Decision No. 425/2001/QD-BTS On Issuing Temporary Regulations on Announcing Quality Standards for Specialized Aquatic Products

DECISION OF THE MINISTER OF AQUATIC RESOURCES

Regarding the issuance ofTemporary Regulations on the Announcement of Quality Standards

for Aquatic Products

MINISTER OF AQUATIC RESOURCES

Pursuant to the GovernmentDecree No. 50/CP dated June 21, 1994 on the tasks, powers, and organizationalstructure of the Ministry of Fisheries;

Pursuant to the DecisionNo. 2425/2000/QD-BKHCNMT dated December 12, 2000 of the Minister of Science,Technology, and Environment on the issuance of Temporary Regulations on theAnnouncement of Quality Standards for Goods;

Considering the proposalof the Director of the Aquatic Resources Protection Department,

DECISION:

Article 1The Temporary Regulationson the Announcement of Quality Standards for Aquatic Products are hereby issuedtogether with this Decision.

Article 2. Organizations and individualsengaged in the production and business of aquatic products must announce qualitystandards according to these Regulations.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect fifteen days after the date of signature.

Article 4. The Director of theAquatic Resources Protection Department shall be responsible for organizing andguiding the implementation of this Decision. Heads of the Departments ofOrganizational Cadres, Science and Technology, and the Inspector General of theMinistry shall be responsible for inspecting compliance with the contents of theTemporary Regulations on the Announcement of Quality Standards for AquaticProducts.

TEMPORARY REGULATIONS ONTHE ANNOUNCEMENT OF

QUALITY STANDARDS FOR AQUATICPRODUCTS

(Issued together withDecision No. 425/2001/QD-BTS dated May 25, 2001)

of the Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology Ministry of Fisheries)

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1These Regulations specifythe content and procedures for announcing quality standards for aquatic products.

Article 2. Organizations andindividuals (hereinafter referred to as entities) engaged in the production andbusiness of aquatic products (including entities operating under the Law onForeign Investment in Vietnam) must announce quality standards for aquaticproducts in accordance with Articles 10 and 20 of the Ordinance on ProductQuality.

Article 3. The scope of application ofthese Regulations includes domestic and imported aquatic products produced andused in Vietnam as follows:

1. Aquatic animals andplants used for breeding (including parent breeds).

2. Industrial feed foraquaculture.

3. Drugs, chemicals, andbiological preparations used in aquaculture.

4. Fishing gear andequipment used in fishing activities.

Article 4The announcement of qualitystandards for aquatic products shall be uniformly reflected in the Announcementof Quality Standards for Aquatic Products.

In cases where a companyhas multiple branches or subsidiaries producing and trading the same type ofproduct (with the same name and quality level), the company shall be responsiblefor announcing the quality standards at its headquarters location, and thentransfer copies of the Announcement of Quality Standards to each branch orsubsidiary for reporting to local management authorities.

Local managementauthorities with jurisdiction over the company's premises will manage based onthe unified Announcement of Quality Standards.

Article 5The agency receiving andacknowledging the Announcement of Quality Standards for Aquatic Products is theAquatic Resources Protection Department and local Aquatic Resources ProtectionSub-departments:

The Aquatic ResourcesProtection Department shall be responsible for receiving and acknowledging theAnnouncement of Quality Standards for Aquatic Products for entities located inareas without local Aquatic Resources Protection Sub-departments.

Provincial and municipalAquatic Resources Protection Sub-departments directly under the centralgovernment shall be responsible for receiving and acknowledging the Announcementof Quality Standards for Aquatic Products for entities headquartered in theirlocality.

Article 6The announced qualitystandards include:

Vietnamese Standards,Industry Standards, International or Regional Standards, Foreign Standardsaccepted by the entity for application to its products.

Entity-specific standardsdeveloped by the entity itself.

The content of theannounced standards must not conflict with national regulations issued byauthoritative state agencies for nationwide application.

Chapter II

CONTENT AND PROCEDURESFOR ANNOUNCEMENT

, Clause 1, Clause 2 Article 7a of this Regulation.The announcement of QualityStandards for Aquatic Products consists of two sets of documents.

Entities submit theannouncement of quality standards for aquatic products to the receiving andacknowledging agency, including:

1. The Announcement ofQuality Standards for Aquatic Products;

2. Quality standards forannounced products (entity-specific standards, foreign standards) along withthe decision on issuance;

3. Product labels;

4. Copies of evaluationcertificates for testing results (for products requiring pre-market researchand testing).

Article 8. Receiving and processingdocuments.

1. Upon receipt of theannouncement of Quality Standards for Aquatic Products, the agency specifiedin Article 5 shall be responsible for checking the conformity of the standardswith national regulations, guiding the entity to supplement missing parts.

Within seven days fromreceiving valid documents, the receiving agency must respond to the entity,stamp the Announcement of Quality Standards for Aquatic Products, and hand overone set of the announcement documents to the entity.

Article 9. Regulations on the numberof announcements of Quality Standards for Aquatic Products:

The number of theannounced Quality Standards for Aquatic Products consists of two groups(separated by a hyphen (-)):

The first group: includes"TS" (the conventional symbol of the Ministry of Fisheries) plus theabbreviated name of the province (according to the Appendix).

The second group: theserial number of the announced product (consisting of four digits and a letterrepresenting the product category and the last two digits of the year ofannouncement, separated by a forward slash (/)).

Aquatic breeding stock isdesignated by "G"; feed for aquaculture is designated by "T";chemicals, drugs, and biological preparations are designated by "H"; fishinggear is designated by "N".

Example:

TS-0001T/01 is thenumber of the announced Quality Standard for the first aquatic product in thecategory of feed for aquaculture issued by the Aquatic Resources ProtectionDepartment in 2001.

TSSG-0010N/1 is thenumber of the announced Quality Standard for the tenth aquatic product in thecategory of fishing gear issued by the Aquatic Resources Protection Sub-departmentof Ho Chi Minh City in 2001.

Chapter III

RESPONSIBILITIES FORANNOUNCING QUALITY STANDARDS

Article 10. Responsibilities of theentity announcing quality standards for goods:

1. Ensuring that the goodsmeet the announced quality standards, inspecting the quality of the goods, andbeing responsible for the quality of the goods produced and traded by themselvesthat have been announced.

2. When there is a change in the quality of goods or the product label compared to the previous announcement, the entity must resubmit the announcement dossier in accordance with Article 8.

Article 11. Responsibilities of the agency receiving the Announcement of Quality Standards for Goods.

1. Organize, guide and implement the receipt of the announcement dossier for specialized aquatic product quality standards according to the分级规定在第五条。

2. Within their scope of responsibility, cooperate with relevant agencies to regularly or urgently inspect, audit, and promptly handle any signs or complaints regarding violations of the specialized aquatic product quality standard announcements in accordance with current laws.

3. Quarterly, each Fishery Resource Protection Office shall submit reports on the situation of announced quality standards and the quality of specialized aquatic products that have been announced, as well as related issues, to the Fishery Resource Protection Department.

4. Regularly every quarter and annually, the Fishery Resource Protection Department shall submit reports on these contents to the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment.

Chapter IV

HANDLING VIOLATIONS

Article 12. Any production and business entities specializing in aquatic products that violate the provisions of this Regulation will be punished according to the law.

Article 13. Individuals belonging to the receiving agency, when committing violations of this Regulation, depending on the nature and degree of violation, will be handled according to the law.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 14. All previous regulations contrary to this Regulation are hereby abolished. Any amendments or supplements to the content of this Regulation shall be reviewed and decided upon in writing by the Minister of Fisheries.

ANNEX

ABBREVIATIONS FOR THE NAMES OF PROVINCES AND MUNICIPALITIES DIRECTLY UNDER THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

(Attached to Decision No. 425/2001/QĐ-BTS dated May 2, 2001).