Circular No. 102/2001/TT-BNN guiding the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 178/1999/QD-TTG promulgating the Regulation on the labelling of goods for domestic circulation and export as well as import goods, regarding commodity forest products, commodities processed from forest products, cereal grains and assorted farm produce seeds in packs

OFFICIAL GAZETTE No. 47 (22-12-2001) THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT CIRCULARNo:.10212001 ITT~BNN OF OCTOBER 26, 2001 GUIDING THE 1MPLl=MENTATION OF THE PRIME,: MINISTER'S DECISION No.178/ 1999IQD-TTg OF AUGUST30,, 1999 PROMUL GATING THE REGULATION ON THE LABELING OF GOODS FOR-DOMESTIC CIRCULATION AND EXPORT AS WELL AS IMPORT GOODS, REGARDING COMMODITY FOREST PRODUCTS, COMMODITIES PROCESSED FROM FOREST PRODUCTS, CEREAL GRAINS AND ASSORTED FARM PRODUCE SEEDS IN PACKS In furtherance of the Prime Minister's Decision No.178/1999/QD-TTg of August 30, 1999 on the labeling 9f goods for domestic circulation and export as well as import goods, regarding specific goods items of the agriculture and rural development service, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued on July 17, I-Jo. ,1; t>2- i;i.:?001) m·1 ·1C1/\L GA/Lllf : 2 000 ~Jui di I lfJ Ci 101 lc.1r No. 7 6/2000/TT-B N N--!<I I CN. lo m;:iterialize the Primo Minister's directinu opiniom, in Official Dispatch No.304/CP-KTQD of April 18, ?.OO ·t on tlw promulgation of documents to uuide the implementation of the goods labeling reyuJalion, the Ministry of AfJriculture and Rural Development hereby guides the labeling of commodity forest products, commodities processed from forest products, cereal grains and assorted farm produce seeds in pc1cks. I. GENERAL PROVISIONS 1. Scope of application: Commodity forest products, commodities processed from forest products, cereal grains and assorted farm produce seeds in pac:ks,which are made in Vietnam for domestic consumption and export, goods impmted for sale on the Vietnamese' market (e xcept for those tern porarily imported forre~export or those processed for foreign countries) must all be labeled and the labeling must be conducted In· .compliance with the Prime Ministe(s Decision. Nq.178ri'999/QD-TTg of August 30, 1999 on the Reguiatio1fpn labeling of goods for domestic circulation and 'exportas w~U: as import goods and the Trade Ministry'sCircula.r N6,34/f999/TT-BTM of December 15, 1999 guiding the implementation of Decision No, 178/1999/QD~TT g as w'eU as this Circular's guidance. 2. Goods mentioned In this. Circular include: at Commodity fo·r~st products· and commodities processed from forest products: · Processed forest products to be used as raw materials, such as: artificial boards (particle board::;, fiber boards, plywood boards, planks, etc.) for domestic circulation, export or import; Sawn timber of all kinds (in cubes or bars), thin boards, sliced sheets, barked timber, etc,, for export or import; Goods being finished products or product cletails processed from timber or non-timber forest products {bamboo of various kinds, rattan, etc.), such as: t1out.ehold wood furniture, builders' carpentry, wood articles for exterior and interior decoration, special-use products (for sport gears, medical instruments. te::ichinu aids, toys), fine-art articles; Non••titnb(:I' forest proclucts, rciw m dried, whett1r>r or not pror.~Js:,orl, put up in pncks· trunl~s. bnmr,hcs, leave!;;, tmses, roots, t11hern, blossoms, fruits, seeds, p0(·1ls, oils, resins, essences. b/ Goods being c:emal grains and assortecl farm produce seeds, including, rice, maize, wheat, kaollang, barley, assorted peas and befrns, sesame, etc., unprocessed, in packs and not used as sowing seeds. 3. Labeling methods: a/ For goods put up in packs, the labeling shall be made by method of inscribing directly on the packing or printing on sheets:, which shall then be firmly attached, pinned or stuck on the packing; b/ For unpacked goods, the labeling shall be made by method of sticking labels directly on products or attaching labels to goods or inscribing labels on separate sheets to be handed to customers. 11. LABELING CONTENTS 1. Commodity forest products and' commodities processed from forest products: al Goods names; Their common names shall beJnscrlbed; Goods names are ailowed to be inscribed in combination with ·shapes, utility, size, names of raw materials, origins; trademarks (if any): of goods. For exarripie: Ironwood, pine wood, 1.2 m-lorig school table; rattan basket. pine resin, ironwood chest, pine wood chest; Thanh Hoa ironwood chest, etc: b/ Names and addresses of organizations and individuals, 'hereinafter collectively referred to as merchants·-responsible for goods: ln cases where merchants are those directly exploiting and selling forest products to market, merchants trade in commodity forest products and unprocessed forest rroducts, merchants are establishments processing and trading in commodities processed from forest products, including preliminarily processed and finished products for consumption, they shall inscribe names and addresses of their establishments; In cases where commodity forest products and commodities processed from forest products are imported or sold by sale agents for foreign merchants, names of importing merchants or names of sale agents shall be i11scribed. cl Good:; quanta: OFF/Cl1\L niVF n L No. 47 (22·L! 200,) .. Fm processed commodity fon"i;t proclucts to be used as raw materials, their longU1 x width x thickness in meter, centimeter or millimeter i;hall be inscribed; if goods ,ffe pack1:,d in lots or bales, their volume or size shall be additionally inscribed in cubic meter or square meter for each goods lot or bale; Goods being finished products or product details processed from timber or non-timber forest products, goods quantum shall be piece or set depending on each kind of goods. For finished products, their sizes being length x width x height shalt be inscribed; for products details, their sizes being length x width x thickness shall be inscribed. For non-timber•forest products (trunks, branches, leaves, tubers, roots, blossoms, fruits, seeds, peels, oils, resins, etc.) their quanta shall be inscribed under the guidance in the Trade Mi,nistry's Circular No.34/1999{fT BTM of December 15, 1999. - d/ Principal quality standards: .· . . .. . .. For a Cori1motjitybeing sawn timber from the-same plant speoi es;Jhe name· of such species shall be inscribed. ff it if front Vi3~ious plant species' the wood groups shall be inscribed; - .. . . . Commodities pmc·essed from non-timber forest products, assorted artificial boards, home wood furniture, builders' carpentry, articles made of rattan arid.bamboo of various kirids, etc.; the following commodity quality standards shall be fnscnbtsd: grade 1, !' 111 IVor A, B, C, D, if such commodities ar~ ·subJect to wauir \g c;tandards. Particularly for homewo od furniture mode i ;., ';ii 11ber, apart from grades (!, II, Ill, W or A, B, C, D), ila1 '1es of timber used for making such furniture must alsc · A lnscribed. el Date of manufacture, expiry and preservation duration: ~ For commodity forest products beirig artificial boards, home wood furniture, builders' carpentry, ;irt1ctes m::ide of bamboo or rattan of various kinds, etc., the month and year of manufacture thereof (except for commodities being non-timber forest products) shall be im,cr,bed. For non-timber forest products in raw, dried, preliminarily processed or prnrr..s~ed form, the day, •m:inth and year of exploitation or production must be clearly inscribed. For commodities with use deadlines, such deadlines must be si.:ribed. Far commodities that r..eed prnservation, the preservation condilion!:i mus+ be inscribed. f/ Commodity od(~in: If forest products and commodities processed from forest products are imported, the names of the exporting countries must be shown, for example: rubber-wood from Cambodia; ·· For non·•timber forest products, only addresses at provinces or centmHy-run cities where such products are exploited shall be inscribed, for example: cinnamon from Yen Bai province; ~ For commodity -forest products and commodities processed from forest products for export or import into Vietnam for consumption, the origin thereof must be inscribed. ln cases where the origin of Vietnamese exports is requested by -foreign customers not to be inscribed, the inscription: thereof ~hall be exempt until the end of December 3·1, 2002, · 2. For cereal grains ailctassorted·-farm produce seeds in packs: · at Commodity names: Names o f cereals andfarrn prodt.icie shall be clearly inscribedfncombinatio~ 'Mith (he lrp;,lor'c;i r, ortgin (if any). For example; ri ce CR203! dee Sah 1l)da:$;' nyhrid maize LVN10, lotus peanut,::: . . . - --- ---- - For other cereal grains. and farm produce seeds being local specia\\ies,: naroes of such goods may be followed by names Of localities whetetli.ey are produced, with a hyph'en between them: For example: Tam thorn rice - Hai Hau; lotus pearn.if~'.Nghe .4rt/ F'or cer~al graihs. being: special or peculiar commodities: the commodity name,s shall be inscribed first, which are Jo II owed by codes of breeds for producing such commodity, with a hyphen between them. For example: high-protein maize - HQ2000, high-protein rice P6. b/ Names and addresses of merchants responsible for commodities: For merchants producing cereal grains or farm produce and seeds directly selling their products, and trading or service merchants, they shall inscribe names and addresses of their organizations and individuals; If cereals are imported commodities or cornmod ities sold by sale agents of foreign merchants, nmnes of merchants responsible for commodities shall be the names ot importing merchants or sale agents. c/ Goods quanta: OFVICIA! UJ\/lil.l'F For ceresl grains, as,;orted farm µroduce seeds put up in packs, the commodity quantity being not weight in kilogram (kg) or gram (g) shall be inscribed. d/ Quality standards: For cereal grains and assorted farm produce seeds put up in packs, quality standards shall be inscribed according to quality grade of I, II or Ill (if any) together with the principal quality standards. For example: grade I maize; For other genetically modified cereal grains and farm produce seeds, the phrase ''genetically modified product" must be inscribed, for the customers' choice. el Date of manufacture, expiry and preservation methods: ' . \ ' Date of manufacture: The month and year of harvesting comniodit{pt0,ducts must be clearly inscribed on packing. Fotexi:lrnp!e: Produced in October 2001; Use deadlines: □a-y,:month and year being deadlines for use must be dearlyJhscribed; Preservatton:rrtEfrhqds: Conditions for preservation. . . . .,, : . f/ Use p~~pp~es: :· It must be ins'cribed-cm me packing that the packed grains are commercial products, not for seeding: g/ Comrnpdity origin: Origin of export comlllodities or commodities i·mported for sale on the Vietnamese market must be inscribed. In cases where the-originofV(etnamese export commodities is requested by forei9~ cust9mers not to be inscribed, the inscription thereof shall be exempt until the end of December 31, 2002. Ill. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION Merchants that produce commodity forest products and commodities processed from forest products, cerec1I grains and other farm produce seeds in packs attacher! with goods labels, which are allowed to be circulated and used in Vietnam, shall have to revise the labeling of their products under the Prime Minister's Decision No.178/ 1999/QDTrg of August 30, 1999 m1d Dimctive No.2f3/ 2000/CT-TTg ofDecember 27, 2000, the Tracie Ministry's Circular No. 34rl fl99/TT-BTM of Dece rnber 1 ti, 1999 and this Circular. Merchants t11naged in the import of torn:,t product~, and commodities processed from forest products, r,An:?al grains and other 'farm produce seed:,; in pacb from fore iun countries must notify suppliers of contents compulsory tn bo inscribed on labels of i mpoIted commodity prorlucts, in order to unify implementation methods. This Circular ti:1kes effect as from ,lanuary 1, 2002. The previous regulations on labeling applicable to forest products, commodities processed from forest products, cereal grains and farm produce seeds in packs, which are contrary to this Circular, are hereby annulled. Any difficulties or problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for appropriate amendments and supplements. For the Minister of Agriculture andRural Development ViceMinfster NGUYEN VAN DANG