21 February 2022
Purpose
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is to advise industry and Authorised Officers about a trial service for an out of hours contact for urgent RFP authorisation or certification requests.
Summary of changes and key points
- The department will be trialling an out of hours service for urgent RFP authorisation or certificate requests only.
- You can reach the out of hours service by calling 03 8317 8310.
- This service will only be available during the following hours:
- Monday – Friday: 5.00pm – 8.00pm (AEST)
- Saturday & Sunday: 7.00am – 5.00pm (AEST)
- Non-urgent requests will be asked to contact the department during usual business hours on the department’s general enquiries number: 1800 900 090.
- All urgent requests that are triaged for immediate action will be charged overtime fees. The current fees and charges can be found in the relevant cost recovery statement.
- This trial service does not guarantee that a request will be actioned during the out of hours period and where appropriate booked overtime should be utilised.
- Booked overtime requests should continue to be made as per current arrangements as the on-call service will not be available for such situations.
- The on-call service should not be relied upon to process RFP’s that have not been submitted within the required timeframes.
Background
As part of the department’s ongoing efforts to improve the service provided to our export clients, the Assessment Services Exports team will be conducting a trial to assess the feasibility of an out of hours on-call service for urgent RFP authorisation or certification requests.
A review will be conducted 6-12 weeks into the trial and feedback on the trial provided through the Industry Consultative Committees.
For the purposes of this trial, urgent requests have been deemed to include the following scenarios:
- RFP has been submitted in the required timeframe and there is a significant risk of the consignment missing loading time (i.e. cut off for loading will occur before next period of business hours)
- RFP has been re-submitted and there is a significant risk of the consignment missing loading time (i.e. cut off for loading will occur before next period of business hours)
- RFP has been submitted in the required timeframes and is outside of service (Refer to the department’s current client service standards).
Contact
If you have any questions regarding the above information or would like further information, please email Assessment Services Exports – Plant (NDH).
David Ironside
Assistant Secretary
Plant Export Operations Branch