By Cui Yan and Ji Weiting
To strengthen health supervision and management of business entities engaged in food production, food sales, food service, or drinking water supply, as well as public places and storage facilities at aviation ports of entry, to ensure border port health and safety, and to safeguard public health, Customs, in accordance with the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People's Republic of China, the Measures Concerning Supervision of Sanitation at Border Ports of the People's Republic of China, the Measures for the Administration of Health Licensing at Frontier Ports, and other relevant laws and regulations, designates border port health supervisors to conduct health supervision of these entities at border ports.
(1) Health Supervision of Food Production and Operation Entities
To safeguard food safety at aviation ports of entry, improve the standards of port food safety, and ensure all food safety requirements comply with regulatory requirements.
(2) Health Supervision of Drinking Water Supply Entities
To regulate drinking water sanitation at aviation ports of entry, promptly identify harmful factors endangering drinking water safety, and safeguard the safety and sanitation of drinking water.
(3) Health Supervision of Public Places
To conduct, in accordance with law, health supervision of public places at aviation ports of entry.
(4) Health Supervision of Inbound and Outbound Aircraft
To conduct, in accordance with law, inspections of aircraft health system documentation, food hygiene, drinking water sanitation, waste, vector-borne organisms, environmental sanitation, medical emergency systems and others, so as to prevent communicable diseases from being imported and exported across borders and to safeguard the life and health of the public.
(5) Health Supervision of Storage Facilities
To conduct health inspections of storage facilities at aviation ports of entry in accordance with the law to maintain environmental sanitation and prevent the spread of vector-borne organisms and the entry of diseases.
(6) Health Supervision of Vector Surveillance and Control
To conduct surveillance of vector-borne organisms and supervise and guide relevant entities and personnel in the prevention and control of vector-borne organisms.
(7) Health Supervision of Solid and Liquid Waste Disposal
To supervise relevant departments and persons in charge of conveyance at aviation ports of entry in the removal and harmless treatment of feces, garbage, and wastewater.
(1) Inspection Procedures
In accordance with the principle of "dual random and public disclosure," supervisory inspections of relevant business entities within the jurisdiction of the border port shall be conducted by not fewer than two border port health supervisors.
Prior to conducting supervisory inspections, health supervisors shall complete the "Notice of Administrative Inspection for Health Supervision at Customs Ports of the People's Republic of China." Upon conclusion of the supervisory inspection, they shall complete the "Record Form of Administrative Inspection for Health Supervision at Border Ports" and the "On-site Inspection Form for Routine Health Supervision," which shall be signed and acknowledged by the enterprise. Health supervisors shall communicate the supervisory inspection results to the enterprise based on the "On-site Inspection Form for Routine Health Supervision." For any non-compliant items identified, Customs shall order the relevant enterprise to undertake rectification.
(2) Food Safety Spot Check
Laboratory testing and on-site rapid testing shall be conducted in accordance with the border port food safety spot check plan. Laboratory testing refers to the sampling, laboratory analysis, re-testing, and handling of food carried out on food business operators at ports and conveyances arriving at or departing from ports during routine supervision, special inspections, and other related activities. On-site rapid testing refers to the on-site rapid testing of food carried out on food business operators at ports during routine supervision.
(3) Drinking Water Sanitation Supervision
Drinking water sanitation supervision shall be conducted in accordance with the national standards for drinking water sanitation and the content of the "On-site Inspection Form for Routine Health Supervision of Drinking Water Supply Entities at Border Ports." Focus shall be on inspecting whether self-supplied water source enterprises at the port hold health licenses; water source sanitation protection and vector-borne organism control; whether water supply and management personnel hold valid health certificates; whether water supply and management personnel have received hygiene training; hygiene licensing status of water-related products; regular cleaning and disinfection of water supply and storage equipment; status of water disinfection; status of water quality self-monitoring; and other relevant aspects.
(4) Health Supervision of Public Places
Focus shall be placed on the inspection of: entity qualifications and environmental sanitation; the establishment of health management departments or the designation of health management personnel; the maintenance of health management records; health examination status of employees; the display of hygiene permit and hygiene testing information; the cleaning, disinfection, and sanitation maintenance of customer utensils; vector-borne organism prevention and control measures; waste storage facilities and equipment; the hygiene management of centralized air conditioning and ventilation systems; monitoring of indoor air quality and microclimate; and spot inspections of the sanitation status of customer utensils.
(5) Vector Surveillance
It is essential to establish a vector-borne organism risk analysis mechanism and conduct risk analyses for the introduction of inbound vectors as well as for vector surveillance in port areas; conduct vector surveillance within port areas under jurisdiction and baseline surveys at newly opened or expanded/renovated ports; carry out concurrent monitoring of inbound vector-borne organisms during on-site port supervision, as well as monitoring on aircraft, cargo, baggage, mail, and express parcels; collect evidence of detected vector-borne organisms and, as required, promptly collect samples for species identification and pathogen testing; and report positive detections and representative cases in a timely manner, as required.
(6) Conduct Legal and Health Education
It is necessary to conduct carry out health publicity and education, disseminate hygiene knowledge, and enhance the awareness and compliance of personnel in aviation port-related enterprises with relevant laws and regulations.
Enterprises may apply online through the General Administration of Customs of China's (GACC) Integrated Government Service Platform for Customs. Customs shall make an administrative licensing decision within thirteen working days from the date of acceptance of the application.
(Authoring Organization: Tianjin Customs)
Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of China Inspection and Quarantine Times. The China Inspection and Quarantine Times version shall prevail.
