For processed seafood products such as swim bladder, enterprises will not be allowed to combine imported and domestic ingredients. Photo: T.H

Problems arising from two decrees

On May 4, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 37/2024/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP dated March 8, 2019 of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Fisheries (effective from May 19, 2024).

Previously, on April 5, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the fisheries sector.

When implementing the above two decrees, enterprises said that they did not know how to correctly understand the concept of "mixing raw materials" in the same shipment. Because the above two decrees and the current Fisheries Law do not have a specific definition of the act of "mixing raw materials".

In fact, for seafood enterprises, producing finished products from a batch of raw materials from many species, many items, from different sources such as exploitation and import is completely normal, a practice in international trade today. As long as those are batches that are proven to not be illegally exploited, unreported and unregulated (IUU), are controlled, have traceable product origin and have all necessary documents for export.

To demonstrate the inadequacies of this regulation, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) provided evidence. Specifically, according to market demand, many seafood enterprises produce mixed goods or value-added products, such as "seafood skewers", in which a skewer includes tuna and mahi mahi fish (tuna is imported; mahi mahi fish is purchased domestically). These raw materials are all non-IUU, traceable and have all necessary documents.

If the above regulation is implemented, enterprises are required to separate the fish pieces from the sticks; imported fish pieces will be packed in a separate container; domestically caught fish pieces will be packed in another container, along with the number of sticks to skewer. When the separate containers reach the importing countries, customers must take the two types of fish themselves to skewer the sticks to make the "seafood skewer" product according to the required specifications. This is difficult to do.

Consider removing difficulties for enterprises

Acknowledging the recommendations of enterprises through VASEP, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued a response document stating that the two Decrees mentioned above have many new regulations, including regulations on the responsibilities of enterprises importing aquatic products. Specifically, Clause 36, Article 1 of Decree No. 37/2024/ND-CP stipulates: "Do not mix aquatic products originating from imported exploitation with aquatic products originating from domestic exploitation in the same export shipment";

Clause 4, Article 42 of Decree No. 38/2024/ND-CP stipulates: “Fine for the act of mixing aquatic products originating from domestic exploitation and aquatic products originating from exploitation imports into Vietnam for export to markets requiring confirmation and certification of aquatic products from exploitation...”.

According to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, the above regulations stem from the verification of violations regarding the origin of 7 tons of swordfish of enterprises, which the European Commission (EC) considers to be “fish laundering”. Therefore, the new regulations in the two decrees are to ensure the control of imported raw materials, processing for export to Europe, and transparency regarding the origin of export shipments as required by the EC.

However, during the implementation process, VASEP member enterprises said that the above regulations caused some difficulties for enterprises. Taking note of this problem, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has directed specialized agencies under the Ministry to review the new regulations in the above decrees after the 5th inspection by the EC in October.

Accordingly, the content to be reviewed includes regulations on mixing raw materials and administrative sanctions for violations related to mixing raw materials and other relevant regulations. At the same time, strengthen direction and urge localities to strictly implement the provisions of the Fisheries Law and newly issued guiding documents.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development requests VASEP to continue to accompany and coordinate with the Ministry to perfect legal regulations, promote production, business, and export of aquatic products and join hands to soon remove the EC's yellow card warning.