NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 7.3 OF THE AGREEMENT ON IMPORT LICENSING PROCEDURES FOR LIVE ANIMAL AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS AND AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS

Outline of system

1.     The licensing system for live animals and animal products covers all animals and animal products, and is part of a broad and comprehensive effort to protect animal and human health.

         The licensing system for agricultural materials is designed to help manage potentially dangerous substances and sensitive products, thereby helping protect human and animal health and the environment.

Purpose and coverage of licensing

    2.   Live Animal and Animal Products (list A):

In the Sub-Decree No 16 on Sanitary Inspection of Animal and Animal Product, animal means:

·    Domestic and wild quadruped animals, including their breeding families;

·    Domestic and wild birds; including their breeding families;

·    Primate; including their breeding families;

·    Bees, silk worm, reptiles, amphibians, mollusc, crustaceans, fishes.

Animal product means:

·    Dead or slaughtered animals, carcass or part of carcass that have not been cooked or processed into other products;

·    Tusks, horns, fur and feathers from living or dead animals, which have not been processed;

·    Meat or any animal products for supply for human food, animal feed, using in public health, agriculture or industrial purpose.

Agricultural Materials (list B)

Pesticides, fertilizers, seeds, animal feed and veterinary medicine. Products are found in the following HS lines:

310310, 310320, 310390, 310410, 310420, 310430, 310490, 310510, 310520, 310530, 310540,

310550, 310560, 310590, 380810, 380820, 380830, 380840, 380890.

3.   Both systems apply to products originating in all countries and do not discriminate by country of origin.

4.     Live animals and animal products (Hereafter referred to as List A). The licensing is not intended to restrict the quantity or value of imports. Rather, it is designed to assist in the regulation and monitoring of the movement of animals and animal products into Cambodia, in order to prevent the spread of animal infectious diseases and protect animal and human health, and to enforce veterinary rules on import, export, transit and transportation of animals and animal products from one place to another within the Kingdom of Cambodia. The importation of animals and animal products that contain infectious disease agents specified in the lists of animal infectious diseases is prohibited.

Agricultural Materials (Hereafter referred to as List B). The import licensing regime for agricultural materials does not call for the limitation of imports. It seeks to ensure an adequate supply of these materials at reasonable prices to meet the needs of Cambodia’s growing agricultural production. However, on occasion the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) may restrain imports of individual products to align them with effective domestic demand. This may be necessary to avoid the creation of domestic stockpiles that exceed Cambodia’s safe warehousing capacities and that create the risk of the expiry date of the materials being exceeded.

5.    List A: Import licensing is regulated by Sub-Decree No.16 of 13 March 2003 on the Sanitary Inspection of Animal and Animal Products, and Regulation No. 178 of 18 May 2009 on the Sanitary Inspection of Animals and Animal Products. The list of products subject to licensing is specified in the Sub-Decree. The Royal Government can nullify the Sub-Decree without reference to the legislature.

List B: Import licensing of agricultural materials is required by Government Sub-Decree N0 69 on Agricultural Material Standards and its Management (28 October 1998) and Circular N0 345/MAFF (21 October 2002). All import agricultural material traders have to ask for import licenses from MAFF in conformity with the required process of implementing the Agricultural  Material Registration System, except pesticide and fertilizer which are maintained under the Law on the Management of Pesticide and Fertilizer. The regulations leave the designation of the materials that are subject to import licensing to administrative discretion. The Royal Government does not require the agreement of Cambodia’s parliament to abolish the system.

Procedures

6.   List A and B: Not applicable.

7.

a.    List A: Importers must apply for a license at least two weeks before importation. They must also arrange for sanitary inspection of imports at least five days prior to importation.

       List B: There are no requirements regarding how far in advance an application must be made, but the license is valid only one year after the date of approval and the company has to renew the license three months before the expired dated. Moreover, the licenses can be granted only for registered agricultural materials.

b.    Lists A and B: No.

c.    Lists A and B: No.

d.    List A: The license application is considered by the Department of Animal Health and Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

       List B: The application is considered only by MAFF. The license is granted by MAFF.

8.     List A: An application will be refused only if the necessary documentation is absent or incomplete. Applicants may appeal a refusal to issue a license to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. It may also be refused if there has been a recent outbreak of disease in the area from which the animals originate.

       List B: Applications that conform fully to the requirements spelled out in the relevant legal texts are never refused.

Eligibility of importers to apply for a licence

9.    List A: Any person or legal entity registered with the Ministry of Commerce to do business in Cambodia may apply for sanitary inspection and an import license (See annex 1*).

       List B: All legal persons registered with the Ministry of Commerce may ask the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for the agricultural materials registration and then for an import license (See annex 2*).

Documentation and other requirements for application for license

10.   List A: There is at present no application form. An importer wishing a license addresses a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries through the Department of Animal Health and Production requesting a license. The letter must be accompanied by the applicant’s business license issued by the Ministry of Commerce; sanitary certificates issued by the exporting country; and animal or animal products identification (See annex 1*).

        List B: Please see application form, attached (See annex 2*).

11.   List A:

·    Business license issued by the Ministry of Commerce;

·    Import license issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries;

·    Sanitary certificate issued by the exporting country;

·    Animal or animal products identification;

·    Contract between the owners of the goods and the Department of Animal Health and Production.

List B: The import license and the usual import documentation.

12.   List A: There is no fee or charge for the import license. However, a service charge is levied to cover the cost of the sanitary inspection and a fee will be charged for laboratory tests, if these are required.

        List B: There is no licensing fee.

13.   List A and B: No.

Conditions of licensing

14.    List A: The license is valid for one year, and, upon request, can be extended.

          List B: One year. The validity of the license may not be extended.

15.     List A: No, but non-utilization will be taken into account in considering a subsequent license application.

         List B: A license may be refused to an importer who has not fully utilized a previous license.

16.    List A and B: No.

17.    List A: None, other than those specified under point 10, above.

         List B: No.

Other procedural requirement

18.    List A and B: No.

19.    List A and B: Foreign exchange is freely available.