Government issues Decree on plant quarantine
(VNGOVNet) – On January 5, the Government issued Decree 02/2007/ND-CP which is made of seven chapters and 31 articles regulating the inspection of plants in import, export, cross-border trade, temporary import for export, temporary export for import, transit; the quarantine of domestic plants and the treatment of objects subject to plant quarantine.
The Decree is based on the Ordinance on Plant Protection and Quarantine issued on August 08, 2001 and designed to replace the Regulation on Plant Inspection issued attached to Government Decree 58/2002/NĐ-CP dated on June 03, 2002. The Decree creates a legal framework to regulate activities of Vietnamese and international individuals and organizations in relation to plant quarantine on the Vietnamese territories. The inspection of imported plants is mentioned in Chapter II, inspection of exported plants in Chapter III, inspection of transit plants in Chapter IV, inspection of domestic plants in Chapter V, and treatment of objects subject to plant quarantine in Chapter VI.
As well as the technical terms available in the Regulation on Plant Inspection, the Decree also provides new terms with a detailed explanation such as harmful creatures, pests to be put under control but not plant quarantine, pests to be controlled, exotic harmful creatures, useful creatures, analysis of pest risks, pest monitor, similarity of plant quarantine measures, and crop species imported for the first time.
The Decree stipulates the responsibility of the object’s owner, the plant quarantine authority, concerned public agencies, People’s Committees at all levels as well as the term of reference of plant quarantine staff. Different from the previous regulation that stipulates that the plant quarantine authority has the mandate to monitor the plant inspection, the new Decree identifies it as the responsibility of plant quarantine authorities at all levels. This change is meant to improve the sense of responsibility and efficiency of the plant quarantine authority.
Besides the practices banned in the Regulation (bringing the pests that are under control and exotic harmful living creatures at any stage of evolution into Vietnam and spreading the living pests that are under control to immune areas), the Decree also bans the bringing into Vietnam in any form plants with soil and objects that are in the list of pests and plants to be analyzed for risks. The object owner violating regulations will be fined with civil penalty.
The Decree will take effect 15 days after it is publicized in the Official Gazette.
By Quang Vinh
(Source: Decree 02/2007/NĐ-CP)
