On September 26, the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hunan Provincial People’s Congress concluded in Changsha, Hunan.
Introduction
On September 26, the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hunan Provincial People’s Congress closed in Changsha. The meeting voted to adopt relevant regulations, decisions and resolutions, and personnel appointments and removals. It voted to adopt the Regulations of Hunan Province on Promoting the Development of the Tea Industry, among others, and adopted the decision to approve the Provisions on the Protection of Ancient Tea Tree Resources of Baojing Golden Tea in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, among others. The Regulations of Hunan Province on Promoting the Development of the Tea Industry were adopted at the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hunan Provincial People’s Congress on September 26, 2022, and came into effect on December 1, 2022.
All-media reporters of China Co-operation Times · Tea Weekly noted that this is another major tea-producing province to issue tea industry development regulations, following Fujian Province in 2012, Guizhou Province in 2019 and Hubei Province in 2021, drawing renewed attention from the tea industry.
According to statistics from the Hunan Tea Industry Association, in 2021 the province had 3.38 million mu of tea gardens and an output of 322,800 tonnes, with a comprehensive tea industry output value of 101.2 billion yuan. Of this, the primary industry (agriculture) accounted for 25.2 billion yuan, the secondary industry (including value added from deep processing) 43 billion yuan, and the tertiary industry (including tea-tourism integration) 33 billion yuan. Led by the five major regional public brands — “Xiaoxiang Tea, Hunan Black Tea, Anhua Dark Tea, Yueyang Yellow Tea and Sangzhi White Tea” — the province has formed a landscape of flourishing development described as “the Three Xiang and Four Waters, five colors of tea fragrance.”
The issuance of the Regulations of Hunan Province on Promoting the Development of the Tea Industry will surely promote the scientific, orderly, healthy and standardized development of Hunan’s tea industry.
Regulations of Hunan Province on Promoting the Development of the Tea Industry
(Adopted at the 33rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hunan Provincial People’s Congress on September 26, 2022)
Article 1 The provincial people’s government and the people’s governments of major tea-producing areas shall strengthen leadership over tea industry development work, formulate tea industry development plans for their administrative regions, incorporate tea industry development into national economic and social development plans, designate tea production functional zones, establish and improve coordination mechanisms for promoting tea industry development, and study and resolve major issues in tea industry development such as infrastructure construction, capital investment and brand building.
The agriculture and rural affairs departments of people’s governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the overall coordination, support, guidance, supervision and management of tea industry development and other related specific work. Relevant departments — development and reform, finance, human resources and social security, education, natural resources, ecology and environment, water resources, science and technology, commerce, culture and tourism, health, market regulation, forestry and rural revitalization — and supply and marketing cooperatives shall, in accordance with their respective duties, do a good job in related work to promote tea industry development.
Article 2 The agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and other competent departments of people’s governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the protection and utilization of tea tree germplasm resources, and support the inclusion of the province’s rare tea tree germplasm resources in the national and provincial catalogs of key protected natural germplasm resources.
It is prohibited to encroach upon or damage tea tree germplasm resources, and to collect or fell without authorization tea tree germplasm resources listed in the national and provincial catalogs of key protected natural germplasm resources.
Article 3 The people’s governments of major tea-producing areas and their agriculture and rural affairs and other competent departments shall, based on regional resource endowments, ecological conditions and industrial foundations, optimize the layout of tea production, promote clonal improved tea tree varieties, and raise the rate of improved varieties in tea gardens. They shall support the quality upgrading and transformation of tea gardens, advance the construction of standardized and smart tea gardens, and encourage the building of planting bases for export tea raw materials.
The agriculture and rural affairs department of the provincial people’s government shall formulate production technical requirements and operating procedures to ensure tea quality and safety. Tea production and operation entities shall carry out standardized planting in accordance with such production technical requirements and operating procedures, promote the use of green inputs such as bio-pesticides and organic fertilizers suited to improving tea quality, and are prohibited from using agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers that affect tea quality and safety.
Tea planting enterprises and farmers’ professional cooperatives shall keep tea production records, truthfully recording the names, sources, usage and dosage of agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers and the dates of their use and discontinuation, as well as the occurrence and control of plant diseases, pests and weeds, and the dates of tea picking.
Article 4 Tea processing enterprises purchasing tea raw materials shall conduct inspections in accordance with tea quality and safety standards; materials that fail to meet the tea quality and safety standards upon inspection shall not be purchased.
People’s governments at or above the county level shall support tea production and operation entities in carrying out tea processing technology innovation, raising the level of mechanization, standardization, cleanliness and intelligence in tea processing. Enterprises are encouraged to develop deep-processed products such as tea-containing foods and medicines, new-style tea beverages and cosmetics, so as to increase the added value of tea.
Article 5 Tea production and processing shall comply with relevant national food safety standards. For local specialty teas of the province for which no national food safety standard yet exists, the health department of the provincial people’s government may, together with the agriculture and rural affairs, market regulation and other competent departments, formulate relevant local standards, effectively aligned with the international tea standard system. Tea industry organizations and enterprises are encouraged to formulate group standards and enterprise standards that are higher than national standards, industry standards and local standards.
The agriculture and rural affairs, market regulation and other competent departments of people’s governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the requirements for ensuring tea quality and safety, formulate and organize the implementation of tea quality and safety monitoring plans, and conduct spot checks on tea in production or sold on the market. Spot check results shall be published in accordance with state regulations.
Tea production and operation entities shall establish a tea quality and safety traceability system in accordance with the law, truthfully record traceability information for tea garden management and for tea production, processing, circulation, sales and other links, and enter tea quality and safety related information into the national agricultural product quality and safety traceability management information platform as required, so as to achieve traceability of information across the whole industry chain.
Article 6 The provincial people’s government shall organize relevant departments to formulate specific measures for the recognition, use and management of provincial-level regional public tea brands, establish and improve mechanisms for the publicity, promotion, protection and utilization of provincial-level regional public tea brands, and support the building of provincial-level regional public tea brands.
The people’s governments of major tea-producing areas and their relevant departments shall support the building of public tea brands in their administrative regions.
Tea production and operation entities are encouraged to cultivate enterprise brands and product brands.
Geographical indication product protection application agencies designated by people’s governments at or above the county level, or tea industry organizations and enterprises recognized by people’s governments, are encouraged to apply for tea geographical indication protection for tea products endowed with specific natural ecological environments and historical and cultural factors. Qualified tea production and operation entities may, after lawful application, use the special mark for geographical indication tea products. The provincial people’s government and its relevant departments shall promote the inclusion of tea geographical indication products in the international list of mutual recognition and protection of geographical indications.
Article 7 The provincial people’s government and the people’s governments of major tea-producing areas shall support the construction and operation of tea trading centers, internet trading platforms and the like, improve the construction of tea storage, logistics, testing and other facilities, and organize and guide tea production and operation entities in expanding sales channels.
The agriculture and rural affairs department of the provincial people’s government shall establish with customs a mechanism for sharing import and export tea trade policies and regulatory information, guide tea production and operation entities to produce and sell tea products meeting international market standards, and expand tea exports.
Article 8 The provincial people’s government and the people’s governments of major tea-producing areas shall promote the integrated development of the tea industry, cultivate and strengthen leading tea enterprises, carry out dynamic monitoring and evaluation of leading enterprises, and provide policy support by category and grade. Collective economic organizations are encouraged to develop the tea industry, and leading enterprises are encouraged to form tea industrialization consortia with small and medium-sized enterprises, farmers’ professional cooperatives, family farms and individual growers, so as to raise the level of linking and leading farmers.
The agriculture and rural affairs, culture and tourism and other competent departments of people’s governments at or above the county level shall support the integrated development of the tea industry with the culture, tourism, health and wellness industries, create leisure, sightseeing and study-tour tea tourism projects, cultivate new business forms and new models, and enhance the comprehensive benefits of the tea industry.
Article 9 People’s governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments shall excavate and inventory local tea culture resources, and protect and pass on tea culture resources such as ancient tea gardens, ancient tea roads, ancient tea pavilions, ancient tea workshops, ancient tea houses, and the skills of tea making and tea brewing.
Applications for tea-related cultural heritage are encouraged, as is the creation of tea poems, tea songs, tea books, tea paintings and other tea culture works highlighting local and ethnic characteristics and brand culture, so as to develop Huxiang tea culture creative industries.
Support is given to using public media resources to strengthen the dissemination of tea culture and tea knowledge; activities such as International Tea Day, the Chinese Tea Ancestor Festival, tea culture festivals and tea industry expos are encouraged; and venues such as tea museums and Hunan-style teahouses shall be built to carry forward Huxiang tea culture.
Article 10 The provincial people’s government and the people’s governments of major tea-producing areas shall support scientific and technological innovation in the tea industry, promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements in the tea industry, establish a tea science and technology service system, and encourage tea production and operation entities to strengthen cooperation with scientific research institutions and institutions of higher learning, jointly establish key laboratories, technology research institutions, academician (expert) workstations and the like, and carry out technological innovation in efficient cultivation, green prevention and control, and quality and safety management, as well as research and development of advanced equipment for tea garden management and deep processing.
The agriculture and rural affairs, education, science and technology, human resources and social security and other competent departments of the provincial people’s government shall establish a tea industry talent training system and a vocational skill level certification system, and strengthen the training and introduction of practical personnel and vocational skilled personnel in tea planting, processing, marketing, tea culture and other fields.
Article 11 The provincial people’s government and the people’s governments of major tea-producing areas shall include tea industry development funds in their fiscal budgets, make coordinated use of relevant fiscal funds, and support tea industry development. Social capital is encouraged to increase investment in the tea industry.
The provincial people’s government and the people’s governments of major tea-producing areas and their relevant departments shall, in accordance with the law, guarantee the land needs for facility agriculture for tea industry development and for the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.
Financial institutions are encouraged to support tea production and operation entities in credit, investment and other respects, and insurance institutions are encouraged to develop insurance products according to the needs of tea industry development and expand insurance coverage of the tea industry.
Article 12 Tea industry organizations shall establish and improve industry norms, promote industry self-discipline and integrity building, guide tea production and operation entities to produce and operate in accordance with the law, and provide tea production and operation entities with services such as technical guidance, talent training and brand promotion.
Article 13 These Regulations shall come into effect on December 1, 2022.
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
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