China AQSIQ: Examination and Verification of Overseas Food Enterprises

1. China AQSIQ will require Chinese food importers to examine overseas food exporters and manufacturers in terms of qualification, product compliance and food safety control system. 2. The purpose of this regulation is to further control the source and safety of imported food by utilizing importers’ examination on their foreign suppliers.

China’s AQSIQ is now inviting public comment on the draft of Administrative Measures for Food Importers’ Examination and Verification on Overseas Enterprises. The consultation will end on 9 Oct 2015.

Background

These Measures have been formulated to support article 94 of China’s new Food Safety Law which stipulates that overseas exporters and manufacturers shall guarantee the safety and quality of the food they export to China and ensure compliance with Chinese laws, regulations and requirements. Importers should establish an Examination and Verification (EV) system for overseas exporters and manufacturers. Article 94 further emphasizes the responsibility of foreign companies exporting food to the Chinese market. The Measures asks importers to oversee overseas supplier and places a heightened responsibility on importers to select suppliers of safe foods.

Importer Obligations

Importers should implement an evaluation and verification plan for foreign exporters and manufacturers, which will include the following key checkpoints:

EV plan	Remark
Objects	/
Method	In written form; or On-site (AQSIQ encourages) On-site EV is mandatory for overseas exporters and manufacturers of the following 6 categories at least 1 time every 3 years: infant formula foods for special medical purposes health (functional) food meat raw fresh-frozen aquatic products rice; and Vegetable oil in bulk. The importer can entrust a certified third-party to carry out EV for him.
Contents	Compliance EV on the following aspects: Filing of overseas exporters; registration of overseas food manufacturers if needed; Any qualification materials attached with imported foods; The product comply with Chinese national food safety standards; Chinese labels or instructions Quality safety control system and food defense system EV Overseas companies should establish and implement food safety control and defense plan according to the Guidelines for Imported Food Safety Risk Control and Defense Plan attached to the Measures. The importer should examine whether their exporters and manufacturers follow the guidelines.
Frequency	/
Team	/

The importer should submit the EV plan to local CIQs at least once every year.

Oversea Food Enterprise Obligations

They should carry out their obligations according to the EV plan from Chinese importers and establish quality safety control systems according to the Measures.

Consequence of violation

The penalties for noncompliance with the Measures for importers would be as follows according to different levels of severity:

Requirement to submit increased numbers of testing reports;
Included into the food importer black list.
Imports subject to full testing batch by batch during importation. All testing costs will be borne by the importer;
Fines of 5,000-50,000 RMB.
Import permit cancelled.

Foreign food companies failing EV will not be allowed to export their products to China.

AQSIQ is implementing increasingly more stringent regulatory and market access obligations to ensure the safety and quality of imported foods. In addition to these Measures, last year AQSIQ announced the establishment of a blacklist of overseas food companies (see CL food news on 16 Dec 2014 and 15 Oct 2014).