Legislative History
1.Promulgated
on 5 May 2015 by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order No.
Nung-sou-yu-tzu 1041333665A
2.Repealed on 16 January 2018 by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan under Order No. Nung-sou-yu-tzu 1071332067
Article 1
The Council
of Agriculture, Executive Yuan promulgated these directions to establish
auditing mechanism for trading companies and agents of fish and fisheries
products (hereinafter referred to as “fish trading companies (agents)”), so as
to ensure catches bought by fish trading companies (agents) from domestic or
foreign fishing vessels are not involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated
(IUU) fishing activities.
Article 2
The target of
this auditing is any fish trading company (agent), selling or being assigned to
sell catches and fisheries products from Taiwanese distant water fishing
vessels, legally registered in Taiwan pursuant to relevant laws and
regulations, including any fish trading agent that has been approved pursuant
to the Regulations on the Management of Fishing Vessels and Crew in Foreign
Fishing Bases.
Audit of fish
trading companies (agents) is conducted by the Fisheries Agency, Council of
Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as “the Fisheries Agency”). The Fisheries
Agency shall establish a list of fish trading companies (agents), and perform
risk assessment to the listed companies (agents). Levels of risk are
categorized into high, medium, and low. Fish trading companies (agents) with
high level of risk are the priority targets to be audited.
Methods of
risk assessment to fish trading companies (agents) and categories of risk
levels are as Attachment 1.
Article 3
To conduct
audit of fish trading companies (agents), the Fisheries
Agency may establish an Audit Squad Unit.
Members of
the preceding Audit Squad Unit are commissioned by the Fisheries Agency, and a
senior specialist will be assigned as the convener. If deemed necessary,
certified public accountants, logistics specialists and relevant experts may be
commissioned to render assistance.
Article 4
Items for
auditing fish trading companies (agents) shall include the followings:
1.Fish trading companies (agents) shall collect
the latest laws and regulations on fisheries as well as trading, and conduct
training programs so that both employees and managers understand relevant
conservation and management measures applicable to fishing vessels adopted by
regional fisheries management organizations, as well as related laws and
regulations promulgated by flag States and market States, so as to ensure their
purchase and sale activities are in line with domestic and international
regulations.
2.Fish trading companies (agents) shall establish
code of conduct as well as standard operating procedure (SOP) of purchase and
sale of catches and fisheries products and shall implement the code of conduct
and SOP thoroughly, so as not to purchase or sell IUU catches and fisheries
products.
3.Fish trading companies (agents) shall archive
relevant documents and bills of purchasing and selling catches and fisheries
products for at least three years, so as to ensure each consignment of catches
could be traced.
4.Fish trading companies (agents) shall establish
a mechanism to deal with IUU catches and fisheries products detected, so as to
avoid IUU catches and fisheries products to enter into markets.
Article 5
Auditing
procedures are as follows:
1.The Fisheries Agency shall notify fish trading
companies (agents) in written of the auditing procedures and items and the
possible consequences in case of failing the audit.
2.Upon receipt of the audit notification from the
Fisheries Agency, a fish trading company (agent) shall submit the Report of the
Fish Trading Company (Agent) (format as shown in Attachment 2) within the
notified timeframe to the Fisheries Agency for review. After reviewing the
report, if deemed insufficient, the Fisheries Agency may request the company
(agent) to provide supplementary information within specified timeframe. The
information provided by the fish trading company (agent) shall include:(1)Its code of conduct and SOP of purchase and sale
of catches and fisheries products.
(2)Its mechanism to deal with IUU catches and
fisheries products detected.
(3)Other relevant information on trading catches
and fisheries products that can prove the flow of traded catches and fisheries
products.
3.After reviewing the report and documents
provided by the fish trading company (agent), the Fisheries Agency may dispatch
auditor(s) to the registered location or the major operating location of that
trading company (agent) to conduct field audit, so as to verify the prior
checking mechanism, SOP of purchase and sale, archives maintenance and other
systems established by that company (agent). Methods of field audit includes
interview with personnel in charge of purchase and sale and random inspection
on documents and bills, etc.
4.The Audit Squad Unit shall audit the internal
control systems of the company (agent), including the information provided to
the Fisheries Agency, status of implementation, inventory movement of catches
and fisheries products, traceability and archives maintenance, and fill out the
“ Field Audit Form” (format as shown in Attachment 3) which records conformity
or inconformity and item(s) with defect. The Audit Squad Unit shall also fill
out “Item(s) with Defect and Improvement” column of the “Recommendations on
Further Actions” (format as shown in Attachment 4) within thirty days after the
completion of field audit, and inform the fish trading company (agent) of the
auditing results in written.
5.Upon receipt of the auditing results in written
from the Fisheries Agency, the fish trading company (agent) shall make
improvement on the item(s) with defect, fill in the “Improvements Made by the
Fish Trading Company (Agent)”column of the preceding “Recommendations on
Further Actions” and report in written to the Fisheries Agency for review
within thirty days. In the event that the fish trading company (agent) can’t
complete the improvement within the aforementioned timeframe, it may apply for
only one extension of deadline, which shall be limited to another thirty days.
After reviewing, the Audit Squad Unit will inform the fish trading company
(agent) of the comments in written. In case that item(s) with defect still
remains, it/they should be put into the record.
Article 6
The auditing
frequency shall be conducted in accordance with the following provisions,
except for circumstances stipulated in paragraph 2 to 4 of this Article:
(1)For fish trading companies (agents) with high
level of risk, audit shall be conducted at least once every year.
(2)For fish trading companies (agents) with medium
level of risk, audit shall be conducted at least once every two years.
(3)For fish trading companies (agents) with low
level of risk, they may be exempted from being audited.
Auditing
frequency for fish trading companies (agents) with records of defect for more
than three times may be increased.
For fish
trading companies (agents) with no record of defect for three consecutive
years, they may be exempted from being audited in the next year.
In the event
that fish trading companies (agents) are reported to have been involved in IUU
activities or abnormal indication appears during the application for catch
certificates, the Fisheries Agency may conduct audit to the trading companies
(agents) concerned.
Article 7
From January 1 2016, for
any fish trading company (agent) with defect records for more than three times
within one year, the Fisheries Agency may prohibit such trading company (agent)
from selling or being assigned to sell catches and fisheries products pursuant
to relevant regulations.