Statute

Published on 14.01.2011

Registered at the Ministry of Justice of Georgia

Registration code 040.030.000.22.032.016.717

 

Order No 2-3 of the Minister of Agriculture of

Georgia

January 14, 2011

Tbilisi

 

On the Approval of the statute of the National Food Agency - the legal entity under the public law On the basis of Article 36.32 of the Georgian Law on Food Safety and Quality and Article 61 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia, I hereby Order:

1.  To approve the attached statute of the National Food Agency - the legal entity under the public law.

2.  To invalidate the Order N2-44 of the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia dated March 14th_, 2006, on the approval of the statute of the National Service of Food Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection - the subordinated body of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia.

3.  After entering into force of this Order, but no later than March 1st, 2011, the stamps and letterheads of the National Service of Food Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection - the subordinated body  of the  Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia  shall  remain legally  valid until the National Food Agency makes new stamps and letterheads.

4.  This Order shall enter into force upon its publication. 

B. Kvezereli

Statute of the National Food Agency - the legal entity under the

public law

 

Article 1. General Provisions

 

1.   The National Food Agency (hereinafter the Agency) is the legal entity under public law being under the governance of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia (hereinafter the Ministry) set up on the basis of the Georgian Law on Food Safety and Quality.  

2.    The Agency  within  its  competence  acts pursuant  to the Georgian Constitution, International  Agreements, Georgian Law on  Legal Entity  under  the  Public  Law, Georgian Law on  Food  Safety and  Quality, this Statute and  other primary and secondary legislative acts. 

3.    The Agency holds  the official symbols, seal  with  national  emblem, independent balance sheet, accounts  in  commercial  banks and  state treasury and  other  formal requisites relevant to the legal entity under public law.

4.   The legal address of the Agency is: 6 Marshal Gelovani Ave. 0159 Tbilisi. 

 

Article 2. The Responsibilities and Duties of the Agency 

The Agency shall have the following rights and duties: 

a) To  ensure food/feed  safety  and quality, to  carry out state  control  over the fulfillment of  hygiene,  veterinary-sanitary and  phyto-sanitary requirements and rules; 

b) Risk management and communication based on food/feed, epizootic and phyto-sanitary risk assessment; 

c) To carry out food state control according to the annual plan of food state control program approved by the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia; 

d) Registration  and  control  of pesticides,  agrochemicals,  veterinary drugs (medicine) and mineral water denomination of origin; 

e) To assign water trade mark categories;

f)  To organize preventive,  treatment and  eradication  measures  against  especially dangerous animal diseases;

g) To protect plants from quarantine and especially dangerous harmful organisms;

h) To coordinate and supervise private veterinary activities;

i)  To issue permits and certificates in accordance with the rules laid down in the legislation; 

j)  To provide  population  with relevant, impartial and  objective information  on hazards and potential risks; 

k)  To respond to violations  laid down  in  the Georgian Administrative Offences Code;

l) To cooperate with international organizations within its competence;

m) To develop a  crisis  management plan  in  case of  emergency  situation  in  the country and to introduce it to the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia;

n) To fulfill other responsibilities laid down in the legislation. 

 

Article 3. Management and Representation of the Agency

 

1.    The Agency is managed by the Head of  the  Agency  who is appointed  to  the position  and  discharged  from it by the Prime Minister of  Georgia upon  the nomination by the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia

2.  Head of the  Agency  within  its competence shall: 

a) Manage and coordinate the Agency's activities;

b) Make decisions on issues within the competence of the Agency;

c) Issue individual administrative legal acts;

d) Approve the statute, internal procedures, staff units and payroll of the Agency's structural units and of the territorial bodies;

e) Distribute duties among the deputy heads of the Agency, and coordinate their work;

f)  Entitle to delegate the tasks within his/her competence to other employees of the Agency;

g) Take a decision on incentives and disciplinary liabilities of Agency's employees;

h) Appoint and dismiss the employees of the Agency. However, the Head of Adjara Regional Division shall be appointed and dismissed in agreement with the Ministry of         Agriculture of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara;

i)  According to the provisions laid down in the legislation, dispose of the funds and property allocated to the Agency, be liable for maintenance and proper use of the            Agency's material and technical resources;

j) Based on an individual administrative legal act, set up the Advisory Board of the Head of the Agency and lay down the number of its members and the personnel;

k) Abolish, amend, and invalidate the decisions infringing Georgian legislation or are unreasonable, taken by the Agency's authorized employees;

l) Represent the Agency in relations with third parties;

m) Carry out other rights and duties laid down in the legislation.

3.   The Head of the Agency shall be accountable to the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia.

4.   The Head of the Agency shall have two deputies to be appointed and dismissed by

the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia as nominated by the Head of the Agency. 

5.   In the case of absence of the Head of the Agency, one of his/her deputies shall act

as the Head of the Agency. 

 

Article 4. The Organizational Chart of the Agency 

1.    The Agency consists of the central  office and territorial bodies  generating  the integrated centralized system of the Agency. 

 

2.   Structural units of the Agency's central office shall be: 

a) Food Department; 

b) Veterinary Department;

c) Phytosanitary Department; 

d) Administrative Department;

e) International Relations Department; 

f) Food/Feed Inspection Department;

g) Mobile Response Group.

 

3. Territorial bodies of the Agency shall be:

 

a)  Tbilisi Division; 

b)  Guria Regional Division;

c)  Imereti Regional Division; 

d)  Kakheti Regional Division;

e)  Mtskheta-Mtianeti Regional Division; 

f)  Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Regional Division;

g)  Samegrelo and Zemo Svaneti Regional Division; 

h)  Samtskhe-Javakheti Regional Division; 

i)   Kvemo Kartli Regional Division; 

j)   Shida Kartli Regional Division; 

k)  Adjara Regional Division; 

l)  Abkhazia Regional Division.

 

 

Article 5. The Duties of the Structural Units and Territorial Bodies of the Agency 

1. The duties of the Food Department shall be:

 a) to ensure performance  of  official control  over the compliance  with food/feed  safety, hygienic  and  veterinary-sanitary requirements and rules;

b) to develop an annual official control plan for food;

c) to register mineral water denominations of origin;

d) to apply categories to water trade marks;

e) to conduct risk assessment, management and  communication  on  the  basis of risk analysis; 

f) to issue hygienic  and  veterinary certificates and  monitor  over  the issuance;

g) to determine the compliance with the laid down requirements of the internal control and traceability systems of the business operators;

h) to carry out other activities and duties laid down in the legislation. 

 

 

2. The duties of the Veterinary Department shall be: 

a)   to maintain and control epizootic reliability in the country; 

b)   to conduct the risk analysis of epizootic situation;

c)   to register veterinary drugs (medicine);

d)   to determine the reasons of outbreaks and spreading of high contagious zoonotic infectious diseases and thus to ensure prevention, prophylaxis, localization and elimination; 

e)   to conduct veterinary diagnosis of animal diseases;

f)    to conduct registration and identification of animals;

g)   to provide veterinary services to the business operators;

h)   to carry out other activities and duties laid down in the legislation. 

 

3. The Duties of the Phytosanitary Department shall be:

a) to take quarantine measures; to protect country's territory against invasion and spreading of harmful organisms;

b) to conduct phytosanitary diagnosis of agricultural lands, to forecast  spreading of harmful organisms and to carry out preventive measures;

c) to conduct phytosanitary quarantine examination of quarantine regulated  articles;

d) to manage disinfection of plant origin products, vehicles, storages and related facilities

e) to conduct registration of pesticides and agrochemicals; 

f) to conduct phytosanitary monitoring and risk analysis;

g) to issue phytosanitary certificates and re-export phytosanitary certificates and monitor over the issuance;

h) to provide  phytosanitary services to the business operators;

i) to carry out other activities and duties laid down in the legislation. 

 

 

4. The Duties of the Administrative Department shall be:

a) to provide informational, technical and organizational support necessary  for the performance of duties by the Agency's Head, Deputy Heads,structural units, regional divisions;

b) to conduct public purchases in accordance with the Georgian legislation; to ensure transparency of the Agency's activities and public awareness in the field of operation;

c) to organize clerical work of the Agency's central office and book keeping;

d) to review and monitor the correspondence, received from different public institutions, physical person and legal entities, as well fulfillment and control of other assignments; 

e) To keep employees  history files, as well as, within its competence to draft and register individual administrative legal acts of the Head of the Agency;

f)  to ensure smooth operation of Agency's computer network and equipment, to implement and develop information technologies network, to carry out precautionary measures, to regularly update and effectively administer the database;

g) to manage financial-budgetary relations; to provide financial accounting; to provide logistical support;

h) to provide legal support for the performance of Agency's duties, legal screening of the Head's individual administrative legal acts and other  acts, to protect Agency's interests in the court. 

 

5. The Duties of the International Relations Department shall be:

a) to enhance development of the international relations, to identify  priority areas of cooperation;

b) to support the process of approximation of Georgian legislation with that of the EU;

c) to enhance international trade relations;

d) to issue the permits on import and transit on veterinary and phyto-sanitary regulated products.

6. The Duties of the Food and Feed Inspection Department shall be: 

 

a) To conduct an official control of the business operators in order to meet the food/feed, hygienic and veterinary-sanitary requirements laid down in the legislation;

b) to detect administrative offences under the Georgian Administrative Offences Code, to draw up the report on law violation, to review the cases of law violations and to duly respond;

c)  to carry out other activities and duties as laid down in the legislation. 

 

7. The Duties of the Mobile Response Group shall be:

a) in emergencies, within its scope  of activity, promptly visit (endemic zone, emergency zone, site) and study the situation (by survey, visual observation, inquiring and other necessary methods and techniques);

b) Immediate analyze of the obtained information, and to implement urgent key measures/actions for rapid response. 

 

8. The duties of the Tbilisi and Regional Divisions shall be:

a) To carry out duties of the Agency defined by this Statute in the field of food safety and quality, veterinary and plant protection; 

b) To issue certificates in accordance with the rule laid down in the legislation.

 

 

Article 6. The Property of the Agency

 

1. The property  of the Agency includes:

 a) The  property transferred  by the Ministry of  Economy  and Sustainable Development for the implementation of the objectives set and duties assigned. 

 b) Other property received in accordance with the Georgian legislation. 

 2. The Agency's property shall be comprised of fixed assets and working assets, as well  as,  other tangible assets and  financial resources to be incorporated  on  the  Agency's independent balance sheet. 

 

Article 7. Funding of the Agency 

 

1. Sources of funding for the Agency are:

a)   the funds allocated from the state budget of Georgia;

b)   the fees set for providing  services by the Agency;

c)   other earnings permitted by the Georgian legislation.

2.   The deadlines and fees for the services provided by the Agency shall be set in accordance with the Decision of the Government of Georgia.

3.   The funds and earnings under paragraph 1 of this Article shall be spent for the implementation of the duties and reaching of the objectives of the Agency. 

 

Article 8. Official Control of the Agency 

 

1.   The Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia shall exercise official control of the Agency.

2.   The Agency shall provide to the Minister of Agriculture upon his/her request with the relevant information and materials for conducting official control.

3.   With the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia the Agency may:

a)   purchase the real estate, alienate and encumber the property owned by the Agency;

b)   take a loan;

c)   give a warranty;

d)   determine the staff units and payroll fund;

e)   set the fund limits to be allocated for employees' incentives, as well as, for fuel to be purchased by the Agency and for communication expenses to be incurred by the Agency; 

f)    Take other decisions related to the property of the legal entity under the public law exceeding the scope of its regular activities;

4.   In order to carry out activities under subparagraphs b and c of paragraph 3 of this Article, consent of the Ministry of Finance shall be sought; 

5.   The Agency shall have the right to dispose of the state property, transferredthereto, in accordance with the rule laid down in the Georgian legislation.

6.   In accordance with the applicable legislation, the Agency shall keep accounting and  reporting  of  financial and  economic  activities, prepare  balance sheet and submit for approval to the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia. 

 

Article 9. Final Provisions 

 

1.    Changes and amendments to the Statute of the Agency shall be implemented under the Order of the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia

2.    The Agency shall be reorganized or liquidated in accordance with the rules laid down in the Georgian legislation.