| Legislative： |
1.The full text of 18 articles promulgated by the Council of
Agriculture, Executive Yuan on January 20, 2017, under Order
No. Nong-Yu-Tsu 1061332070.
2.The full text of 20 articles Amended and promulgated by the
Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan on August 7, 2018,
under Order No. Nong-Yu-Tsu 1071336070. |
| Content： |
Article 1
These Regulations are hereby established pursuant to Article 25,
paragraph 4 of the Act for Distant Water Fisheries (hereinafter
referred to as “the Act”).
Article 2
The industry related to distant water fisheries intending to
conduct the export of catches or fisheries products of distant
water fisheries listed in Appendix 1 shall fill in the
application form (format as shown in Appendix 2) and apply to
the competent authority through post, facsimile, or the internet
for the approval to be the exporter of catches or fisheries
products of distant water fisheries (hereinafter referred to as
“the exporter of distant water fisheries products”), with the
following documents enclosed:
(1)A photocopy of the National Identity Card of the legal
representative or the person in charge.
(2)The basic registered information on the company, business or
factory of the applicant downloaded from the website of the
Department of Commerce of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
(3)The basic registered importer/exporter information of the
applicant downloaded from the website of the Bureau of
Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
(4)Business Operation Prospectus (as shown in Appendix 3), which
shall include the company's organizational chart, manpower
deployment, items for purchases and sales, contractors for
purchases and sales, risk management, etc.
(5)Code of Conduct and standard operating procedures (SOP) for
the purchase and sale of catches or fisheries products of
distant water fisheries as listed in Appendix 1.
The applicant as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be
limited to the importer/exporter registered with the Bureau of
Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
In addition to meeting the requirements imposed by the
corresponding trading country on the production and storage of
the fisheries products imported as well as the sanitary
requirements on processing premises, the Code of Conduct as
referred to in subparagraph (5) of paragraph 1 shall include the
requirements to be complied with by the exporters of distant
water fisheries products as stipulated in Article 7.
The SOP as referred to in subparagraph (5) of paragraph 1 shall
include procedures for purchase, transport, storage, processing,
or sales and shall be sufficient to trace the flow of catches
or fisheries products and the legitimacy of their sources.
In case that the amount of the catches or fisheries products of
distant water fisheries listed in Appendix 1 in one single
exportation is less than 1,000 kilograms, the provisions on the
application for the approval as the exporter of distant water
fisheries products shall be waived.
Article 3
For any application document that does not meet the
requirement(s) prescribed in Article 2, the competent authority
shall require the supplementation within a timeframe. Any
application without supplementation within the required
timeframe or with incomplete supplementation shall be denied.
Article 4
The competent authority will issue the certificate of the
approved exporter of distant water fisheries products after the
application as referred to in Article 2 has passed the
documentary review. The certificate will record the following:
(1)Name and Tax ID Number.
(2)Operation address.
(3)Name of the legal representative or the person in charge.
(4)Certificate number and issuing date.
(5)The issuing authority.
Article 5
In case of any of the following circumstances, the application
made in accordance with Article 2 shall be denied:
(1)The applicant does not meet the requirement stipulated in
Article 2, paragraph 2.
(2)The Code of Conduct and SOP do not meet the requirements
stipulated in Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4.
(3)Three years have not passed since the exportation eligibility
has been revoked pursuant to Article 38, paragraph 3 of the
Act.
(4)Five years have not passed since the exportation eligibility
has been revoked pursuant to Article 38, paragraph 5 of the
Act.
Article 6
In case that any entry, except for the Tax ID Number, recorded
in the certificate of the approved exporter of distant water
fisheries products has changed, such exporter shall apply to
the competent authority through post, facsimile, or the
internet, with the enclosure of relevant proving document(s),
within three months after the date of occurrence of such change.
For the application as referred to in paragraph 1, provisions
stipulated in Article 3 and 4 shall, mutatis mutandis, apply.
Article 7
Any exporter of distant water fisheries products shall comply
with the following provisions when purchasing or selling catches
or fisheries products of distant water fisheries as listed in
Appendix 1:
(1)In case that the fish species of the catches or fisheries
products is under the management of the international
fisheries organization(s), such catches or fisheries products
shall come from the fishing vessel(s) authorized by relevant
international fisheries organization(s).
(2)Catches or fisheries products shall not come from any fishing
vessel listed on the illegal, unreported, and unregulated
(IUU) fishing vessels list promulgated by the competent
authority pursuant to Article 13, paragraph 2 of the Act.
(3)Catches or fisheries products shall not be the catches or
fisheries products under trade sanction from any country
under trade sanction imposed by the international fisheries
organization(s).
(4)The supplying fishing vessel(s) of the Republic of China
shall not violate provisions stipulated in Article 13,
paragraph 1 of the Act.
(5)The supplying fishing vessel(s) of foreign flag(s) shall not
violate relevant laws or regulations of the flag State(s) or
conservation and management measures.
(6)The catches or fisheries products purchased, transported,
stored, processed, or sold shall come from legitimate sources
and be traceable.
(7)Respective SOP in case of self-detecting or being notified by
a client or the competent authority that catches or
fisheries products have involved in IUU fishing shall be
established. The SOPs shall include the manners to deal with
circumstances such as receiving notifications, self
notifications, stopping or suspending transactions, or
compensation.
(8)A management unit or personnel in charge of supervising and
ensuring the execution of the Code of Conduct and the SOP
shall be established or assigned.
(9)The purchase and sales information of each batch of catches
or fisheries products, checklist(s), annual internal audit
reports, and education/training records shall be archived for
at least five years.
Article 8
Any exporter of distant water fisheries products shall declare,
in accordance with the items as prescribed in Appendix 4, the
information on the purchased, sold, and stored catches or
fisheries products as listed in Appendix 1 during the preceding
three months within 15 days after the end of each quarter,
through post, facsimile, or the internet. Starting from January
16, 2019, the declaration shall be made through the internet.
In the event that a catch certificate has been applied for the
catches or fisheries products as referred to in the preceding
paragraph in accordance with the Regulations for Issuing Distant
Water Fisheries Catch Certificates, the write-off shall be
conducted in accordance with such Regulations.
Article 9
For the execution and management of the Code of Conduct and SOP,
any exporter of distant water fisheries products whose employees
are 30 persons or above shall establish a management unit, and
any exporter with less than 30 persons of employees shall assign
personnel in charge.
The management unit or the assigned personnel as referred to in
the preceding paragraph shall receive, at least for 12 hours in
every three years, education/training courses organized by the
competent authority on combating IUU fishing.
Article 10
Any exporter of distant water fisheries products shall comply
with its own Code of Conduct and SOP in case of purchasing or
selling catches or fisheries products as listed in Appendix 1,
and shall conduct internal audit at least once a year.
Article 11
Any exporter of distant water fisheries products shall cooperate
with the competent authority in the event of auditing the Code
of Conduct and SOP for the purchase or sales of catches or
fisheries products, and shall not evade, obstruct or deny.
Items and criteria for the audit as referred to in the preceding
paragraph are shown in Appendix 5.
Article 12
Pursuant to the criteria listed in Appendix 6, the competent
authority shall, based on the information declared during the
preceding year, categorize the exporters of distant water
fisheries products into high, medium, and low risk level. Unless
otherwise provided in these Regulations, audits shall be
conducted pursuant to the following provisions:
(1)For the exportation amount over 10,000 metric tons during the
preceding year, an audit shall be conducted every year.
(2)For the exportation amount over 1,000 metric tons and of
10,000 metric tons or less during the preceding year, an
audit shall be conducted every five years.
(3)For the exportation amount of 1,000 metric tons or less
during the preceding year, random audit shall be conducted at
the ratio of 5% every year, and priority shall be given to
those categorized as high or medium level.
For any exporter of distant water fisheries products that has
not exported any catch or fisheries product as listed in
Appendix 1 in the preceding year, the competent may not audit
such exporter in accordance with the provision stipulated in
the preceding paragraph.
In the event that any exporter of distant water fisheries
products is reported to be involved in or support the
transaction of IUU fishing activities, or any anomaly appears
in relevant catch certificates applied by any exporter of
distant water fisheries products, or the points of risk
increase, the competent authority may conduct the audit at any
time.
Article 13
Before auditing, the competent authority may require any
exporter of distant water fisheries products to provide, within
the required timeframe, relevant information such as the
management for traceability of the catches or fisheries products
it purchases or sells.
The competent authority shall, after reviewing the information
as referred to in the preceding paragraph, draw up the audit
plan and notify the exporter of distant water fisheries products
to cooperate with the audit.
Article 14
In the event of field audit, the competent authority may require
the exporter of distant water fisheries products to provide the
following documents and/or information:
(1)Information on contractor(s) for purchases and sales.
(2)Purchase and sales contracts, and documents proving the
transaction and exportation.
(3)Other documents and/or information designated by the
competent authority.
Auditor(s) shall keep confidential the contents of the documents
and information as referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 15
Ratings after the audit are categorized as the following:
(1)A plus: No defect was found.
(2)A: minor defects are five items or less, or one major defect.
(3)B: minor defects are six items or above but less than 12, or
major defects are two items or above but less than four.
(4)C: minor defects are 12 items or above, or major defects are
four items or above.
In terms of calculating the number of defect as referred to in
the preceding paragraph, three minor defects are equivalent to
one major defect.
For any exporter of distant water fisheries products that is
rated “A plus” and has been categorized as law risk level in
the recent three consecutive years, it may be exempted from the
audit for five years starting from the date of the completion of
the most recent audit.
Article 16
For any exporter of distant water fisheries products that is
rated “B”, it shall submit the improvement report within 30
days starting from the next day that the audit report is served.
In the event that the exporter of distant water fisheries
products is unable to submit the improvement report by the
deadline prescribed in the preceding paragraph, it may apply to
the competent authority for the extension before the deadline.
The application of extension shall be limited to once and the
extension shall be limited to only 30 days.
For any exporter of distant water fisheries products failing to
submit the improvement report and complete the improvements in
accordance with the preceding two paragraphs, the competent
authority may continue to require such exporter to improve
within a timeframe till the completion of the improvements.
It shall only be deemed as completing the improvements once the
improvement report submitted by the exporter of distant water
fisheries is rated “A” or above by the competent authority.
Article 17
In case of any of the following circumstances, the competent
authority shall revoke the exportation eligibility of any
exporter of distant water fisheries products:
(1)The exporter of distant water fisheries products is rated
“B” and has not completed the improvements within the
required deadline for three times.
(2)The exporter of distant water fisheries products is rated
“C”.
(3)The Bureau of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic
Affairs revokes the importer/exporter registration.
(4)The exportation of the catches or fisheries products as
listed in Appendix 1 has been ceased for six months or above.
(5)The company or business registration has been withdrawn,
revoked, or cancelled; or the company or the business has
been dissolved or terminated; or the recognition is revoked.
Any exporter of distant water fisheries products that ceases
exporting the catches or fisheries products as listed in
Appendix 1 may take the initiative to apply to the competent
authority for the revocation of is exportation eligibility and
return the original copy of its certificate.
Article 18
In case that the exportation eligibility of an exporter of
distant water fisheries products has been revoked by the
competent authority pursuant to subparagraph (1) or (2) of
Article 17, paragraph 1, such exporter shall only re-apply for
the approval as an exporter of distant water fisheries products
after it improves the defects and is rated as “A” or above
by the competent authority.
Any exporter whose eligibility has been revoked due to the
circumstances stipulated in subparagraph (4) of Article 17,
paragraph 1 may re-apply for the approval as an exporter of
distant water fisheries products after the disappearance of
such circumstances.
Article 19
The competent authority may commission other institution(s) to
conduct audits and education/training courses of the exporters
of distant water fisheries products.
Article 20
These Regulations shall become effective upon promulgation. |