On March 30, the Agricultural IWG of Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) held its first internal lunch meeting in Nansha, Guangzhou. The meeting was hosted by Sam Fan (FMC), Coordinator of the IWG, and representatives from 5 member companies participated.
Sam Fan shared the progress made during the first communication with the Customs National Targeting Bureau (Sea Cargo) of GACC earlier in the week. The two sides discussed status quo and issues of illegal export of pesticides, and reached initial consensus to have exchanges and cooperation on agricultural IPR protection. IWG members expressed expectation to actively promote cooperation with the agency in case leads sharing, information screening, customs control and prevention of various import and export risks. They also agreed to collect case leads and problems in the export of illegal agricultural products afterwards. The Agricultural IWG would organize an offline exchange with the bureau later this year to further introduce IPR protection challenges in the import and export of agricultural products, share case leads and experience, and propose suggestions on strengthening cooperation on customs IP protection as well as risk prevention and control.
In the following session, members conducted in-depth discussion on specific issues and countermeasures against illegal export of pesticides, such as the export of pesticides without certificate and false declaration on the names of illegal pesticides, etc. They also discussed the IWG’s participation in the upcoming exchange meetings between QBPC and Shanxi LGO, Tianjin EFDSSD, and Ningbo LGO respectively as well as preparation for the events..
The meeting was very productive, which laid a solid foundation for the work in 2023. All members looked forward to the next gathering.