Regulations of the Shenzhen Municipality on Edible Agricultural Products

· Document Number：Announcement No. 30 of the Standing Committee of the Fourth Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress

· Area of Law： Public Security

· Level of Authority： Regulations of Districted Cities

· Date issued：01-04-2007

· Effective Date：05-01-2007

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： Shenzhen City People's Congress (incl. Standing Committee)

Announcement of the Standing Committee of the Fourth Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress
(No. 30)
The Regulations of the Shenzhen Municipality on Edible Agricultural Products, adopted at the Eighth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourth Shenzhen People's Congress on September 26, 2006, approved at the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth Guangdong Provincial People's Congress on December 1, 2006, is hereby promulgated and shall come into effect on May 1, 2007.
Standing Committee of Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress
January 4, 2007
Regulations of the Shenzhen Municipality on Edible Agricultural Products
（Adopted at the Eighth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourth Shenzhen People's Congress on September 26, 2006, approved at the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth Guangdong Provincial People's Congress on December 1, 2006）
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 In order to strengthen the safety management of edible agricultural products, ensure the human health and the safety of life, these regulations are hereby formulated in accordance with Law of the People's Republic of China on the Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products and other related laws, regulations, and in light of practical conditions of this city.
Article 2 These regulations shall apply to the production, operation, supervision and administration of edible agricultural products in this city.
Article 3 The edible agricultural products （hereinafter referred to as agricultural products） shall mean grain, vegetable, fruit, livestock, poultry and eggs, mushroom, etc., which are acquired in agricultural activities and edible for human beings, and their products of primary processing such as slaughtering, dismembering and cutting, packing, freezing, etc.
These regulations shall apply to the administration of transgenic agricultural products. If there are other rules in laws, administrative regulations, they shall be honored.
Article 4 The administrative departments of agriculture （hereinafter referred to as the departments of agriculture） shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of the quality and safety of agricultural products in the process of production, and the day-to-day supervision and administration of agricultural inputs.
The administrative departments of industrial and commercial administration shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of the quality and safety of agricultural products in the process of distribution according to law; the departments of agriculture shall conduct supervision-oriented random inspecting, monitoring of the quality and safety of agricultural products in the process of distribution, and publish the related information.
The administrative departments of health shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of the quality and safety of agricultural products in the process of consumption.
Chapter II Production of Agricultural Products
Article 5 The municipal government shall make a plan to build production bases of agricultural products without public hazards.
Article 6 The departments of agriculture shall jointly with the departments of environmental protection monitor the hazardous materials such as heavy metal, pesticide residue, etc. in the production environment such as soil, water, air, etc. of the production places of agricultural products.
If it is found in monitoring that the content of heavy metal, pesticide residue, or other hazardous materials in the production places of agricultural products does not meet the compulsory standards, the production of agricultural products shall be prohibited.
Article 7 The operators of agricultural inputs such as pesticide, chemical fertilizers, fodder, etc. shall establish a day-to-day account of their operation of the agricultural inputs under restrictions, record their names, sources, purchasing dates, producing enterprises, and the time, customers, and quantity of sale. The day-to-day account of operation shall be kept for one year.
If there is no day-to-day account of operation or a day-to-day account of operation does not meet the requirements, the department of agriculture shall order correction and make it public.
When selling an agricultural input under restrictions, in addition to providing for a purchaser a written instruction on matters needing attention such as the usage, the amount to be used for each time, and the scope of use of this product, an operator shall give an oral explanation.
Article 8 In case of engaging in the activities of raising animals, doing animal business, and production, operation of animal products, an application shall be filed to an office of animal epidemic prevention and supervision for a certificate of animal epidemic prevention according to law.
Article 9 Raising animals, growing vegetable, fruit as a business shall be carried out in the way of production of scale. Specific measures shall be worked out separately by the municipal government according to the natural geological conditions and the levels of economic and social development of various areas.
Article 10 The producers of agricultural products shall conduct the inspection of the quality and safety of their produced agricultural products according to the rules of the state, and provide the certificate of quality and safety inspection when selling the products, this certificate shall specify also the name, producing place, producing unit, and producing date of the products.
Article 11 The environmental sanitation, slaughtering and processing procedures, and disposal of wastes of a slaughterhouse of livestock and poultry shall meet the related sanitation standards and technical specifications.
If animal farms, slaughterhouses of livestock and poultry find the animals who fail to pass the quarantine, or die for disease or unknown reason, their products, and the droppings of the animals catching an epidemic disease, they shall be sent to designated places for neutralizing treatment and disposal.
If the situations referred to in the previous section take place in the production places of other agricultural products, producers shall conduct neutralizing treatment and disposal under the direction of the office of animal epidemic prevention and supervision, or send the related objects to designated places for neutralizing treatment and disposal.
Article 12 The following acts shall be prohibited in the production of agricultural products:
（1） to use pesticide which is super-toxic, high-toxic, and has a high level of residue;
（2） to use clenbuterol hydrochloride, malachite green and other prohibited materials as animal medicines, fodder, and fodder addictives;
（3） to use fake animal medicines, animal medicines of inferior quality, to use human medicines as animal medicines, or to use animal medicines in violation of the rules;
（4） to fill livestock with clay, sand, water or other materials;
（5） the other acts prohibited by laws, regulations.
Article 13 The system to certify the production of agricultural products shall be
gradually put into practice. The certified agricultural products shall be made public to the society by the municipal department of agriculture. Specific measures shall be worked out separately by the municipal government.
Chapter III Operation of Agricultural Products
Article 14 The operators such as those of the wholesale markets of various agricultural products, meat and vegetable markets, distribution centers, supermarkets, shopping centers, freezers, grain depots, etc. shall bear the following responsibilities of management:
（1） to establish a quality and safety system of agricultural products and provide it with the full-time, part-time personnel of quality and safety management;
（2） to set up an operation and management file of agricultural products;
（3） to check and verify the certificates of inspection, quarantine of agricultural products and other certificates;
（4） to organize the physical examination for the personnel of production and operation of agricultural products on a regular basis.
The market operators may sign agreements on the safety, healthiness, and quality
of agricultural products with the operators of agricultural products within their market to clarify the responsibilities of quality and safety.
Article 15 When finding substandard agricultural products, market operators shall urge the operators of agricultural products within the markets to destroy these products. If the operators of agricultural products within the markets refuse to destroy, the market operators shall promptly report it to the department of industrial and commercial administration so as to deal with it according to law.
Article 16 As for the substandard agricultural products which have already been sold, distributors shall recall them by public notice, and destroy them.
Article 17 Market operators shall set up the public announcement boards for the quality and safety of agricultural products on the conspicuous spots within their markets, make public the results of monitoring of the quality and safety of agricultural products, illegal activities of operation, matters needing attention for entering the market to purchase, etc. The setting up and using of public announcement boards shall be supervised by the departments of industrial and commercial administration.
Article 18 For agricultural products to enter the various operation places of agricultural products, suppliers shall provide the certificates that each batch of agricultural products meets the standards, the related certificates of inspection, quarantine, and the documents to certify the sources of agricultural products, and shall keep the original copies or the photocopied ones.
Article 19 The system of the bar codes of inspection, quarantine and the electronic invoices shall be put into practice for distributing fresh, frozen livestock products.
Fresh, frozen livestock products shall enter the market for distribution by the certificates of quarantine, the bar codes of inspection, quarantine, and the electronic invoices for meat to leave factories issued by slaughtering and processing units. If the valid stamps of completed inspection are needed, suppliers shall provide them.
Fresh, frozen products of livestock and poultry shall be shipped by the special vehicles with the facilities to freeze, prevent dust, and other necessary facilities, they shall not be shipped by open vehicles.
Article 20 The enterprises to serve food and beverage and the units to provide meals for a group of people shall establish a system of the day-to-day account of the purchase of agricultural products, and keep such accounts for one year. The items such as names, producing places, quantity of purchased agricultural products and dates of purchasing, etc. shall be recorded in the day-to-day account.
It shall be prohibited to purchase the agricultural products which have neither certificate of meeting the product standards nor certificate of inspection, quarantine.
Chapter IV Supervision and Inspection
Article 21 The system to monitor the quality and safety of agricultural products shall be put into practice.
The municipal department of agriculture shall work out a plan to monitor the quality and safety of agricultural products and organize its implementation, and publish the results of monitoring on a regular basis.
Article 22 The departments of agriculture shall conduct the supervision-oriented random inspection of agricultural products which are produced, distributed. If any agricultural products fail to pass an inspection, the departments of agriculture shall supervise producers, operators doing neutralizing treatment and disposal.
Article 23 The producers, operators of agricultural products shall accept the supervision-oriented random inspection conducted according to law. As for those who refuse to accept it, the agricultural products which are produced, distributed by them shall be regarded as substandard products.
Article 24 If any producers, operators of agricultural products have objections to the result of the supervision-oriented random inspection, they may apply for re-inspection according to law.
If the result of a re-inspection is the same as that of the original inspection, the expense of the re-inspection shall be paid by the applicant, if the result of a re-inspection is different from that of the original inspection, the expense of the re-inspection shall be born by the office doing the original random inspection.
The applicant shall help to keep the agricultural products which are sealed up under inspection, and shall not transfer, replace, or sell them
Article 25 If one of the following situations applies to the same kind of agricultural products coming from the same administrative region at the county level, the municipal department of agriculture shall promptly issue a public notice and inform the related departments of the producing place:
（1） it has been found in random inspections three times in one year that products contain the pesticide, animal medicines, and other hazardous materials which are prohibited for use;
（2） the contents of the pesticide, animal medicines, and other hazardous materials which are prohibited for use by the state exceed the prescribed standards considerably;
（3） there are serious consequences such as causing many people food poisoning after products are sold in the market.
Within 90 days from the date of issuing the public notice, any operators shall not
purchase the agricultural products referred to in the previous section.
In case of violation of the previous section by purchasing and selling the agricultural products, the department of industrial and commercial administration shall circulate a notice of illegal acts, and remind the city residents that they must be selective, cautious in purchasing.
Article 26 When circulating a notice, the responsible department shall, in addition to publishing it in news media according to the rules, post it in public on the conspicuous spot of the operation place which witnesses the illegal acts, the related operators shall cooperate. The copies of the circulated notice issued by the responsible department shall be sent to the related departments so that they can handle the case according to law.
Chapter V Legal Liabilities
Article 27 In case of violation of Article 8 of these regulations by engaging in the activities of raising animals, doing animal business, and production, operation of animal products without obtaining a certificate of animal epidemic prevention, the office of animal epidemic prevention and supervision shall give a warning, and order to correct by a deadline; if the correction has not been made after the deadline, stopping production, business shall be ordered, and a fine of more than 10,000 but less than 30,000 RMB shall be imposed as well.
Article 28 In case of violation of Article 12 of these regulations by engaging in the production of agricultural products, the department of agriculture shall order to correct, to conduct neutralizing treatment and disposal of agricultural products, and impose a fine of more than 5,000 but less than 20,000 RMB; if the circumstances are serious, stopping business for rectification shall be ordered.
Article 29 In case of failing in the supervision-oriented random inspection of the quality and safety of agricultural products, the department of agriculture shall confiscate the earnings from the sale of substandard products, and impose a fine of more than 2,000 but less than 20,000 RMB on the operator.
Article 30 If an institution of test, inspection fabricates the results of inspection of agricultural products, the department of agriculture shall confiscate illegal earnings, and order to correct, a fine of more than 50,000 but less than 100,000 RMB shall be imposed on the unit, a fine of more than 10,000 but less than 50,000 RMB shall be imposed on the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible persons, if the circumstances are serious, they shall be disqualified for inspection; if there is a damage, the liability for compensation shall be held according to law.
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Article 31 If these regulations stipulate that specific measures should be worked out by the municipal government, the municipal government shall work them out within 18 months from the date when these regulations take effect.
Article 32 The municipal office of administrative penalty enforcement shall formulate the specific enforcement standards for the fines prescribed by these regulations. The specific enforcement measures shall be put into force with these regulations at the same time; if there is a need for revision, the formulating office shall make a revision promptly.
Article 33 These regulations shall take effect as of May 1, 2007.