Over the last few months NAEGA has been working closely with industry and government stakeholders, including the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the U.S. Grain Inspectors, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) regarding Chinese facility registration requirements under Decree 177.

In October, USDA FAS sent a letter and a copy of the GIPSA list of registered U.S. grain export facilities to Chinese counterparts at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The letter, and registration list, seeks to comply with AQSIQ requests for registration of U.S. facilities exporting to the Chinese market as laid out in Decree 177. The list of GIPSA registered facilities includes all grain export facilities that handle more than 15,000 metric tons of grain in a given calendar year.

Last week, USDA FAS received a response to this letter. A copy of the response can be found here. In the response, ASQIQ has again reiterated that U.S. facilities shipping to China register and provide basic information according to the AQSIQ format of “List of Grain Exporting Facilities for Registration.” In addition, AQSIQ has requested that, per Decree 177, all U.S. facilities exporting to China must register with AQSIQ, including facilities that export less than 15,000 metric tons in a calendar year. In short, the GIPSA registration list is not an acceptable form of registration for U.S. facilities shipping to China.

In light of this rejection of the GIPSA export facility registration list, NAEGA will be participating in further discussions with USDA FAS and other industry and government stakeholders regarding U.S. industry compliance with Decree 177. The first follow up meeting is planned for this week.

NAEGA will have additional information for members following this meeting, and will keep members informed of any new information as it becomes available. Please contact Gary or Ryan if you have any questions.