Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point

In 2017, Australia released a consultation paper, Proposals for changes to the inspection and analysis of imported food -  May 2017. The changes were also notified internationally via a  WTO/SPS notification (G/SPS/N/AUS/424). One of the proposed  changes  was  to  restrict  the  importation  of  bivalves  and  bivalve  mollusc products, unless covered by a foreign government certificate.
In response to the comments received on the May 2017 consultation paper, this second consultation  paper  provides  more  detail  on  the  scope  of  products  required  to  have government certification, the certification requirements, hazards required to be managed and details of border verification testing.
Australia  has  prepared  science-based  risk  statements  on  the  hazards  associated  with bivalve  molluscs  and  bivalve  mollusc  products  and  these  are  published  on  the  Food Standards Australia New Zealand website.
The  risk  advice  emphasises  the  importance  of  these  hazards  being  mitigated  by harvesting bivalve molluscs from approved areas and ensuring producers follow a verified sanitation  program.  Certification  will  enable  Australia  to  have  assurance  that  throughchain production controls are in place to manage the hazards associated with the growing, 
harvesting and production of bivalve molluscs and bivalve mollusc products. This will align the  regulation  of  imported  bivalves  with  domestic  bivalve  mollusc  requirements  in Australia.
Subject to consideration of issues raised on the proposed changes, it would be expected that these changes would take effect from mid 2020.