Legal basis and predecessor rules
- Sections 61(d) and 100 of R.A. No. 8550 authorize BFAR to promulgate the export rules covered by this Order.
- FAO No. 147 and all other inconsistent rules and regulations or parts thereof are amended or modified accordingly.
Policy, purpose, scope coverage
- Exportation is governed by BFAR rules on fresh, chilled, frozen fish and fishery/aquatic products.
- Covered fishery/aquatic products include crustaceans, mollusks, and other aquatic products, including seawater and freshwater animals or parts of aquatic living resources in whatever form, whether fresh, chilled, frozen, or processed, including seaweeds, squalene, and blubbers intended for human consumption.
- Processing must occur in premises meeting BFAR requirements for food safety and quality control.
- Export controls apply to any person seeking to export covered fish products.
Definitions BFAR expressly establishes
- Chilled fish means fresh fish subjected to zero degree Celsius (0°C).
- Director refers to the Director of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
- Fish processing establishment means any premises where fish products are prepared and processed as chilled, frozen, dried, smoked, canned, packaged, or stored.
- Fish and fishery/aquatic products covers aquatic living resources and their parts in forms including fresh, chilled, frozen, or processed, for human consumption, including seaweeds, squalene, and blubbers.
- Fish inspection means assessment of the capability of fish processing plants to implement and comply with prescribed food safety and quality control measures.
- Food grade is a state of an ingredient or material that, when added to food or placed in direct contact with food, maintains fitness for human consumption.
- Food grade utensils and equipment are utensils and equipment made of food grade materials appropriate for use in processing food products.
- Food safety is the assurance that fish is processed properly and, when consumed, will not be harmful to consumers.
- Frozen fish is fish subjected to freezing sufficient to reduce temperature to minus 18 degrees Celsius (-18°C) to preserve quality and maintain that temperature.
- Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) are rules/guidelines in the fish processing plant including adherence to existing regulations on plant construction, personnel hygiene, and sanitation specific to a product.
- Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a preventive quality management system identifying, evaluating, and controlling hazards significant to food safety; a HACCP Plan is the company’s written document following the seven HACCP principles to ensure food safety.
- Product sanitary/health certification is a certification issued by BFAR attesting conformity of fish products with established sanitary standards and health requirements.
- Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) are written procedures ensuring processing and production under sanitary and hygienic conditions.
Export requirements and product standards
Only fish products processed in fish processing establishments certified by BFAR as compliant with SSOP and HACCP may be exported.
Fish products must be subjected to product tests required by the importing country at BFAR laboratories or accredited laboratories, and the results must be presented to BFAR as a basis for issuance of the product sanitary/health certificate.
Exportable fish products must come from species whose biological, microbiological, and chemical characteristics meet the following standards:
Microbiological standards
- Aerobic Plate Count (APC): 500,000/g
- Escherichia coli: 11/g
- Salmonella: absent in 25 g
- Shigella: absent
- Vibrio cholera: absent
- Staphylococcus aureus: 1,000/g
Chemical standards
- Lead (Pb): 0.5 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): 0.5 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 0.5 ppm
Marine biotoxins
- Ciguatozin: negative
- Paralytic shellfish toxin: 40 micrograms/100g
- Histamine: 200 ppm or 20 mg/100g
Fish products must meet minimum physical characteristics appropriate to the specific product established by BFAR.
Fish products must be packed under hygienic and sanitary conditions to preclude lubricants, oil fuel, or any hazardous substances, and packaging materials must be food grade.
Fish products must be stored and maintained at required temperatures:
- Zero degree Celsius (0°C) for fresh/chilled products; and
- Minus 20 degrees Celsius (-20°C) or below for frozen fishery products.
Prohibited act requiring a permit
- It is unlawful for any person to export fishery products of whatever size, stage, or form for any purpose without first securing an appropriate export permit from BFAR.
Types of export permits
- BFAR may issue Commercial export permits, which attest that commercial export products comply with established standards.
- BFAR may issue a Gratuitous export permit issued free of charge for fish products intended for:
- sample, personal, educational, exhibit, scientific, or similar purposes;
- Gratis shipments under a gratuitous permit must not exceed ten (10) kilograms and must be valued at not more than two thousand (P2,000.00) pesos.
Shipment-by-shipment application procedure
- Applications for an export permit must be filed on a per shipment basis with BFAR at least one (1) week prior to the export date.
- The permit application must be accompanied by:
- an export declaration,
- a packing list, and
- a duly certified check payable to BFAR or cash in the amount of fifty (P50.00) pesos as payment for the processing fee.
- The processing fee is not refundable, and the application is non-transferable.
- Export permits expire thirty (30) days after issuance.
- An unused export permit is automatically cancelled.
- A product sanitary/health certificate must be issued on a per shipment basis at least one (1) week before the export date.
- Issuance of the certificate requires payment of a certification fee of fifty (P50.00) pesos.
- The product sanitary/health certificate expires thirty (30) days after issuance.
- An unused certificate is automatically cancelled.
Pre-shipment inspection and required markings
- Fish products must undergo pre-shipment inspection to verify proper documentation and ensure completeness of accompanying documents.
- The following information must be indicated in bold on the packaging/container and accompanying documents, except where fish products are packed in bulk intended for further processing:
- the words “Product of the Philippines” or in the Philippines,
- name of product,
- name and address of the manufacturer,
- BFAR inspection dates and stamp mark.
- Packaging/labeling may include other conditions or information required by the importing country.
Penalties for violations and disqualification
- Any violation of the Order exposes the offender to:
- imprisonment of eight (8) years,
- a fine of eighty thousand pesos (P80,000.00), and
- forfeiture of the subject fishery product for proper disposition by BFAR.
- The violator is also banned from being a member or stockholder of companies currently engaged in fisheries or those to be created in the future.