Laws of Vietnam

DECREES:

Article 1.- In this Decree the following terminologies are construed as follows:

1. Domestic animals include various kinds of domestic cattle, poultry, bees, silkworms and aquatic animals.

2. Animal feeds are products which have gone through industrial processing and which have their origins in vegetation, animals, microorganisms, chemicals and minerals to supply nutrients to the domestic animals in order to ensure their living conditions, growth, development and reproductivity.

3. The feed raw material or single feed are the various kinds of products used for the processing of animal feeds.

4. Complementary food are materials added to the ration in order to supplement the substances necessary for the living body of the domestic animal.

5. Complete compound feed is the mixture of many single feeds processed according to a given formula to ensure the necessary nutrients to maintain the life and the production capacity of the domestic animals which require no other food except drinking water.

6. Protein-rich feeds are feeds with a high content of raw protein which account for more than 35% of the weight of the dry materials.

7. Condensed feeds are protein-rich feeds with a high content of protein, minerals , vitamins , amino acids and antibiotics.

8. Premix is a compound of micro-nutrients mixed with additives.

9. Daily ration is the quantity of feed necessary to meet the nutritional need in a day and night of a domestic animal according to each period aimed at assuring the preservation and development of the animal and its normal productivity.

10. Commodity food is the food in circulation and consumed on the market.

Article 2.- The State exerts unified management in the production, business, export and import of animal feeds aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of the producer, business people and user of animal feeds.

Article 3.- The State invests budget capital in :

1. Strengthening the material and technical bases to assure the operation of the State managerial agencies in the control of the quality of animal feeds;

2. Training specialists in animal feeds in order to check and evaluate the quality of feeds and formulate the norms of quality for animal feeds.

Article 4.- The State shall adopt appropriate credit policies for the organizations and individuals producing animal feeds in order to strengthen the material bases and renovate the equipment and technologies, and step by step modernize the production of animal feeds.

Article 5.- The organizations and individuals in the country and abroad engaged in the production of animal feeds on Vietnamese territory have to fill the following conditions:

1. To have a site, a workshop and equipment and a technological process for the production of animal feeds that can ensure the norms in quality, veterinary and environmental hygiene;

2. To have the conditions or means to check the quality of the raw materials and products before their issue from the factory.

3. To have technical personnel who can meet the needs of production technology and check the quality of the animal feeds.

Article 6.- An organization or an individual that produces and does business in animal feeds must have a business license as prescribed by law.

Article 7.- An organization or individual engaged in the production of the kinds of commodity animal feeds must register their commodity quality standards as required by law.

Article 8.- Before their marketing the feeds must go through laboratory test and have the result of the check and a specimen filed for monitoring.

Article 9.- An organization or individual shall be allowed to produce only such animal feeds that meet the quality standards and have their quality registered and stuck with a trade mark.

Article 10.- An organization or individual that produces or does business in animal feeds is not entitled to produce and trade at the same site other commodities which are noxious.

Article 11.- The name of the registered enterprise must be hung at the site of production or business of the concerned animal feed.

Article 12.- The following animal feeds are banned from production and business:

1. Substandard feeds or feeds which have expired their date of use;

2. Feeds which have no license or whose license has been suspended or revoked;

3. Feeds in irregular packaging or without trade mark;

4. Feeds that are not featured in the list allowed for production or business prescribed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development if they are feeds used in agriculture, and by the Minister of Aquaculture if they are feeds used in aquaculturre;

5. Animal feeds which have active matters in hormone or which are anti-hormone, which have toxic matters, or which contain noxious matters above the allowed level.

Article 13.- All the commodity animal feeds must have a package and trade mark. In case of goods delivery which does not require a trade mark, they must have a certificate of quality norms prescribed in the contract marked with the date of production and the date of expiration.

Article 14.- All the rare and precious raw materials used in the production of animal feeds must be contained in packages and must have a trade mark.

Article 15.- The trade mark must be written in Vietnamese. It can also be written in a foreign language but the contents of the trade mark must be prescribed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development if they are animal feeds used in agriculture, and by the Ministry of Aquaculture if they are animal feeds used in aquaculture.

Article 16.- For the non-nutritous animal feeds used for diagnosis, treatment or disease prevention which may influence the domestic animal, the trade mark and label must clearly record the name and quantity of that substance, its method of use, its production date and expiry date, and instruction on its use.

Article 17.- Publicity is allowed only for those commodity animal feeds which have been issued with a quality certificate by an authorized agency.

Article 18.- An organization or individual that wants to export or import animal feeds must fill the procedure of application for export and import as required by the current legislation concerning the export and import of agricultural products.

Article 19.- The import of animal feeds and materials for the production of feeds containing elements harmful to the health of the animals and human beings and causing environmental pollution is prohibited. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Minister of Aquaculture shall, within their functions and powers, define a concrete list of those banned from import feeds and raw materials for their production and make them public in January each year.

Article 20.- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Aquaculture shall, within their functions and powers, effect State management of animal feeds in the whole country. They shall have:

1. To propose to the Prime Minister to promulgate a policy of encouraging the production and improvement of the quality of animal feeds;

2. To exert State management over the production and business in animal feeds;

3. To work out the system of Vietnamese standards on animal feeds so that the competent agency may promulgate the Vietnamese standards in this domain;

4. To check and inspect the quality of animal feeds;

5. To make public each year the list of feeds and raw materials of animal feeds of which production and business are not allowed;

6. To preside over and cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to submit to the Government the general plan and the plan for production and processing of animal feeds. To issue documents to guide the branches and localities and the establishments in the management of the animal feeds.

Article 21.- The People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to carry out and direct the managerial activities in animal feeds in their localities through the system of State management of the Agricultural or Aquacultural Service in the following questions:

1. To organize the management of animal feeds in their localities under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development if they are animal feeds used in agriculture, and of the Ministry of Aquaculture if they are animal feeds used in aquaculture;

2. To issue documents to guide the State management of animal feeds in their localities;

3. To decide to grant or revoke the production or business licenses for animal feeds in their localities and within their competence;

4. To prevent and handle the violations concerning the management of animal feeds in their localities.

Article 22.- The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Minister of Aquaculture shall, within their functions and powers, assign the agencies for State management of the quality of animal feeds in the whole of their services.

Article 23.- The State management agency on the quality of animal feeds shall have the following tasks:

1. To check the quality of feeds in their production and business, and their use in stock breeding;

2. To settle disputes over the quality of animal feeds;

3. To check the quality of animal feeds, to issue certificates of quality to the animal feeds according to their competence or at the proposal of the agency authorized to issue the certificate of quality of animal feeds.

Article 24.- The agency managing the quality of animal feeds is entitled to send its personnel to the production and business establishments to enquire into the situation, take samples and collect the necessary documents as prescribed in order to evaluate the quality of the feeds.

The sample taking to control the quality of the animal feeds shall take legal validity even in the absence of the owner of the production or business establishment. The sample taker must make a written report on the sample taking and leave behind a sample at the place where the sample is taken and sealed.

Article 25.- When there is a complaint about the result of the control of the quality of the feeds, the feed quality management agency of the State of the immediate higher level shall consider and settle the case. If the complainant does not agree with the conclusion and the method of settlement, he/she may propose the State agency managing animal feeds of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development or the Ministry of Aquaculture to reconsider and settle the question according to their functions and powers. The conclusion of these State management agencies on the quality of the animal feeds of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development or the Ministry of Aquaculture are final.

Article 26.- An organization or individual engaged in the production and business in animal feeds shall have to pay fees and expenses for the control of the quality of the feeds.

Article 27.- When the animal feed product is found below the quality standard the State management authority may suspend the delivery or marketing of the product. The animal feed which does not meet the safety norms for the animals shall be withdrawn from circulation and this will be notified to the public on the mass media.

Article 28.- An organization or individual that has made meritorious achievements in the management of animal feeds or in scientific research, production and business in animal feeds shall be commended and rewarded.

The persons who violate the provisions of this Decree shall, depending on the extent of the damage they cause to the State or to the organization and individual, shall be sanctioned and have to pay compensations for the material damage as prescribed by law.

Article 29.- The State management agency and the person having authority to hand a fine on administrative violations concerning the quality of animal feeds but who violate the provisions on the sanctions or who hand fines beyond their competence shall, depending on the character and the seriousness of the violation, be subject to administrative discipline or examined for penal liability. If they cause material losses to the State, organization or individual, they shall have to pay compensations.

Article 30.- This Decree takes effect on the date of its signing. The earlier regulations which are contrary to this Decree are now annulled.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Aquaculture shall, within their functions and powers cooperate with the concerned agencies to guide and promote and control the implementation of this Decree.

Article 31.- The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decree.