Date of issue: 10/03/2021
Date of effect: Immediate
Reference Number: IAN 2021-03
Attention:
- Industry bodies, Seafood Export Consultative Committee
- Registered export manufacturing establishments
- Registered licensed exporters and EDI users
- Department of Agriculture and Water Resources—Central and Regional offices
Purpose
To notify registered export manufacturers, exporters and EDI users of a review to the fish product and cut codes currently available through the departments export documentation system (EXDOC).
Summary of key points
The department is currently reviewing all fish product and category codes currently used in the export certification system (EXDOC).
The review will align existing fish product types (3-letter code, Australian Fish Name (AFN) and scientific name) against requirements of the Australian Fish Name Standard AS 5300-2019 (the AFNS) and identify:
- consistency with the AFNS
- errors (i.e. spelling, phrasing, etc.)
- potential grouping for additional coding of species by food safety risk (i.e. scombroid, ciguatera, etc.)
The review will also identify codes for the for deletion, consolidation, and rationalisation:
- duplicate cut codes (with the same or similar description, same product)
- cut codes that include brand names, additives, pack types, pack sizes and cut types not consistent with the minimum description required to identify the product for reasons of food safety (i.e. cooked, retorted) and biosecurity (i.e. gutted).
The allocation of Australian Harmonised Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) codes to fish products will also be reviewed.
The purpose of the review is to significantly reduce the administrative burden associated with the approval and maintenance of these codes, and to tighten the controls around their use, particularly in relation to country to country certification requirements.
This review will result in a more streamlined and consolidated list of product codes and cut codes. These codes will better represent the product being processed and exported, and ultimately reduce inconsistency and confusion. An updated list of product types will be published to the department’s website.
If a significant change to a code is indicated, industry will be given adequate lead in time prior to these updates to allow establishments to update any export systems, and trade descriptions before the update of the code occurs.
Background
Information is maintained within the department’s Establishment Register (ER) database and the Export Documentation (EXDOC) system which allows certification of prescribed goods where ER indicates that the registered establishment is approved to prepare specific goods.
For fish and fish products, export approval is expressed to the level of:
- preservation (i.e. chilled, frozen, unrefrigerated/live)
- Australian Fish Name as specified in the AFNS and required by export legislation
- scientific name as specified in the AFNS
- cut of the fish (example: fillets, headed and gutted and includes information such as cooked)
In addition to the coding to confirm establishments export approval, this information is the description of the product that appears on export certification.
Currently there are 494 fish product types in the system linked to more than 4000 associated cut-codes A review is required to update for consistency with Australian Fish Names and to correct spelling and other nomenclature errors.
Further information
Contact Dairy Eggs Fish if you have any queries.
The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.