On September 2, 2022, China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed the newly revised Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Law (the “Revised APQSL”). The Revised APQSL went into effect on January 1, 2023.
The Revised APQSL regulates primary agricultural products derived from crops, forestry, livestock, and fisheries, including plants, animals, microorganisms and their products obtained from agricultural activities. The Revised APQSL emphasizes the obligations of responsible parties to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products, including product source management, safety and quality control during the storage and transportation of products, and a certificate for commitment to the applicable standards regime. In order to better coordinate with the Food Safety Law, the Revised APQSL also increases the severity of penalties for violations, and adds provisions for criminal liabilities. The Revised APQSL does not specify whether it will apply to foreign entities that export agricultural products to China, but our understanding is that it will affect all agricultural products’ transportation, storage, and distribution in the Chinese market, including imported agricultural products.
The full text of the Revised APQSL is available here.
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John Balzano, Julia Post, Muyun Hu, and Kaixin Fan