You are using an outdated browser and your browsing experience will not be optimal. Please update to the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Install Microsoft Edge

May 27, 2021

New Regulations on Penalties in Animal Husbandry in Vietnam

Subscribe to Updates

On March 1, 2021, the government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No. 14/2021/ND-CP on Penalties for Administrative Violations Involving Animal Husbandry (Decree 14). The new decree took effect on April 20 and, among other contents, repeals the regulations on animal feed found in Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP dated May 7, 2018.

In the field of animal feed, notable penalties of Decree 14 include the following:

Penalty forms and levels

For each administrative violation, the violator will be imposed a monetary penalty, which is the main penalty form. For the same violation, the monetary penalty level applied to an organization is double the amount applied to an individual.

In addition, based on the nature and extent of the violation, additional penalties may be imposed on the violators, including confiscation of violating items, and confiscating Certificates of Eligibility to manufacture animal feeds.

Violations of regulations on declaring product information

A fine of up to VND 3 million (USD 130) will be imposed for the act of changing information on product labels that has been published on the Portal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) without conducting the notification procedure to inform the MARD of such change.

A fine of up to VND 7 million (USD 300) will be imposed for the act of deliberately falsifying or erasing contents of documents or making false declarations in the applications for animal feed products on the Portal of the MARD.

Violation of regulations on quality in importing animal feed

A fine of up to VND 25 million (USD 1,080) will be imposed for the act of importing each animal feed having (i) a quantitative content of each quality criterion lower than the minimum level or higher than the maximum level compared with the standards announced or written on the goods label; or (ii) each safety criterion/each harmful microbiological criterion exceeding the allowable threshold under technical regulations or applied standards, depending on the specific criterion and percentage difference.

Violation of regulations on purchasing, selling, and importing expired animal feed

A fine of up to VND 40 million (USD 1,730) depending on the value of the violating goods will be imposed for the act of purchasing, selling, or importing animal feed products whose labels or enclosed documents state that the product has expired.

A fine of up to VND 10 million (USD 430) will be imposed for the act of not presenting or incorrectly presenting the manufacturing date on the product label or documents accompanying the product.

Violations of regulations on purchasing, selling, and importing animal feeds containing antibiotics

A fine of up to VND 15 million (USD 650) will be imposed for each acts of purchasing, selling, or importing an animal feed product having antibiotic content different from the content presented on the product label or in the documents accompanying the product, depending on the difference.

A fine of up to VND 15 million (USD 650) will be imposed for each act of (i) purchasing or importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics in which the information about the name and content of antibiotics, instruction for use, or time to ease using is not presented on the product labels or accompanying documents; or (ii) importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics without a prescription or not according to the prescription of a person having a practice certificate of prevention and treatment of animal diseases.

A fine of up to VND 20 million (USD 860) will be imposed for the each act of (i) importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics that is not a complete mixed feed for livestock or poultry, or pure feed for grass-fed cattle; (ii) purchasing, selling, or importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics to prevent disease for pets that are not in the immature stage; and (iii) purchasing, selling, or importing an animal feed product containing antibiotics for the purpose of growth stimulation.

A fine of up to VND 30 million (USD 1,300) will be imposed for the acts of purchasing, selling, or importing each animal feed product containing antibiotics that is not a veterinary drug approved for circulation in Vietnam or has not been approved by the relevant authority.

Violations of regulations on using animal feed material

A fine of up to VND 20 million (USD 860) will be imposed for each act of using an animal feed material which is not listed in the list of materials permitted to use in animal feed, depending on the value of the violating batch or the amount of illicit profits.

Remedial measures

In addition to the fines above, some remedial measures below are applied, depending on the case:

  • Being forced to repeal the published animal feed product information, or correct the false information published on the Portal of the MARD;
  • Being forced to recall, recycle, transform the use purpose, re-export or destroy the violating products; and
  • Being forced to re-submit the illicit profits gained from the violations.

Transitional provisions

For administrative violations that occurred before the effective date of Decree 14 (April 20, 2021) but were detected later, or are being considered and resolved, regulations that are beneficial to the violators will be applied.

For decisions on sanctioning of administrative violations that were issued or completely implemented before the effective date of Decree 14, but for which the violators can still appeal the decision, the previous legal document (Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP) is applied.

For violations detected after the effective date of Decree 14 that are effective in transitional provisions in the Law on Animal Husbandry and documents detailing the implementation of the Law on Animal Husbandry, Decree No. 64/2018/ND-CP is still applied until the transition period expires.

Related Professionals

Industries

Life Sciences

Practices

Regulatory Affairs

Location

RELATED INSIGHTS​ 

March 7, 2023
On March 3, 2023, the government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 07/2023/ND-CP (Decree 07) amending Decree 98/2021/ND-CP on medical device management (Decree 98) to resolve many urgent problems in the healthcare sector in Vietnam. Decree 07 took effect on the same day and amends and supplements several articles in its predecessor, Decree 98, which originally took effect on January 1, 2022. Some outstanding points of Decree 07 are summarized below. 1. Registration of Medical Devices The compulsory implementation of the ASEAN Common Submission Dossier Template (CSDT) in registration applications for medical devices will be delayed until January 1, 2024, instead of the deadline of January 1, 2023 under Decree 98. In addition, if after three rounds of amendment/supplementation as requested by the authority, the registration dossiers still have not been approved, the applicants must submit new registration dossiers. 2. Withdrawal of Registration Number Decree 98 adds one case for withdrawing the registration number of a medical device, which is when the documents in the registration dossier are concluded by the authority to be noncompliant with the provisions of law. 3. Listing Price of Medical Devices It is required for establishments manufacturing or trading medical devices to list their prices in locations stipulated under Article 17 of Decree No. 177/2013/ND-CP implementing the Law on Prices (such as at transaction or selling locations of the trading establishments) or on the online portal of the Department of Medical Equipment and Construction’s (DMEC). 4. Price Declaration It is no longer required to declare prices of all medical devices circulating on the Vietnam market. Instead, the Ministry of Health will issue and adjust the list of medical devices subject to price declaration, depending on management requirements and the actual situation, especially when there are abnormal fluctuations in prices affecting the supply of medical devices,
Read More
March 7, 2023
According to the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, many healthcare facilities in the country are facing a shortage of drugs, medical devices, and materials/chemicals. To address the urgent needs of medical examination and treatment in public healthcare facilities, on March 4, 2023, the government of Vietnam promulgated Resolution No. 30/NQ-CP on continuing to implement solutions to ensure the availability of drugs, medical equipment, and healthcare supplies (“Resolution 30”). Resolution 30 amends item 4 of Resolution No. 144/NQ-CP dated November 5, 2022, allowing medical examination and treatment expenses to continue to be covered by health insurance for technical services carried out with medical devices supplied by contractors after winning tenders to supply materials and chemicals. The new mechanism brings more benefit to patients by removing the previous ending date of November 5, 2023, and will be applicable until there is further guidance from the government. Resolution 30 also allows the use of medical devices that were donated or gifted by domestic and foreign entities (including those that were provided under now-expired joint ventures or cooperation contracts) regardless of whether those entities have fulfilled the procedures for ownership establishment. Technical services that are performed by such devices will be covered by health insurance. This provision will help address the shortage of medical devices used in public hospitals. The determination of bid price is also a highlight of Resolution 30, which pilots a simpler price determination procedure for the purchase of drugs and medical devices. Instead of requiring purchasers to obtain quotations from three suppliers, Resolution 30 allows them to compare prices based on the quotations actually received, even from only one or two suppliers. Alternatively, price determination can be based on the winning bid price for a similar medical device procurement package that was awarded within the last 120 days. This
Read More
February 21, 2023
On December 28, 2022, the Ministry of Health of Laos issued Decision No. 3789/MOH on the Control of Hemp for Medication and Products (the “Decision”). The Decision approves the regulated cultivation, extraction, production, processing, storage, distribution, utilization, import-export, and transport of hemp. The Decision also authorizes the use of hemp and hemp-related products by the general population, although use of certain products is limited to those with medical prescriptions. Background In 2019, the Lao government established an ad hoc committee to consider the legalization of cannabis, as reported previously. The government permitted certain local companies to grow cannabis in specific zones under pilot programs, although it continued to strictly prohibit the use and commercialization, as well as consumption, of cannabis-related products, regardless of the level of psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the products. Overview of the Decision The Decision was issued by the Ministry of Health (which led the ad hoc committee) and permits authorized companies to engage in certain activities involving the use of hemp and the consumption of hemp and hemp-related products. The Decision defines hemp (“porkeo” in Lao) as a “plant that belongs to the same family as ganja and bears the scientific name Cannabis Sativa L. (Cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa var. sativa) which is a subspecies of ganja (Cannabis Sativa L.).” This definition aims at differentiating hemp from the general definition of ganja or marijuana, which continues to be listed as a prohibited narcotic in Laos. The Law on Narcotics (2007) and the Penal Code (2017) still prohibit the production, trade and use of all types of cannabis. These laws will need to be amended to ensure that they are aligned with changes set out in the Decision.  Authorized Hemp Activities The Decision allows approved companies to engage in the cultivation, extraction, production, processing, storage,
Read More
February 9, 2023
Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance is drafting a circular on determining the origin of imported and exported goods. This circular, a draft version of which has been released for public comment (“Draft Circular”), consolidates prevailing regulations and guidelines on determining the origin of imported and exported goods that are stipulated in the following legal documents, which the Draft Circular would replace when it comes into effect: Circular No. 38/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018, of the Ministry of Finance regulating the determination of origin of imported and exported goods, as amended by Circular No. 62/2019/TT-BTC dated September 5, 2019, of the Ministry of Finance; Circular No. 47/2020/TT-BTC dated May 27, 2020, regulating the time to submit documents proving the origin of goods and form of the documents proving the origin of imported goods applied during the Covid-19 pandemic; and Circular No. 07/2021/TT-BTC dated January 25, 2021, regulating the time to submit documents proving the origin of imported goods under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). Generally speaking, the Draft Circular does not increase the administrative procedures for importers and exporters, but rather seeks to codify the recent practices implemented by the customs authorities. The Draft Circular focuses on providing comprehensive guidance for importing/exporting companies when carrying out administrative procedures to certify the origins of imported and exported goods to be in line with current trade practices and international commitments under new-generation free trade agreements. In particular, the Draft Circular supplements guidelines on declaring origins and submitting Certificates of Origin (C/Os) of imported goods under the EVFTA and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). The Draft Circular also provides some new guidelines to facilitate exports (and imports) and overcome some obstacles and issues when implementing the prevailing regulations. For example, the submission of C/Os online, which was only applicable during the
Read More