In the context of food safety and hygiene issues heating up society, the Ministry of Health submits the dossier of the Draft Decree replacing Decree No. 115/2018/ND-CP of the Government regulating penalties for administrative violations of food safety.
Explaining the necessity to amend the Decree on the actual situation, the Ministry of Health said that the field of food safety is an area that directly affects people's health, is being concerned by society and frequently generates violations with increasingly sophisticated and complex nature and level.
According to the Ministry of Health, in the past time, the direction and implementation of the Government's Decree stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of food safety has been carried out seriously, promptly, with focus and key points, in accordance with principles and subjects.
Regulations on post-inspection work are consistent with food management methods, shifting from pre-inspection to post-inspection.
However, the current penalty level is low, not enough to deter, especially for violations of regulations on ensuring safety conditions for food products; violations of regulations on self-declaration of products; violations of regulations on registration of product declarations; violations of regulations on food testing; food advertising; product labeling; trading in food of unknown origin; using unlicensed or exceeding permitted levels of additives; production and trading of expired foods.
On the other hand, currently, the Party, State and Government are very interested in directing the strengthening of state management of food safety in a stricter direction.
Therefore, it is necessary to have drastic solutions to gradually ensure food security and safety, one of which is to increase penalties, in order to ensure deterrence and awareness of law compliance of food production and business organizations and individuals.
At the same time, it is necessary to supplement some unregulated acts in Decree No. 115/2018/ND-CP to be consistent with the actual situation of handling administrative violations on food safety, newly issued documents, and at the same time create favorable conditions in the process of implementation in localities and meet the requirements of food safety management.
The Ministry of Health also said that in the process of implementing Decree No. 115/2018/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Decree No. 124/2021/ND-CP), some limitations and inadequacies have been revealed such as:
Some acts in the Decree are still lacking regulations or not strict enough to serve as a basis for determining violations and remedial measures.
The regulations of some acts are not suitable for reality, it is necessary to adjust and increase the level of sanctions for acts to ensure deterrence.
Difficulties and obstacles regarding legal regulations on maximum penalties.
From the above basis, according to the Ministry of Health, the issuance of a Decree replacing Decree No. 115/2018/ND-CP (amended and supplemented by Decree No. 124/2021/ND-CP) is necessary to ensure the consistency of the legal system and overcome the above limitations and inadequacies.
