Massive importation of sturgeon against law and PM’s direction

The importation of sturgeon from China to Vietnam is still taking place massively and intensively despite the Standing Deputy Prime Minister’s request of reviewing and inspecting the activity.

Moreover, the activity is showing signs of violation of the law and being contrary to the Prime Minister's directive.

Previously, the PM issued a Directive on the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic, clearly stating the banning of the import of wild animals into Vietnam on January 28, 2020.

As of July 23, 2020, the PM continued to issue another Directive, requesting the cancellation of the import of alive or dead wildlife, as well as eggs, larvae, parts and derivatives of wild animals (except aquatic species for production and processing as food, and animal feed that have been announced in accordance with the law ...).

All cases of import of wild animals in contravention of this Directive must be strictly punished in accordance with the law provisions on illegal wild animals.

For wild animals that have been granted export permits by a foreign CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) management agency to Vietnam, the border-gate customs office shall request commodity owners to return them to the place of export.

If the owner does not comply with the directive or the goods cannot be identified by its owner, they shall be handled according to the provisions of Vietnamese law on illegal wild animals.

According to specialists, the Serbian sturgeon currently being imported from China into Vietnam is a wild animal, according to CITES Appendix II.

Statistics of CITES Management Authority of Vietnam (Vietnam Administration of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) reveal that Vietnamese businesses imported up to 2,988 tons of Chinese sturgeon from July 23, 2020 to February 8, 2021.

Reporters of the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper at international border gates discovered that the enterprises apply the tricks of increasing the volume of sturgeon in excess of the licensed documents, disregarding the provisions of law to bring Chinese sturgeon to Vietnam.

According to the official document sent to relevant authorised organisations, CITES Management Authority of Vietnam has announced their suspension of receiving and processing applications to import wildlife specimens, excluding specimens from processed parts of wild animals such as drugs, perfumes, watches or bags from January 28, 2020 until further notice.

During this period, 236 CITES import permits for sturgeon were issued to 9 valid companies, of which 91 were used by 7 enterprises to import 337,000 kg. That means CITES Management Authority of Vietnam did not receive and grant any CITES permits to import sturgeon specimens into Vietnam from January 28 to July 23, 2020.

After detecting the import of sturgeon in CITES Appendix during the implementation of the PM’s directive, the Director of CITES Management Authority of Vietnam sent a document to the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department (General Department of Hai Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) and Department of Environmental Crime Prevention Police (Ministry of Public Security) to discuss the matter. However, they have not received any feedback on relevant content from these agencies.

CITES Vietnam also confirmed that there were 7 enterprises importing sturgeon during the implementation of the PM's directive, 2 of which continued to announce incorrect import numbers in the customs declaration but their import permits have not been withdrawn or suspended by the authorities yet.

Therefore, in order to promptly and effectively prevent commercial fraud in the import of sturgeon for food and strictly comply with the PM’s Directive, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development suggests ministries, agencies and localities to direct their affiliated units to implement a number of measures according to their functions and tasks.

The Ministry of Finance directs the customs forces at key border gates, including: Huu Nghi, Lao Cai, Mong Cai, Chi Ma, Ta Lung ... to strictly control the import of sturgeon to Vietnam to ensure the sources and origins are on the list of permitted trade in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also demands the inspection of the circulation, transportation and trading of sturgeon in the market to prevent the mixing of sturgeon with unclear origin; which aims to prevent commercial fraud and protect the interests of the breeders and consumers in the country.