Công văn 3109/BCT-KHCN

To: Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces/ cities

On February 02, 2018, the Government promulgated the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP on elaboration of some articles of the Law on food safety to use as a substitute for the Decree No. 38/2012/ND-CP. On March 31, 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has sent the Official Dispatch No. 2129/BCT-KHCN to Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces/ cities providing guidance on the implementation of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP pending the promulgation of relevant documents on amendments and supplements.

However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has received many requests from Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces/ cities for provision of detailed guidance on some contents of the said Decree. In order to perform uniform state management of food safety, the Ministry of Industry and Trade makes this document to provide the following guidelines:

1. Micro food manufacturers:

Pursuant to regulations in Clause 16 Article 4 of the Law on enterprises, the term “business” refers to “the continuous performance of one, some, or all of stages of the investment process such as manufacturing, selling of products or provision of services for the purpose of making profits”. Therefore, micro food manufacturing is also a stage of the micro food business process.

Pursuant to regulations of Clause 10 Article 3, Clause 1 Article 12 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP , micro food sellers are not required to obtain the certificate of food safety.

Micro food manufacturers and micro food sellers must fulfill food safety requirements specified in Clause 1 Article 22 of the Law on food safety.

2. Effect of the Circular No. 57/2015/TT-BCT dated December 31, 2015 providing for food safety requirements to be satisfied by micro food manufacturers under the state management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade:

Food safety requirements to be satisfied by micro food manufacturers under the state management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade have been abrogated by the Government’s Decree No. 08/2018/ND-CP dated January 15, 2018 on amendments to Decrees on investment and business requirements under the state management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Regulated entities of the Circular No. 57/2015/TT-BCT have been abrogated by regulations of Clause 1 Article 12 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP .

Thus, the Circular No. 57/2015/TT-BCT dated December 31, 2015 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is null and void.

3. Issuance of the certificate of food safety to a seller that does not perform food manufacturing activities and whose products are under the management of more than one authority:

Pursuant to regulations of Clause 9 Article 36 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP , the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall be the supervisory authority of a seller that does not perform food manufacturing activities and whose products are under the management of more than one authority (except for wholesale farm produce markets). Thus, competent food safety authorities affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall take charge of appraise the fulfillment of food safety requirements and grant the certificate of food safety to the seller in the said case (if such seller is required to the certificate of food safety under regulations of Article 11 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP).

4. Application for license for small-scale manufacturing of alcohol for business purpose:

Pursuant to regulations of Clause 2 Article 154 of the Law on promulgation of legislative documents, partial or entire contents of a legislative document expire when it is amended by or replaced with another legislative document which is promulgated by the same regulatory authority.

Hence, the components of an application for the license for small-scale manufacturing of alcohol for business purpose submitted by a household business (considered as micro food seller) prescribed in the Decree No. 105/2017/ND-CP dated September 14, 2017 shall abide by provisions of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP regarding food safety management of micro food sellers.

5. Issuance of the certificate of food safety to supermarkets that engages in both manufacturing and selling of foods:

A supermarket that engages in both manufacturing and selling of foods is required to obtain the only certificate of food safety for both such activities from a regulatory authority affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces/ Cities are required to perform assigned state management functions according to these guidelines for food safety management as regulated in the Government’s Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 02, 2018.