Certain Companies Cooperating with the National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service in Control, Certification, and Assistance Activities Must Now Register Before Registry of Integrity and Transparency of Businesses and Entities

Resolution No. 500/2023 of the National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (SENASA) was published in the Official Gazette on June 6, 2023. The resolution –which will be enforceable as of July 31, 2023– establishes that all companies and entities cooperating with SENASA in the activities of control, certification, and/or sanitary assistance must register before the Registry of Integrity and Transparency for Businesses and Entities (RITE) of the Anti-corruption Office.

 

1. What is SENASA and what are its functions?

 

SENASA is a decentralized agency of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Economy. It oversees the application of federal policies related to animal and plant health and quality, as well as food safety. It also controls federal traffic and imports and exports of agri-food products and agrochemicals. SENASA’s aim is to plan and fulfill programs to regulate the manufacturing of safe food for human and animal consumption.

 

 

2. What is RITE?

 

RITE is a platform of the Anti-corruption Office before which companies and entities can register and share information to carry out and improve their internal integrity programs, and to promote good ethical practices and transparency in business and markets. RITE was envisaged as a voluntary registry that would also allow public agencies to identify which of the companies interested in participating in public bidding had already implemented an integrity program.

 

3. Progressive implementation

 

Resolution SENASA No. 500/2023 will be implemented progressively, through stages to be determined. The first-stage activities are established in the resolution, and SENASA will be in charge of including the activities of the next stages.

 

Further, a public-private articulation workgroup will be created, to follow the application of this measure. The workgroup will operate within SENASA’s Public Integrity Unit.

 

4. What are the activities included in the first stage?

 

The first stage includes companies and entities cooperating with SENASA in control, certification, and/or sanitary assistance activities, specifically in:

 

• Methyl bromide fumigation quarantine treatment centers.
• Quarantine cold treatment centers.
• combined centers: cold methyl bromide fumigation.
• Companies applying fumigants in international trade.
• Centers for applying treatments to wooden packages, supporting, and/or accommodation wood (CATEM).
• Traditional wood drying kilns (HOSETRAM).
• Register of Food Quality Certifying Entities.
• Register of Officially Recognized Functional Entities.
• National Register of Certifying Entities for Organic Products.
• Register of Testing Laboratories.
• Register of Testing and Diagnostic of the National Laboratory Network.
• Register of Service Providers of the Waste Program.
• Register of Controllers and Certifiers of Grains and subproducts for export.

 

5. When does registration in the RITE become mandatory?

 

Companies and entities carrying out activities included in the first stage must register before the RITE before July 31, 2023. They must also submit the RITE registration certificate to SENASA, otherwise, they will not be able to continue operating with SENASA.

 

This new SENASA regulation is a measure additional to the one enacted through Resolution No. 708/2022, which had already established that certifying entities (i.e., certifying entities for warehouses, ship tanks, and barges for export of grains, their products and by-products) had to register before RITE to continue operating with SENASA as of April 1, 2023.

 

6. Closing remarks

 

This resolution was issued based on an agreement between SENASA and the Anti-corruption Office in December of 2022, to strengthen the synergy and the exchange of experiences, as well as to improve the state’s abilities to promote integrity and transparency policies.

 

It will be interesting to closely monitor whether other public agencies will adopt this trend and whether private entities subject to mandatory registration before the RITE will eventually challenge these regulations.