THE Ministry of Health (MoH) will introduce a new system for Food Import Registration (FIR) application of processed food.
This is an online system starting October 6.
With this new system, the Ministry of Health will no longer be accepting paper-based applications.
FIR is an existing requirement under the Public Health (Food) Act (Chapter 182) and its Regulations with the sole purpose of ensuring that food in Brunei Darussalam is safe for human consumption and complies with the conditions of the Regulations.
The new system allows food importers to register their products at their convenient time and no longer requires them to physically submit the application to the office. Importers must first register for an e-Darussalam account before using the system. Importers are then required to fill in the online form and upload any accompanying documents into the system in PDF, JPG, docx or doc format.
The new online system is part of the efforts to improve Ministry of Health’s services in making it faster for the importers to get approval for their applications which will be notified through their e-Darussalam inbox. It is expected that this system will reduce the processing time from 10 working days to seven working days.
The approved registration will be given a reference number which could be later used to declare the products via the Brunei Darussalam National Single Window (BDNSW) under the Royal Customs and Excise Department, Ministry of Finance during importation.
With this new system, the ministry also will introduce an administrative processing fee of BND30 per application which can be paid online using debit or credit cards (Visa, American Express or MasterCard).
The system has been developed with collaboration between the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Importers are able to access the system via: www.moh.gov.bn (under Business > Importing Food & Drinks > Food Importation).
For further information, importers and the public can contact the Food Safety and Quality Control Division, Public Health Services, Ministry of Health at 2382041 or fax 2381851 or e-mail: fsqc@moh.gov.bn.
The post MoH introduces online registration for importation of food products appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.