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National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications Act, 2008 (Act No. 5 of 2008)

Notices

Compulsory Specification for Canned Fish, Canned Marine Molluscs and Canned Crustaceans and Products derived therefrom (VC8014)

3. General administrative requirements

 

3.1 All canned fish, canned marine molluscs and canned crustaceans and products derived therefrom to be offered for sale, shall comply with the requirements of this Compulsory Specification.

 

3.2 The factory/processing facility for the production for canned fish, canned marine molluscs and canned crustaceans and products derived therefrom, shall be pre-approved by the NRCS for conformity of production requirements as prescribed in Annex A - A.1. A certificate of approval for the facility shall be issued by the NRCS. Such approval shall be reviewed annually, or more frequently as may be determined by the NRCS. For any other new products that were not part of the initial annual approval of the facility, the facility shall apply immediately to add new product/product ranges to the overall approved list.

 

3.3 The factory/processing facility may not dispatch canned fish, canned marine molluscs and canned crustaceans and products derived therefrom, without a valid NRCS approval certificate of compliance per each production batch for products produced in the Republic of South Africa.

 

3.4 Application for official inspection and approval of the product(s) shall be made to the NRCS for every consignment of canned fish, canned marine molluscs and canned crustaceans and products derived therefrom which are imported into South Africa, in accordance with the requirements of Annex A - A.2.

 

3.5 Application for approval required for export or any other purposes as required by the applicant, shall be made in accordance with the requirements of Annex A - A.3.

 

3.6 The factory/processing facility shall provide the NRCS with satisfactory evidence of conformity of production upon request.

 

3.7 The factory/processing facility shall inform the NRCS in writing of any change in process of production affecting any mandatory requirement of this Compulsory Specification. in the event of such change/s the NRCS may, at its discretion, demand the submission of fresh evidence of conformity, or a new application for approval.

 

3.8 The factory/processing facility shall immediately report to the NRCS in writing any failure, of whatever nature, to conform to the requirements of this Compulsory Specification.

 

3.9 Approval granted by the NRCS to a factory/processing facilities in accordance with 3.2 of this Compulsory Specification, may be suspended and/or ultimately withdrawn upon detection of non-compliance to the provisions of this Compulsory Specification or if the applicant fails to re-apply as required. Reasons of such suspension or withdrawal will be provided to the applicant in writing and the facility shall not sell the identified products. No new batch(es)/production(s) shall be produced after the suspension of the facility, until new approval is granted by the NRCS or corrective actions are concluded.

 

3.10 A factory/processing facility whose approval has been suspended, must re-apply to the NRCS in writing within three (3) months of the date of suspension for a reassessment, otherwise approval for the establishment to operate in terms of this Compulsory Specification will be withdrawn.

 

3.11 A factory/processing facility shall notify the NRCS in writing when its operation is closing down, three (3) months before the effective date.

 

3.12 The testing of canned fish, canned marine molluscs and canned crustaceans and products derived therefrom against the requirements of this Compulsory Specification shall be done by microbiological and chemical test facilities that are accredited to use the referenced test methods or any other accredited method validated against the reference method, and giving results that are better, or at least equal, to the accuracy of the reference method. In the case where there are no test facilities available in the Republic of South Africa that are in compliance with the foregoing, the NRCS shall determine which facilities may be used in terms of its Conformity Assessment Policy.

 

3.13 The NRCS shall issue health guarantees for export purposes, where required, in accordance with the requirements of the country of destination as prescribed in Annex B. The NRCS may for the purposes of inspection and verification of products, sample products according to the regulatory risk based sampling plans.

 

3.14 There will be fees applicable as prescribed in the regulation R924 of 15 October 2010, published under the NRCS Act.