US rules for food may harm trade ( 2003-12-11 23:58) (China Daily)
New rules set up by the United States for food shipments could end up being
just another barrier to trade, say some industry insiders.
Women pack
products at the Huamei Food Products Co Ltd, a food products exporter in
Donggan City of South China's Guangdong Province. Huamei is one of an
estimated 3,000 companies that export food to the United States. Like most
of them, it had registered with the US Food and Drug Administration
December 11, 2003. [newsphoto.com.cn]
Most of China's food exporters were already registered with the US Food and
Drug Administration Thursday -- a day before the new rules "aimed at protecting
US from a bioterror attack'' went into effect, officials said.
But some have complained the US regulations will cause them more problems
than paperwork.
Acting on the 2002 Bioterrorism Act, the FDA released two new rules --
Registration of Food Facilities and Prior Notice of Imported Food Shipments --
on October 10.
The statutes require companies exporting food to the US to register with the
FDA by Friday, December 12, 2003 and to give inspectors advance notice
of any arriving shipments. The FDA said it may refuse or hold back unannounced
shipments at entry ports.
"We estimate the new US legislation affects at least 3,000 food and feed
exporters in China,'' said Gu Shaoping of the Certification and Accreditation
Administration of China.
Most of those firms had registered with the FDA through various channels by
Thursday, Gu told China Daily.
In addition to translating the Bioterrorism Act and other FDA rules, Gu said
his agency and China's quality inspection authorities have held talks with the
FDA and helped Chinese food facilities register over the past few months.
To help Chinese firms with the registration process, the China Import and
Export Commodity Inspection Technology Institute created an agent in the US in
mid-October, according to Li Jingjin, a division director of the institute.
Despite the authority's efforts, however, some industry insiders in China
said they feared the new regulations will end up as a "barrier to trade.''
The US is China's fourth largest market of farm produce. It imported US$1.63
billion worth of agricultural products from China last year, according to
customs statistics.
Zhang Junxiu, vice-president of the Food Industry Association of Guangdong
Province in South China, said the rules, which seemingly require a procedural
registration, may result in trade restrictions and protection. He did not
elaborate.
Yan Menghong, director of a Taiwan-funded seafood exporter in Zhanjiang of
Guangdong, said: "More than 80 per cent of our products go to the US market, so
we have to seriously follow it regardless if the regulation is reasonable or
not.''
Li Changqing, an executive with one of the largest food exporters in
Guangdong, said the registration process will enable the US to acquire
information about foreign food suppliers, thus giving US an edge in case an
international trade war erupts.
Although FDA levies no fee for registration or receiving prior notice, the
cost of exporters will increase because they have to go through all the
procedures, especially to designate a US agent -- the person FDA contacts when
an emergency occurs, Gu said.
