Amid fears of African swine fever (ASF) spreading from China, the maximum fine for smuggling meat products into Taiwan has been raised to NT$1 million according to a decision made by Legislative Yuan recently.
In order to prevent the spread of ASF, Taichung Customs has strengthened the epidemic prevention level and widely publicized the new regulations and fines.
The prevention measures are listed below:
1.Taichung Customs and Taichung Branch of Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection
and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) jointly strengthen the prevention of ASF.
Mr. Ming-Xing Yeh, Director of Taichung Customs led the team to visit Mr. Zi-Zheng
Wang, Director of Taichung Branch of BAPHIQ and held a seminar to discuss about how
to effectively prevent inbound passengers from smuggling meat products into Taiwan.
They indicated the two agencies will collaborate closely with each other in order to
achieve the optimal efficiency of epidemic prevention through this communication and
discussion.
2.Ramp up the X-ray Inspection ratio of carry-on baggage
Not only the passengers’ check-in baggage needs to be examined by X-ray inspection,
but also all of the carry-on baggage now must be examined too, especially those brought
by passengers from China and Vietnam. Vietnam is a priority for us because Taiwan gets
a very high volume of Vietnamese travelers, including foreign spouse, as well as migrant
workers. Taichung Customs have tightened the screening of passengers coming in from
China and Vietnam, individually checking travelers for any pork products.
Taichung Customs also reminded the public that passengers from China must not import meat products or they could incur penalties for violating under the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases.