Import raw material for export production will not have to check food safety

Professional activities at Mong Cai Customs Branch- Quang Ninh Customs Department. Photo: Q.Hùng

Earlier, Quang Ninh Seafoods Co.,Ltd have proposed to the Customs authority to allow the enterprise to use guidance document of the Department of Animal Health and Customs dossiers for cargo clearance for food raw materials to produce exported goods without submitting the results of other State inspection on quarantine, and food safety when doing Customs procedures.

Regarding to problems of businesses, the General Department of Customs has clarified two issues: About checking food safety of importing goods for export production and quarantine on importing goods for export production.

For checking food safety, implementing the request of the Government in Resolution 103/NQ-CP, the General Government of Customs and the Ministry of Health (Department of Food Safety) has written guidelines for guidance.

Accordingly, enterprises do not have to do checking food safety of importing goods under export production or processing export goods.

About the quarantine of imported goods for export production, based on the Veterinary Law and Circular 25/2016/TT-BNN of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development regulations on animal quarantine, animal products land animals on the list, the animal quarantine of imports are raw materials used in the manufacture of food products not subject to export are exempt from quarantine when importing.

Implementing the above guidance, the Customs Newspaper Correspondent contacted one officer of Mong Cai Customs Branch. Currently, Customs authority does not ask businesses to do State inspection of food safety for importing goods under type of export production or processing exported goods in order to do cargo clearance. However, provisions about checking quarantine, Customs and enterprises must comply to current regulation.

Meanwhile, related to imported goods not only a subject to check food safety but also checking quarantine, the Ministry of Finance has issued a document to suggest 3 Ministries that are Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Ministry of Health to consider and approve for imported goods under the subject of checking food safety and quarantine in order to use 1 inspection document to do cargo clearance procedure.

However, while waiting for officers of specialized management to do research, and revise the regulations on specialized inspection for export and import goods, enterprises must still follow the current regulations.