China Unveils 2019 Food Legislation Program

The revision to "Administrative Measures on Registration of Infant and Young Children Milk Powder Formula Recipes" is listed in 2019 legislation program issued by SAMR, however given the tight deadline it is widely speculated that the final version is unlikely to be released in 2019.

On Feb. 3rd, 2019, China SAMR announced the 2019 legislation program. The proposed legislative changes will impact administrative approval, food safety supervision, consumer rights protection and product certification.

The regulation and administrative measures subject to formulation/revision are classified into 2 types. The legislation items belonging to type 1 will be finalized by the end of 2019, which means that the draft shall be sent to the Regulation Department by June 30, 2019. As for the second type, the drafting body should promote their legislation progress this year.

Here are the detailed food legislation items:

Type one

S/N	Items	Type	Drafting body
1	Advertisement Inspection Measure on Drug, Medical Equipment, Health Food, and Food for Special Medical Purposes	Formulation	Advertisement supervision department
2	Administrative Measure on Edible Salt Quality and Safety Supervision	Formulation	Food production department
3	Administrative Measure on Food Production Permit	Revision	Food production department
4	Administrative Measure on Refrigerated and Frozen Food Safety Supervision	Formulation	Food operation department
5	Administrative Measure on Food Safety Sampling Inspection	Revision	Food sampling inspection department

Type two

S/N	Items	Type	Drafting body
1	Administrative Measure on Quality and Safety Supervision of Food Related Products	Formulation	Quality supervision department
2	Administrative Measure on Food Labeling Supervision	Revision	Food production department
3	Administrative Measure on Food Safety Supervision and Inspection	Formulation	Food production department Food operation department Special food department
4	Administrative Measure on Quality and Safety Supervision of Market Sales of Edible Agriculture Products	Revision	Food operation department
5	Administrative Measures on Food Safety In Trade Fairs	Formulation	Food operation department
6	Infant Formula Filing Administrative Measures	Formulation	Special food department
7	Administrative Measures on Registration of Infant and Young Children Milk Powder Formula Recipes	Revision	Special food department
8	Administrative Measures on the Registration of Food for Special Medical Purposes	Revision	Special food department
9	Administrative Measures on Organic Food Certification	Revision	Certification supervision department

It is worth noting that some regulations were already listed in last year’s legislation program, such as Infant Formula Filing Administrative Measures and Administrative Measures on Registration of Infant and Young Children Milk Powder Formula Recipes. However, it seems that their formulation/revision will not be completed in 2019 based on the current schedule.