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Chapter Law Content

Chapter 3 Management of Agricultural products
Article 10
Any agricultural product shall not be labeled the agricultural product certification mark and cannot be sold, labelled, displayed or advertised as certified agricultural product unless it has been certified to be in compliance with this Act.
The central competent authority, in consultation with relevant agencies, shall establish regulations on the specifications, diagram, drawing and use of the agricultural product certification mark and other related requirements mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Article 11
Agricultural products that have been certified under this Act and sold as certified agricultural products shall be notably labelled with the following items in Chinese and common symbols:
1. Product name.
2. Ingredients. Each ingredient shall be indicated in a descending order of proportion if there are more than one ingredients; in the case of a product containing single ingredient represented by the same product name, the product is exempted from ingredient indication.
3. Net weight, volume, quantity or measurement.
4. Name, telephone number and address of the operator; and in the case of products that are produced under a contract, the name, telephone number and address of the contractor are also required.
5. Country of origin. Those with the address of the production premise or certification site that can identify the country of origin are exempted.
6. Agricultural product certification mark, certified product number, certification number or traceability code, and name of the certification body.
7. Methods to access the certification information.
8. Other matters promulgated by the central competent authority.
The methods to access certification information stated in subparagraph 7 of the preceding paragraph and the method of labeling shall be promulgated by the central competent authority.
In case of apparently difficulties to label the items mentioned in paragraph 1 due to the product itself, surface area or material of its container or package, or other special reasons, the central competent authority may promulgate conditions for exemption from labeling certain items or alternative labeling methods.
For any changes to the subject matters mentioned in paragraph 1, the label shall be updated within 3 months of the occurrence of the changes. Failure to do so within the specified period shall be deemed as false labeling.
Article 12
The operator shall retain the data related to production, processing, packaging, distribution, storage and marketing of certified agricultural products according to the certification standards promulgated by the central competent authority in accordance with Article 4 of this Act.
The competent authority may assign personnel to enter the premise of production, processing, packaging, storage, marketing and other business places operated by an operator, to conduct inspection, perform testing or request data related to matters mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Any subject shall not evade, impede or refuse such requests, or provide false data or records.
When agricultural products inspected or tested are not in compliance with the Act, the competent authority may impose fines on operators in accordance with this Act, and may also prohibit them from transporting such products and order them to take corrective action, withdraw or recall such products from the market, destroy such products, or take other appropriate measures.
Article 13
The officers who conduct inspection or perform testing in accordance with the preceding Article shall present their official identification documents or badges for performing the duty, and shall pay fees for products sampled form the market. The central competent authority shall establish regulations on the inspection, testing and other requirements.
The competent authority may appoint its affiliated agencies (institutions), or entrust other agencies (institutions), schools, legal entities, groups or individuals to conduct inspection or perform testing mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Article 14
Testing methods of agricultural products shall be promulgated by the central competent authority in consultation with related regulatory authorities. In the absence of any promulgated methods, the following testing methods shall be adopted in order.
1. Testing methods established by the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation.
2. National standards.
3. Internationally recognized methods.
Article 15
Where the operators disagree to the test results, they may apply for a retest to the original sampling authority and pay the retest fees within 15 days upon receiving the notice. The application for retest is limited to one time only.
Upon accepting the retest application, the sampling authority shall notify the original testing body to conduct a retest of the original specimen within 7 days. The retest application shall be refused if the specimen has deteriorated or could not be preserved properly.
Article 16
The operator may register the traceability information of agricultural products in the database or systems owned by the central competent authority before the distribution and marketing of such products, and label such information on the products itself or the packages or containers thereof.
The central competent authority shall promulgate the items of traceability information and its labeling methods.
The central competent authority may specify and promulgate, if necessary, that operators of certain category of agricultural products or of a certain scale shall register traceability information in accordance with paragraph 1 and label the products by the promulgated methods mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Article 17
The central competent authority may promulgate categories of agricultural products or the business scale of operators to implement self-management programs, which require the operators to set up monitoring plans on the safety of agricultural products, to ensure their safety and sanitation.
The elements of the monitoring plan mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be promulgated by the central competent authority.
Article 18
Any farmer or any farmers’ organization under a certain business scale may register with municipal/county/city governments as primary agricultural products processing premises for agricultural products if domestic QR code of agricultural products, certified agricultural products, organic agricultural products, in-conversion agricultural products or other agricultural products promulgated by the central competent authority are used as raw materials for processing certain categories of products with legal agricultural product processing facilities.
The central competent authority shall establish regulations on the promulgation of agricultural products, the scale of business, legal agricultural product processing facilities mentioned in the preceding paragraph, as well as the conditions, procedures and documents concerning the application, terms of validity, amendments and rescission of registration and other requirements.
The categories of products specified in paragraph 1 and their processing methods shall be promulgated by the central competent authority.
Article 19
To stabilize production, distribution and trading of agricultural products, and to increase categories and items of primary processed agricultural products, the competent authority may provide the following assistance.
1. Consultation for the development of primary processed agricultural products, including relevant procedures such as processing, packaging, distribution, and marketing.
2. Consultation on regulations related to primary processing of agricultural products.
3. Provision of knowledge and technical advices for primary processing of agricultural products.
4. Sample making and testing of agricultural product.
5. Other matters relevant to primary processing of agricultural products.
The competent authority may entrust relevant agencies, legal entities or groups to provide the assistance mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Article 20
Agricultural products shall not be labeled or advertised in the name of or in connection with the central competent authority or any of its affiliated agencies (institutions) without authorization.
Those who operate platforms or are entrusted to publish advertisements about certified agricultural products or QR code of agricultural products, or in the name of or in connection with the central competent authority or any of its affiliated agencies (institutions), shall retain information about the advertisers for 6 months from the date when the advertisements are published and shall not evade, impede or refuse to provide such information upon request by the competent authority or provide false information.
The central competent authority shall establish regulations governing elements of the information mentioned in the preceding paragraph, its retention methods and other requirements.
Article 21
The competent authority shall keep the identity of those who report violations against the provisions of this Act confidential and provide rewards for reporting such violations after they have been confirmed.
The central competent authority shall establish regulations governing reporting violations and rewarding mentioned in the preceding paragraph.