Thông tư 18/1999/TT-BTM hướng dẫn điều kiện kinh doanh nhà hàng ăn uống, quán ăn uống bình dân

THE MINISTRY OF TRADE
——-

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF
VIET NAM
Independence – Freedom – Happiness
———-

No: 18/1999/TT-BTM

Hanoi, May 19, 1999

CIRCULAR

GUIDING CONDITIONS FOR RESTAURANT AND POPULAR FOOD-AND-DRINK
STALL BUSINESS

In execution of Decree No. 11/1999/ND-CP of
March 3, 1999 of the Government on goods banned from circulation, commercial
services banned from practice, goods and commercial services limited for
business or under conditional business, the Ministry of Trade provides the
following guidance on the conditions of business of the restaurants and popular
food-and-drink stalls:

I. SCOPE OF APPLICATION

1. This Circular regulates the business
activities of restaurants and popular food-and-drink stalls.

1.1. Restaurants are places to process and sell
foods and drinks of high quality, with good material basis and with an
equipment and service mode meeting the needs of all types of customers.

Restaurants comprise: restaurants specializing
in food, restaurants specializing in drinks, combined food-and-drink
restaurants, restaurants of specialty foods (hereunder called in common
restaurants).

1.2. Popular food-and-drink stalls are
establishments to process and sell foods and drinks with simple techniques and
technologies in service of popular eating and drinking needs of customers at
prices suited to the paying capacity of the majority of the population.

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2. Traders engaged in the business of
restaurants and popular food-and-drink stalls must observe the conditions
stipulated in this Circular.

3. Traders with foreign investments in the
food-and-drink business must observe the stipulations of the Law on Foreign
Investment in Vietnam and related regulations in this Circular.

II. CONDITIONS FOR RESTAURANT
AND POPULAR FOOD-AND-DRINK STALL BUSINESS

Traders engaged in restaurant and popular
food-and-drink business must fill the following four conditions:

1. Condition for the business owner:

He/she must be a trader, have the business
license in which he/she has registered for the food-and-drink business.

2. Condition for material, technical and
equipment basis:

2.1. Requirements for place of business:

– The place of business must be a fixed place
with legal right of use.

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2.2. Minimum requirement for material basis and
equipment:

– For restaurants: as stipulated in Appendix 1
attached to this Circular.

– For popular food-and-drink stalls: as
stipulated in Appendix 2 attached to this Circular.

3. Condition for environmental protection and
for the prevention and fight against explosion and fire:

3.1. Establishment of a hygienic system of
supply and drainage of living water.

3.2. There must be buckets and baskets with
covers to hold garbage and wastes.

3.3. There must be minimum means to ensure
safety in the prevention and fight against fires as stipulated by the public
security agency.

4. Health condition:

Those working in restaurants and popular
food-and-drink stalls must have the health conditions suited to their business
as stipulated by the Ministry of Health. Before recruitment, they must go
through a health examination and after that periodically every year (12 months)
must have a health check and take the necessary tests in order to detect
contagious diseases.

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1. Regularly assuring fulfillment of the four
conditions of business as stipulated in this Circular.

2. Ensuring the requirements on hygiene in the
food-and-drink business and the regulations about reporting on investigation
into food and drink poisoning in Circular No. 04/1998/TT-BYT of March 23, 1998
issued by the Minister of Health. More concretely:

2.1. Requirement on hygiene for establishments
engaged in the food-and-drink business (as prescribed in Appendix 3 attached to
this Circular).

2.2. Regulations about reporting on
investigation into food and drink poisoning:

– When detecting or suspecting a poisoning from
food or drink (at least two persons who take the same food are struck by
diarrhea, vomiting and stomach- ache… at the same time), the owner of the
food-and-drink establishment or the responsible person has the duty to report
immediately to the nearest medical agency.

– The food or drink product suspected of causing
poisoning must be retained for the investigating agency to test and determine
the cause.

– The food-and-drink establishment having the
food or drink causing the poisoning shall have to bear full responsibility for
the wrongful act and to pay all the expenditures on examining and treating the
poisoned person or persons as well as expenditures on the investigation into
the cause of the poisoning.

2.3. The person in charge of the unit has the
responsibility to organize regular health check for the personnel. If anyone of
them has contracted one of the contagious diseases as stipulated in Appendix 4,
he or she shall have to temporarily stop working until he/she is cured or be
transferred to another job.

3. To strictly carry out the regulations related
to the food-and-drink business stipulated in Decree No. 36/CP of May 29, 1995
and Decree No. 87/CP of December 12, 1995 of the Government.

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1. Traders engaged in the business of
restaurants and popular food-and-drink stalls who violate the regulations in
this Circular shall, depending on the extent of the violation, be handled
according to the Ordinance on the Handling of Administrative Violations or be
examined for penal liability as prescribed by law.

2. The Trade Services of the provinces and
cities shall have to:

2.1. Arrange and plan the network of the
food-and-drink business, ensuring trade security, environmental hygiene and social
order and security.

2.2. Coordinate with the Health Service, the
Science, Technology and Environment Service and related agencies to guide and
inspect traders of all economic sectors engaged in the food-and-drink business
according to the stipulations in this Circular and to handle in time the
violations as prescribed by law.

3. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its
signing and replaces the stipulations on the food-and-drink business in the
Inter-ministerial Circular No. 27-LB/TCDL-TM of January 10, 1996 of the General
Department of Tourism and the Ministry of Trade guiding the conditions for the
business of lodging places and food-and-drink restaurants, the regulations on
the business of popular food and drink in Decision No. 747-TM/KD of September
7, 1995 of the Minister of Trade issued together with the Regulation on the
popular food-and-drink and lodging business.

THE MINISTRY OF TRADE

Le Danh Vinh

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CONDITIONS FOR EQUIPMENT IN RESTAURANT BUSINESS

I. DINING ROOM:

1. Requirement on designing and
decoration:

– The dining room must be airy, clean and
lovely.

– The floor must be laid with flowered tile or
parquet… level and smooth for easy mopping and cleaning.

– The walls must be whitewashed or covered with
an anti-absorption paint with a soft light.

2. Furniture and equipment:

a) Wooden furniture must be firmly built and
convenient.

– Dining tables and chairs of various kinds.

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b) Linen articles:

– Table cloth: in flax or cotton yarn of various
sizes depending on the tables so that when spread the edge falls 30 cm from the
table top. If the table top is in formica or in marble the table cloth may be
dispensed with.

– Napkins: made of cloth or paper.

c) Eating and drinking utensils: they must be
adequate, beautiful and assorted.

– Bowls, cups, chopsticks, spoons, forks…

– Chopsticks holders.

– Boxes for spices.

– Boxes for toothpicks.

3. Electrical and mechanical equipment:

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– Ventilation: Air-conditioners or electric fans
installed at appropriate places.

– Communication: Restaurants of 50 and more
seats must have a telephone.

4. W.C: There must be separate WC
for men and women.

5. The restaurant must provide the menu
with the price list: The menu must feature the name and price of each
food and drink sold in the day.

II. PROCESSING AREA:

1. Requirement for designing:

– The kitchen must be appropriately organized to
assure the needs of hygiene.

– There must be a lighting system enough for
work.

– There must be a natural ventilation system in
addition to electric fans.

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– The kitchen floor must not be slippery and
have the necessary inclination for drainage.

– There must be adequate supply of water.

2. Equipment and utensils:

a) Wooden furniture:

Tables: There must be at least the following
types of tables:

+ Table for preliminary processing of foods.

+ Table for refined processing of dishes.

+ Table to dress dishes.

+ Working table.

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– Cupboards:

+ For holding spices.

+ For holding vessels.

+ For holding documents and books.

+ For holding clothes of the kitchen personnel.

– Racks:

+ Racks for vessels.

+ Racks for goods in store.

b) Linen articles: towels and various utensils.

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– Cupboards for preserving foods.

– Cupboards for preserving foodstuff.

APPENDIX 2

CONDITIONS FOR EQUIPMENT IN POPULAR FOOD-AND-DRINK
STALL BUSINESS

I. PLACES TO CATER FOR CUSTOMERS:

– The place must be clean and aerated.

– The floor must be level, smooth and easy to
clean and mop.

– There must be the following minimum equipment
and utensils:

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+ Seats.

+ Table cloth.

+ Bowls, chopsticks, spoons…

+ Spice boxes.

+ Toothpicks containers.

+ Chopsticks containers.

+ Tray covers.

II. PLACE FOR PROCESSING:

– It must be clean and aerated.

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– There must be water supply and drainage
systems.

– There must be the following minimum equipment
and utensils:

+ Stoves (coal, firewood, paddy chaff, gas,
electric, kerosene…).

+ Pots, saucepans, chopping blocs…

+ Bowls, cups, chopsticks, forks…

+ Large bowls (enameled or aluminum).

+ Washing basins.

+ Knives, chopping boards of various kinds.

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REQUIREMENTS ON HYGIENE AT FOOD-AND-DRINK BUSINESS
ESTABLISHMENTS

1. Requirements on hygiene at the place of
business:

– The dining room and the area for processing
and preserving foods must be hygienic and clean.

– There must be enough clean water to maintain
normal activities of the restaurant and food stall as well as for customers to
wash their hands before eating. If water from wells and basins is used the well
and basin must be covered. The well aperture must be one meter above the
ground, free from outside pollution and must be cleansed, washed and kept
clean.

– Garbage and wastes must be kept in baskets or
pails with cover and carried away for disposal daily.

– Sewers and ditches in the area of the
restaurants and eateries must be kept in continuous flow free from clogging.

– Measures must be taken to fight rats, flies
and mosquitoes periodically.

– Restaurants and food and drink stalls near
dusty roads must be equipped with appropriate anti-dust means.

2. Requirements on hygiene for equipment and
implements:

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– Pots, saucepans, knives, bowls, plates and
chopsticks… must be cleaned immediately after use.

– There must be separate knives and
chopping-blocs for raw and cooked foods.

– Only detergents and soaps allowed for use in
daily life and food processing can be used; it is forbidden to use industrial
cleaning substances.

3. Requirements on hygiene for staff
personnel:

– Persons directly processing food or serving in
the food and drink business must grasp the necessary knowledge of food hygiene
and their responsibility and task concerning their jobs.

– Waiters and waiteresses must keep personal
hygiene, have their fingernails cut short and kept clean.

– Clothes and personal effects of the personnel
in the restaurant must be neatly put in the wardrobes or hung on clothes
hangers and must not be put in the food processing area.

– After going to the toilet or after processing
raw food or doing other jobs, they must wash their hands with soap and clean
water before switching to processing food, waiting on customers and selling
processed food and drinks.

– While attending to customers, they must not
eat onion or garlic, drink alcohol nor smoke cigarettes nor spit on the floor.

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– The origin of the food must be known before
processing.

– The use of food condiments, coloring matters
and synthetic seasonings, which are not on the list allowed by the Ministry of
Health, is strictly forbidden.

– The materials for processing must assure the
nutrients conformable with the prescriptions for each kind. It is forbidden to
use stale and otherwise unfresh foods or foods originating from diseased
animals to process foods and drinks.

– The cooked foods and fast foods must be
covered and must be packed when sold to customers.

– Fresh vegetables must be soaked in or washed
with clean water and rinsed dry before cooking or served to customers.

APPENDIX 4

LIST OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES

Persons who have contracted one of the following
contagious diseases are not allowed to work in direct contact with food and
engage in the food and drink business:

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– Dysentery.

– Typhoid.

– Diarrhoea, cholera.

– Boils and furuncles,

– Intermittent urination and defecation.

– Viral hepatitis.

– Nasal inflammation and tonsillitis.

– Skin diseases.

– Venereal diseases.

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