Once the administration of Order No.248 (hereinafter referred to as the “administration”) comes into effect, the former provisions on the Administration of Registration of Overseas Enterprises Producing Imported Food, announced in 2012, will no longer be effective.
The new administration has been issued to implement provisions of the Food Safety Law on the registration of overseas food production enterprises that import food into China. It:
On the same day, GACC also released another new regulation worth noting among food suppliers overseas, the Administrative Measures on Import and Export Food Safety as GACC Decree 249.
The new policy will also come into effect on 1 January 2022, replacing many previous regulations, including Quarantine (AQSIQ) Decree 144, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and the AQSIQ decrees related to the regulation of the import and export of dairy, meat, honey and aquatic products.
It is therefore necessary for overseas brands in the food industry to fully comprehend the impact of the new policy if they want a seat at the table when it comes to the imported food market in China. The main adjustments from the new policy include:
Foreign brands importing into China should pay particular attention to the section in the new policy regarding packaging regulations for certain types of products. Compared to the previous regulations for imported food introduced in 2013, the range of products that require printed Chinese labels on their sales packages has been extended to include sports nutrition, infant supplementary food, supplementary food for pregnant women and nursing mothers, formula products for medical use, and imported health foods.
Foreign brands importing into China should pay particular attention to the section in the new policy regarding packaging regulations for certain types of products.
The impact of the new regulations for overseas exporters and operators within the food industry in the Chinese market cannot be ignored. In order to meet the requirements of the policy changes for imported product packaging, overseas food brands will need to make adjustments to their packaging and ready these new designs within the next six months, before the regulation comes into effect. This will lead to a series of questions:
Selling through cross-border e-commerce channels (CBEC) might be a worthwhile alternative, as it allows overseas food exporters to sell to Chinese consumers while they get ready for future export under the general trade model.
Selling products through CBEC channels such as Tmall Global offers overseas food brands a number of benefits:
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