SAMR’s Responsibility, Internal Structure and Staffing Issued - Which Department Will Be in Charge of Food Supervision

On March 21, 2018, Institutional reform plan of Chinese government department was released. According to this plan, SAMR was established, and the responsibilities of SAIC, AQSIQ and CFDA were merged into SAMR.

(Note: SAMR: State Administration for Market Regulation; SAIC: State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the People’s Republic of China; AQSIQ: General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China; CFDA: China Food and Drug Administration)

On September 10, 2018, the Regulation of SAMR’s Responsibility, Internal Structure and Staffing (hereinafter referred to as the Regulation) was officially released. What are the main responsibilities of SAMR? Which departments will be in charge of food supervision? Who will be in charge of the food supervision departments? CIRS has made a summary as follows.

1. What are the main responsibilities of SAMR?

There are 18 main responsibilities of SAMR. Food related responsibilities mainly include: supervision of food safety, special food (health food, infant formula milk powder, and foods for special medical purpose (FSMP)) registration and/or filing and relevant supervision, etc.

2. Which departments are in charge of food supervision?

I. 5 departments at SAMR are mainly in charge of food safety supervision

Before the institutional reform, 4 departments were directly related to food safety supervision at former CFDA. After the institutional reform, relevant departments are increased to 5, which account for about 1/5 among total 27 internal structures at SAMR. One aim of institutional reform is to decline the number of government departments, merge several government departments with same responsibilities into one department. However, the number of food safety supervision departments is increased, which can be seen that China government attaches great importance to food safety.

For special food supervision, Department of Special Food Safety Supervision is established, which replaced the former Department of Special Food Registration under former CFDA. Except for undertaking the responsibilities of former Department of Special Food Registration, the department is also responsible for organizing the investigation and punishment on major violation. It can be seen that China government pays attention to the supervision of special food, and focuses on the supervision work after the products are listed in market.

Changes in department name and responsibilities of food safety supervision before/after institutional reform are listed in below table:

Before institutional reform (former CFDA)	After institutional re form (SAMR)	Note
Department of Food Safety Supervision I	Department of Food Production Safety Supervision	These 2 departments both undertake supervising food safety at production stage.
Department of Food Safety Supervision II	Department of Food Operation Safety Supervision	These 2 departments both undertake supervising food safety at distribution and consumption stage.
Department of Food Safety Supervision III	Department of Food Safety Sampling Monitoring	l These 2 departments both participate in formulating food safety risk monitoring plans, and undertake food risk monitoring thereon, etc. l Department of Food Safety Sampling Monitoring has added some responsibilities, e.g., formulate food safety sampling plans for nation-wide, and organize their implementation, supervise the inspection, disposal and recall for defect products, etc.
Department of Special Food Registration	Department of Special Food Safety Supervision	l These 2 departments both undertake formulating special food registration, filing and supervision policies, and organize their implementation, etc. l Department of Special Food Safety Supervision has added responsibility of organizing the investigation and punishment on major violation.
/	Department of Food Safety Coordination	The responsibilities of Department of Food Safety Coordination are mostly same as relevant responsibilities from former Comprehensive Department at former CFDA, e.g., formulate major policies of food safety supervision, and organize their implementation, undertake comprehensive coordination work of food safety supervision, etc.

II. Other department related to food supervision

Department of Advertisement supervision is responsible for advertising review of health food and FSMP etc., organizing the investigation and punishment on fake advertisement etc.

3. Who will be in charge of the food supervision departments?

Deputy Director of SAMR, Ms. Meijun Sun, is in charge of these departments listed below:

• Department of Food Safety Coordination
• Department of Food Production Safety Supervision
• Department of Food Operation Safety Supervision
• Department of Special Food Safety Supervision
• Department of Food Safety Sampling Monitoring

In summary, the Regulation of SAMR’s Responsibility, Internal Structure and Staffing has been officially issued, and the supervision department of special food has been confirmed as well. CIRS believes that the release of the regulation will not have major impact on special food supervision policies for the moment. However, whether there is impact on special food supervision after institution integration finished, it requires further attention.

Reference

http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2018-09/10/content_5320813.htm

Keywords: SAMR, responsibility, internal; structure, special; food