Does trading in new organic fertilizers need to go through procedures for circulation recognition in Vietnam?

Does trading in new organic fertilizers need to go through procedures for circulation recognition in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 9 of the Law on Cultivation 2018 stipulates prohibited crop production activities as follows:

1. Manufacturing, trading and importing plant varieties which have not obtained circulation decisions or circulation self-declaration, unless otherwise permitted by competent authorities.

2. Producing, trading and importing fertilizers which have not yet obtained circulation recognition decisions in Vietnam, except for the import of fertilizers specified in clause 2 of Article 44 herein, and the production of fertilizers for export under contracts with foreign organizations and individuals.

3. Producing and trading plant varieties that do not meet production and trading requirements; producing and trading fertilizers which have not yet been granted the certificates of compliance with fertilizer production or trading regulations.

4. Producing, trading and importing plant varieties, fertilizers, other agricultural supplies and plant products which are counterfeit, expire and are of unknown origin.

5. Providing information on plant varieties and fertilizers which is inconsistent with information already approved by competent authorities or self-declared information.

6. Illegally rendering such services as testing, trial and assessment of plant variety fields, evaluation and certification of quality of plant varieties, crop products and fertilizers.

7. Providing the wrong or forged results of trial, testing, assessment of crop variety cultivation field, inspection, evaluation, certification of quality, conformance to standards and regulations regarding agricultural supplies and crop products.

8. Illegally exporting plant varieties in the nomenclature of crop genetic resources prohibited for export.

9. Exercising farming practices harming crops, livestock and human health; causing environmental pollution; degradation and depletion of land, water resources and biodiversity.

10. Illegally extracting and using topsoil of arable land for wet rice cultivation for non-agricultural purposes.

According to this Article, the act of trading in fertilizers that has not been approved for circulation in Vietnam will be considered a violation of the law. Thus, you need to go through the procedures for recognition of fertilizer circulation in Vietnam to be able to produce and trade this fertilizer.

What are applications, procedures and competence pertaining to issuance of Decision on recognition of fertilizer for trade in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 84/2019/ND-CP stipulating applications, procedures and competence pertaining to issuance of Decision on recognition of fertilizer for trade as follows:

1. An application for the Recognition Decision consists of:

a) An application for the Recognition Decision, which is made using Form No. 01 of Appendix I enclosed with this Decree;

b) Basic information on the fertilizer certified by the producer, including type; name; form; guidelines on use; methods of use; service life; safety warnings; quality indexes, restricted elements and testing result;

c) The authentic copy of the report on result of fertilizer testing according to national standards for fertilizer testing (excluding the fertilizers provided for in Clause 2 Article 39 of the Crop Production Law);

d) Certificate of free sale issued by the exporting country (for the fertilizers specified in Points a, b and c Clause 2 Article 39 of the Crop Production Law that are imported).

2. Procedures for and competence in issuance of the Recognition Decision:

The organization or individual shall submit the application specified in Clause 1 herein to a competent affiliate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (“competent authority”).

Within 03 months from the date of receipt of the adequate application, the competent authority shall review the application and, if the application is satisfactory, grant the Recognition Decision using Form No. 03 of Appendix I enclosed with this Decree; otherwise, the competent authority must send a written explanation to the applicant.

3. The Recognition Decision is valid for 05 years. An organization or individual that would like to extend the Recognition Decision must apply for extension according to the procedures specified in Article 7 herein 03 months before such Decision expires.

Best Regards!