Taiwan's Passing Rate Only at 25% for China's New Registration System 3,305件業者申請註冊輸中 通過率僅25%

Since China suspended imports of many Taiwanese products and introduced new measures for registration, the Food and Drug Administration has assisted 3,305 exporters with registration and only 855 were approved as of last week.

Subsequent to seafood products, several other exports of Taiwanese food products to China were also stuck at customs. China instituted a new customs registration system for imported products, where the Food and Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health and Welfare assisted exporters with 3,305 registrations. However, as of last week, only 855 cases were successfully registered, at a customs clearance passing rate of merely 25 percent. A Facebook post suspected that the FDA mistakenly treated pineapple cakes as "wheaten food with filling," and declared the applications as "recommended registration." As a result, almost none of them passed.

Lin Yu-hong, Agricultural Product Merchandiser: “Of course, the government did not clarify. This oversight is the responsibility of the government. But you should just explain and clarify at the beginning. Instead, why do you have to say that it is China that willfully made things difficult as opposed to how we should go about doing this and proceed, etc.”

However, the FDA clarified that China has instituted a new requirement since last October that the Taiwan government must complete package registration within two weeks. At that time, of the 14 categories, there was only "wheaten food with filling" and no "pastries." Starting last November, China allowed food exporters to self-register and included a category of "pastry." Many famous Taiwanese food exporters successfully registered end of last year but after Mar. 9 this year, China no longer allowed Taiwanese exporters to self-register and must go through the FDA. If pastry makers filled out the wrong field, they have been asked to correct themselves.

Wu Shou-mei, Director-General, Food and Drug Administration: “Whether you are recommended for registration or self-registration, the documents will come to us. Because there is a "pastry" category, so for pineapple cakes and the like, we would inform them that they need to apply by filling in "pastry" and not "wheaten food with filling."”

The FDA emphasized that it will actively help exporters with filling out their review applications. Ingredients, proportions, and processes are all stipulated as necessary items to be filled in. Food exporters may decide themselves, based on business reasons, whether they wish to submit further documents. According to the latest statistics of the FDA, of the 82 applications under "wheaten food with filling," only two were successfully registered, namely those manufacturers of sweet dumplings, while the rest were revoked. Seventy-one exporters declined to resubmit, and nine are in the process of submitting the required additional documents.
 

繼水產品後，台灣食品輸出中國也卡關。中國今年針對境外食品實施登錄新制，衛福部食藥署協助3305件業者申請註冊，到上週為止，僅有855件通過審查，通過率僅2成5。外界質疑，食藥署疑似將鳳梨酥錯當成「包餡麵食」，才使得推薦註冊代為申請案件，幾乎沒能過關。

農產品貿易商林裕紘質疑：「當然說，政府沒有釐清，沒有釐清，它（政府）有一定的責任。可是一開始你就把事情說明就好啦，那你為什麼一開始要講說是它們（中國）惡意刁難啊？沒有說什麼，要怎麼做啊等等。」

不過食藥署澄清，中國去年10月，要求台灣官方需在兩週內完成包裹式註冊，且當時14類選項只有「包餡麵食」，沒有「糕餅類」。去年11月，中國開放食品業者自行註冊，欄位中列出「糕餅類」，不少國內知名業者在去年底註冊成功。但今年3月9日後，中國又取消台灣業者自行上網申請，只能透過食藥署送件，若有糕餅業者填錯欄位，都已請業者自行更正。

食藥署署長吳秀梅說明：「不管你是推薦註冊，或者是自行申請註冊的，那些文件才會到我們這裡來。因為有糕餅的項目嘛，所以如果像鳳梨酥這一類的，我們就跟它說，你要走的是屬於糕餅的這個項目，不是走包餡麵食。」

食藥署強調，會積極協助業者書面送審，成分、比例、製程等，均為明文表列需要填寫的項目，食品業者基於商業考量，可自行決定是否願意補件。而根據食藥署最新統計，包餡麵食送件82件，有2件是有效註冊，為生產湯圓等包餡食品廠商，其餘被退件。目前71件廠商無補件意願，有9件補件中。