The Government has issued a decree on aquaculture management, and pangasius products processing and export, the Government Office reported last week.
According to the decree, which will go into effect on July 1, 2017, activities involving the farming of commercial pangasius must meet four conditions.
Individuals and organisations who farm pangasius must have their location and area suitable with land use plans of the provincial People’s Committee.They must have infrastructure that meets technical conditions for farming commercial pangasius such as water supply system seperating from waste water system and waste treatment area meeting conditions on protecting environment and veterinary hygiene.
Aquaculture facilities must meet regulations on food safety and have certificate on identification number for ponds farming pangasius fish according to existing regulations.
The individuals and organisations farming pangasius must satisfy conditions of investment and business according to the July 1, 2016 decree. They must implement regulations and technical standards on food safety for seafood processing and have a certificate of eligibility for food safety granted by relevant State offices. They must have a traceability system meeting regulations and ensuring ability of traceability at the facilities.
Pangasius fish products that are exported must be processed at pangasius processing facilities meeting all the conditions mentioned above.
If individuals and organisations exporting pangasius products do not have processing facility as per the requirement, they must have contracts on purchasing pangasius products from facilities meeting those conditions or contracts on processing the products from eligible facilities.
Decree 55/2017/NĐ-CP has specific regulations on registering identification number for ponds farming pangasius and regulations on quality and food safety for commercial pangasius products.
It also stipulates responsibilities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Tradede, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Finance to implement this decree, supervise implementation of this decree and solve commercial disputes related with pangasius export products.
The people’s committees of central-level provinces and cities have been given directions on implementing this decree in their provinces and cities and have land use plans for farming pangasius and reports on farming, processing and exporting of pangasius fish.
VFM
