Key provisions of GACC Decree 280:

• For products requiring official registration recommendation from Competent Authorities, GACC will consider factors such as raw material sources, production methods, food safety history, and consumption patterns, and publish a catalog of imported foods.
• Importing food overseas production enterprises must be legally approved and supervised by their competent authorities, maintain an effective food safety and hygiene system, comply with Chinese laws and standards, and meet agreed inspection and quarantine requirements. Producers of foods on the Catalog must also obtain official recommendation from their competent authorities.
• Importing food overseas production enterprises are required to submit the following registration materials to the GACC, either directly or through an agent:

1. facility registration application information
2. identification documents (business license and/or certificate issued by the competent authorities of their country or region)
3. declaration confirming compliance with the requirements of these Regulations.
4. audit and inspection report along with a recommendation letter from the competent authorities of their country or region (only required for food producers in the Catalog that requires official registration from Competent Authorities)

• GACC Decree 280 sets the registration validity at five (5) years and introduces automatic renewal for certain products. For products excluded from automatic renewal, the renewal application window is extended to 3–12 months before expiration, compared with Decree 248, which allowed applications only 3–6 months prior to expiry.
• GACC Decree 280 broadened the grounds for revocation of the registration to include:

(1)    Where a major food safety incident occurs with imported food due to reasons attributable to the enterprise itself; 
(2)    If food exported to China is found to have food safety issues during the inspection and quarantine process upon entry, and the circumstances are serious; 
(3)    The enterprise's food safety and hygiene management has significant flaws, and it cannot ensure that the food it exports to China meets the safety and hygiene standards. 
(4)    Those that, after rectification, still fail to meet the registration requirements; 
(5)    Providing false materials or concealing relevant information; 
(6)    Those who refuse to cooperate with the GACC in conducting re-examinations and accident investigations; 
(7)    Renting, lending, transferring, selling illegally, or using forged registration numbers; 
(8)    Granting registration to enterprises that do not meet the application qualifications or do not comply with the registration requirements; 
(9)    Other circumstances under which registration can be legally revoked. 
 

Exporters are strongly encouraged to work closely with their Chinese importers to ensure compliance with the new regulation. For more information, please refer to this link to the unofficial translation of Decree 280. https://bit.ly/GACCDecree280

For questions and clarifications, please contact the Philippine Trade and Investment Center-Beijing at Beijing@dti.gov.ph or the  DTI-EMB Market Division at marketdivision@dti.gov.ph.