What are the adjustments in the newly revised Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Law?

The "Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" has been adopted by the 36th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in September 2022. The amendment was passed on the 2nd and will come into effect on January 1, 2023. The main contents of this revision include:

1. Consolidating the quality and safety responsibilities of agricultural products. Bring farmers into the scope of supervision and make it clear that agricultural production enterprises, farmers' professional cooperatives, and farmers should be responsible for the quality and safety of the agricultural products they produce and operate, and local governments should be responsible for the quality and safety of agricultural products in their own administrative regions; strengthen supervision of the collection, storage and transportation links, and clarify the wholesale of agricultural products Obligations for markets, agricultural product sales enterprises, food producers, etc. to inspect and inspect certificates of conformity; in response to the emergence of new business formats and new forms of agricultural product sales, regulations are stipulated for producers and operators of agricultural products sold on online platforms and those engaged in cold chain logistics of agricultural products. the quality and safety responsibility of the operator.

2. Strengthen agricultural product quality and safety risk management and standard formulation. Clarify the implementation of the basic principles of source governance, risk management, and full-process control, establish an agricultural product quality and safety risk monitoring and evaluation system, and strengthen risk management of key areas and key agricultural product varieties. At the same time, it is emphasized that agricultural product quality and safety standards are mandatory standards, further clarifying the content of agricultural product quality and safety standards and ensuring strict implementation.

3. Improve the entire process control measures for the production and operation of agricultural products. Adhere to source control, improve the environmental investigation, monitoring and evaluation system of agricultural product origin, put forward clear requirements for fertilizer control, drug control, additive control, scientific and rational use of agricultural inputs, strengthen the internal quality control of agricultural product producers; clarify the supervision of storage and transportation links requirements to prevent secondary pollution of agricultural products; establish a certification system and a traceability management system for agricultural product commitments to strengthen the awareness of agricultural product quality and safety, so that production records can be queried, product flows can be traced, and responsibilities can be clarified.

4. Strengthen the supervision and management of agricultural product quality and safety. Clarify the supervisory responsibilities of agricultural and rural and market supervision and management departments, improve the random inspection mechanism, and make it clear that samples collected must be paid according to market prices. At the same time, it is emphasized that agricultural, rural and market supervision and management departments should strengthen coordination and law enforcement connection, establish a full-process supervision and management cooperation mechanism, and ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products from production to consumption. For local governments that are ineffective in the quality and safety of agricultural products and have serious problems, they can conduct accountability interviews with their main persons in charge.

5. Increase penalties for illegal acts. In line with the Food Safety Law, the penalties for illegal acts have been increased, and provisions have been made for the connection between executions. In addition, taking into account my country's national conditions and agricultural conditions, lighter penalties are stipulated for farmers, which not only acts as a deterrent, but also takes into account the current development status of farmers and guides farmers to standardize production and operation activities.