Laws of the People's Republic of China

Announcement No.89, 2006 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, on Releasing the Requirements for Inspecting and Quarantining on Conditional Resuming the Import of Boned Beef from the USA

No.89 [2006]

The Requirements for Inspecting and Quarantining on Conditional Resuming the Import Boned Beef From the USA are hereby released (See appendix) and shall come into effect as of the day of releasing.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China

July 31, 2006 Appendix: The Requirements for Inspecting and Quarantining on Conditional Resuming the Import of Boned Beef from the USA

Article 1

Requirements for cattle

(1)

Come from the livestock farms where there is no case of BSE, less than 30 months old when being slaughtered;

(2)

Born and raised in the territory of USA or from the counties that live cattle and beef are permitted to be imported by China, shall not be raised together with other animals, have a complete record, and can be tracked back to the farm where they were born;

(3)

Have never been fed with the fodder containing bone powder and dregs of fat of the ruminant;

(4)

Inspected and quarantined by official veterinarian of the USA before being slaughtered, proving that they are not cattle of suspected BSE or a definite BSE and their offspring as prescribed in OIE Code, neither the same herd of the cattle of BSE case, they are health and illness.

Article 2

Requirements for Production and Processing

(5)

The boned beef imported to China refers to boned skeletal muscle and its products, the skeletal muscle does not include the muscle of face, muscle of head, diaphragmatic muscle, scraps of flesh, flesh separated by machine. Its products refer to beef products made from boned skeletal muscle as raw materials meeting with the Requirements for Inspecting and Quarantining.

(6)

When producing the boned beef being exported to China, do not hit the cattle into swoon by injecting compressed air or gas into their cranial cavity or kill them by stabbing their spinal marrow. During the processing, the backbone, brain, eyes, spinal marrow, tonsil and the end of ileum shall be cut off completely. The inspection and quarantine of the official veterinarian of the USA proves that the products are safe and hygienic for human to eat.

(7)

The boned beef being exported to China must be packed by un-used and entirely new materials that meet with the international hygienic standard. Each cube of beef shall have single inner packing on which the name of the product, name and approval code of the production and processing enterprise shall be clearly indicated both in Chinese and English. The name and weight of the product, the name, address and approval code, storage condition, production date and expiry date of the production and processing enterprise shall be clearly indicated both in Chinese and English on the outer packing and an official sign of inspection and quarantine of the USA shall be marked. The sign of inspection and quarantine shall be confirmed in advance by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as AQSIQ).

(8)

The boned beef imported by China shall, after being put into a container or sealed transportation container, be made lead sealing under the supervision of the American official veterinarian.

(9)

The whole procedures from processing, packing, storage to transportation of the boned beef exported to China shall meet with the provisions and requirements of Chinese and American laws and regulations relating to veterinary hygiene and food safety. The products exported to China shall be distinguished from other products by confirmable procedures.

(10)

The production and processing enterprises for the boned beef exported to China (including slaughtering, processing and storing enterprises) shall meet the provisions and requirements of Chinese and American laws and regulations relating to veterinary hygiene and food safety and shall not export any products to China unless obtaining the approval of AQSIQ. The name of the approved production and processing enterprises shall be released in the network of AQSIQ: http://www.aqsiq.gov.cn.

Article 3

Requirements for National Control

(11)

The USA shall conduct the national plan for preventing, monitoring, controlling and rooting out BSE in accordance with the OIE code and provide an annual implementation report to both the AQSIQ and the Ministry of Agriculture.

(12)

The USA shall implement effectively the national ban on fodder, prohibiting anyone from using the fodder containing bone powder and dregs of fat of the ruminant to feed the ruminant.

(13)

If there are Foot-and-mouth disease, cattle plague, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Lumpy Skin Disease, Rift Valley fever virus and Peste Des Petits Ruminants virus in the USA, it shall inform the AQSIQ and the Ministry of Agriculture in time and provide corresponding information.

(14)

The USA shall implement effectively National Residue Monitoring Plan and Pathogenic Microorganism Reducing and Control Plan, and report the annual implementation information to the AQSIQ.

(15)

If any cases of animal epidemic disease and serious food safety as mentioned in Section 12, 13 and 14 of this Article occur, the USA shall suspend the export to China and recall corresponding products that may be contaminated, and inform the AQSIQ immediately and provide detailed information as soon as possible in order to determine and control the contaminated products.

(16)

If a new case of BSE occurs in the USA, the USA shall forbid corresponding production and processing enterprises to produce the boned beef exported to China, recall the products that may be contaminated, and inform immediately the AQSIQ and provide detailed information as soon as possible. The corresponding production and processing enterprises can not resume the export to China until the conditions return to normal and the export is approved by the AQSIQ. If a new BSE case occurs among the cattle that were born after national ban on fodder in the USA, China will reevaluate the BSE Prevention and Control Plan of the USA.

(17)

The AQSIQ may, in light of needs, send inspection and quarantine personnel to the USA for examining its implementation of prevention and control of BSE and other animal epidemic diseases, residue monitoring and control system and microorganism reducing Plan.

Article 4

Requirements for the Certificate

(18)

The reserved copy of an official Veterinary Health Certificate of the USA shall be attached to each container or transportation container of boned beef exported to China, proving that this lot of product meets with the provisions of these Requirements for Inspecting and Quarantining. The certificate shall include at least following content:

(a)

The source and slaughtering date of the cattle;

(b)

Name, address and enterprise approval code of the slaughtering and processing enterprise;

(c)

The issuing organ, date and place of the certificate, name and position of the issuer.

(d)

Lead sealing number of the container or transportation container;

(e)

The cattle to be slaughtered shall meet the requirements of all sections of Article 1 . The production, processing, storing and transportation of boned beef shall meet the requirements of all sections of Article 2 . The USA shall conduct national control plan in accordance with the requirements of all sections of Article 3 .

(19)

Veterinary Health Certificate shall be written both in Chinese and English, having the function of forgery prevention, the pattern and content shall be confirmed in advance by the AQISQ.

Article 5

Product Inspection and Quarantine

(20)

The AQISQ may, in light of needs, send inspection and quarantine personnel to the USA to do pre-examination of the origin of boned beef being exported to China, make a random sampling of the slaughtering, production and processing enterprises, carry out system verification in order to check whether the boned beef being exported to China and the production, procession and management meet with these Requirements for Inspection and Quarantine.

(21)

After arriving Chinese port, the boned beef exported from the USA to China shall not enter China until passing the inspection and quarantine made by the inspection and quarantine authority.

Article 6

Settlement of Violations

(22)

If the AQSIQ finds any boned beef imported from the USA violating these Requirement for Inspection and Quarantine, it will deal with the product in accordance with laws. If necessary, it may take protective measures, including suspending import and canceling the qualification of the approved enterprises to export products to China. If violations occur repeatedly, it may cause the Requirements of Inspection and Quarantine to an end.