Directions on the Hygiene Management of Fishing Vessels Supplying Fishery Products for the Export to European Union

Legislative History

1.The full text of 16 Articles enacted on 21 May 2007 by the
  Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 0961321203.

2.Article 14 amended and promulgated on 21 August 2008 by the
  Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 0971321935.

3.Article 5, Article 6, Article 9, Article 11, Article 12,
  Article 14 and Article 15 amended and promulgated on 13 October
  2009 by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 0981322384.

4.Article 5, Article 6, Article 14, Article 16, Article 17,
  Article 18 and Article 19 amended and promulgated on 23 June
  2010 by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 0991321462.

5.Article 14 amended and promulgated on 24 January 2011 by the
  Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 1001320211.

6.Article 20 amended and promulgated on 9 April 2012 by the
  Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu  1011321101.

7.Article 20 amended and promulgated on 30 July 2014 by the
  Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order
  No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 1031329669A.

Article 1
For promoting the hygiene management of fish catch exporting to the European Union
from the area of the Republic of China, and ensuring the procedures for
hygiene management meeting with the relevant Regulations set forth by the European Union,
these Directions are hereby established by the Council of Agriculture, Executive
Yuan (hereinafter referred to as “this Council”).

Article 2
The scope of these Directions includes document review of the application for hygiene
inspection, hygiene inspection of fishing vessels, website online registration of the
approved fishing vessels list for the export of fishery products to the European Union,
hygiene training of captains, and random hygiene inspection of fish catch.

Article 3
The document review of the application for hygiene inspection, hygiene inspection of
fishing vessels, hygiene training of captains, and random hygiene inspection of fish
catch referred to in these Directions shall be conducted by the Fisheries Agency of
this Council or its designated organizations.
The Fisheries Agency of this Council shall be in charge of the approval of fishing
vessels qualified for hygiene inspection and the issuance of Certificates of Hygiene
Training of Captains.

Article 4
A fishing vessel can be registered as a approved fishing vessel to supplying fishery
products for the export to the European Union only if its hygiene inspection is qualified.
Any fishery operator who intends to have his/her fishing vessel be registered as
approved fishing vessel to supply fishery products for  exportation to the European
Union shall in advance apply to the Fisheries Agency of this Council or its designated
organizations for hygiene training of captain and hygiene inspection of fishing vessel.

Article 5
Any fishery operator applying for hygiene inspection of fishing vessel  shall submit
a completed application form (format as shown in Annex 1), together with following
documentation, through of his/her fishermen’s association, to the Fisheries Agency of
this Council or its designated organizations for document review.
(1) Photocopy of the fishing license.
(2) The logbook of the latest trip (format as shown in Annex 2). In the event that the
    duration of the said trip is less than three days, the logbook catch data for over
    three days shall be submitted.
(3) The confirmation form for fish hygiene and fish hold temperature of the latest trip
    (format as shown in Annex 3). For a freezer vessel, it shall also submit a 
    continuousmonitoring record of fish hold temperature; additionally, any freezer
    vessel newly installing a temperature recorder shall submit a testing record of its
    freezer equipments.
(4) Any freezer vessel shall submit a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
    (HACCP) plan (format as shown in Annex 4).
(5) The Certificates of Hygiene Training of Captains
The Fisheries Agency of this Council or its designated organizations shall complete
document review within fifteen days upon the receipt of application from the fishery
operator. Where the application submitted is incomplete, the Agency or its designated
organizations shall notify the fishery operator to submit relevant supplementary
document(s) within fifteen days upon the receipt of such notification; nevertheless,
the application shall be rejected if no supplementary document(s) had been submitted
within the required time limit or it had not passed the document review.

Article 6
Any fishery operator shall schedule for an onboard hygiene inspection within one
month after the receipt of notification for passing the document review and report the
scheduled date for onboard hygiene inspection to the Fisheries Agency of this Council
or its designated organization within ten days before the said scheduled date.
The inspection items of onboard hygiene inspection referred to in the preceding
paragraph are prescribed in Annex 5 “Evaluation Sheet for Onboard Hygiene Inspection
of Fishing Vessels Supplying Fishery Products for the Export to the European Union”.

Article 7
Any fishing vessel having passed the onboard hygiene inspection shall be registered
by the Fisheries Agency of this Council on the website list of the approved fishing
vessels supplying fishery products for the export to the European Union.
In the event that a fishing vessel has failed the onboard hygiene inspection, its
fishery operator may submit a completed application form to apply for re-evaluation
within three months upon the receipt of notification of failure.

Article 8
For any fishing vessel which has failed the re-evaluation of onboard hygiene inspection,
its fishery operator may re-submit the application for document review in accordance
with Article 5 after three months from the following day of the fishery operator has
received the notification of failure.

Article 9
Any fishing vessel registered on the approved fishing vessels list shall undertake a
biennial follow-up hygiene inspection after the date it passed the hygiene inspection,
and its fishery operator shall apply for such follow-up hygiene inspection within
three months before the expiry date of hygiene inspection.
For any fishing vessel whose fishery operator has not applied for follow-up hygiene
inspection or which has failed the follow-up inspection, when the validity of its
hygiene inspection is expired, it shall be removed from the approved fishing vessels
list to the provisional list by the Fisheries Agency of this Council.
Where a fishing vessel has failed the follow-up hygiene inspection referred to in
paragraph 1, the fishery operator shall improve its deficiency and apply for
re-examinationwithin three months after the receipt of notification for failing the
follow-up inspection, and if the vessel has passed the said re-examination, it shall
be re-registered on the approved fishing vessels list.
For any fishing vessel which has been listed on the provisional list in accordance
with paragraph 2 for one year, it shall be deleted from the provisional list by the
Fisheries Agency of this Council.

Article 10
Any captain who works on a fishing vessel intending to apply for the qualification
for hygiene inspection shall join the hygiene training conducted by the Fisheries
Agency for at least four hours, and the training items of which include relevant
Regulations of the European Union, the inspection items and standards of hygiene
inspection of fishing vessels and the practices for the hygiene management of fish
catch, etcetera.
Any fishing vessel captain who has passed the hygiene training shall be issued a
Certificate of Hygiene Training of Captains by the Fisheries Agency of this Council,
with the validity of five-year.

Article 11
Any captain shall ensure the hygiene situation of fishing vessel, daily examine the
storage temperature of fish catch, accurately record the storage temperature on the
confirmation form and record the fishing area on logbook.

Article 12
During the fishing operation any captain of the fishing vessel registered on the
approved fishing vessels list shall examine whether there is any parasite attached
to the exterior body of fishes or any poisonous fish of the Diodontidae,
Tetraodontidae, Molidae and Cant higasteridae families existing in the fish catch
and correspondingly take records on the confirmation form for fish hygiene and fish
hold temperature.

Article 13
For any fishing vessel registered on the approved fishing vessels list, if its
captain is newly appointed and has not yet obtained the Certificate of Hygiene
Training pursuant to Article 10, the fishery operator shall apply to an organization
designated by the Fisheries Agency for the hygiene training of captain within three
months upon the appointment of the captain, and the captain concerned shall be
qualified of such hygiene training.
For any fishing vessel referred to in the preceding paragraph, if there is any
change of its fishery operator or vessel name yet the captain remains in the
position, the fishery operator shall apply to the Fisheries Agency of this Council
for the change of registration.

Article 14
Where a fishing vessel has entered into the port for landing, its captain shall
submit photocopy of the logbook of the trip concerned to the local fishermen’s
association; additionally, the captain, the fish trade agent and the processing
plant shall accurately fill in the Record of Sales Process of Fish Catch of Fishing
Vessels Supplying Fishery Products for the Export to the European Union (format as
shown in Annex 6) accordingly.
After a fishing vessel completed the landing, the Fisheries Agency of this Council
or its designated organizations may conduct random hygiene inspection of catch,
and the sensory inspection items shall include the evaluation of fish freshness,
vision inspection of the presence of parasites and poisonous fishes.
When there is a doubt for the fish freshness during the sensory inspection referred
to in the preceding paragraph, the fishery operator concerned shall cooperate with
the Fisheries Agency of this Council or its designated organizations to take sample
for conducting chemical testing.
The photocopy of logbook referred to in paragraph 1 shall be filed by the fishermen’s
association to the relevant municipal or county (city) government for recordation.

Article 15
In the event that a fishing vessel registered on the approved fishing vessels list
has committed any of the following activities, this Council may revoke or abolish
its registration:
(1) The fishery operator has used forged documents to apply for hygiene inspection.
(2) Failure to submit the logbook and confirmation form for fish hygiene and fish hold
temperature in accordance with Article 14, or failure to correct the false information
recorded on the aforementioned logbook and confirmation form after the receipt of
notification.
(3) The fishery operator is intended not to apply for the follow-up hygiene inspection
pursuant to Article 9, or after the receipt of notification for failing follow-up
inspection, the fishing vessel has still failed to pass the re-examination of follow-up
inspection within the prescribed time limit.
(4) The fishery operator has failed to take effective corrective actions for the fish
catch which has been verified as non-conformity to the hygiene requirements of the
European Union, or the non-conformity of fish catch to the hygiene requirements is
considered as serious.
(5) The newly-appointed captain has not passed the hygiene training within the
prescribed time limit in accordance with Article 13.
(6) Loss of fishing vessel.
For any fishing vessel which has been revoked or abolished its registration on the
approved fishing vessels list, it may be allowed to resubmit application for
hygiene inspection of fishing vessel after one year from the date of revoke or
abolishment.

Article 16
The Fisheries Agency of this Council shall submit the approved freezer vessels list
authorized by these Directions to the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection,
Ministry of Economic Affairs for notification the European Union to register.

Article 17
In the event that a freezer vessel registered on the approved fishing vessels list
has committed any of the following activities, the Fisheries Agency of this Council
shall request the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic
Affairs
to notify the European Union of the cancellation of its registration:
(1) The fishery operator has used forged documents to apply for hygiene inspection.
(2) Failure to apply for follow-up hygiene inspection or failure to pass the biennial
follow-up inspection in accordance with Article 9, except for a fishing vessel in the
period of conducting re-evaluation.
(3) The fishery operator has failed to take effective corrective actions for the fish
catch which has been verified as non-conformity to the hygiene requirements of the
European Union, or the non-conformity of fish catch is considered as serious.
(4) Loss of fishing vessel.
(5) Failure to provide with relevant information regarding the hygiene of fish catch
pursuant to these Directions.

Article 18
Any freezer fishing vessel which has been deleted from the approved fishing vessels
list by the European Union may resubmit an application for hygiene inspection after
one year from the date that the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection,
Ministry of Economic Affairs notified the European Union of the cancellation of
its registration.

Article 19
Where a freezer fishing vessel registered on the approved fishing vessels list
has any change of fishery operator or vessel name, its fishery operator shall
submit the certification document of such change to the Fisheries Agency of this
Council for forwarding to the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection,
Ministry of Economic Affairs to notify the European Union.

Article 20
Where any fish catch of the fishing vessel intends to export to non-EU region and
the importing country concerned requests the said vessel conforming to relevant
regulations of hygiene management, the document review of application for hygiene
inspection, hygiene inspection of fishing vessels, website online registration of
the approved fishing vessels list, hygiene training of captains and random hygiene
inspection of fish catch shall be conducted in accordance with these Directions.