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Content:
On December 18, 2018, the Executive Yuan established the Central Emergency Operation Center for African Swine Fever (ASF). Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIA), Ministry of Agricultur and other investigative agencies, have adopted the following measures to strengthen border inspection at airports and commercial ports.
1. Inbound Passengers
All carry-on and checked luggage of cruise ship inbound passengers are checked by X-ray machine; for aircraft inbound passengers from ASF high risk regions (ASF epidemic area and their neighboring countries determined by the Central Emergency Operation Center), their carry-on and checked luggage would be fully checked by X-ray machine and randomly examined by Quarantine Detector Dog Team of APHIA.
2. International Parcels
All incoming parcels are fully checked by X-ray machine, and Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. isolates the parcels from ASF high risk regions for further investigation by Customs. APHIA also deploys Quarantine Detector Dog Team to detect pork products. Parcels suspected of concealing pork products shall be opened, examined, and transferred to the competent authority for further investigation.
3. Imported Goods via Sea or Air Cargo
By utilizing risk management system, Customs screen out the high-risk cargos for examination, and suspicious goods are further inspected by X-ray machine if necessary.
4. Air and Maritime Express Consignments
All express cargoes are fully inspected by X-ray machine. In order to improve identification of X-ray images and to prevent major prohibited items such as illegal pork products and narcotics from being imported to Taiwan, the packages consolidation measure (multi-packages packed as a full bag, excluding documents) for the air express consignments has been gradually phased out. Phase one of the said policy started from November 1, 2021, where air express cargoes imported from 10 Southeast Asian countries of ASF epidemic area are prohibited from clearance if they are consolidated in bags (excluding documents). Phase two is subdivided into two stages: starting on December 1, 2021, the number of packages imported from the remaining countries and consolidated in one bag (excluding documents) shall not exceed 20, while, starting on February 1, 2022, this number shall be reduced to 10. The third phase started on April 1, 2022, whereby the packages consolidation measure (excluding documents) will be completely phased out for general express consignments, while e-commerce goods of small quantities may still be conditionally consolidated.
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Performance:
From 2018 to the end of September
2023, Customs Administration had seized 11,227 cases (20,346 kilograms) of smuggled pork products without quarantine permit. All of the smuggled cases, according to the Anti-smuggling Act and Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases, were seized and transferred to BAPHIQ for further investigation.