Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters andProducers (VASEP) has sent a petition to the Prime Minister proposing theamendment of regulations on quarantine for aquatic products used for food.

Inthe petition, VASEP said that the seafood business community had beenfacing big problems regarding quarantine regulations.

VASEP saidthat the State inspection of imported aquatic products carried out inaccordance with the provisions of circulars on quarantine of the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, were not the correct nature of an inspectionactivity as per processed seafood products used as food.

VASEPsaid that in accordance with the circulars, products processed fromanimals, animal products or products containing aquatic animals, either frozen,dried, cooked or instant use continues to be on a list subject toquarantine.

Thismade the scale and number of shipments subject to quarantine very large asalmost 100 percent of containers had to be checked before customsclearance, VASEP said.

Themaintenance and expansion of the list of "processed goods" that aresubject to quarantine as prescribed in the circulars was an excessive andunnecessary measure, noted the association.

Itis not in line with the policy of reducing the list of goods subjectto specialised inspection by the Government, or current legal regulations,or international practices, VASEP proposed in the document.

Theassociation also said that the regulations had "expanded"the concept of "animal products" compared to the Law on VeterinaryMedicine and the Law on Food Safety, causing many processed seafoodproducts to be subject to inspection, contradicting the specialisedinspection principles for import and export goods as prescribed by theGovernment.

VASEPsaid that while the Government was speeding up administrative reform andcutting down on specialised inspection procedures, the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development went against the Government's Resolutions 19 and 02.

TruongDinh Hoe, VASEP Secretary General, said that it was necessary to considerand remove the quarantine regulation for frozen processed seafood productsimported for export production, processing for export and not for domesticconsumption.

VASEP alsoproposed removing the quarantine regulations for imported processedseafood products for domestic consumption that are assessed as having no riskof spreading aquatic diseases into Vietnam.

Atthe same time, he said it was necessary to amend the circulars usedby the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the first quarternext year to clearly define import inspection activities in accordance withdifferent product lists./.