Circular 39/2018/TT-BNNPTNT guiding the quality and safety inspection of imported salted foods under the management responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

CIRCULAR

PROVIDING GUIDANCE ON INSPECTION OF FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY OF IMPORTED SALT UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 15/2017/ND-CP dated February 17, 2017 defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

Pursuant to the Law on quality of goods and products in 2007;

Pursuant to the Law on food safety in 2010;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 providing guidance on implementation of the Law on quality of goods and products; the Government’s Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 providing amendments to the Government’s Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008 providing guidance on implementation of the Law on quality of goods and products; the Government’s Decree No.154/2018/ND-CP dated November 09, 2018 amending and nullifying certain regulations on investment and business conditions in sectors under the state management of the Ministry of Science and Technology and certain regulations on specialized inspection;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 02, 2018 on elaboration of some articles of the Law on food safety; the Government’s Decree No. 155/2018/ND-CP dated November 12, 2018 on amendments to some regulations on investment and business conditions in sectors under the state management of the Ministry of Health;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 09/2016/ND-CP dated January 28, 2016 on fortification of foods with micronutrients;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 40/2017/ND-CP dated April 05, 2017 on management of salt production and trading;

At the request of the Director of the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development;

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development promulgates a Circular providing guidance on inspection of food safety and quality of imported salt under authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. This Circular provides for contents and procedures for inspection of food safety and quality of imported salt under the state management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

2. This Circular applies to Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals that import salt (hereinafter referred to as "importers") and other organizations and individuals involved in inspection of food safety and quality of imported salt.

Article 2. Inspected subjects

1. Imported industrial salt shall be subject to quality inspection.

2. imported food grade salt or table salt and imported refined salt shall be subject to food safety inspection.

3. Cases where the inspection of quality and food safety of imported salt is exempted:

a) Cases where the inspection of quality is exempted as regulated in Point 7 Clause 3 Article 1 of the Government’s Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP dated May 15, 2018 and Clause 2 Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 154/2018/ND-CP dated November 09, 2018.

b) Cases where the state inspection of safety of imported foods is exempted as regulated in Article 13 of the Government’s Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 02, 2018.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

For the purpose of this Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. “salt” (including table salt and denatured salt) means a compound which contains sodium chloride (chemical formula: NaCl) as its main ingredient and is made from seawater, underground salt water or extracted from salt mines.

2. “food grade salt or table salt” refers to the salt which is fortified with iodine, used for eating and food processing, and contains substances with the contents as prescribed in the National Technical Regulation QCVN 9-1:2011/BYT.

3. “refined salt” refers to the salt which has been properly treated or refined and contains substances with the contents as prescribed in the National Standard TCVN 9639:2013 and the National Technical Regulation QCVN 8-2:2011/BYT.

4. “industrial salt” refers to the salt which contains substances with the contents as prescribed in the National Standard TCVN 9640:2013 or the National Technical Regulation on industrial salt.

5. “imported salt shipment” refers to a predetermined quantity of the salt which is of the same type, has the same name, uses, brand, category and technical specifications, is supplied by a manufacturer and supported by the same import dossier.

Article 4. Inspecting authorities

Relevant departments/ agencies affiliated to Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall take charge of inspecting quality of imported salt and performing state inspection of food safety of imported salt.

Article 5. Inspection grounds

1. For inspection of quality of imported salt:

Certification or inspection results given by duly registered or accredited certification bodies or inspection bodies to certify the conformity of imported salt shipments of importers with the National Standard 9640-2013 – Industrial sodium chloride or the National Technical Regulation on sodium chloride for industrial use in accordance with regulations laid down in Paragraph b Point 2 Clause 3 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP.

2. For inspection of food safety of imported salt:

Self-declaration forms as prescribed in Article 4 and Article 5 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP and Clause 1 Article 3 of the Government’s Decree No. 155/2018/ND-CP dated November 12, 2018 providing amendments to Point a Clause 2 Article 5 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP. To be specific:

a) For import of food grade salt (or table salt): The self-declaration form that the imported salt is conformable with the Ministry of Health’s national technical regulation QCVN 9-1:2011/BYT on food grade iodated salt.

b) For import of refined salt: The self-declaration form that the imported salt is conformable with the National Standard TCVN 9639:2013 – Refined sodium chloride and the National Technical Regulation QCVN 8-2:2011/BYT on the limits of heavy metals contamination in food.

Article 6. Inspection of quality of imported salt

1. The concerned importer shall submit an application for inspection of quality of imported salt to the inspecting agency in the place where the importer’s warehouse or store of imported salt shipment is located.

2. Application for inspection; inspection procedures; actions against the imported salt shipment which fails to meet quality requirements as specified in inspection results record; exemption from inspection of quality of imported salt; responsibilities and rights of inspecting agencies; rights and obligations of importers shall follow regulations laid down in Point 2b Clause 3 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP; Article 13 of the Government’s Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP dated December 31, 2008, and Clause 5 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP; Clause 3 Article 4 of the Decree No. 154/2018/ND-CP; Article 13 of the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP; Article 12 of the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP; Article 4 Clause 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP; Article 13a of the Decree No. 132/2008/ND-CP as amended in Clause 6 Article 1 of the Decree No. 74/2018/ND-CP.

Article 7. Inspection of food safety of imported salt

1. The concerned importer shall submit an application for inspection of food safety of imported salt to the inspecting agency at the port of entry of the imported salt shipment.

If the tightened inspection is carried out, the inspecting agency is required to reach an agreement with the importer on sampling date. The importer shall notify the customs agency of sampling time and location for witnessing the sampling process.

2. Application for inspection; inspection procedures; actions against the imported salt shipment that fails to meet quality requirements as specified in the inspection results record; employment of inspection method; responsibilities and rights of inspecting agencies; rights and obligations of importers shall follow regulations laid down in Article 18, Article 19, Article 20, Article 17, Article 15 and Article 21 of the Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP.

3. Sampling and storage of samples shall be carried out in accordance with regulations laid down in Point a Clause 3 Article 1 of the Circular No. 12/2017/TT-BKHCN dated September 28, 2017. Salt samples are stored in closed plastic cans or bottles which are sealed by the inspecting agency. The inspecting agency shall take samples and make a record of sampling of imported salt with the witness of the importer's representative and the representative of the customs agency at the border checkpoint.

Article 8. Conformity assessment bodies and testing laboratories for imported salt

1. The organizations in charge of assessing the conformity of quality of imported salt are the conformity assessment bodies that have carried out procedures for registration of operations in accordance with regulations laid down in the Government's Decree No. 107/2016/ND-CP dated July 01, 2016.

2. The organizations in charge of performing testing of food safety of imported salt are testing laboratories that are accredited by the Ministry of Science and Technology (the Bureau of Accreditation) as VILAS testing laboratories in chemistry sector, including testing for sodium chloride and food safety indicators, or testing laboratories designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in accordance with the Joint Circular No. 20/2013/TTLT-BYT-BCT-BNNPTNT dated August 01, 2013 by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

3. The list of conformity assessment bodies and testing bodies for food safety mentioned in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article is updated and published on the portal of the Ministry of Science and Technology (www.boa.gov.vn) or of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (www.mard.gov.vn).

Article 9. Implementation

1. The Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development shall:

a) instruct the inspection of food safety and quality of imported salt; provide guidance and supervise the inspection of food safety and quality of imported salt by local inspecting agencies in accordance with regulations herein; update and publish the list of inspecting agencies prescribed in Article 4 hereof and the list of conformity assessment bodies and testing laboratories for food safety designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the portal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

b) prepare and submit consolidated reports on the inspection of food safety and quality of imported salt to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

2. Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall:

a) instruct and assign their affiliated departments/ agencies to carry out the inspection of imported salt by importers in their management provinces or cities in accordance with regulations herein; submit reports on assigned departments/ agencies to the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development for preparing the list of inspecting agencies;

b) take actions, within their competence, against the imported salt shipments that fail to satisfy quality requirements and food safety requirements (if any) in accordance with law regulations;

c) provide advice for the People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities about dealing with the cases of imported salt shipments that fail to satisfy quality requirements and food safety requirements (if any) beyond their competence.

Article 10. Transition

Regulations on quality indicators provided in the National Standard 9640-2013 – Industrial sodium chloride shall remain valid until the National Technical Regulation on sodium chloride for industrial use comes into force.

Article 11. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from February 09, 2019 and supersedes the Circular No. 27/2017/TT-BNNPTNT dated December 25, 2017 by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

2. If national standards, national technical regulations and legislative documents referred to in this Circular are amended, supplemented or superseded, the new ones shall apply.

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

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