Why have enterprises struggled when imported raw materials for producing supplementary foods?

In the context of the pandemic, the production and business of enterprises face many difficulties. However, besides the objective factor, another subjective factor also causes difficulties to the operation of enterprises, which is the inconsistency in management among related agencies on the same issue.

illustration image. Source: Internet

According to Document No. 319/YDCT-QLD sent by the Traditional Medicine Administration - the Ministry of Health to the General Department of Vietnam Customs about the import of herbal ingredients, some enterprises have imported many products declared as using manufacturing foods such as semen cassiae adenosma glutinosum, cullen corylifolium, alisma plantago aquatica, mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), poria mushroom (sclerotium poriae cocos) and scutellaria rivilaris wall, as well as many other herb ingredients in the form of dried fruits or agricultural products.

The above items are not under the scope of regulations in Appendix III, Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, stipulating the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety, these items are used as herbal ingredients managed by the Ministry of Health in accordance with Decree 15/2018/ND-CP.

The content of Document No. 319 has caused difficulties for many enterprises that are importing raw materials for supplementary food production when they cannot implement clearance procedures.

According to the representative of CHEMPHARCO., JSC, this enterprise regularly imports raw materials to produce supplementary foods and implements cargo clearance at Hai Phong port area III Customs Branch. To implement cargo clearance, enterprises have prepared product self-declaration and registered for state inspection of food safety for imported food at Hai Phong Department of Health.

However, on May 13, 2020, the Traditional Medicine Administration of the Ministry of Health issued Document No. 319/YDCT-QLD to the General Department of Vietnam Customs on the import of herbal ingredients.

Compared with this Document, the list of 23 raw materials serving the production of supplementary foods that enterprises are importing would be subject to the same management as herbal ingredients and comply with Decree 54/2017/ND-CP. It means that businesses are not allowed to import raw materials for manufacturing supplementary foods in the usual way. They would have to provide a lot of papers, dossiers and documents to import in the form of herbal ingredients.

With this inadequacy, according to the representative of CHEMPHARCO., JSC, the enterprise has re-study the regulations and found that, according to the Law on Pharmacy No. 105/2016/QH13 dated April 6, 2016, issued by the National Assembly, herbal ingredients are ingredients used for producing medicines that originate from natural sources like plants, animals or minerals and meet medicinal standards.

However, Document No.319/YDCT-QLD defined herbal ingredients as raw materials originating from plants, animals, minerals which are used for many different purposes such as raw materials for producing food, supplementary food and medicine. This was inconsistent with the definition stated in the Law on Pharmacy.

With this difficulty, the enterprise has submitted a petition to the Traditional Medicine Department and the Department of Food Safety.

On July 9, 2020, the Department of Food Safety, the Ministry of Health issued a response document No. 1582/ATTP-SP and instructed enterprises to carry out the procedure of importing herbal extracts as raw materials in producing foods and supplementary foods complied with Article 5 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP.

On August 4, 2020, the response document No. 550/YDCT-QLD of the Traditional Medicine Administration - the Ministry of Health also stated if the company imported plant extracts used to produce foods for protecting health, they must comply with the provisions of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP.

"Thus, according to the content of this document, the company has properly and fully implemented the process of applying for a license to implement clearance procedures for the shipment of 23 plant extracts as mentioned above," the representative of CHEMPHARCO., JSC said.

However, the Hai Phong port area III Customs Branch based on Document No. 319 of the Traditional Medicine Administration so they did not accept to implement clearance procedures for the products of the enterprise.

It is known that, not only CHEMPHARCO., JSC has encountered this problem, there are many companies which have faced difficulties relating to this issue.