Fishery Quarantine

Import Quarantine

1. Delivery to the quarantine facility
   • Goods are moved into a quarantine facility designated by the NFQS: an onshore tank holding facility, onshore tank aquaculture facility, aquarium facility, temperature-controlled warehouse, or sea cage aquaculture facility (sea cages for certain items only).
   (Enforcement Rule of the Aquatic Organism Disease Control Act, Art. 35)
2. Import quarantine application
   • Apply in person at the NFQS branch office with jurisdiction over the quarantine facility, or online (through the NFQS website or the customs Single Window). You may apply up to 5 days before the desired quarantine date.
   • Documents to submit
     - Import quarantine application
     - Copy of the cargo manifest for the designated quarantine items (not needed if the cargo control number is entered in the customs Single Window)
     - Original quarantine certificate issued by a government agency of the exporting country
     - If applicable: original import permit, original pre-export (dispatched) quarantine certificate, copy of the transplantation approval, weight confirmation (if weight is hard to check at the quarantine facility), test or research plan, documents proving that the goods are being reimported after being returned, and documents proving that the goods are being reimported after a foreign trade fair
   • If they can be verified through electronic documents sent by a government agency of the exporting country or similar body, the cargo manifest, quarantine certificate, import permit, pre-export quarantine certificate, and transplantation approval need not be submitted.
   (Enforcement Rule of the Aquatic Organism Disease Control Act, Art. 30(1) and (2))
3. Quarantine inspection
   • Document inspection (2 days): checks that the quarantine application and attached documents are in order
   • Clinical inspection (3 days, including document inspection): assesses swimming patterns and behavior, external appearance, and necropsy findings
   • Laboratory inspection (15 days, including document and clinical inspections): uses histopathological, molecular biological, serological, biochemical, and other analytical methods
4. Quarantine decision
   • Pass: import quarantine certificate issued (the customs office with jurisdiction over the quarantine facility is also notified)
   • Fail: the applicant, the competent customs office, and others are notified, and the goods are returned, incinerated, or buried
   (Enforcement Rule of the Aquatic Organism Disease Control Act, Art. 30(3))

Export Quarantine

Submit an export quarantine application to the NFQS branch office with jurisdiction over the quarantine facility, with the documents below if applicable. When quarantine is complete, you receive an export quarantine certificate (in the importing country's own format if its government agency requires one). (Enforcement Rule of the Aquatic Organism Disease Control Act, Art. 34)

• Copy of the transplantation approval (when exporting aquatic organisms approved for transplantation under Article 35(1), subparagraph 5 of the Fishery Resources Management Act)
• Weight confirmation issued by a weighing agency (if weight is hard to check at the quarantine facility)

Inspection of Fishery Products for Export

Legal basis

Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act, Art. 88 (Inspection of Fishery Products, etc.) and Art. 96 (Re-inspection)

Products subject to inspection

Fishery products and processed fishery products designated by notice of the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries that require inspection under an agreement with a foreign country or at the request of the importing country

Inspection under agreements with foreign countries

• United States: Fresh and frozen shellfish
• EU: Live bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates, and marine gastropods (fishery and aquaculture products)
• China: Raw aquatic animals, and simply processed products (aquatic animals cut, heated, boiled, dried, salted, brined, or similarly processed without additives other than edible salt or other ingredients, and still recognizable in their original form), and live aquatic animals
• Japan: Raw oysters for raw consumption, processed puffer fish, and olive flounder for export
• Vietnam: Raw fishery products for food, and aquatic animals and plants cut, heated, boiled, dried, salted, brined, or similarly processed without food additives or other ingredients, and still recognizable in their original form
• Indonesia: Raw aquatic animals, and simply processed products (aquatic animals cut, heated, boiled, dried, salted, brined, or similarly processed without additives other than edible salt or other ingredients, and still recognizable in their original form)
• Thailand: Raw aquatic animals, and simply processed products (aquatic animals cut, heated, boiled, dried, salted, brined, or similarly processed without additives other than edible salt or other ingredients, and still recognizable in their original form)

This applies only to fishery products and processed fishery products made at plants (including vessels, for the EU) registered as production and processing facilities that meet the sanitary control standards. The packaging must show the country name and the facility registration number. (Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act, Art. 74; Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries notice on sanitary control standards for fishery production and processing facilities and sea areas)

Inspection against standards and specifications requested by the applicant or the importing country

Apply with documents stating those standards and specifications and, if some test items are to be omitted, documents relating to that.

Inspection standards

Notice on Inspection Standards for Fishery Products and Processed Fishery Products (NFQS Notice No. 2026-3)

Procedure

Inspection methods

Document inspection

• An inspection that reviews the application documents to determine compliance
• Whether the product was produced in a designated sea area (only for fishery products and processed fishery products that must come from designated sea areas)
• Where production and processing facilities must be registered: whether they are registered, whether any administrative sanction is pending, and whether they meet the facility sanitary control standards and HACCP standards (registered facilities only)
• Whether a distant-water fishing license has been issued under Article 6(1) of the Distant Water Fisheries Development Act, etc.

Sensory inspection

• An inspection that determines compliance using the five senses, for fishery products and processed fishery products whose quality standards (shape, color, sorting, temperature, foreign matter, etc., checked against foreign requirements), packaging conditions, labeling, and specifications must be verified
• Fishery products and processed fishery products for which the applicant requests a health certificate

Laboratory inspection

• An inspection that determines compliance using physical, chemical, or microbiological methods
• Fishery products and processed fishery products for which the applicant or foreign requirements call for a certificate of analysis
• Fishery products and processed fishery products found to need laboratory inspection after sensory inspection
• Fishery products made at a production or processing facility whose exported fishery products or processed fishery products were found to contain hazardous substances under foreign requirements