By notification to the WTO on 16th November 2020, the People’s Republic of China announced the entry into force, from 1st January 2022, of the Decrees n. 248 and n. 249 issued by the General Administration of Chinese Customs (GACC) (hereinafter, the “Decrees”). The Decrees introduce new principles and requirements regarding food products imported from foreign countries, and impose particular administrative obligations on all foreign producers of food products to be exported to the territory of the People’s Republic of China.
In particular, the main obligations under these Decrees are (i) the mandatory registration/approval of foreign producers of food products at the GACC; (ii) new requirements regarding the packaging and labelling of imported food.
The legal basis of these Decrees is art. 96 of the Food Safety Law of the P.R.C., which provides that foreign producers of food products shall be registered with the administrative department responsible for import/export practices (namely, GACC).
This article is mainly aimed to deal with (i) the scope of the legislation, (ii) the necessary requirements to comply with the new legislation, depending on the categories of food; and (iii) new requirements concerning the packaging and labelling of imported products.
(ii) Scope of the legislation
Firstly, it should be noted that the Decrees apply to (i) producers, (ii) processors and (iii) foreign storage facilities of (finished) food products to be exported to the People’s Republic of China.
As expressly stated by the legislation, the (subjective) scope of the Decrees is excluded from: (i) producers of food additives and products simply related to food (e.g. packaging, packaging materials); (ii) commercial intermediaries or warehouses that exclusively carry out storage activities under uncontrolled hydrometric (temperature/humidity) conditions; (iii) intermediate production sites in the supply chain (unless they export semi-finished products to the PRC).
(ii) Registration requirements by product type
Depending on the particular type of food, with particular reference to the level of food risk, the Decrees provide different procedures for registration, and in particular (i) the registration procedure through the competent authority for the exporting country (hereinafter referred to as “procedure A”); (ii) the autonomous registration procedure (hereinafter referred to as “procedure B”).
As a result of the registration procedure, an appropriate identification code will be obtained and it must be indicated on each inner and outer packaging of the food (see infra).
In order to verify the applicable registration procedure, it is possible to search by HS code directly on the official online portal https://cifer.singlewindow.cn, upon registration.
A. The registration procedure through the authority of the exporting country
For products under the registration procedure through the competent authority of the exporting country (e.g. eggs and egg products, animal and vegetable fats, stuffed pastes, edible cereals, industrial products of powdered cereals and malt, fresh and dehydrated vegetables, dried beans, seasonings, nuts and seeds, dried fruits, unroasted coffee beans and cocoa beans) registration shall still be carried out through the support of this authority.
For Italy, the competent authority is the Ministry of Health – General Directorate for Food Hygiene and Safety and Nutrition (Ministero della Salute – Direzione generale per l’igiene e la sicurezza degli alimenti e la nutrizione). The Ministry of Health shall collect the requests and documentation previously submitted by the manufacturing companies to the local territorially competent health authorities.
After that, the national authority will provide for transmission to the competent Chinese authority (GACC).
B. The procedure of autonomous registration
For the majority of producers of packaged food products (e.g. wine, roasted/ground coffee, pasta, biscuits) an autonomous registration procedure shall be commenced.
According to this procedure, the manufacturing companies will have to directly (or through an authorized agent) register each of their factories which export food products to the P.R.C. in a special online portal made available by the Chinese authorities: https://cifer.singlewindow.cn «China Import Food Enterprises Registration»
The autonomous registration procedure is simplified and is essentially based on self-certifications and the online uploading of documents, giving evidence of the status of the company and registration.
Please note that each factory (production site) will need to have a registration account in order to obtain a registration number for each category of exported product. Therefore, a production site that exports multiple categories of products may have multiple registration numbers; in addition, each production site must have an account and if an operator owns more than one site, a registration account for each of them is required.
(iii) New requirements for the packaging and labelling of imported products.
In addition to the requirements already set by the applicable Chinese mandatory standards (e.g. GB 7718 – General Labeling Requirements), Decree 249 GACC provides that the manufacturer must affix the identification code (obtained at the outcome of the abovementioned registration procedure) on each inner and outer packaging of the food product. In particular, the number must also be reported on the so-called unit of minimum sale.
It will not be possible to import food products that have a production date after January 1st 2022 and that do not have the aforementioned registration number to the People’s Republic of China. In any case, upon completion of the registration, it is considered possible to apply adhesive labels on products that did not already have them, once the registration number has been obtained, in order to allow customs clearance and marketing.
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In conclusion, we should emphasize how important it is for all producers of food products to be exported to China to complete the registration procedure at the GACC. This will allow producers to continue to export their products to China after January 1st 2022, avoiding delays and problems in customs clearance.
