| THE GOVERNMENT ------- | SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness ---------- |
| No: 02/2007/ND-CP | Hanoi, January 05, 2007 |
DECREE
ON PLANT QUARANTINE
THE GOVERNMENT
Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;
Pursuant to the August 8, 2001 Ordinance on Plant Protection and Quarantine;
At the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,
DECREES:
Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1.- Scope of regulation
This Decree provides for the quarantine of plants which are imported, exported, transferred from border gate to border gate, temporarily imported for re-export, temporarily exported for re-import or transited, for quarantine of indigenous plants and treatment of articles subject to plant quarantine.
Article 2.- Subjects of application
This Decree applies to all domestic and foreign organizations and individuals engaged in plant quarantine activities in the Vietnamese territory. When a treaty to which Vietnam has signed or acceded otherwise provides for, the provisions of that treaty prevail.
Article 3.- Interpretation of terms
In this Decree, the terms below are construed as follows:
1. Harmful organisms means any species, strains or biological types of fauna, flora or microorganisms which cause harms to plants or plant products, including insects, diseased fungi, nematodes, bacteria, viruses, phytophasma, weeds, rats and other organisms which are harmful to plant resources (below called pests for short).
2. Plant quarantine objects (also called plant quarantine pests) means those pests which may cause serious harms to plant resources in a region where such organisms have not yet appeared or have appeared in narrow distribution and must be officially controlled.
3. Regulated pests other than plant quarantine pests means those pests whose presence among plants used for sowing or growing may cause unacceptable economic impacts and must be controlled within the territory of the country of importation.
4. Regulated pests include plant quarantine pests and those other than plant quarantine pests.
5. Foreign harmful organisms (also called foreign pests) means those pests which have not yet been identified scientifically and have never been found in the country.
6. Useful organisms include viruses, bacteria, nematodes, fungi, insects, animals and other organisms which may help restrict harms caused by pests to plant resources.
7. Articles subject to plant quarantine (below called articles for short) include plants, plant products, means of production, preservation or transport or other articles which possibly carry regulated pests.
8. Pest-infection status means the extent and nature of articles' infection with harmful organisms.
9. Article inspection means investigation, observation, monitoring, sampling, analysis, expertise and research in order to determine the pest infection status.
10. Disinfection means the annihilation of organisms which cause harms to articles.
11. Fumigation means a measure of disinfection with the fumigation of toxic chemicals.
12. Epidemic nidus means a place where exists one or several kinds of pests on the promulgated list of plant quarantine pests or list of regulated pests other than plant quarantine pests.
13. Epidemic region means a spatial area contaminated with epidemic niduses as certified by competent plant quarantine bodies.
14. Lot of articles means a certain quantity of articles with similar conditions and factors on epidemic susceptibility.
15. Plant quarantine station means a place where articles subject to plant quarantine are inspected before they are moved.
16. Pest risk analysis means the process of assessing biological or scientific or economic evidences to determine whether a pest should be regulated and whether plant quarantine measures should be intensified against it.
17. Pest-free region means a region where scientific evidences show that no specific pest exists and these conditions will be maintained officially.
18. Equivalence of plant quarantine measures means the state of application of different plant quarantine measures, which bring about the same results.
19. Supervision of pests means the process of collecting and recording data on the appearance or non-appearance of pests through investigation, monitoring or other procedures.
20. Harmonization of plant quarantine measures means the establishment, recognition and application of plant quarantine measures of different countries based on international standards.
21. Plants mean trees and parts of living trees, including seeds and plasma, which may be used for breeding.
22. Plant products mean unprocessed materials of plant origin and processed products of plant origin, which, due to the nature of products or processing process, may pose the threat of introduction and spread of pests.
23. New plant varieties imported for the first time means those plant varieties which have not yet included in the list of plant varieties allowed for production and trading.
24. Plant quarantine measures mean official regulations and procedures aimed to prevent the introduction and/or spread of pests or to restrict economic impacts of pests which must be controlled.
25. Place of origin means a place where articles subject to plant quarantine are sowed or grown or where articles for the first time created the pest infection status.
26. Separated quarantine area means an area where plants are grown and plant products are preserved in isolation from the outside environment in the quarantine duration.
27. Import plant quarantine permit means a legal document which permits the import of a lot of articles suitable with the set plant quarantine requirements.
Article 4.- Responsibility of article owners
1. To monitor, prevent and annihilate harmful organisms, treat infected articles and those which fail to meet the import or export criteria, or transport them out of epidemic regions under plant quarantine regulations.
When infected articles of different owners must be treated simultaneously while the owners cannot reach mutual agreement on the treatment thereof, plant quarantine bodies shall make decisions and the owners shall abide by such decisions.
2. To regularly monitor organisms harmful to plant resources of their own or under their direct management.
Where concentrate articles which are imported, transited or transported from epidemic regions, the above-mentioned monitoring must comply with the requirements and guidance of competent state agencies in charge of plant protection and quarantine.
3. When detecting or suspecting of a regulated pest on the promulgated list or foreign harmful organisms, the article owner or the detector shall apply necessary measures to annihilate such organisms and prevent the spread of the pest and concurrently report it to the competent state agency in charge of plant protection and quarantine or to the nearest local administration.
4. To take measures for the treatment of articles according to regulations of the competent state agency in charge of plant protection and quarantine.
5. To pay plant quarantine charges according to regulations and pay all article-treatment expenses. When article owners are not available, owners or operators of the means of transport and article preservers shall implement regulations on plant quarantine with regard to the means and articles they transport or preserve and pay article-treatment expenses.
6. To supply necessary information on plant protection and quarantine to the Vietnamese state management agency specialized in plant protection and quarantine such as information on plants and plant products, production areas, cultivation methods, list of pests, packing of goods, export programs, import policies and relevant documents.
7. To create conditions for plant quarantine officers to perform their duties such as opening and closing means of transport, storehouses, bales of goods, supply of human resources for inspection, sampling of articles; monitoring and inspecting articles in the course of cultivation, use and preservation.
Article 5.- Responsibilities of plant quarantine agencies
1. To guide, supervise and certify the application of measures to monitor, prevent, annihilate and treat articles. To directly treat infected articles which must be urgently treated and of which the owners are incapable of treating them.
2. To conduct article quarantine and grant plant quarantine certificates.
3. To supply necessary information on plant protection and quarantine to countries of importation according to agreements on food hygiene and safety and plant quarantine as well as international conventions on plant protection.
4. To formulate and manage pest-free regions according to Vietnamese standards.
5. To consider, assess and recognize the equivalence of plant quarantine measures applicable to imported and exported articles of other countries.
6. To apply urgent measures to prevent the introduction and spread of pests when necessary.
7. To harmonize plant quarantine measures according to standards, guidance and recommendations of the international convention on plant protection.
8. To coordinate with plant quarantine bodies of countries of exportation in inspecting and treating import and export articles in countries of exportation in some cases according to bilateral and multilateral agreements.
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