DECLARATION OF NATIONAL INTEREST

Law 27233

Animal and Plant Health. Sanctioned: November 26, 2015 Enacted: December 29, 2015

The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, meeting in Congress, etc., are sanctioned by law:

CHAPTER I

DECLARATION OF NATIONAL INTEREST

ARTICLE 1-The health of animals and plants is declared in the national interest, as well as the prevention, control and eradication of diseases and pests affecting national forestry, flora and fauna, the quality of raw materials produced from silvo-agricultural, livestock and fisheries activities, as well as the production, safety and quality of agri-food, specific agricultural inputs and the control of chemical waste; and chemical and microbiological contaminants in food and domestic and international trade of these products and by-products. The sanitary and phytosanitary measures defined in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organization (WTO), approved by Law 24,425, are included in the scope of this law. This declaration covers all stages of primary production, processing, processing, transportation, marketing and consumption of agrofood, and control of agricultural products and products that enter the country, as well as the production of family or craft farming for marketing purposes, subject to the jurisdiction of the national health authority.

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ORDER

ARTICLE 2-The national rules governing the development of actions to preserve animal health and the protection of species of plant origin and the condition are declared in public order. Sanitary hygiene of food of agricultural origin with the scope established in the previous article.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ACTORS IN THE AGRI-FOOD CHAIN

ARTICLE 3-Primary and unavoidable liability of any natural or legal person linked to

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the production, production or industrialization of products, by-products and derivatives of silvo-agricultural and fishery origin, the activity of which is subject to the comptroller of the authority of application of this law, the monitoring and response of the health, safety, hygiene and quality of their production, in accordance with the current regulations and to be established in the future. This responsibility extends to those who produce, produce, fractionate, conserve, deposit, concentrate, transport, market, expend, import or export animals, plants, food, raw materials, food additives, materials reproductive, food for animals and their raw materials, fishery products and other products of animal and/or plant origin acting individually, jointly or successively, in the agri-food chain.

ARTICLE 4 °-The intervention of the competent health authorities, as appropriate to their control activity, does not exempt the direct or solidarity responsibility of the various actors in the agri-food chain with regard to the risks, hazards or damage to third parties resulting from the activity carried out by them.

CHAPTER II

APPLICATION AUTHORITY

ARTICLE 5-The National Service for Health and Agro-Food Quality, in its character as a decentralized body with economic-financial and technical-administrative autarquia and with its own legal status, in the field of public law and Private, in the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, is the implementing authority and the person in charge of planning, executing and controlling the development of the actions provided for in this law.

OF THE POWERS AND POWERS OF SENASA

Article 6-In order to fulfill the responsibilities assigned in the preceding article, the National Service for Health and Agro-Food Quality will have the powers and powers that it specifically grants to it. For the purposes of the provisions of this Law and the fulfilment of the objectives of the National System of Food Control established by decree 815 of 26 July 1999, it is also empowered to establish the procedures for and systems for public and private control of the health and quality of animals and plants and of federal traffic, imports and exports of products, by-products and derivatives of animal and plant origin, the latter in the stages of production, processing and collection, corresponding to their jurisdiction, products agri-food, veterinary and plant health, fertilizers and amendments, adapting the currently used hygiene and health certification systems.

ARTICLE 7 °-In order to contribute to the best fulfillment of the responsibilities assigned in this law or of the health programs or research programs that it executes, or for the purpose of supplementing its operational decentralization, the Service National of Health and Agro-Food Quality may promote the formation of an institutional network with non-profit civil associations or the agreement with academic entities, professional associations, national, provincial and/or provincial public, private or mixed, subject to the signature of the respective convention, to implement, jointly and in a coordinated manner, the sanitary and phytosanitary measures, of applied research,

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productive research, public control or certification of agro-food in areas of its competence, verifying compliance with the current regulations in the field. The provision of services by health authorities, during the period they are required, is considered to be a public health care service. Execution outside the parameters of the agreement and/or the rules in force, the suspension, the interruption, the cessation or the negation of such services, directly or indirectly, will be considered to be serious misconduct and will make the application of the Penalties established for this purpose, including the termination of the agreements concluded and, if applicable, the exclusion of the system.

ARTICLE 8 °-The establishments, companies and/or responsible for primary production, processing, conservation, distribution, transportation and trade of agrofood that make federal traffic or export or are imported into the country, shall apply the self-control programs or plans (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points of HACCP) and other food assurance systems established and approved by the National Service for Health and Agro-Food Quality, which may be the same as monitored and verified their application by the health authorities referred to in the Article 7 of this Law.

CHAPTER III

OBLIGATIONS OF THE HEALTH AUTHORITIES

ARTICLE 9-The approval of national or provincial health and plant health programmes for regional and/or provincial implementation shall involve, for health authorities, the obligation to respect the tariff values laid down for the purposes of the benefits in charge, maintain the benefits of the same during the agreed period and adjust to the rules that the National Service of Health and Agro-Food Quality establishes. In the case of the fight against foot-and-mouth disease, it must be adjusted to the requirements of Law 24.305.

ARTICLE 10. -the health authorities constituted or constituted, or other intermediate entities, must possess legal status and demonstrate sufficient technical, administrative and financial capacity for the development of the health actions to which they are entrusts.

ARTICLE 11. -In case of alert and/or sanitary or phytosanitary emergency, any outside its scope, declared by the National Service of Health and Agro-Food Quality, the services provided by the health or plant health authorities as long as it lasts the emergency must be strictly in accordance with the directives which the Agency is to deliver.

CHAPTER IV

OF THE RESOURCES AND THE BUDGET

ARTICLE 12. -In order to meet its objectives and the provisions of this law, the National Service for Health and Agro-Food Quality will have the resources established by Decree 1,585 of 19 December 1996 and its amendments, as well as as for those who have been assigned to it by the current regulations.

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ARTICLE 13. -Annually, the National Service for Health and Agro-Food Quality shall draw up its general budget, which shall include all the resources and appropriations provided for, and shall form an operational and other budget.

CHAPTER V

OF THE SANTIONS

ARTICLE 14. -infringements of the rules applied by the National Health and Food Quality Service shall be punishable by the following penalties, which replace those laid down in the respective orders: (a) Public interest or (b) Fines of up to 10 million pesos ($10,000,000); c) Suspension of up to one (1) year or cancellation of the registration of the respective registers; (d) temporary or final closure of the establishments; (e) Neglect of products, by-products and/or elements related to the offence committed. The penalties listed may be applied separately or jointly several of them, in accordance with the seriousness of the offence, the damage caused, and the background of the person responsible, and irrespective of the preventive measures taken by him. Body, according to the legislation in force. Where the preventive suspension of an establishment has been provided, it may not exceed ninety (90) working days, unless duly substantiated reasons for the extension of that period. For the purposes of the adoption of the health, control, verification and supervision actions, both preventive and those resulting from procedures of violation of the current regulations, the acting personnel may require the aid of the force public and to request search warrants from the competent judges to ensure the proper performance of their duties.

ARTICLE 15. -the amount of the penalties may be appropriate annually, as the price of the live kilo of the category novillo in the market of Liniers or the one that in its defect replaces it, taking as a reference the highest quotation of the month of March of each year, value to be applied from the month of September of the same year. Fines imposed and not paid in full shall be subject to the general level of wholesale price index, supplied by the national statistical body, between the date to be paid and the date on which it becomes effective.

ARTICLE 16. -The sanctions shall be applied by the President of the National Service for Health and Agro-Food Quality, or by the official in whom the latter delegate such power, prior to the procedure that ensures the right of defense of the accused, according to the Law of Administrative Procedure (law 19,549). Actions to impose sanctions shall be prescribed at five (5) years, counted from the date of the commission of the infringement. The limitation of the penalties to be imposed shall operate at three (3) years from the date on which the decision imposing the decision is signed.

ARTICLE 17. -the requirements set out in the preceding article; the commission of a new infringement is interrupted, as well as by any act, administrative or judicial system, which impes the

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the procedure for the application of the sanction or the perception of the emerging credit for that cause.

ARTICLE 18. -Contact the national executive branch.

GIVEN IN THE SESSION HALL OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN BUENOS AIRES, AT THE TWENTY-SIX DAYS OF THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER OF THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN.

-REGISTERED UNDER NO 27233-

JULIAN A. DOMINGUEZ. -GERARDO ZAMORA. -Lucas Chedrese. -Juan H. Estrada.

Date of publication: 04/01/2016

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