Several new regulations in the Draft Outline of the amended Law on Food Safety in Vietnam

Several new regulations in the Draft Outline of the amended Law on Food Safety in Vietnam​ (Image from the internet)

The amended Law on Food Safety is built upon the existing compatible regulations of the Law on Food Safety, with additional amendments to the regulations on state management of food products. It focuses on issues such as the interpretation of terms, product announcement registration, food testing, state inspection, and management of products requiring special control. It also includes state management regulations regarding food production and business establishments, focusing on the application of quality management systems. The law assigns and delegates state management of food safety in a unified manner from the central to local levels, clearly delineating management responsibilities between ministries/sectors and the delegation of state management between central and local levels, provincial and district levels, and responsibilities of People's Committees at all levels.

Several new regulations in the Draft Outline of the amended Law on Food Safety in Vietnam

According to the Draft Outline of the amended Law on Food Safety, there are several new points, such as:

** Article 2 Explanation of Terms includes some new points such as:

- Provides clearer definitions of business investment conditions and conditions to ensure food safety, food processing, and preliminary processing.

- Adds new concepts like "small-scale food production and business," "food ingredients," "processed food," "post-audit," "announcement registration," and "food packaging materials and containers."

- Revises the definitions of "production" and "business" to align with other laws like the Investment Law and the Enterprise Law, and the concept of food processing aids to align with Codex.

- Amends and supplements the definition of "food testing" to include quality testing and food safety.

**Article 5. Prohibited Acts:

Amends and supplements point h, clause 5 to align with the term "announcement registration."

**Article 12. Conditions to Ensure Safety for Processed Food

- Amends and supplements to require pre-packaged food products to register for announcement or self-announce.

- Assigns the Government of Vietnam to specify the list of food products that must register for announcement.

- Adds a regulation allowing only manufacturers or authorized manufacturers to register or self-announce products. The announcement period is five years.

- Includes provisions for the Government of Vietnam to stipulate authority, cases, and procedures for revoking announcement registrations.

**Article 14. Conditions to Ensure Safety for Functional Foods

Adds a regulation requiring functional food manufacturing establishments to apply advanced quality management systems (health-protecting food must apply Good Manufacturing Practices - GMP; medical nutrition food, supplementary food must apply HACCP, ISO 22000 standards).

**Article 17. Conditions to Ensure Safety for Food Additives and Processing Aids

- Amends clause 4 to require food additives and processing aids to register for announcement or self-announce before market circulation to suit practical conditions; removes the processing aids list in clause 3 to align with international practices.

- Assigns the Government of Vietnam to prescribe the list of food additives and processing aids that must register for announcement.

- Adds provisions regarding products prone to misuse that need special control and assigns the Government of Vietnam to specify types of goods and control methods over time; provisions for conditions, procedures, suspension, revocation, and handling of import permits.

**Article 18. Conditions to Ensure Safety for Food Packaging and Containers

Amends and supplements by assigning the Government of Vietnam to stipulate cases requiring announcement registration.

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More details can be found in Draft Outline of the amended Law on Food Safety.

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