| Article 1
The Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan promulgated these
directions to establish auditing mechanism for trading companies
and agents of fish and fisheries products (hereinafter referred
to as “fish trading companies (agents)”), so as to ensure
catches bought by fish trading companies (agents) from domestic
or foreign fishing vessels are not involved in illegal,
unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.
Article 2
The target of this auditing is any fish trading company (agent),
selling or being assigned to sell catches and fisheries products
from Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels, legally registered
in Taiwan pursuant to relevant laws and regulations, including
any fish trading agent that has been approved pursuant to the
Regulations on the Management of Fishing Vessels and Crew in
Foreign Fishing Bases.
Audit of fishing companies (agents) is conducted by the
Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture (hereinafter referred
to as “the Fisheries Agency”). The Fisheries Agency shall
establish a list of authorized fishing trading companies
(agents), and perform risk assessment to the listed companies
(agents). Levels of risk are categorized into high, medium, and
low. Fishing trading companies (agents) with high level of risk
are the priority targets to be audited.
Methods of risk assessment to fish trading companies (agents)
and categories of risk levels are as Attachment 1.
Article 3
To conduct audit of fish trading companies (agents), the
Fisheries Agency may establish an Audit Squad Unit.
Members of the preceding Audit Squad Unit are commissioned by
the Fisheries Agency, and a senior specialist will be assigned
as the convener. If deemed necessary, certified public
accountants, logistics specialists and relevant experts may be
commissioned to render assistance.
Article 4
Items for auditing fish trading companies (agents) shall
include the followings:
1.Fish trading companies (agents) shall collect the latest
laws and regulations on fisheries as well as trading, and
conduct training programs so that both employees and
managers understand relevant conservation and management
measures applicable to fishing vessels adopted by regional
fisheries management organizations, as well as related laws
and regulations promulgated by flag States and market States,
so as to ensure their purchase and sale activities are in line
with domestic and international regulations.
2.Fish trading companies (agents) shall establish code of
conduct as well as standard operating procedure (SOP) of
purchase and sale of catches and fisheries products and shall
implement the code of conduct and SOP thoroughly, so as not to
purchase or sell IUU catches and fisheries products.
3.Fish trading companies (agents) shall archive relevant
documents and bills of purchasing and selling catches and
fisheries products for at least three years, so as to ensure
each consignment of catches could be traced.
4.Fish trading companies (agents) shall establish a mechanism to
deal with IUU catches and fisheries products detected, so as
to avoid IUU catches and fisheries products to enter into
markets.
Article 5
Auditing procedures are as follows:
1.The Fisheries Agency shall notify fish trading companies
(agents) in written of the auditing procedures and items and
the possible consequences in case of failing the audit.
2.Upon receipt of the audit notification from the Fisheries
Agency, a fish trading company (agent) shall submit the Report
of the Fish Trading Company (Agent) (format as shown in
Attachment 2) within the notified timeframe to the Fisheries
Agency for review. After reviewing the report, if deemed
insufficient, the Fisheries Agency may request the company
(agent) to provide supplementary information within specified
timeframe. The information provided by the fish trading
company (agent) shall include:
(1)Its code of conduct and SOP of purchase and sale of catches
and fisheries products.
(2)Its mechanism to deal with IUU catches and fisheries products
detected.
(3)Other relevant information on trading catches and fisheries
products that can prove the flow of traded catches and
fisheries products.
3.After reviewing the report and documents provided by the fish
trading company (agent), the Fisheries Agency may dispatch
auditor(s) to the registered location or the major operating
location of that trading company (agent) to conduct field
audit, so as to verify the prior checking mechanism, SOP of
purchase and sale, archives maintenance and other systems
established by that company (agent). Methods of field audit
includes interview with personnel in charge of purchase and
sale and random inspection on documents and bills, etc.
4.The Audit Squad Unit shall audit the internal control systems
of the company (agent), including the information provided to
the Fisheries Agency, status of implementation, inventory
movement of catches and fisheries products, traceability and
archives maintenance, and fill out the “ Field Audit Form”
(format as shown in Attachment 3) which records conformity or
inconformity and item(s) with defect. The Audit Squad Unit
shall also fill out “Item(s) with Defect and Improvement”
column of the “Recommendations on Further Actions” (format
as shown in Attachment 4) within thirty days after the
completion of field audit, and inform the fish trading
company (agent) of the auditing results in written.
5.Upon receipt of the auditing results in written from the
Fisheries Agency, the fish trading company (agent) shall make
improvement on the item(s) with defect, fill in the
“Improvements Made by the Fish Trading Company (Agent)”
column of the preceding “Recommendations on Further Actions”
and report in written to the Fisheries Agency for review
within thirty days. In the event that the fish trading
company (agent) can’t complete the improvement within the
aforementioned timeframe, it may apply for only one extension
of deadline, which shall be limited to another thirty days.
After reviewing, the Audit Squad Unit will inform the fish
trading company (agent) of the comments in written. In case
that item(s) with defect still remains, it/they should be put
into the record.
Article 6
The auditing frequency shall be conducted in accordance with the
following provisions, except for circumstances stipulated in
paragraph 2 to 4 of this Article:
(1)For fish trading companies (agents) with high level of risk,
audit shall be conducted at least once every year.
(2)For fish trading companies (agents) with medium level of risk,
audit shall be conducted at least once every two years.
(3)For fish trading companies (agents) with low level of risk,
they may be exempted from being audited.
Auditing frequency for fish trading companies (agents) with
records of defect for more than three times may be increased.
For fish trading companies (agents) with no record of defect for
three consecutive years, they may be exempted from being audited
in the next year.
In the event that fish trading companies (agents) are reported
to have been involved in IUU activities or abnormal indication
appears during the application for catch certificates, the
Fisheries Agency may conduct audit to the trading companies
(agents) concerned.
Article 7
From January 1 2016, for any fish trading company (agent) with
defect records for more than three times within one year, the
Fisheries Agency may prohibit such trading company (agent) from
selling or being assigned to sell catches and fisheries
products pursuant to relevant regulations. |