. Re-registration of ID numbers:

a) Cases in which re-registration is required when the owner, area, or the diagram showing the layout of farming facility is changed

b) Procedures for re-registration are the same as the first registration, which are specified in Clause 4, Clause 5 of this Article.

Article 4. Inspecting the commercial pangasius farming facilities

1. Commercial Pangasius farming facilities shall be inspected in accordance with Article 4 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP dated April 29, 2014 of the Government on raising, processing and exporting pangasius (hereinafter referred as to Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP) and Circular No. 14/2011/TT-BNNPTNT dated March 29, 2011 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development specified the inspection, evaluation of agricultural materials, forestry and fishery products of production and business facilities (hereinafter referred as to the Circular No. 14/2011/TT-BNNPTNT).

2. Registration of ID numbers and commercial pangasius farming facility shall be inspected in accordance with Article 3 of this Circular:

a) / The inspection of ID numbers and registration of commercial pangasius farming facility shall be combined with inspection activities in Circular No. 14/2011/TT-BNNPTNT;

b) In case the owner provides wrong information on location or area of the pond; the ID number or application for registration of commercial pangasius is used for unregistered ponds, Provincial Fishery Authority shall take timely corrective measures; send a report on the cases beyond its competence to Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Directorate of Fisheries, and send a notification to Vietnam Pangasius Association and post publicly through the mass media.

Chapter III

INSPECTING FACILITIES, QUALITY AND FOOD SAFETY IN PROCESSING AND EXPORTING PANGASIUS

Article 5. Inspecting processing facilities and certifying food safety of pangasius products

1. The inspection and certification of food safety conditions for pangasius processing facilities serving the domestic market shall be carried out in accordance with Article 5, Article 6 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP and the Circular No. 14/2011/TT-BNNPTNT.

2. The inspection and certification of food safety of exported pangasius products shall be carried out in accordance with Article 5, Article 6 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP and the Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 12, 2013 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development specified the inspection and certification of food safety of exported fish products (hereinafter referred as to the Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT)

Article 6. Inspecting quality, the use of chemicals, additives and labeling for pangasius products

1. Inspecting authority:

a) National Agro- Forestry- Fishery Quality Assurance Department and other divisions assigned or authorized shall inspect processing facilities serving the export market.

b) Provincial Agro- Forestry- Fishery Quality Assurance Department shall inspect pangasius processing facilities serving the domestic market.

2. Contents of inspection:

a) Inspecting the origin of pangasius used in processing;

b) Inspecting the use of chemicals, additives, labeling in accordance with regulations of Vietnam and importers

c) Inspecting the conformity of pangasius product with technical standards applied by the facility:

d) Sampling, testing glazing ratio and moisture

3. Inspection is carried out in accordance with Article 48 of the Law on quality of goods and products; Head of inspecting authority shall decide to establish inspectorate.

4. Method of inspection:

a) Documents and practical conditions relating to production shall be inspected in accordance with Clause 2 of this Article.

b) Method of determining net weight, glazing ratio shall comply with Standard No. 165-1989 (Rev.1-1995) of Codex Committee – Codex Standard for quick frozen blocks of fish fillet, minced fish flesh and mixtures of fillets and minced fish flesh);

c) Method of determining moisture is formulated under Official method No. 983.18- meat and meat products, preparation of test sample procedure; Official method No. 950.46- Moisture in meat- Method A) of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). Test Laboratories and method of analysis must be certified as meeting standard TCVN ISO/IEC 17025:2007 or equivalent to and evaluated and appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

5. Inspection frequency:

a) Supervision: the frequency of food safety inspection prescribed in Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT and Circular No. 14/3011/TT-BNNPTNT shall apply;

b) A surprise inspection shall be carried out when a facility is suspected of committing the violations in Article 6 of Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP or many consignments of a facility are given warnings by the authority of the importing country as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 9 of Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP.

6. Location of inspection shall be carried out at processing area, warehouse, and places that products are stored.

7. Procedures for inspection:

a) Present the decision on inspection;

b) Carry out the inspection in accordance with Clause 2 of this Article;

c) Make the inspection record;

d) Send a report on the inspection result to the inspecting authority

dd) Deal with violations under regulation mentioned in Article 7 of this Circular

Article 7. Dealing with violations against regulations on quality of pangasius products

1. Inspectorate shall make the minutes of administrative violations and report Inspecting Authority. Depending on nature and seriousness of violations, inspecting authorities shall:

a) Make statistics and forfeit violating products, request pangasius processing facilities to take remedial measures in order to ensure product quality before being sold on the market. Then such the violating products are sampled and tested by inspecting authority before being sold on the market.

b) Suspend the export of pangasius products that violate regulations on moisture, glazing ratio, and labeling;

c) Request the facility to destroy or change the purpose of pangasius products violating the regulations on the use of chemicals, additives

2. If the processing facility fails to submit a report or fails submit a satisfactory report on the remedial measures, the inspecting authority shall carry out a surprise inspection. If the processing facility keeps committing violations, within 07 working days from the day on which it is concluded that the facility keeps committing violations, the inspecting authority shall make an announcement through the mass media of the name, address of the processing facility, and names of the violating products, and the food safety standards that the processing facility fails to achieve.

3. If such facility keeps committing violations after the announcement is made through mass media, inspecting authority shall suspend unsuitable product production and ask competent agencies to deal with the case under regulations of law on administrative penalties for violations against regulations on food safety, goods quality.

4. In case competent authority of the importing country announces a suspension of pangasius import due to unsatisfactory quality, inspecting authority shall send a written notification to the exporter, the violating facility in order for them to take remedial measures, and request Vietnam Pangasius Association to take proper actions.

Article 8. Costs of inspecting, sampling and testing

1. The costs of inspecting, sampling and testing glazing ratio, moisture, and labeling during producing pangasius products are covered by inspecting authority. The costs of sampling and testing shall be included in the budget estimate serving normal operation of inspecting authority.

2. In case inspecting authority concludes that the facility violates the regulation mentioned in Article 6 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP the owner shall pay inspecting authority the costs of inspecting, sampling and testing products (including verifying, sampling and testing during verifying the report on the result of taking the remedial measures at facilities) in accordance with Article 41 of the Law on product quality.

Chapter IV

REGISTRATION OF PANGASIUS EXPORT CONTRACTS

Article 9. Certifying the registration of pangasius export contracts

1. Organization in charge shall be Vietnam Pangasius Association

2. Certification shall be granted directly on the application for pangasius export contract registration

3. The export contract certification shall be valid for 12 months from the day on which it is signed

4. Application documents include:

a) Application for registration of pangasius export contracts (02 copies) (under Appendix 5 issued with this circular) and the documents mentioned in Points b, c, d, dd of Clause 3, Article 8 of Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP;

b) The valid copy mentioned at Point b, c, d, dd, Clause 3, Article 8 of Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP is the copy bearing the seal of the exporter registering export contract.

5. Procedures for implementation

a) The owner shall send the application to Vietnam Pangasius Association in accordance with Clause 4 of this Article directly, by fax, online or by post;

b) Procedures shall be performed as prescribed in Article 8 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND- CP;

c) The result shall be returned directly or by post.

6. In case the effect of certifying pangasius export contract is expired or there is some changes on information mentioned in Part I, Part III of Appendix 5 issuing with this Circular, the exporter shall re-register the pangasius exporting contract; documents, procedures for registration is the same as the first registration.

Article 10. Handling the result of inspecting the conditions on registration of pangasius export contract

When receiving the announcement of Authority on the owner or exporter’s violations prescribed in Article 4, Article 5, Article 6, Article 7 of this Circular, Vietnam Pangasius Association shall:

1. Send a notification to the owner, the exporter about the violations and temporarily reject applications for certification of the next pangasius export contract of the exporter until the violations are rectified and such rectification is confirmed by Authority;

2. Send a report to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 11. Responsibility of the State Authorities

1. Directorate of Fisheries shall:

a) Take charge and cooperate with relevant organizations in organizing and guiding, inspecting, supervising this circular;

b) Formulate a planning for raising and processing pangasius, then submit it to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval;

c) Instruct local governments to inspect facilities, quality of raw materials and trace the origin of raw pangasius;

d) Summarize, keep data on ID numbers of the farms, area and capacity of commercial pangasius;

e) Make plans; estimate the annual budget and submit to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval of the activities relating to guiding, inspecting and supervising this Circular.

2. National Agro- Forestry- Fishery Quality Assurance Department shall:

a) Organize; inspect quality and food safety of pangasius products in processing and exporting under regulations mentioned in this Circular;

b) Make plans; estimate the annual budget and submit to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to approve the activities relating to inspecting quality and food safety of pangasius products;

c) Take charge, cooperate with Directorate of Fisheries in organizing and making statistics of frozen pangasius fillets, falling to meet the standard, still warehoused in processing and exporting facilities as prescribed in Point b, c Article 6 of Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP

3. Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall:

a) Organize and implement this Circular in such provinces

b) Review, submit People’s Committee of province and city for approval of detail planning of raising pangasius

c) Instruct Local Fishery Authority to inspect the activities relating to raising commercial pangasius and issuing ID numbers of the farming facility, certifying the registration of commercial pangasius farming facility; summarize the result of inspecting commercial pangasius farming facility and raw material quality.

d) Annually make plans, estimate the costs from budget for issuing ID numbers of pond, certifying the registration of commercial pangasius farming facility, inspect, supervise in raising, processing and managing Pangasius quality, apply VietGap to submit competent authorities for approval.

dd) Update the data on area, pangasius production and ID numbers of the pond; monthly, quarterly, and annually send a report to Directorate of Fisheries and notify Vietnam Pangasius Association

Article 12. Responsibility of Vietnam Pangasius Association shall

1. Organize and certify the registration of pangasius export contract in accordance with this Circular.

2. Announce the place of receiving documents, procedures for registration of pangasius export contracts

3. Prescribe the standard and announce the list of person having competence to sign and certify the registration of pangasius export contract.

4. Make statistics, monthly, quarterly and annually send a report to Directorate of Fisheries, National Agro- Forestry- Fishery Quality Assurance Department on registration situation of pangasius export contract.

Article 13. Responsibility of the owners of farming facilities, processing facilities, and exporters

1. Every owner of commercial pangasius farms shall:

a) Register the ID numbers and commercial pangasius farming facilities under regulations of this Circular;

b) Provide the application for registration of commercial pangasius farming facility to organizations, individuals buying and processing pangasius under regulations.

2. Every processing facility and the exporter shall:

a) Apply for certification of the pangasius export contract under regulations mentioned in this Circular;

b) Inspect quality and food safety of pangasius products under regulations mentioned in the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP;

c) Cooperate, create favorable conditions, and meet the requirements of inspectorate and inspecting authority

d) Pay for sampling, testing the products to Inspecting Authority in accordance with Clause 2, Article 8 of this Circular;

dd) In case of destroying goods, the violating facilities shall pay all the costs of destroying goods and be responsible for its consequences under regulations of law.

Article 14. Transition

1. Commercial pangasius farming facility shall register the area and capacity of commercial pangasius from the effective date of this Circular. The ID numbers of ponds shall be issued when provinces have approved their planning for pangasius farming.

2. The application for registration of export contract:

a) From the effective date of this Circular until to May 31, 2015, the application for registration of commercial pangasius export contract must comply with Point a, d, dd, Clause 3, Article 8 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP;

b) From June 01, 2015, the exporters shall submit the application in accordance with Clause 4, Article 9 of this Circular when registering commercial pangasius export contract.

3. Warehousing frozen pangasius fillets of which the glazing ratio and moisture are higher than the regulations mentioned in Point b, c, Clause 3, Article 6 of the Decree No. 36/2014/ND-CP may be exported until December 31, 2014 if their quality, food safety are conformable with regulations of the importing country; however, the exporters and processing facilities shall make statistics and send a report under the guidance of National Agro – Forestry – Fishery Quality Assurance Department.

Article 15. Effect

1. This circular takes effect from September 12, 2014.

2. If documents referred to in this Circular are amended or replaced, new documents shall apply.

3. Any difficulty that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for consideration./.

APPENDIX 1

DEFINING THE CODE OF PROVINCES IN FISHERY MANAGEMENT
(Issuing with Circular No. 23/2014/TT-BNNPTNT dated July 29, 2014 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development)