Month: January 2022
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In mid-2021, China announced new food establishment registration and product labelling requirements for imported foods and alcohol from 1 January 2022. The requirements apply to all countries, including Australia. These changes are aimed at regulating and imporving traceability and responsibility for the quality and safety of Food products exported to China.
Many manufacturers, exporters, importers and wholesalers have been contacting us for information and advice on how to prepare for these changes, and so we have decided to put together a summary, some useful resources and the benefit of our experience to date.
These new regulations that are about to take effect are new and will impact all suppliers of Food and Wine to China in some way.
Here is a summary of the regulations and what they mean.
Decree 248 – every factory that produces food or alcohol to China must be registered with the Chinese Government. The Factory or Manufacturer must register their production facility and this will generate a unique code (GACC Number). This number is required for Food or Alcohol to be imported and sold in China.
For this registration, there are 2 categories of products, and these both have different registration process.
Article 7 Food Items.
This is the most complex registration process, and in Australia, we have been lcuky to receive support from the Australian Government and AUSTRADE who have assisted Article 7 factories and manufacturers with registering with China Government for Export
Article 7 food items includes:
- casings
- honey
- edible fats and oils
- stuffed pasta
- edible grains and milled grain products including malt
- fresh and dehydrated vegetables
- dried beans
- seasonings
- nuts and seeds
- dried fruits
- unroasted coffee beans and cocoa beans
- health foods
- food for special dietary purposes.
These products must be registered and the registration number and Chinese characters (writing) must be printed on the original packaging. This means that for these items, Importers cannot label the items when they arrive in China, the labels must be on the product before arrival into China.
Article 9 foods
Article 9 foods are any food items that don’t fall into Article 9 and factories and manufacturers of Article 9 products can self-register with the Chinese Government using this website . The website is in Chinese, Google Translate should be able to assist. When you click on this link, look for the Orange Box in the top right hand corner. UPDATE – Single Window Registration has been updated and here is the new self-registration link.
Article 9 food can be exported to China as long as it has a GACC Factory Registration Number and can be labelled in China by the importer, the product must have a label applied that includes GACC number.
Decree 249 – this relates to packaging regulations for food and alcohol sold in China. As explained above, the rules for Article 7 foods are that the label has to be produced with writing and information in Chinese (English is optional) and also must include GACC number on the label when produced.
Article 9 foods can be exported, and the importer must include a label with factory GACC number before it is allowed to be sold in China.
We are now starting to Export food products to China for manufacturers and brands that are registered with China Government by the Single Window portal. We have found that in Australia, there are many manufacturers who are well prepared and have already prepared Chinese packaging for Article 9 foods and many Article 7 factories, manufacturers and brands are also registered. There are however, many Australian manufacturers that have not yet registered or are not aware of the potential impact of these changes. It is important to note that unless the manufacturer is registered, you will not be able to Export Food or Alcohol to China.
We hope that this guide is useful, feel free to link to our Blog page or contact us via our website or at our google site . You can also find more information about these changes at the Australian Government AUSTRADE web page where there is useful information and resources.
Contact Us for Export of Food and Wine from Australia, we are a Leading Exporter of Australian Food and Wine.