The original guidelines were released in 2005 and the updated guidelines are newly titled as the “Criterion of Breeding and Utilization for Minks, Foxes and Raccoons” (i.e. the ‘Criterion’).
These new guidelines were adopted from farming standards for fur-bearing animals in Finland, Canada and the EU. The guidance they provide is thus based on the most up to date standards globally and is so comprehensive as to address topics including but not limited to:
• Staff requirements
• Field construction
• Feeding management
• Sanitation
• Disease prevention
• Euthanasia
• Skin processing
• Transportation
• Environmental protection
• Emergency handling
On top of these specific improvements, it also generally raised the standards of Chinese farms to be broadly in line with comparable farming internationally. These improvements were announced as a part of the 13th Chinese 5-year plan. The aim of this huge progress in standards is to raise the market-competitiveness of Chinese products by targeting the increasing of quality as a priority. These new guidelines provide the references needed to supervise and manage the fur-bearer production sector in China.
In order to manage the implementation of these new guidelines, Mr Huang Yanjie, the Director of China Fur Commission and China Fur Breeders Commission of the CLIA, revealed that the Fur Animal Farming Committees of the CLIA would co-ordinate with the State Forestry Bureau to leverage its member network in five major provinces (Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang & Jilin) for the publicity and promotion of these new standards.
As it was considered that it took time for the enterprises to rectify and adjust according to the Criteria, a 1-year transition period was given for the implementation. During the transition period, the State Forestry Bureau will inspect and supervise the industry of breeding for mink, foxes and raccoons according to the provisions on this. For any newly-built or re-constructed farming sites, they have to comply with the updated criteria from the outset without this transitional period applying.