Chapter VII  Slaughter of Livestock and Poultry

Article 65 The state implements a system of designated pig slaughter establishments. Similar slaughter systems can be implemented for other livestock and poultry, and the specific measures shall be formulated by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government. The slaughter of livestock or poultry by individuals in rural areas for their own consumption is exempted from the implementation of this system.

People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall formulate and organize the implementation of livestock and poultry slaughter industry development plans in accordance with the principles of scientific layout, centralized slaughter, facilitation of circulation, and convenience for the public and in light of the actual conditions of livestock and poultry farming, animal epidemic prevention and control, and consumption of livestock and poultry products, etc.

Article 66 The state encourages livestock and poultry slaughter enterprises to slaughter livestock and poultry locally, encourages them to relocate to main farming areas, and supports the development of a cold chain system for the processing, storage, and transport of livestock and poultry products.

Article 67 A livestock or poultry slaughter enterprise shall meet the following conditions:

(1) having water supply that is commensurate with the scale of slaughter and meets the water quality standards set by the state;

(2) having facilities, equipment, and delivery carriers that comply with the state regulations;

(3) being staffed with slaughter technicians who have obtained health certificates in accordance with law;

(4) being staffed with qualified veterinary inspectors; and

(5) having obtained in accordance with law the certificate of compliance with animal epidemic prevention conditions and other supporting documents specified by laws and regulations.

Article 68 A livestock or poultry slaughterhouse operator shall strengthen the quality and safety management of slaughter. A livestock or poultry slaughter enterprise shall establish a quality and safety management system for livestock or poultry slaughter.

Livestock and poultry products that have not been inspected or quarantined or fail to pass the inspection or quarantine shall not be delivered for sale. Livestock and poultry products that fail to pass inspection or quarantine shall be treated in accordance with relevant state regulations.

People's governments at all levels shall, in accordance with the relevant regulations, provide subsidies for the costs of and losses caused by harmless treatment of livestock and poultry products.

Article 69 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall organize the formulation of the risk monitoring plan for livestock and poultry slaughter quality and safety.

Based on the national risk monitoring plan for livestock and poultry slaughter quality and safety, competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in light of actual conditions, formulate and organize the implementation of the risk monitoring plans for livestock and poultry slaughter quality and safety in their respective administrative regions.

Chapter VIII  Support and Supervision

Article 70 People's governments at or above the provincial level shall arrange funds in their respective financial budgets such as fine varieties subsidies, interest discount subsidies and insurance premium subsidies to support innovation in the livestock and poultry breeding industry and the development of animal husbandry, and encourage relevant financial institutions to provide financial services to support livestock and poultry farmers in buying and breeding fine varieties, preventing epidemics, improving production facilities, and facilities and equipment for the harmless treatment and resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure, and expanding the scale of breeding, so as to increase the economic returns of livestock and poultry farming.

Article 71 People's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, make arrangements for the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs and other relevant departments to tighten the supervision and management of the farming environments of livestock and poultry, the quality of breeding livestock and poultry, the trade in and transportation of livestock and poultry, the slaughter of livestock and poultry, and the production, business operation and the use of feed, feed additives, veterinary medicines and other inputs.

Article 72 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall formulate the measures for the administration of identification marks and farming files of livestock and poultry, and shall take measures to implement the livestock and poultry product quality and safety traceability and responsibility system.

Article 73 The competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall work out plans for supervision of and spot checks on the quality and safety of livestock and poultry, and carry out supervision and spot checks in accordance with their plans.

Article 74 The competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs of people’s governments at or above the provincial level shall draw up livestock and poultry production specifications to give guidance on the safe production of livestock and poultry.

Article 75 The state establishes a unified production system and a market monitoring and early warning system for livestock and poultry products, gradually improves the reserve adjustment mechanism for livestock and poultry products, strengthens market regulation, and maintains a balance between market supply and demand, ensuring the healthy development of animal husbandry.

The relevant departments of people's governments at or above the county level shall release information on the production and sale of livestock and poultry in a timely manner, and provide information services for livestock and poultry producers and business operators.

Article 76 The state strengthens the development of livestock and poultry production, processing, sale and transportation systems, and enhances the capability to guarantee the supply security of livestock and poultry products.

People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for guaranteeing the supply of livestock and poultry products within their respective administrative regions, and shall establish a policy support and responsibility assessment system for ensuring production stability and supply security.

The state encourages main livestock and poultry sales areas to establish stable cooperative relationships with main livestock and poultry producing areas through cross-regional cooperation, establishment of farming bases, and other means.

Chapter IX  Legal Liability

Article 77 Where the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of a people’s government at or above the county level or any of its staff members commits one of the following acts in violation of this Law, the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be given sanctions in accordance with law:

(1) accepting money or other forms of property given by another person or seeking other benefits by taking advantage of his position;

(2) issuing licenses to an ineligible applicant or beyond statutory purview;

(3) failing to investigate and punish the illegal acts discovered; or

(4) other acts of not performing supervision and management duties in accordance with law, including other acts of abuse of powers, dereliction of duty, or engaging in malpractices for personal gains.

Article 78 Whoever, in violation of the second paragraph of Article 14 of this Law, disposes of the livestock and poultry genetic resources under protection without authorization, thus causing losses to such genetic resources, shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the people’s government at or above the provincial level.

Article 79 Whoever commits one of the following acts in violation of this Law shall be ordered to discontinue the illegal act and fined not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the people’s government at or above the provincial level, and the livestock and poultry genetic resources and the illegal gains therefrom shall be confiscated by the said department:

(1) introducing livestock and poultry genetic resources from abroad without going through the examination and approval procedures;

(2) cooperating with a foreign institution or individual within China to conduct research on the utilization of livestock and poultry genetic resources included in a directory of livestock and poultry genetic resources under protection, without going through the examination and approval procedures; or

(3) cooperating with a foreign institution or individual within China to conduct research on the utilization of newly discovered livestock and poultry genetic resources that have not been identified by the National Commission for Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources.

Article 80 Whoever, in violation of this Law, exports livestock and poultry genetic resources without the approval of the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall be held liable in accordance with relevant provisions of the Customs Law of the People's Republic of China. The customs shall turn the seized livestock and poultry genetic resources over to the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the people's government of a province, an autonomous region, or a municipality directly under the Central Government for handling.

Article 81 Whoever, in violation of the relevant provisions of this Law, sells or promotes new varieties or synthetic lines of livestock and poultry that have not undergone verification or identification, shall be ordered to discontinue the illegal act by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the local people’s government at or above the county level, and the livestock and poultry and illegal gains therefrom shall be confiscated by the said department; if the amount of the illegal gains exceeds RMB 50,000 yuan, a fine of not less than the amount of the illegal gains but not more than three times the amount of illegal gains shall be imposed; and if there are no illegal gains or the amount of the illegal gains is less than RMB 50,000 yuan, a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 82 Whoever, in violation of relevant provisions of this Law, engages in the production and business operation of breeding livestock or poultry without a license for the production and business operation of breeding livestock or poultry or by violating the provisions of the license, or forges, alters, transfers, or leases the license, shall be ordered to discontinue the illegal act and the forged or altered license shall be seized, the breeding livestock or poultry, young commercial livestock or poultry and the illegal gains therefrom shall be confiscated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the local people's government at or above the county level; if the amount of the illegal gains is not less than RMB 30,000 yuan, a fine of not less than the amount of the illegal gains but not more than three times the amount of the illegal gains shall be imposed; and if there are no illegal gains or the amount of the illegal gains is less than RMB 30,000 yuan, a fine of not less than RMB 3,000 yuan but not more than RMB 30,000 yuan shall be imposed. Those who engage in the production and business operation of breeding livestock and poultry in violation of the provisions of the licenses for the production and business operation of breeding livestock and poultry, or transfer or lease their licenses shall also have their licenses revoked if the circumstances are serious.

Article 83 Whoever violates the provisions of Article 29 of this Law shall be held liable in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Advertisement Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 84 Whoever, in violation of this Law, uses breeding livestock or poultry that do not meet the breeding standards shall be ordered to discontinue the illegal act by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the local people’s government at or above the county level, and the breeding livestock or poultry and illegal gains therefrom shall be confiscated by the said department; if the amount of the illegal gains is not less than RMB 5,000 yuan, a fine of not less than the amount of the illegal gains but not more than twice the amount of the illegal gains shall be imposed; and if there are no illegal gains or the amount of the illegal gains is less than RMB 5,000 yuan, a fine of not less than RMB 1,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 85 Whoever, in selling breeding livestock or poultry, commits one of the illegal acts specified in Subparagraphs (1) through (4) of Article 31 of this Law shall be ordered to stop such sale, and the illegally sold (breeding) livestock or poultry and the illegal gains therefrom shall be confiscated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the market regulation department of the local people’s government at or above the county level in accordance with the division of their duties; if the amount of the illegal gains is not less than RMB 50,000 yuan, a fine of not less than the amount of the illegal gains but not more than five times the amount of the illegal gains shall be imposed; if there are no illegal gains or the amount of the illegal gains is less than RMB 50,000 yuan, a fine of not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan shall be imposed; and if the circumstances are serious, the violator’s license for production and business operation of the breeding livestock or poultry or his business license shall be revoked.

Article 86 Whoever, in violation of this Law, establishes a livestock or poultry farm without undergoing record formalities, or fails to keep farming files on a livestock or poultry farm or preserve such files as required shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and may be fined not more than RMB 10,000 yuan by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the local people’s government at or above the county level.

Article 87 Whoever raises livestock or poultry in violation of Article 43 of this Law shall be dealt with and punished in accordance with relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 88 Whoever, in violation of this Law, sells breeding livestock or poultry that are not accompanied by compliance certificates and pedigree certificates, or sells or purchases livestock or poultry that do not bear identification marks as required by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council, or uses the identification marks of livestock or poultry repeatedly shall be ordered to make rectification and may be fined not more than RMB 2,000 yuan by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the market regulation department of the local people's government at or above the county level in accordance with the division of their duties.

Whoever sells breeding livestock or poultry without quarantine certificates, forges or alters identification marks of livestock or poultry, or possesses or uses forged or altered identification marks of livestock or poultry shall be held liable in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Animal Disease Control.

Article 89 Whoever, in violation of this Law, engages in livestock or poultry slaughter activities without a designated establishment shall be dealt with and punished in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Article 90 Where the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of a local people's government at or above the county level finds that a livestock or poultry slaughter enterprise no longer meets the conditions specified in this Law, it shall order the said enterprise to suspend business for rectification within a specified time limit; if the enterprise fails to meet the conditions specified in this Law within the specified time limit, it shall be ordered to close down, and, if it is subject to the administration of designated slaughter establishments, its designated slaughter establishment certificate shall be revoked by the certificate issuing authority in accordance with law.

Article 91 Where, in violation of Article 68 of this Law, a livestock or poultry slaughter enterprise fails to establish a livestock or poultry slaughter quality and safety management system, or a livestock or poultry slaughterhouse operator fails to dispose of livestock or poultry products that fail to pass the inspection in accordance with relevant state regulations, it shall be ordered to make rectification and given a warning by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs of the local people's government at or above the county level; if it refuses to make rectification, it shall be ordered to suspend business and fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan, and the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to close down, and, if it is subject to the administration of designated slaughter establishments, its designated slaughter establishment certificate shall be revoked by the certificate issuing authority in accordance with law.

Other violations of Article 68 of this Law shall be dealt with and punished in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Article 92 Where a violation of this Law constitutes a crime, the violator shall be held criminally liable in accordance with law.

Chapter X  Supplementary Provisions

Article 93 For purposes of this Law, the term "livestock and poultry genetic resources" refers to genetic material such as livestock and poultry and their ova (eggs), semen, embryos, and gene substances.

For purposes of this Law, the term "breeding livestock and poultry" refers to the livestock and poultry that are produced through selective breeding, have the breeding value, and are suitable for reproduction, as well as their ova (eggs), semen, embryos, etc.

Article 94 This Law shall come into force on March 1, 2023.