Vietnam: Issuance of Certificate of Origin without organization of harvest control shall be subject to handling measures

Specifically, according to Point b Clause 1 Article 26 of Circular No. 33/2015/TT-BNNPTNT of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, Inspection Agencies shall take handling measures (including temporary suspension from Monitoring Program in the administrative division) and issue written requests to the Service of Agriculture and Rural Development for taking appropriate measures in case Controlling Agencies are found to have committed one of following violations:

- Failure to control harvests and issue Certificate of Origin and harvest control note for batches of raw bivalve mollusks harvested in the areas within local Monitoring Program;

- Issuance of Certificate of Origin without organization of harvest control;

- Issuance of Certificate of Origin for batches of raw bivalve mollusks of species that are not controlled under local Monitoring Program, or bivalve mollusks from areas suspended from harvests, or bivalve mollusks from harvested areas outside local management;

- Falsification of figures and documents on implementation of Monitoring Program in localities;

- Failure to organize activities of taking samples from harvested areas within local Monitoring Program;

During the time Controlling Agencies halt Monitoring Program to correct and remedy the mistakes, Inspection Agencies shall be directly involved in organization and implementation of activities of developing Monitoring Program by Controlling Agencies in the administrative division.

Within 15 working days since receipt of reports on correction and remedy of mistakes from the Service of Agriculture and Rural Development or from Testing Facilities, Inspection Agencies shall carry out verification of the reports (including site verification if necessary). Within five working days after verification, Inspection Agencies shall issue a written notice about whether permission for participation again in the Monitoring Program is granted or not.

View more details at Circular No. 33/2015/TT-BNNPTNT of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, effective from December 10, 2015.

Le Hai

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE